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Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

businessinsider.com

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Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#141

Post by gipp »

macksd wrote: post #59

I've always been mystified by the state of remote work at Google, because I understood that they pushed pretty hard on being in the office. And yet I've had many video conference calls with various teams at Google over the last 8 years and in every single one, most of the Googlers on the call were obviously dialing in from home. I even flew to Mountain View once for a big all-day meeting. I got there, met my coworker…

Permanent or official WFH arrangements are generally not a thing, but just taking days here and there informally as WFH days is something that many teams are pretty permissive about from what I understand.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#143

Post by andor »

cglace wrote: post #88
Someone1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that like senior management typically makes decisions based on data and facts, rather than the reality where they just shoot from the hip using their "gut." By the same logic implied here, we cannot trust senior management to know what they're doing. PS - Also Google's measures of productivity are terrible, that's why they keep starting/killing new projects ever other week, and killed their golden goose in th…

I love how engineers pretend that they are the only ones acting rationally. It's as if they are playing chess and can never think there might be a reason behind the other players move, only their plan makes sense.

If engineers acted rationally, we would not have so many technology fads.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#144

Post by BoorishBears »

djrogers wrote: post #132
theflyinghorse wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A new job that carries same prestige and benefits?

I think you're greatly overestimating the prestige of working at Google, or the value of said prestige.

Both at the same time, presumably if they're willing to leave they've been there long enough to cash in said prestige somewhere else

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#145

Post by kyle-rb »

lhorie wrote: post #103
notdonspaulding wrote: post #14

What people say they will do when there's no cost associated with an action and what people will actually do once a cost IS associated with the same action are frequently 2 different things. Bob Lutz, in his self-aggrandizing book "Gutz", describes the initial phase of an automobile design project where a survey is conducted asking respondents whether they would prefer a vehicle with heated cupholders. It turned out…

There was a blog post posted here recently from someone who saw Google as a "family" and drank a lot of koolaid, as well as stories of high levels of entitlement. I wonder if there's a similar phenomenon going on where people assume that companies pampering them is a given and that they can get anything they want by complaining enough. What they might find instead is the shock that "grass is greener on the other side…

What grass though? This subset of employees seem to value working remotely above free food or massages or whatever other in-office perks.

Work-from-home as a perk has a negative cost, so it's not crazy to think that companies might start offering it.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#146

Post by carlmr »

Foobar8568 wrote: post #115
notdonspaulding wrote: post #14

What people say they will do when there's no cost associated with an action and what people will actually do once a cost IS associated with the same action are frequently 2 different things. Bob Lutz, in his self-aggrandizing book "Gutz", describes the initial phase of an automobile design project where a survey is conducted asking respondents whether they would prefer a vehicle with heated cupholders. It turned out…

If I had a dollar each time someone said they wanted to leave badly only to be still in the same company/position 1 or 2 years later....

The question is always why someone is not perfectly happy with a workplace, and what alternatives they have available.

You may work in a large bureaucratic corporation, want to work somewhere more dynamic, but you also have adjusted to the large corp salary.

You may work at a cool startup, but wish for more time for your family, however the jobs offering a better work life balance are uninspiring.

Add to that it takes effort to leave, and less effort to stay, and you have a lot of people "choosing" to stay.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#147

Post by azemetre »

occz wrote: post #96
spoonjim wrote: post #20

Google doesn’t care if most employees quit, they are replaceable. The few that they do care about, they will arrange unofficial exemptions for.

This take entirely ignores the invested human capital, which you lose entirely when you drive a worker to quit. Google have invested a lot into retaining their workers as well, so I'm sure that they know that as well.

Is Google even good at retaining employees? The average tenure appears to be 1 to 2 years. [1] [2] [3]

Hardly enough time to even know the impact and costs of what you developed and shipped. Kind of makes you wonder what type of work force you're creating when a large percentage of them are constantly leaving. Maybe for ICs this isn't a concern compared to Directors, VPs, or maybe Staff SEs?

[1] https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee-loyalty/full...

[2] https://buffer.com/resources/employee-tenure/

[3] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/10/17/thi...

I mean it intuitively kind of makes sense. If you work in a city with many other high paying prestigious jobs, why wouldn't you job hop? There's little risk, whereas if you were in a city that had very few prospects you'd probably stick around longer.

I live in Boston and I jump around every year'ish getting more salary at each place I've worked at. If you worked at Google (or any other prestigious company), I imagine it's far far easier interviewing else where. Especially if you jump from prestigious company to prestigious company.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#148

Post by mLuby »

CydeWeys wrote: post #119
sriram_sun wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality of life improvement when you work remote is several fold higher. You have to experience it. I've been working remote (consulting) for about 4 years now. My wife has done it about 1/2 her career. We live in sunny SoCal (expensive, but very tolerable when you don't have to get on the freeways). Take care of No. 1 first. That is you. GOOG folks, please don't cringe at FB. There is no difference.

Pretty much everyone has experienced what WFH is like a year plus into the pandemic. Those of us who want to go back to the office have experienced WFH, and our quality of life is lower with WFH. It's no longer true that people who say they don't like WFH would change their mind if only they'd experienced it.

Nobody has been experiencing normal remote work during the pandemic.

Normal remote work lets you go out and do fun stuff with friends after hours (which you have more of with no commute), spend more time with your kids (who have been at school for most of the day), or even explore other cities or countries (if you have that kind of remote arrangement).

All the pandemic has shown us is basically all knowledge work can be done remotely, and most sales work too.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#149

Post by geodel »

chrisseaton wrote: post #30

People have clearly decided it's now completely safe to come out and continue the war on remote working.

Described my workplace :) Just this morning had staff meeting about 'come to office from June 1st' announcement.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#150

Post by wfhbata »

naniwaduni wrote: post #109
elite_hackers3 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you’d have to work for Facebook… cringe

... when you already work for Google?

If we’re making that comparison, absolutely. Both are in the ads business, but I get actual utility from one company’s products and the other company’s products make me feel worse at the end of the day.

I realize that many people love social media and derive happiness from FB, but it’s just not the case for me and the main reason I couldn’t work there.

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