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Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

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Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#271

Post by tshaddox »

ianhawes wrote: post #249
tshaddox wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never lived or spent significant summer time in Florida or New York City, but your descriptions of summer weather sounded surprising to me. I looked up weather data, and Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa all get significantly hotter (4-7 degrees Fahrenheit higher average temperatures in the hottest part of summer), muggier, and cloudier in the summer. Only Miami is consistently windier in the summer than NYC. Is th…

IIRC part of South Florida (around Ft. Lauderdale) is the only tropical rainforest climate in the CONUS. I've spent time in the mid-Atlantic region and time in South Florida. Miami in July is the closest thing to hell on Earth. But I'd rather deal with that and live in a beautiful climate year-round than deal with north eastern winters.

> Miami in July is the closest thing to hell on Earth. But I'd rather deal with that and live in a beautiful climate year-round than deal with north eastern winters.

Thank goodness the West Coast exists to relieve us of that dreadful dilemma!

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#272

Post by tayo42 »

cletus wrote: post #227
majormajor wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I now live in Florida. It's about the 182nd day in a row where it's been 70-80F. Sure it's humid and that may sound weird after the comment about NYC summers but NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity. Here there's usually a breeze. I've been here 6 months and I don't even use the AC. You're comparing FL winters to NYC summers? I'm not sure exactly where you are in FL, but... in mos…

Well it's June now. We're pretty close to what summer is. For the record, I'm in the Miami area. I think it's a little cooler here than some places more inland and upstate. Or maybe I'm imagining things. But what a difference the trade winds make (to me at least). Like I said, it's June and I'm still not using the AC. I just open up my house and enjoy the breeze. Some people, particularly up north, like the have thei…

Surprised Miami is that breezy but if it is, it makes sense. ac doesn't really exist outside tourist stuff in the usvi either, Hawaii is like that too

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#273

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

rtpg wrote: post #140
throwaway6734 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest question right now about sustained wfh is how much of the current productivity is the result of relationships that were built in the office. A year ago, I remotely onboarded for a new position and recently I can head back into the office, and there's a massive difference for me between the virtual relationships I built and the in-person ones. I learned more about people that I had spent months zooming/emai…

This conversation, when I've had it with people, usually ends up with the same conclusions: people would like to see their coworkers face-to-face like.... a couple times a month. People have deep relationships with others without needing to see them 5 times a day, after all! I think the difficulties around relationship building in this time are deeply linked to whether you are able to socialize "through a computer" w…

It is an interesting question. I have two new team members we added 2 months ago. Neither is very technical and, admittedly, it can get challenging sometimes, because pre-WFH, I could have just showed them what to do instead of spending 20 minutes trying to explain what I want them to do. I could technically grab a screen, but.. apparently, neither learns well that way and just yesterday I had some really odd issues with sound and MS Teams screen sharing.

Anyway, as much as I love remote, in person has its benefits.. like being able to strangle someone when needed.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#274

Post by pram »

cactus2093 wrote: post #215
cletus wrote: post #189

Speaking as someone who now works remotely permanently, this has been... life-changing. So for 10 years I lived in NYC and--don't get me wrong--there are lots of things I liked about NYC but I'm so over the summers and the winters. Also bear in mind that I think NYC is infinitely better for most people to live in than the Bay Area. But I now live in Florida. It's about the 182nd day in a row where it's been 70-80F. S…

> NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity That is absolutely wild to me. I also lived in NYC for 10 years, the summers there are magical. The city comes alive in such a unique way, people are outside relaxing in the parks, having backyard and rooftop parties, heading out to the beach on the weekends. There are a bunch of great weekend trips to be had a few hours away by train in Long Islan…

FWIW I was shocked how brutal the NYC summer was, and I’ve spent most of my life in Arizona and Texas. I’d guess it’s mostly the humidity and the stagnant airflow.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#275

Post by cratermoon »

esrauch wrote: post #264
tshaddox wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never lived or spent significant summer time in Florida or New York City, but your descriptions of summer weather sounded surprising to me. I looked up weather data, and Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa all get significantly hotter (4-7 degrees Fahrenheit higher average temperatures in the hottest part of summer), muggier, and cloudier in the summer. Only Miami is consistently windier in the summer than NYC. Is th…

Not op but have lived in Florida and NYC. I suspect the gap partially relates to the "constructed"/human/social aspects, and not the raw weather itself. A NYC subway car without AC when it's 87 degrees outside is worse than 100° in Florida; Florida is a lot more effective AC, pools/lanais, open spaces.

Architecture definitely matters. Ever been to the Honolulu airport? Lots of open air. The Lihue Airport on Kauaʻi is open air. Check-in is in the open.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#276

Post by throwaway2037 »

esrauch wrote: post #264
tshaddox wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never lived or spent significant summer time in Florida or New York City, but your descriptions of summer weather sounded surprising to me. I looked up weather data, and Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa all get significantly hotter (4-7 degrees Fahrenheit higher average temperatures in the hottest part of summer), muggier, and cloudier in the summer. Only Miami is consistently windier in the summer than NYC. Is th…

Not op but have lived in Florida and NYC. I suspect the gap partially relates to the "constructed"/human/social aspects, and not the raw weather itself. A NYC subway car without AC when it's 87 degrees outside is worse than 100° in Florida; Florida is a lot more effective AC, pools/lanais, open spaces.

You wrote: "A NYC subway car without AC"

Does that really exist in 2021? (Or even 2001?) I doubt the driver's union would allow it. It would be unsafe.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#277

Post by derefr »

tshaddox wrote: post #223
cletus wrote: post #189

Speaking as someone who now works remotely permanently, this has been... life-changing. So for 10 years I lived in NYC and--don't get me wrong--there are lots of things I liked about NYC but I'm so over the summers and the winters. Also bear in mind that I think NYC is infinitely better for most people to live in than the Bay Area. But I now live in Florida. It's about the 182nd day in a row where it's been 70-80F. S…

I've never lived or spent significant summer time in Florida or New York City, but your descriptions of summer weather sounded surprising to me. I looked up weather data, and Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa all get significantly hotter (4-7 degrees Fahrenheit higher average temperatures in the hottest part of summer), muggier, and cloudier in the summer. Only Miami is consistently windier in the summer than NYC. Is th…

My guess is that a large part of the difference in indoor environments would be humidity + CO2 levels. Florida buildings are designed for a lot more airflow and have more attention paid to up-front HVAC design, so there's less "sick building syndrome" type stuff going on.

In a Florida summer, the outdoors is a swamp, but you don't have to spend much time there. The whole place is built for cars; you can (if you wish) go straight from building A, to your car, to building B. Presuming underground parking, you might never even touch non-air-conditioned air.

In an NYC summer, meanwhile, in many buildings, the indoors is the swamp. (And often their attached yards / alleyways as well, if they're enclosed around by tall buildings.)

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#278

Post by screye »

magneticnorth wrote: post #29
digbert wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Clearly great news for Facebook employees. For some Facebook employees, definitely. Personally, I think I'll be finding a job elsewhere now.

I'm curious to hear why - what do you see as the drawback of more remote coworkers?

I'm in a similar situation, so I guess I can answer. I start in a new role soon and particularly requested a team with no more than 1 day wfh/week.

I work in a applied ML and really, the technical aspects of the jobs are the 'easiest', ie. most well defined. In most cases focus + time will be sufficient for me to produce technical work. However, the real challenges lie at the intersections of models, infra, code, product and users. The goal is rarely is to build the best solution, it's to build the right solution.

Solutions to these can only be found by collaborating with people who own each specific part. Intense whiteboarding, pair programming, brainstorming, etc were the most interesting parts of my job. All of them have been reduced to a shadow of what they were during remote work.

Also, if I'm going to spend 50% of all my waking hours with a group of people, then I better like spending time with them. Being cooped up in a room my myself all day isn't fun at all. (and I have a huge community outside work, but it I don't like waiting for the other 50% to enjoy it)

My coworkers are my good friends and if they weren't then I'd go somewhere else. (not drinking the Koolaid. I have no allegiance to corporate, just my nuclear peer group)

A 'flexible or remote-optional team' is a lie. Remote and in-person are diametrically opposed office cultures. Both require very different cultural traits to flourish. Ones that try to stay on the fence will inevitably converge into one of the two or end up as a complete disaster. ( coordinated 3 days at work, 2 days at home etc can work...but that's just at-office culture with benefits)

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#279

Post by toomuchtodo »

er4hn wrote: post #208
minsc__and__boo wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's worth noting that this doesn't enable a true digital nomad lifestyle if that's what you want. This isn't that hard to circumvent with a mailing address. The real blocker has been pre-covid management not being comfortable with 100% remote.

State taxes are generally not something you want to circumvent. Ps - great baldurs gate 2 ref in your username :)

https://theboatgalley.com/establishing-residency-at-st-brend...

This makes Florida your domicile, so no state income taxes (but, of course, you're paying Federal taxes regardless of where you reside in the world). The mail processor in question caters specifically to cruisers/yachties and RVers. Give the address to work and family, no one knows you're living the digital nomad life unless you share. Get a Schwab or Fidelity checking account for fee free ATM withdrawals globally, and a credit card with no foreign transaction fee.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#280

Post by 55555 »

ribosometronome wrote: post #33
magneticnorth wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was mostly just referring to the fact that team/org/company productivity does not seem reduced compared to pre-pandemic times. As far as I know, no major tech company is dealing with more outages/incidents or slower product launches than they typically saw, unless their business model was directly impacted by spending pattern changes. I think most companies expected lower output from forced-all-remote teams but don…

Wasn't the video game industry fairly impacted by the transition?

Investment banks have also been hurt by this, although many would argue this has been a good thing.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-13/fraud-...

But you can begin to see some limits of remote work. Obviously military units shouldn't be training remotely. The bonding is too important.

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