Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees • Hacker News Board

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

#341

Post by youeseh » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:41 AM UTC

fishywang wrote: post #333

biztos wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that this is a joke, but — would that be legal in the US? In Germany it definitely would not, at least not without it being specifically allowed by your contract. But maybe in the US, as long as you didn’t have a conflict of interest? Would the amount of total time worked matter? Would doing it in multiple states simultaneously matter?

A typical silicone valley company's contract usually have some clause saying that all your creative work while contracted with the company, even on off hours, belongs to the company. So signing two such contracts with two different companies usually means they both own the code you wrote for both companies, or maybe even trickier legal implications. Of course you can try to get that clause removed during contract neg…

Isn't this illegal in California.. you can't sign your rights away.

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

#342

Post by mandelbrotwurst » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:43 AM UTC

treis wrote: post #194

throwaways885 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a junior engineer, this is how I felt. Before the pandemic, getting help was as easy as sending a ping and rolling my chair over. Now, ironically, it's far harder to get help, as getting into a meeting (even a short, impromptu one) is a significantly bigger deal. I go into a minor state of social anxiety and just struggle to get anything done for a good 10 minutes before a meeting. Mainly because there's far more…

There's a little bit formality with it, but I've also found that "hey, let me record this" is a super power. It makes it a lot less critical that you understand 100% up front and then it's there for reference.

I would tell you no thanks and suggest that we take things a bit more slowly while you take more notes and ask more questions in most situations.

Being constantly on camera without being recorded is already super demanding.

I don’t doubt that this helps you, but it’s not without a cost to those on the other end.

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

#343

Post by rootusrootus » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:44 AM UTC

tills13 wrote: post #325

johannes1813 wrote: post #165

I've been back in my company's office in person (medium-sized tech company) for the last week with a small subset of employees before we all go back, and I've become pretty convinced that these hybrid models will not go well. Even while wearing masks and social distancing, I feel far more connected to the others that work in the office, and whether it's fair or not, personal connection and trust play a huge role in c…

TBH your personal experience has no bearing on mine. I can't help but feel like people with _opinions_ like yours are going to ruin it for the rest of us who are orders of magnitude more productive at home. "But I can't socialize"... I don't care. I would rather not work in tech anymore than return to an office full time.

> _opinions_ like yours are going to ruin it for the rest of us

I guess we will find out in the next couple years who just has a terrible _opinion_ and who is 'the rest of us.' You may not like how that turns out.

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

#344

Post by bradlys » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:44 AM UTC

dreyfan wrote: post #75

I currently have 10 fully remote engineering jobs. The bar is so low, oversight is non-existent, and everyone is so forgiving for under performance I can coast about 4-8 weeks before a given job fires me. Currently on a $1.5M run-rate for comp this year. And the interviewing process is so much faster today, companies are desperate, it takes me 2-3hrs of total effort to land a new job with thousands to chose from.

10 remote is a bit excessive.

You only need like 3 to hit $1.5m and that’s far more manageable.

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

#345

Post by cletus » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:46 AM UTC

nkozyra wrote: post #270

cletus wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Miami. I'm not sure it's hit 90F hit but it's definitely hit 85-88F. So close. I'm not sure how much hotter it'll get but I'm all about it still. I've thought about why this is. Not commuting I think is a big part of it. So the weather doesn't have to bother me if I don't want it to. Like I literally don't have to go anywhere. I think the trade winds are a big factor too. Hot, humid and still is a special kind of hel…

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but you said: > It's about the 182nd day in a row where it's been 70-80F. And this is simply untrue (according to Weather.com and Weather Underground). I mention this because there's this big push (I'm sure you've noticed) among tech/VCs/Miami govt to paint a very rosy picture of Miami as an alternative to Silicon Valley. Every day this week is expected to be 86-89. And to folks no…

Argumentative? No. Overly literal? Possibly. :)

There's obviously some creative license even hyperbole here. The point is that in the tropics (which I'd count Miami as in), the weather (in the dry season at least) is very stable. Just looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, literally every day it's a low of mid 70s and a high of upper 80s. Some of those days have a chance of thunderstorms.

In January through march it did dip down as low as the 50s on one occasion but generally speaking it was mid-70s almost every day.

Also, Orlando is a different beast to Miami.

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

#346

Post by wtvanhest » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:49 AM UTC

crossroadsguy wrote: post #304

wtvanhest wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Naples. If you have only been there 6 months, you haven’t lived there during the summer yet. That said, I actually love Florida’s climate. The problem with Florida for me is the lack of outdoor activities, especially in the summer except for the beach and boat. I personally prefer the bay areas hiking, access to park, playgrounds etc, but if you prefer beach, Florida is amazing and you adjust quickly to…

Do these places have similar weather? I mean they’re both on the coast but we are talking about two different continents here.

I’m talking about Naples, Florida. I should have specified.

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

#347

Post by bradlys » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:52 AM UTC

anyfoo wrote: post #320

steveBK123 wrote: post #307

It cuts both ways. I love WFH and would love to do it indefinitely. Used to do it 1-2 days/week at prior job. My wife and I are both ICs and introverts, and happy to have the space/privacy/quiet. However, my firm especially is really taking advantage of it. They are getting far more work out of us while acting like they are doing us a favor by not dragging us back yet. Meeting load is up 25-50%, but story points per…

"Unlimited" vacation time is so bizarre to me, it almost seems like a scam to me. Obviously it's not legally binding, otherwise a malicious employee could not work a single day and legally not face repercussions. But in Germany at least, vacation days are a matter of law. The number of days per year is part of the contract, and there is a strict minimum of 24 days (at least in Bavaria). It is as far as I know not leg…

Unlimited vacation time can be better than what some companies offer as standard. In the US, two weeks (or none) is the norm. 3 weeks is decent. 4 weeks is considered exceptional. (You might even get some holidays too) The standard amount in the US basically just sucks and there’s almost no employer offering European levels of time off as a standard.

Unlimited is where you suddenly can hit 5+ weeks if you get the right manager. But - again - depends on your manager and your relationship with them.

I’ve personally never had much of an issue taking 5+ weeks every year at my places of employment but I use whatever position I have to the best of my abilities. (And sometimes I get 6+ weeks in a year, very uncommon)

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

#348

Post by cletus » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:52 AM UTC

minsc__and__boo wrote: post #202

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…

>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.

This is a work policy. These are things I tend to take pretty seriously (YMMV). So, if the policy doesn't allow that that's the standard I'm going to live by rather than playing the game of "will I get caught?"

It's also why I've never taken a single document or line of source code from any company I've worked at.

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

#349

Post by bradlys » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:54 AM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #134

shadowtree wrote: post #122

Just watch until many realize that WFH leads to people moving within the greater US and what timezone differences truly mean to your work-life balance. Living in pacific time zone and dealing with Europe, East Coast and Asia just suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

Most places only allow local timezones, even european jobs.

Doesn’t stop the mandatory cross team meetings with the dudes in Hyderabad at 3am.

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

#350

Post by gravypod » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 3:58 AM UTC

shadowtree wrote: post #122

Just watch until many realize that WFH leads to people moving within the greater US and what timezone differences truly mean to your work-life balance. Living in pacific time zone and dealing with Europe, East Coast and Asia just suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

An alternative perspective: I work in EST and my coworkers are in Munich. It takes planning but it works out fine. We picked meeting times for critical things that line up correctly between us all, do minimal meetings, etc. I've also been on boarding to an extremely large and complex company at this point and so far I am CME.

At my previous company we also had people on the west coast and east coast.

The main thing: be flexible and reasonable. Does standup have to happen at 8AM? Will the world end of it's at noon? Probably not.