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Google employees who work from home could lose money

reuters.com

491–500 of 699 posts

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Urs is Google employee #8. He is so rich I doubt he is compensated in any way that's meaningful to him today. He probably only works to have a seat at the table and a say in how the future of technology is built.

> He is so rich I doubt he is compensated in any way that's meaningful to him today. Yet they still pay him a ton (executive comp is public). Weird.

To keep him from having a seat at a different table.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transport options available to me living in mid-sized European city: - Tram - Train - Electric bicycle hire - Electric moped hire - Bicycle hire - Foot - Taxi - Bus - Own bicycle / ebike / electric scooter / moped - Aeroplane - Own car (if you can afford ~€40k to buy a parking space) - Ferry Transport options available in American suburbs: - Own car It seems to me that most Americans are already living under severe r…

I'm in an American suburb. Transport options available to me: - Lightrail - Train (Amtrack station downtown, accessible from lightrail) - Bus (w/bike rack, bus stop 100ft from my front door) - Electric bicycle hire - Electric scooter hire - Foot (nearest grocery is 1.2mi, nearest restaurants are 0.8mi) - Taxi - Own bicycle (bike trail from neighborhood to the office park where I work) - Aeroplane (lightrail goes to o…

That sounds great, why aren't there more places like that in the US or why don't I hear about them? Do you find you have to use your car often?

(Although living 2km away from a supermarket is an alien concept to me. I have three within a hundred metres.)

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#493
post #348
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a trade. The worker just loses.

> It's not a trade. The worker just loses. How so? Money (pay decrease) for time (no commuting = 10 hours of your life back every week) seems like a pretty classic trade.

If you're already compensated for the commute then it's a different story.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#494
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gitlab implements this compensation model openly(to the point where there is a calculator for it!) - I don't remember how well it was received when it was first announced, but looks like Google is applying a similar idea.

I don’t think the calculator is public. It used to be and last time I tried it the results were terrible for my area I guess because there just aren’t any other technologists here so nothing to compare to - but that doesn’t say anything about me or how much I’m worth! Also when you looked in the data file you could see little pockets of higher paying areas - I guess if they can’t recruit you they create a little high…

My sense from looking at it a couple of times was that there was more and more "exception handling" over time, primarily to handle relatively high CoL places, e.g. nice college towns, in generally cheap rural locales.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#495
post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the higher you climb in management the more strategic your role -should- be. Long time horizons, collecting enough data to make organizational decisions, set priorities and direction, etc. The problem is too many upper managers think their role should be tactical. They want frequent status reports to know if their long term vision is going to be met, and then any area it doesn't match up, rather than modify the vi…

Most work happens despite the managers - not because of them. The overzealous workaholic bees can be safely expected to perform heroics to get things done, ad astra per aspera. For a manager - it's a safe bet. Only rarely that gambit doesn't work, the sacrifice ritual is performed, and the manager gets a new, even better gig elsewhere.

Most work happens despite the managers because most managers are bad managers.

I've had my manager change out above me, and the difference has been night and day. The good ones gave me a defined goal, then stayed out of my way, yes, but they also listened when I raised concerns, and brought me answers and solutions, and provided cover when I needed it. They made my job easier. The bad ones made my job harder.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Honda gets about 20mpg. My BMW about 25mpg. Maybe I'm the exception that proves the rule, but I seriously doubt 30mpg is remotely close to average (for office workers) in the US. Edit - The Ford F-150 is the best selling "car" in the US by a long shot. That isn't all fleet sales - a significant number of normal people own trucks for one reason or another (myself included - Honda Ridgeline).

Practically every ~10yo or newer sedan, wagon and "wagon pretending to be a crossover" you see is going to get nearly 30mpg (or more). You need a heck of a lot of 10-15mpg vehicles to drag the fleet average down to 22. Most white collar employees who own trucks aren't commuting in them and even then there's more people commuting in 40+mpg subcompacts and hybrids so it should more than balance out. Look at a high clas…

I look in high class parking garages around me, and easily 1/3 of the cars are giant pickup trucks. Around here, tons of people will regularly buy a giant cab truck with a 6ft bed they'll mostly use to commute to an office job.

Welcome to Texas.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#497
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2-hour commute? I'll take the pay cut anytime, like is too short... (and maybe start looking for another job, easier to do with all that "extra" time)

Depends on the commute mode. It sounds like these are people in expensive urban areas, so they probably have transit access. So if they’re commuting by train or bus the morning commute can be spent working and the evening commute streaming TV shows or scrolling through social media.

Is this supposed to be an argument in favour of the 2 hour commute? Because that still sounds like a miserable waste of time to me. I would take the pay cut, look for a new job, or move closer to work. No job in the world is worth putting up with that kind of a commute to me.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#498

Companies were never paying based on value provided. They pay market rate which, until recently, was artificially limited to a few expensive markets. With remote, these companies are now able to do what every other large labor driven industry has done and lower their costs by finding labor in cheaper markets.

> Companies were never paying based on value provided. They pay market rate Trying to negotiate salary based on value provided is one of the biggest misconceptions I see online and with in-person mentoring groups. Compensation is not about value provided. It’s only about market rate and convincing the person to stay at the company. I encounter a lot of people, especially juniors, who are disgruntled because they thin…

> Compensation is not about value provided. It’s only about market rate and convincing the person to stay at the company.

I don't think reasonable people would disagree with this statement about compensation. That being said, I don't believe it says much.

"Only about market rate" allows for tautological reasoning in that the market rate is just whatever you end up getting paid.

A stricter definition of market rate as "you get paid what people like you get paid" doesn't seem to say much either: when you get a promotion, did you suddenly start producing more for your employer? Or did they suddenly realize you produced more for them?

As most pricing goes, so does employee pay: you're paid the salary to which you agree. You can increase your salary by 1. threatening to quit your current employer unless pay rises or by 2. convincing some other employer to pay you more.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#499
Being remote puts you in a broader labor market. This move will lower EVERYONE's salaries in the long run. If big tech companies decide it doesn't impact performance too bad, they want this.

I also work for a FAANG remotely with a rare skillset and an autoimmune condition, so this had impacted me less than it will others. For my health and my lifestyle, the pay cut is easily worth it.

Re: Google employees who work from home could lose money

#500
post #446
post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Assuming usage of cars. Leave the US and generally public transportation is a thing used by most people. The trains/trams/buses still travel the same routes and times as before-pandemic times. Across the US and presumably the world mass transit reduced service in response to reduced ridership. If WFH becomes more common that will definitely cover more areas as schedules very much are based on demand. Ex: https://ne…

And then people stop using it as much and, in many cases, drive instead because transit becomes less attractive.

Most people I know avoid using cramped rush hour transit when they can. So overall more steady state operation is likely to make public transit more appealing. Even if they cut back from a train every 8 minutes to one every 15 during rush hour.
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