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70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

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Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#141

Post by willcipriano »

askonomm wrote: post #24
echelon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Live and move anywhere. - Set your own hours. - Four day work weeks. - Part time roles. - Work for both FANGMA and a startup [1] - Sabbaticals. [1] (Startup could be flexible so there's no overlap in meetings/oncall. Also makes it super easy to switch jobs while still getting paid from one of the two roles.)

I just realized how spoiled us dev folk are. If only my grandmother would know the cushy life I get to live while still complaining about it she would slap me.

All you have to do is spend a decade locked indoors staring at a screen, then it's easy street.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#142

Post by shagie »

echelon wrote: post #12
anonporridge wrote: post #2

Cool. Now start offering more part time roles.

- Live and move anywhere. - Set your own hours. - Four day work weeks. - Part time roles. - Work for both FANGMA and a startup [1] - Sabbaticals. [1] (Startup could be flexible so there's no overlap in meetings/oncall. Also makes it super easy to switch jobs while still getting paid from one of the two roles.)

Live and work anywhere has tax code challenges - especially when that expands beyond the country that someone is in.

I've mentioned part time roles in another comment and really don't see that being feasible.

Working for two companies simultaneously gets into some tricky IP and non-compete situations (that are even enforceable in California - see Techno Lite, Inc. v. Emcod, LLC).

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#143

Post by runako »

colordrops wrote: post #104
anonporridge wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd get access to a fairly large pool of the "almost wealthy" who have enough wealth saved and invested that it will grow to a nice sum over the decades, but still need some income to avoid touching it over that period. i.e. those in leanFIRE, baristaFIRE, or coastFIRE positions.

You've nailed it. I can't afford my mortgage and kids school if I take a startup gig unless I start burning my investments. It's way too risky, especially since the investments are doing well. I totally would love to work for a startup, even do longer hours, but no one is willing to make offers for people in my class. I'd even be willing to burn some of my current investment if the startup gave a serious equity chunk…

> Startups are way too greedy with equity.

And this has gotten worse. During the .com explosion, the war for talent saw younger engineers (<= 5 years of experience) were getting 1%-3% in companies that had already received VC funding, while also getting raises from other firms. Compared to the grants on offer today, the risk/reward is completely inverted.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#144

Post by voakbasda »

moises_silva wrote: post #113
tikhonj wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep on saying this but it's just not obviously true. > People haven’t been paying for offices for the last ten years for no reason. Companies do so many suboptimal things that this argument isn't credible. We've seen how many organizations can barely limp through a "digital transformation", so why should we expect them to be operating anywhere near optimally along other axes? They could just as easily be payi…

> People keep on saying this but it's just not obviously true. How is it obviously not true? I mean. I love remote work. I started working remotely way before it was mainstream and I'm advocate for it. I've managed remote teams for many years too. Even so, I can't claim there's no performance hit. I just think the performance hit is small enough that in most cases the benefits for people and businesses outweigh it.

If there is a performance hit for your remote teams, then I suggest you look to your own teams and employees for the root cause.

I have been in plenty of organizations that actively cripple their remote workers' performance, and others where I have been my most productive. Remote work productivity depends directly on the culture surrounding it.

If you believe a remote team will be less productive, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, set clear expectations that your team can excel, and then ensure the culture enables them to realize that potential.

Sure, this philosophy can go only so far, but -- without that foundation -- the results will only fall short of your expectations.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#145

Post by ryankicks »

mstibbard wrote: post #59
keithnz wrote: post #14

Be interesting to know for the "remotes" how remote is remote. Some are localish remotes, some are world wide remotes, and some somewhere in-between. One of the problems seems to be ( and I'm sure some start up will try to solve this) is employing people worldwide has a lot of legal issues with regards to local employment laws and payment issues.

I think most "remotes" are within time zone-proximity. The employment regulation burden is also massive for going truly global-remote. Australia and NZ for example have strong employment laws AND do not overlap time zone-wise with most of the rest of the world. We have some great talent here but it's often too hard to make it work. Disclaimer: I made https://rafo.com.au to collate remote jobs that work for Aussies &…

Ryan here from YC.

There are certainly companies looking for talent that is only time-zone friendly. Having run an engineering team co-located in SF & Beijing, I know how hard it is myself to be working odd hours for standups, product syncs, etc.

That said, there are other companies that are hiring truly global. I know OneSignal is one such YC startup, having hired somebody during the pandemic in the Netherlands.

Last year alone, YC startups hired across over 40 countries. I can dig into more data re: how many were US-based companies hiring abroad -- that's a good distinction.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#146

Post by nso95 »

toomanyrichies wrote: post #122

I see a ton of comments from people on both sides of the issue, saying that either a) "I can't stand remote work" or b) "I'll only ever work remote from now on". This seems to imply that employees at non-remote-friendly companies will gradually leave to work at remote-friendly ones, and vice-versa. If that's true, over time we can expect company cultures to start becoming more homogenous (and therefore more strident)…

Or, you know, just let your employees choose

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#147

Post by smt88 »

71a54xd wrote: post #29
colordrops wrote: post #16

Startups are going to either need to start paying a lot more or giving more serious equity stakes if they want to hire anyone who isn't straight out of college or already wealthy.

It's surprisingly hard to consistently find startups willing to pay over $140k - some offers are low key insulting. However, if I cared less about having any semblance of a social life I'd leave new york immediately. $200k+ full remote, I'd never go back.

It's funny you mention staying in New York to have a social life. I found it to be the worst place I've lived in the US for socializing. People are mistrustful of strangers, extremely busy, and often separated by absurd travel times (it can easily take 20 min to travel 1 mile without a car).

For those reasons, I wasn't able to make new friends outside of work, couldn't see my friends on weekdays, and generally felt lonely all the time.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#148

Post by ryankicks »

digbert wrote: post #67

70% is surprisingly low to me. I'm currently looking for startup roles, and it's genuinely difficult to find any that don't offer remote, to the point that I'm starting to seriously consider a career change.

There are some startups I work with that are still hiring in-person only. And conversely, I've spoken with a number of candidates who are (not surprisingly) sick of remote work -- and open to relocating. That market still exists, and we'll see how it plays out in the next couple of years.

At workatastartup.com, you can filter by "Not remote" jobs, but it's probably not as intuitive as it could be. We need to revamp some of our search filters accordingly. But until we have it, feel free to email me (ryan AT ycombinator DOT com) and I'll do what I can to help you find ones that might be a good fit.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#149

Post by indymike »

nostrebored wrote: post #53
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #40

I honestly don't understand how any startup can even hope to compete if they don't offer remote options. Hiring is incredibly tight right now, and I'm sure glad my options are "anybody within ~2 timezones" over basically only people within a 15 mile radius of my office because traffic is horrendous in my city. Not to mention, how have companies not realized how to build robust remote company cultures over the past 2…

Because everyone who seriously invests money in businesses knows that there’s a performance hit you take as a remote company. People haven’t been paying for offices for the last ten years for no reason. Engineering is one segment where this penalty seems to be lower. However, engineers seem to be unable to understand that every other function functions better in person. The tradeoff you’re hoping to make is that the…

> The tradeoff you’re hoping to make is that the increase in talent pool outweighs the decrease in productivity.

No, the trade-off is being able to hire the best people possible instead of the best people who will work in the office. Honestly, the office has been dying since 4G and high speed internet got everywhere. Offices should be optional - there if you need it, there for meetings, team work sessions and presentations. We don't have to work like it's 1998 anymore.

Re: 70% of startups offer remote work options as hiring heats up, YC data shows

#150

Post by jdauriemma »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #89
nostrebored wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because everyone who seriously invests money in businesses knows that there’s a performance hit you take as a remote company. People haven’t been paying for offices for the last ten years for no reason. Engineering is one segment where this penalty seems to be lower. However, engineers seem to be unable to understand that every other function functions better in person. The tradeoff you’re hoping to make is that the…

There’s also the mechanical money aspect behind it, if you pay bay area money to someone who lives in Idaho Falls, at some point they’ll be like “well my house is paid off my retirement money is full and life costs nothing here and I already live here, why would I work here 60 hours a week when I could enjoy life?”. Doesn’t happen the same with your bay area employees.

For starters, consider creating work environments where people aren't working 60 hours a week.
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