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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

#151

Post by mstibbard »

ryankicks wrote: post #145
mstibbard wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Las…

Thanks Ryan, I'd definitely be keen to see what insights you glean from that data, and I am also interested to hear which other YC startups hire global-remotely as I'll add them to my site :)

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

#152

Post by vgeek »

MattGaiser wrote: post #72
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.

I am curious why nobody tries to build a workforce for non urgent projects out of this group. I see charities scrimping and saving to pay for highly skilled people that they really do not need on a full time basis and must scratch my head and wonder why. You could pay 60,000 for a not great dev. Or you could pay 30,000 for a part time dev and could easily land someone who regularly earns 150K.

I've pondered the same exact thing. I've had jobs where my superiors could see my immediate impact and it was still impossible to take a reduced salary to have a 3/4 day week-- "it wouldn't be fair to everyone else" or "we'd like to have you here every day" even after my disclosing that there weren't really 40 hours of productive tasks I could do each week after automating most of my day to day. I've tried both with companies offering lower salaries with positions I'm wildly overqualified for and roles where they seemed interested but couldn't match my prior salary-- neither has worked across multiple attempts. Negotiating 1-2 days/week remote was easier than less hours for less money.

From discussing with coworkers from former jobs, the people that I worked with who most want to return to office (& force their reports back, too) are those who focused on politics over productivity. Some people work better in office, some better remote. Why not actually evaluate on a case by case basis or worker's preference instead of only management's preference?

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

#153

Post by PraetorianGourd »

999900000999 wrote: post #107
avidphantasm wrote: post #98

I get why remote work is popular, and for some tasks/jobs I think it can work well. However, I think in-person interaction is critical for breaking new ground, starting new initiatives, etc. So far, nothing replaces being in the same room hashing out ideas on the whiteboard, etc.

Why ? Working remote , never being late to a meeting , never having to commute, vastly outweighs all that. I have an odd feeling many people like in person work so they can socialize. We have bars and concerts for that. We somehow went from COVID will kill us all if we dare step into an office to shut up and get back to work. Stop wasting money on office space. Let people live wherever ( assuming your in the same cou…

I think it’s going to be “I can…” versus “I am” or “I do”. Lots of people will _think_ “I’ll just up and move anywhere!” but very few actually will. And in my experience, having the freedom but electing not to exercise it is more depressing then not having the option. Sometimes the dream is better than the reality

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

#154

Post by tata71 »

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…

> every other function functions better in person.

Every other "function" is a person who hasn't bothered to learn to use a damn computer.....

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

#155

Post by rr808 »

andy_ppp wrote: post #19

Are there any startups attempting to sort out the tax situation when working from different places. It would involve a lot of figuring out with governments but as things stand I think being a digital nomad is going to be done semi illegally. I would definitely sign up and pay my fair share to the correct jurisdiction.

Its not just tax its employment law too. If you're an employee in Europe you have a lot of protection, you can't just be fired, you need to follow a lot of laws. What US startup wants to employ someone in France with those conditions?

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

#157

Post by azemetre »

rr808 wrote: post #156
anonporridge wrote: post #2

Cool. Now start offering more part time roles.

I love the idea of part time but realistically you have to spend loads of time outside regular hours just to keep up to date.

I have a hard time believing this for most software roles (which is just basic web development, scaling issues aside).

I can easily envision myself working part time on a react application or creating a spring app. Not exactly ground breaking stuff here.

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

#158

Post by KerrAvon »

avidphantasm wrote: post #98

I get why remote work is popular, and for some tasks/jobs I think it can work well. However, I think in-person interaction is critical for breaking new ground, starting new initiatives, etc. So far, nothing replaces being in the same room hashing out ideas on the whiteboard, etc.

Agreed it’s impossible to hash out new ideas over videoconferencing. It’s so slow and grainy! Who can actually break new ground without other people nattering in the same room? Not everyone has even a 56k modem! Sharing germs and viruses is an absolute requirement. And if I can’t have a chance meeting with you at a wate rcooler to discuss what happened on Jay Leno last night, how can I can possibly start new initiatives?

I mean, I get why in-office work is unpopular, but for some tasks/jobs I think it can work well. So far, if you need to set up furniture or infect with other humans with your viruses and assorted bacteria and sometimes exchanging feces on our hands because we don’t wash them properly, nothing replaces being in the same room.

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

#160

Post by ryankicks »

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…

Ryan from YC here.

There's still a market for in-person jobs/workers, and people are willing to relocate as they did pre-pandemic. It might be significantly smaller, but if it matters enough on both sides to be in-person, I think it's a factor to consider when growing a team/picking a job.

While I don't have hard numbers, I know a few founders who are seed-stage and need to hire only 2-3 people; they want to be in an office (safely) in their early days. (Who knows what will happen as they grow.) Likewise, many job seekers I talk to want to be in-person and working alongside colleagues (safely) because they miss in-person interactions.

To your last point, I don't know if any angel investors in YC startups take into consideration a startups' willingness/unwillingness to be remote as a signal for whether they should invest. My guess is that there are better signals (technical founder, past experience, progress already made) that are more important deciding factors.

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