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Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

reuters.com

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Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#41

Post by standardUser »

jdlyga wrote: post #22

I work for a large company, and my team has changed so much since before covid. Before Covid: 5 people in the same New York office, 1 remote in Europe Today: 2 in New York, 2 in California, 1 in Ohio, 1 in Europe There is no single office to return to. Though we could meet up with other coworkers on different teams and projects. But in essence we've become a remote team. Has anyone else's teams become geographically…

Absolutely. I'm at a mid-size startup based in SF and we went from a few remote engineers outside of the country to over half our team remote internationally and many of our longest-tenured US-based engineers moving to places like Oregon, Texas and Colorado. I moved to NYC. There will be no significant engineering presence in SF when our office finally reopens.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#42

Post by TranquilMarmot »

gsich wrote: post #6
c7DJTLrn wrote: post #3

Do Googlers mind working in the office much? They get plenty of free meals/snacks/beverages, great equipment, and great salary allowing them to live close to the office and pay for childcare if needed. I can't see the rest of the industry moving in the direction of returning to the office, because they don't have these things.

Commute sucks. Anything above 30min for one way is unbearable.

Pre-pandemic, my commute was walking 20 minutes and then taking a train for 10 minutes. I loved it so much!

Now I just have a dog that I walk for a few hours every day instead haha.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#43

Post by onychomys »

I work for an extremely famous hospital in a small city in Minnesota, and we've gone 100% remote forever in large part because then the hospital doesn't have to pay for heating/lighting/internet/etc for all of the buildings that used to be full of us. Eventually they'll probably sell the offices entirely. I'm not sure why Google thinks it's economically worth it to have people come back in, I'd imagine the savings must be even more immense for them than it is for us.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#44

Post by snark42 »

c7DJTLrn wrote: post #25
nix0n wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside of Silicon Valley, it is possible to live close to the office without a FAANG level salary. Beverages and snacks also are not that rare.

Well, you'd have to be outside of most big cities. Even on a tech salary, living near an office in central London isn't affordable. Not unless you're flat sharing which is basically mutually exclusive with having a family.

It's probably completely do-able in the US except in the top 20 or so COL locations - https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/region_rankings_curren...

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#45

Post by yodsanklai »

c7DJTLrn wrote: post #3

Do Googlers mind working in the office much? They get plenty of free meals/snacks/beverages, great equipment, and great salary allowing them to live close to the office and pay for childcare if needed. I can't see the rest of the industry moving in the direction of returning to the office, because they don't have these things.

If you want my opinion, open space sucks and I can buy my own snacks. After one day at the office, I feel my head is about to explode. Constant noise, bright artificial lights...

The only good thing is that I can have informal meetings with my colleagues, talk around the white board and so on... this is very valuable.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#46

Post by [deleted] »

paxys wrote: post #27
jefb wrote: post #5

Mandates? "Since last June, Google has approved nearly 14,000 employees globally to transfer to a new location or go fully remote, Casey said. About 15% of applications have been denied, he added." "Employees not prepared to return April 4 also can seek a remote-work extension, Google said."

A mandate which allows temporary exceptions is still a mandate.

[deleted]

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#47

Post by qbasic_forever »

pinephoneguy wrote: post #17
c7DJTLrn wrote: post #3

Do Googlers mind working in the office much? They get plenty of free meals/snacks/beverages, great equipment, and great salary allowing them to live close to the office and pay for childcare if needed. I can't see the rest of the industry moving in the direction of returning to the office, because they don't have these things.

Housing in SF is crazy expensive, commuting takes ages (and we've shown it's a complete waste) and a lot of people probably don't even want to live in California. Forget snacks, the amount of money you save by not living there and not commuting could pay for an in house chef.

If the last 3 years are any indicator, living in SF and the west coast in general means putting up with 2-3 months of choking, dangerous wild fire smoke every year too. It was a novelty for one summer but is slowly going to poison and cause serious long term harm the more it continues. I don't think people realize how unlivable the west coast is quickly becoming.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#48

Post by JacobThreeThree »

jdlyga wrote: post #22

I work for a large company, and my team has changed so much since before covid. Before Covid: 5 people in the same New York office, 1 remote in Europe Today: 2 in New York, 2 in California, 1 in Ohio, 1 in Europe There is no single office to return to. Though we could meet up with other coworkers on different teams and projects. But in essence we've become a remote team. Has anyone else's teams become geographically…

Yes, something similar happened with my team, although there was a consideration to allow some work to be remote before Covid, once it started that sealed the deal.

It is strange to walk around an office and see a bunch of workstations, desks and PC's that are all setup to do work in person, but only the PC is being used remotely and the only other people in the building are a security guard or janitor.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#49

Post by ASinclair »

itsangaris wrote: post #29
bubblicious wrote: post #14

this is only for those who have opted to not be fully remote. those folks have a reserved physical desk / office space at which they will be required to go 3 days per week starting apr 4th. They may switch to fully remote but cannot keep a dedicated physical spot if they do so. source: googler

does going remote impact one's salary?

Yes, it's based on where you work. Though you can work remote from the same city as your current office and have no pay difference.

Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4

#50

Post by alistairSH »

jdlyga wrote: post #22

I work for a large company, and my team has changed so much since before covid. Before Covid: 5 people in the same New York office, 1 remote in Europe Today: 2 in New York, 2 in California, 1 in Ohio, 1 in Europe There is no single office to return to. Though we could meet up with other coworkers on different teams and projects. But in essence we've become a remote team. Has anyone else's teams become geographically…

Mine was before COVID. Still is now. I doubt I’ll return to the office unless mandated. Either way, I’m in Zoom all day. Going to office doesn’t mean face-to-face work for me. I might go in once a week or so just for lunch with friends.
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