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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

#81

Post by e4e78a06 »

yodsanklai wrote: post #45
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.

It feels very different when you have to pay for your own snacks. I definitely substantially moderated my consumption during remote work (and it's not like the amount they were spending on snacks gets paid to you either). It definitely improved my eating habits but I also miss free Diet Coke and protein shakes.

If I was getting paid the snack amount in cash then I'd probably be ok but as is free breakfast+lunch+snacks saves me on the order of $500/mo. And as someone who is pretty mediocre at cooking the quality of food is better as well.

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

#82

Post by googlerx »

dylan604 wrote: post #18
gsich wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I guess that's a matter of perspective. I used to drive 45mins one way under light traffic conditions. This was a choice made of keeping a decent paying job and living somewhere with ranked school system. Sometimes, sacrifices are made when thinking of others.

Yeah traffic (or lack thereof) makes a massive difference. 45 min in light traffic... sure. 45 min each way, every day, in heavy, stop and go traffic is soul crushing.

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

#83

Post by colordrops »

floren wrote: post #71

A few months back I was talking to a manager at [huge established software company]. He was making the case that obviously anyone who has moved away from the Bay Area should have their pay cut. He personally has not been in the office for a single day since spring 2020, but since he telecommutes from Berkeley rather than Omaha, he sees no reason to cut his own pay. Later that same day I spoke to someone who's managin…

Despite not making any sense, cost of living adjustments based on your location seem to be the trend that we are heading toward. If you contribute the same work, it seems that it shouldn't matter where you are located, but companies are sociopathic by nature and will reduce costs anywhere they can get away with it. This opens the door to the next step of having salaries match the lowest common denominator - if you can get good enough devs at a quarter of the cost, the salary will be that rate no matter where you live.

Regarding not being able to tell whether someone is contributing if they aren't in person - this manager is just plain dumb, as they aren't measuring the right criteria.

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

#84

Post by librish »

I think anyone who's claiming that remote work has been "proven" to be better or worse is wrong. There are some studies but they use estimations and proxies, carrying the same flaws as doing performance reviews based on lines of code.

We've proven that the big tech companies can go fully remote and not completely crash and burn, that's about it. Some people love the lack of commute and less semi-forced hanging out, some people hate onboarding on a new company as a remote person and so on and so on.

I personally prefer a company where everyone's on site. I want to be able to quickly resolve any issues in person, not over voice call or slack, and I think that an environment where someone can tap me on the shoulder when they need help leads to overall higher productivity, even if individual productivity suffers temporarily.

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

#85

Post by ramesh31 »

dmitrygr wrote: post #55

A gift to Meta recruiters, brought to you by Sundar.

>A gift to Meta recruiters, brought to you by Sundar.

I considered interviewing for Meta recently. Then I realized that these are the people who have access to my conversations with my girlfriend when I was 15 years old, and a complete chronological geotagged history of my exact whereabouts for the last 10 years.

No thanks.

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

#86

Post by shadowgovt »

qntty wrote: post #12
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."

I guess like most companies, return to office means show your hand see if you have enough power to convince them otherwise.

And as far as Google is concerned, that's always been true.

I knew someone who worked and lived in a houseboat. She showed up to the office for meetings, but her job was sales so she didn't have much use for a desk anyway.

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

#87

Post by BillSaysThis »

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…

All of our Eng was in the Portland (OR) office pre-pandemic but now people have started spreading. Seattle, Bend (which at 3+ hours is not commutable to Portland), and I even moved to Hawaii. No going back for us.

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

#88

Post by googlerx »

not2b wrote: post #10
gsich wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's why I will continue to work from home. My old office is about 1/2 mile from Google HQ and pre-Covid it was 45-50 minutes each way unless I stayed in the office quite late.

1/2 mile is like a 10 minute walk.

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

#89

Post by msoad »

librish wrote: post #84

I think anyone who's claiming that remote work has been "proven" to be better or worse is wrong. There are some studies but they use estimations and proxies, carrying the same flaws as doing performance reviews based on lines of code. We've proven that the big tech companies can go fully remote and not completely crash and burn, that's about it. Some people love the lack of commute and less semi-forced hanging out, s…

Have you ever walked between buildings to catch a meeting? I remember this from my Google days and I hated it. Ironically at some point they were cool with video calling in from another building!!

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

#90

Post by api »

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.

Outside the Bay Area you could buy your own perks that are much better than what Google provides and still afford a place to live that's orders of magnitude nicer.
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