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

reuters.com

121–130 of 1001 posts

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

#121

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

Meh. It is unclear to me that so many people will want to work fully remote when their company offers a (real) office to work in 3 days a week. The mental benefits of in-person working can be significant.

The negative externalities of working in an office are pretty major too.

Time and cost of commuting unpaid Cost of work wardrobe Requirement to wake earlier to make it in on time for people who aren't morning types

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

#122
Why do so many assume that there are only 3 options:

- 100% remote.

- 100% office.

- Some rigid hybrid scheme of n days per week in the office every week where n = 3 +/-1.

Why not "mainly remote but be in the office when it makes sense to be in the office"? This is how my team has been operating since last July - remote first but every 1-2 months we'll do a week onsite somewhere. Now we're getting pressure to start being in the office a few days per week every week starting later this month (and since we're dispersed that means going to the office to be on video calls all day).

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

#123
My problem with remote work is that it exacerbates a divide between blue and white collar workers that breeds further resentment, which has already led to all sorts of social ills. I’m not sure the individual benefits outweigh the collective rage.

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

#124
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…

Location is one factor in cost of living, but there are a lot of others too: the type of car you drive (if you drive a car), the quality of food you buy/coffee you drink/restaurants you frequent, the number of kids you have, the schools they go to, etc.

Should companies adjust compensation according to these variables too, or just city?

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

#125
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 ca…

> cost of living adjustments based on your location seem to be the trend that we are heading toward.

I disagree. Buyers of labor (or buyers of anything) will continue doing what they always have, offer the least amount of money that they think sellers of labor will accept.

“Cost of living adjustment” is just fluffy language to hide the underlying bet by the buyer of labor that the seller of labor residing in a particular area will not be able to find a buyer offering a higher price.

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

#126
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…

Do you literally want to be tapped on the shoulder? Because this seems to be an extremely common figure of speech, but literally, I would not enjoy that.

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

#127

Why do so many assume that there are only 3 options: - 100% remote. - 100% office. - Some rigid hybrid scheme of n days per week in the office every week where n = 3 +/-1. Why not "mainly remote but be in the office when it makes sense to be in the office"? This is how my team has been operating since last July - remote first but every 1-2 months we'll do a week onsite somewhere. Now we're getting pressure to start b…

Yeah a lot of places are doing this. My old company calls it "ad hoc" office attendance.

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

#129
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…

Location is one factor in cost of living, but there are a lot of others too: the type of car you drive (if you drive a car), the quality of food you buy/coffee you drink/restaurants you frequent, the number of kids you have, the schools they go to, etc. Should companies adjust compensation according to these variables too, or just city?

No because everything you listed is a personal choice.

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

#130
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Is it better to work at Google that has all your emails and search history?

Better than pornhub if you apply with the same email address.
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