Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4 • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by dsl » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:36 PM UTC

vinnymac wrote: post #32

From my visits to Google's offices in Manhattan, I don't expect many who reside within the city, to resist this change. People will accept leaving their small city apartments and visiting the vast offices, with a plethora of services available as a welcome alternative after two years. It's those who've moved on from that lifestyle, and may have physically relocated, who will resist this change. They will be inclined…

It is vastly different in the bay area where public transit is a horrible mess and the freeways are all at 300% capacity. A friend who is a Googler is looking at a 30 minute commute to a GBus stop for a 90 minute ride each way. Going to the office is cutting productivity basically in half.

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

#212

Post by spookthesunset » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:36 PM UTC

citizenkeen wrote: post #57

paxys wrote: post #30

I see two reasons to go back to the office: 1. You need a physical space to work from. 2. Your entire team is at the office as well and you can collaborate with them face to face. I imagine 1 is not a concern for most people who have adapted to the situation over the last two years. And 2 requires that most of your team is local and agrees to come in as well, which I can't see being too likely. For me personally goin…

Lot of people saying they don't see the status quo returning in a thread about the status quo returning.

Give it about a year or two and everything will be as it was in 2019…

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

#213

Post by darkwizard42 » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:37 PM UTC

ryanSrich wrote: post #108

gitowiec wrote: post #74

That's good to be back in the office. For me it's only a week to start feeling bad. Loneliness, the same walls I live with family, no colleagues around to talk to. That's not for me. Sometimes I prefer to work from home, because I need to run some errands, from home I have better control. Everybody should have an option, or possibility to work from home some days in a week. But nothing replace morning coffee in the k…

> Everybody should have an option This is actually a major red flag if I'm an employee. There's no half way with remote work. Either everyone, including execs, works remote, or no one does. I've been in hybrid situations and it's complete hell. My suggestion is pick what works best for you, and then find a company that's committed all the way to either one. For me, there's no amount of money that doesn't start with b…

This is why the Google hybrid week seems to strike a good balance. It sets 3 days a week to be in the office and that gets set by your Project Area (Maps, Youtube, etc.). This way, EVERYONE is in the office on say Tu-Th and so work doesn't grind to a halt/get disrupted the same way.

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

#214

Post by berg117 » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:37 PM UTC

brutus1213 wrote: post #189

paxys wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both engineers and managers at big tech companies can get by working 2 hours a day. And remote vs on-site doesn't affect that. This has been true since well before WFH. As for the location-based pay part, I bet none of the people who were furious about getting "adjusted" after moving out of the Bay Area ever complained about their colleagues in Bangalore working the same amount as them and making 1/5 as much.

I get a bit annoyed hearing about the 2 hour a day folks. They are probably forcing their peers or managers to take on more work than is their fair share. I'm in management now .. as an engineer, I most certainly used to work over 8 hours a day (probably 12 hours, counting all the time I spent studying to keep up). Now, in management, the hours have actually gone up .. I now have to worry about things my team is doin…

I get a bit annoyed hearing about the 2 hour a day folks. They are probably forcing their peers or managers to take on more work than is their fair share.

Maybe not. In the corporate world, 90% of work is work that was generated by other work. Some people are really good at not causing work for other people.

Pls don't say FANG (or MANG or whatever). People I know at the senior level work really hard too (from my peers).

They spend a lot of hours but they don't really accomplish that much. The thing about FAANGs is that above the $250k line, it's all politics. If you're any good at the game, you figure out that you'll always do better using political position to take credit for someone else's work than taking the chance of your own labor (how much can one person do?) being appreciated.

Always get a team if you can: it diversifies your apparent contribution to the company.

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

#215

Post by sumedh » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:37 PM UTC

voisin wrote: post #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.

> which has already led to all sorts of social ills.

Isnt that the govt's problem to tackle not a private corp?

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

#216

Post by randomsilence » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:38 PM UTC

asd88 wrote: post #167

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

Microsoft is doing something similar where you can choose hybrid work or fully remote. Personally, I think, with hybrid work, fully remote workers will go back to being second class citizens at those companies if most people choose to go back to the office (even part time).

Which will lead to the remote workers changing companies. If there is no substantial advantage, those companies will become second class companies.

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

#217

Post by ikiris » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:38 PM UTC

googler519524 wrote: post #165

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sucks in the Norcal office but if you're in any of the other offices the max distance is not too bad.

laughs in New York City at getting lost in stairwells of the original 111 8th Ave building or Chelsea market building, and soon (not) going between Chelsea and Hudson Square.

Lol maze building was real

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

#218

Post by ggm » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:38 PM UTC

An entire generation appears unaware of a QDU or delay and its effect on human communication.

If we've re-learned what delay and jitter to tolerate in this last 10 years thats good, but personally I don't like the de-coherence from asymmetric delay with my companions online, and my own in-head foldback PA

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

#219

Post by listenallyall » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:38 PM UTC

Personally, I'm 100% down with a hybrid work week. However, I'd like to see companies introduce "remote weeks", i.e. just like ensuring people have vacation days, the company should enable, perhaps 8 weeks per year of remote/offsite work.

I'd be a much happier worker knowing I had multiple opportunities to visit distant family for more than a long weekend, travel internationally, do some adventures, etc, as long as I logged in and worked. Usually when I'm doing those things anyway I have downtime that I tend to spend on things that are, at least, work-adjacent.

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

#220

Post by KyeRussell » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 11:38 PM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #196

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…

The thing that I find bothersome is wanting to force others to comply with our individual preferences. And it's all sides of everything these days.

This obvious libertarian slant is drawing a really really really long bow. Silicon Valley big tech employees are furthest away from being “forced” to do anything. There are people at Google who are tasked with making calls relating to worker productivity, and evidently this is one of those calls. Where does this ideology end? What if they tell you what language or tooling to use? If you don’t like your employer telling you what to do, employment probably isn’t for you?