Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–470 of 1001 posts

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

#461

Post by tapas73 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #262
skybrian wrote: post #201

I've worked at a startup where everyone being there was essential in how we worked. (We were all pair programming.) It was great. It beats code reviews any day. I learned a lot. But when I was at Google, we would schedule VC meetings with people in a different part of campus just to avoid the walk. Also, I worked on teams that had people worked out in many offices, mostly not Mountain View. I was surrounded by Google…

> I think Google having a company-wide policy on this is nuts. Teams vary a lot. They should probably be left to make their own decisions. This seems rational until you are actually responsible for managing a large organization. First off, the article itself states that Google is giving a lot of flexibility ("Employees not prepared to return April 4 also can seek a remote-work extension, Google said. Since last June,…

I wonder how much of this consistency is for the sake of feeling in control. (i.e. I hypothesise, that it is only about emotions of the boss)

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

#462

Post by mberning »

JamesUtah07 wrote: post #442
jmacd wrote: post #358

I once flew in to the Bay Area from Europe for several meetings, but the most important one was with a team at Google. We were trying to finalize a deal and they really needed to be on board. I arrived, checked in and was shown to a meeting room. A few minutes after the meeting was supposed to start the receptionist came scurrying in and connected me to the meeting via that cube looking meeting machine they had in ev…

When I worked as contractor I was flown out to an office in London. They paid for all the tickets and hotels for two weeks. They said it was critical to have us in the office. After the first 1 hour introduction meeting I never saw them again. Massive waste of money on their end but I had a great time experiencing a new country and even took a weekend trip to Brussels which was awesome.

When we had an acquisition of a major European company we had multiple people from our team flying to Paris, Budapest, and some city in Switzerland multiple times per month for the better part of a year. What a time to be alive.

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

#463

Post by [deleted] »

whartung wrote: post #154
DebtDeflation wrote: post #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 b…

> Why not "mainly remote but be in the office when it makes sense to be in the office"? Depends on the space utilization. The company paying for real estate that "might" be used isn't very efficient. If they have a temporary work area system, it's different. Then they can down scale their real estate footprint and accommodate ad hoc visitors, by reservation, or the occasional "group meeting". But if they're dedicatin…

[deleted]

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

#464

Post by BlargMcLarg »

passivate wrote: post #429
Forgeties79 wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most work related policies, I think this falls squarely under “it depends.” I’m an in-house video producer for a tech start up. I absolutely do not need to be in the office most days, let alone every day.

But is a job just an exchange of labor for payment? I view it as so much more. Even if we look at it from a job perspective, its also an opportunity to build personal connections between team members; "I owe you one" - goes a long way. Yes you can absolutely build these personal connections online, and it may be easier for introverted people, but I would say for most people a handshake or a smile passing down the hal…

So don't replicate it online. Having a different venue beyond a job is also an option.

That's the real part highlighted by the pandemic: people are extremely reliant on their jobs for social interaction. With all the problems that come with it. We're practically raised to be dependent on jobs for way too many things.

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

#465

Post by echelon »

ignu wrote: post #432

I'd prefer to work an environment where I can't get interrupted synchronously by someone wanting their problem resolved that moment. Also, one thing with those in person interactions is you have no artifact of the interaction. Slack or tickets are great for documenting how decisions are made. But ultimately, I have no desire to waste an extra 5 to 10 hours of my life just driving back and forth to sit at a different…

It's way more than just interruptions, travel, etc.

I recently found /r/overemployed [1] on VC Twitter, and a lot of folks are using this setup to work two (or more) jobs. They know that they'll only need to dedicate 4 hours a day to any given job and as long as they can schedule non-overlapping meetings, they can get away with it.

It's got me thinking though - this might be an opportunity for startups to knowingly hire less than full time employed engineering staff at a reduced comp rate with low stress / low pressure work. Say, 10-20 hours a week, choose your own hours. You might be able to grab a few MANGA/FAANG folks and get them to work on your project instead of their "110% time" pet project at the giantcorp. It might be an operational advantage.

Has anyone looked into this?

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed ; the lingo is J2 = "job two", J3, etc.

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

#467

Post by kbos87 »

listenallyall wrote: post #247
kbos87 wrote: post #110

I work for a large tech company based on the east coast. My partner works for another large tech company. We are both mid-level managers at companies that seem to be taking a pretty dramatically different approach. My company: - Started with a strong in-office culture - Communicated to managers that all employees now have a choice between being fully remote, hybrid, or in-office; there’s never a mandate to be in pers…

These two companies sound the same... Your company allows remote, hybrid or fulltime in-office. Partner's company allows hybrid (3 days minimum), fulltime (people going above the minimum) or "transitioned to remote".

My company allows whatever you want. Partners company allows hybrid, not full remote unless that was something you negotiated at the start or got them to change. Those are two very different things.

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

#468

Post by kbos87 »

thenipper wrote: post #342
kbos87 wrote: post #110

I work for a large tech company based on the east coast. My partner works for another large tech company. We are both mid-level managers at companies that seem to be taking a pretty dramatically different approach. My company: - Started with a strong in-office culture - Communicated to managers that all employees now have a choice between being fully remote, hybrid, or in-office; there’s never a mandate to be in pers…

Is the second one wayfair? It echoes what all my friends there are saying.

It isn’t, but I’ve heard the same thing about Wayfair.

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

#469

Post by fasteddie »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #443
ignu wrote: post #432

I'd prefer to work an environment where I can't get interrupted synchronously by someone wanting their problem resolved that moment. Also, one thing with those in person interactions is you have no artifact of the interaction. Slack or tickets are great for documenting how decisions are made. But ultimately, I have no desire to waste an extra 5 to 10 hours of my life just driving back and forth to sit at a different…

> I'd prefer to work an environment where I can't get interrupted synchronously by someone wanting their problem resolved that moment. FWIW, I found synchronous interruptions to be more of a problem when remote. Too many people used Slack messages or video calls for everything because it was only a click away, as opposed to having to get up and walk over to someone’s desk > Also, one thing with those in person intera…

Especially once you get big enough to require a retention policy and have to delete your years of knowledge repository! Better off documenting separately from the start.

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

#470

Post by Sebb767 »

bseidensticker wrote: post #456
vl wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony, of course, that working conditions at Google , of all places, are truly atrocious. For years our desks were in hallways (KIR-C, KIR-D). When I left big G, there were desks literally in staircases (KIR-D). I have no idea how they passed fire inspections.

I worked at Google in KIR for the past 5 years. You calling the working conditions "atrocious" is hilarious. This is why people call Googlers entitled.

The OP is talking about tech people, obviously. I don't think we need to discuss that a table in a stair case is still awesome compared to working in a coal mine. But these conditions would be borderline even for a small company on the countryside.

Disclaimer: Just going from your two comments, never saw Google's offices.

Post reply on HN