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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

#551

Post by nimchimpsky »

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,…

No post body was provided.

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

#552

Post by nu11ptr »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #488
buzzert wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is now a preventable disease. It wasn't at the start of the pandemic, before vaccines.

Vaccines have been widely available and used for about a year though. What I'm asking is what has changed so recently as to make April 2022 okay to mandate a return to work while November 2021 for example was not.

Mid-terms are getting close and people are sick of COVID. Either that, or science changes as you cross the border between red and blue states. Nobody wants to admit it, but company policies directly reflect the chosen party of it's leaders/HR/location. They will follow whatever the politicians do.

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

#553

Post by morgante »

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…

I personally am really happy to go back to the office, but people who have physically relocated have an easy option to simply apply for permanent remote work. It's really not a big argument that needs to be made—the process is very simple.

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

#554

Post by 3np »

hunter-gatherer wrote: post #537
idontwantthis wrote: post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why people get so upset about slack messages. Do you get berated by your boss if you don't reply immediately? At my company, we send messages when we need help, but the expectation is that the reply comes at the convenience of the person being asked.

> I don't understand why people get so upset about slack messages. Do you get berated by your boss if you don't reply immediately? Sort of, yeah.

Sorry to hear that, it sounds stressful.

That’s not an issue of Slack, IM, or remote work, though.

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

#556

Post by cercatrova »

echelon wrote: post #465
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 h…

Yes, see these threads on HN about part time work. Startups can definitely hire such people, I personally know Gumroad does this.

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Part+time

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

#557

Post by AdamJMarsh »

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…

Except you're also affecting the individual productivity of others.

The tap on the shoulder is the most annoying thing working on site. There's no respect for the urgent & critical tasks.

You would want others to spend 2 hours commuting, wasting time on parking, food & fuel just to be able to physically speak to them.

What a waste of our current technological advantages.

Why bother working in tech, when you don't use it to better yourself and others?

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

#558

Post by electriclizard »

ceras wrote: post #521
electriclizard wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It leads to me wanting to kill myself more often and needing to invest more time in therapy, commutes, and recovery. And over half the engineers I've spoken with, who drop their facade, feel the same. Being stuck in a chair all day with people watching you is not a good life. Being forced to adhere to arbitrary social convention instead of speaking sincerely and expressing yourself is not a good life. Choosing to lay…

Some people feel exactly the opposite and are happier working in an office than remotely - even if they believe remote work is more productive! Iirc it's very roughly like 20-30% want full remote, 50-60% want some type of hybrid (where there's a wide spectrum of hybrid models, from rarely-in-office to usually-in-office), and 10-20% prefer always or almost-always in office. The ideal situation IMO is to have all optio…

>I sincerely hope we soon enter a future where everyone has options that best suit them.

I'd like that too.

I am curious, why do you like going into the office? Does it give you something that you need, or does being remote too long make you uncomfortable because of something your mind is doing to you, which you have to escape?

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

#559

Post by heavyset_go »

erosenbe0 wrote: post #318
jahewson wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think such an office environment leads to lower productivity. I too present no evidence for this claim. Personally I think I’m right! We should do it my way.

There are no firm answers. Consider health effects. Some of my colleagues struggled to maintain their health without their daily walks to the train, or just overworked themselves adapting to remote meetings and tools. Others are physically and mentally much healthier after substituting extra sleep, exercise, or preparation of healthy meals for the commute time.

There's absolutely nothing stopping those people from choosing to go on daily walks.

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

#560

Post by drivers99 »

bckr wrote: post #477
cebert wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does going back to the office help with that?

How does going back to the office help with structure? Here's an example from my life: I'm having a terrible time getting myself to the gym. Two options come to mind to fix this: 1) Use discipline (very hard) and shift my mindset so that going to the gym is not optional (also hard). 2) Apply a structure to my day to where I leave the house by default (not that hard) and have to go to the gym before going home (not ne…

Premack’s principle. Putting something you are less likely to do on its own (going to the gym, X%) before something that you are more likely (basically 100% for going home at some point) to do. Smart.
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