These days, every time the elites do something in unison, I assume there is an evil agenda behind it. I'm usually proven right.
Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
811–820 of 1001 posts
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#812Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get the need to have uninterrupted time, but if others are depending on you to get their job done, it's kinda dickish to complain about people being "allowed to disturb you".
When people don't havr access to you they quickly realize that never actually depended on you to get the job done.
I’m not sure most juniors starting their first job during the pandemic would feel that way. Imagine being in that situation and all your colleagues are never logged in to Slack, don’t reply to your emails until the end of the day, expect to never be disturbed, don’t attend any meetings..
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#813I 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…
It's not about the tech-companies, it's about their employees: many of them simply don't want to come back to the office! What if many of them switch to companies that allow fully remote working? Google will lose out on a lot of talent and will eventually suffer in the quality of its products. I personally believe there's no difference in the volume of work produced by people working remotely, providing they don't ha…
I do wonder what the critical percentage of people refusing to return to the office is for companies to offer remote as standard? I quit my old job over a return to the office policy and fully intend to never return because I deeply despise commuting, open offices, the interruption-driven culture of in-person work, and urban existence in general. I realise I'm probably a bit of an extremist in this respect though, I'd love to see a breakdown of what employees attitudes are globally.
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#814I 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…
> 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
That's bonkers. When people message you on slack you can prioritize and respond without breaking pace and train of productive thought. In person, if someome is talking to you and I also prefer to chat up, I will delay the conversation indefinetly or book a time wasting meeting that clutters your schedule. If you need someone else to comment and they're on a meeting you might schedule another meeting instead of asking them questions they can answer while listening in on the current meeting.
I could put in a good effort to be lazy and unproductive at home and I would still be more productive overall than in the office. I disliked wfh after covid for a while because I was so busy all the time. No more chatting with extroverts and walking to/from meeting rooms half of the work day (at best!) and I use to leave my pc off or at the office before, now I constantly work before and after shifts, on weekends,etc...
It makes me feel like my job is at risk because I don't have enough time to show desired output/kpi at the office. At least now I overwork and have better assurances of stability. They pay me well enough to where I don't worry about taken advantage of.
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#815Earlier quoted context omitted.
100% agree on this. I've attended the weddings of multiple friends from my first job. I'm still in touch with 4-5 people from my second job. I haven't spoken to anyone from my team at Google since the day I left. I had good, cordial relationships with all of them, but it was also incredibly impersonal. I don't even recall learning anything about anyone's spouse, for instance.
Is it possible that in general we have more attachment with our colleagues in our earlier jobs than the later ones? I remember when I got my first job I was extremely social and would try to make friends with anyone. But now that I'm on my nth job I don't feel the need to socialize as much and would prefer to put in my work hours and move on with my life.
This is somewhat true. Definitely at the start of your career you are more gregarious.
I don't think it's a good thing though. Middle aged men especially, I think, generally could do with a wider circle of acquaintances.
I try to keep in touch with a lot of my ex coworkers every 6 months.
Some of them are actually very keen to catch up, years after the job.
I'm friends with people who I was not very friendly with on the job 18 months after I've left the place, after sending them a text message saying "how's it going."
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#816Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. My team has been able to hire people from all across the country, gaining access to talent that we normally would not have been able to reach. Because my entire company has gone fully remote, if someone on the team has to take a trip overseas, they can choose to…
To extend this, more useable time with family. For many people with younger children (and therefore early evening bedtimes), having or not having a commute is not a difference of an hour or two of your day - it's the difference between spending time with your family during the week versus not at all. I've heard this from many friends (and some family) across different industries - hardly any have wanted to stick thei…
> and therefore early evening bedtimes
Haha, you say. But my 3 year old doesn’t sleep before 10 :P
That said, being able to pick him up and drop him off at daycare without having to rush is really nice.
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#817Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. My team has been able to hire people from all across the country, gaining access to talent that we normally would not have been able to reach. Because my entire company has gone fully remote, if someone on the team has to take a trip overseas, they can choose to…
Agreed. I don’t if it’s for everyone, but i love it. No commute, healthier food, access to a bed for a quick nap, and a nice office. 10/10 would do again.
As soon as they give me a 12sqm private office with a view, I’ll be happy to go back to the office.
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#818I 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…
Some people also don't consider their day job to be their life mission and don't care if an issue is resolved in 5 minutes or 30 minutes if it means saving 1 hour of commute and spending more time with their family / hobbies / life in general.
This productivity fetishisation is so weird
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#819Earlier quoted context omitted.
People should have an option to go fully remote, not be forced to do X number of days because reasons. This is the problem that remote work solves. It gives you some sense of autonomy so that you don't feel like a completely subservient slave. Also you said objectively it has not been proven but your subjective opinion is that it's better to be in office. What I will counter is that remote is almost certainly better…
> People should have an option to go fully remote, not be forced to do X number of days because reasons. This.. this is exactly what Google did - everyone had the option to go fully remote.
Huh? From the article it seems that this was something you had to request and get approval for (with 15% denied).
Somewhere else I remember reading this would also cut your salary by 10%.
Re: Google mandates workers back to Silicon Valley, other offices from April 4
#820I 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…
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