Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting story, but why in Mexico?
Because that's where it happened
That feels like quite a disingenuous answer.
The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
321–330 of 559 posts
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#322I don't think there is anything else more illogical in modern society than waking up in building A, hopping in a car and fighting traffic for an hour to get to building B just to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours (perhaps with a few minimally productive meetings here and there), then commute back to building A 8 hours later. Building B sits empty for 16 hours a day while Building A sits empty for 10 with both be…
it's also a cultural thing. US commute is particularly bad, I work from home and been doing it on and off for the past 20 years. My commute has never been longer than 20 minutes total. I now live 5 minutes walk away from my office, I'm not going, but if I had to I would walk there and have a very nice breakfast in some bar on the road there. One thing that's always overlooked is how much WFH is selecting people who a…
> WFH is selecting people who already have a tendency to stay home and not socialize much at work.
Doesn't engineering in general select for these personality traits?
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#323I don't think there is anything else more illogical in modern society than waking up in building A, hopping in a car and fighting traffic for an hour to get to building B just to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours (perhaps with a few minimally productive meetings here and there), then commute back to building A 8 hours later. Building B sits empty for 16 hours a day while Building A sits empty for 10 with both be…
I was appalled to find our office lease was $20,000 a month. We could hire two FTEs for the price of that office, and we are not even in a premium space. To your point about efficiency: I don't believe our office produces 2 FTE's worth of additional productivity across the whole org. Leadership thinks it does, but assuming we acquire decent talent, that would be a net 10% increase in engineering. I don't believe the…
You're making the assumption that everybody in the office prefers working from home.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#324I don't think there is anything else more illogical in modern society than waking up in building A, hopping in a car and fighting traffic for an hour to get to building B just to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours (perhaps with a few minimally productive meetings here and there), then commute back to building A 8 hours later. Building B sits empty for 16 hours a day while Building A sits empty for 10 with both be…
Please tell me you don't heat/cool your house 24/7. Other than that I can't agree with you more.
That is a glib response that sounds great, but it is wrong! If you have good insulation it can at best save very little energy. If you have bad insulation it can save a lot, but the solution is fix your insulation not play with the HVAC controls.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cities existed before oil. A city without cars can actually be a massive improvement
>Cities existed before oil. A city without cars can actually be a massive improvement True but cities required domestication of the horse. There were literally horse shit all over the roads and the occasional dead horse that was abandoned. The answer isn't subways or monorails neither. The answer may be robotaxis. I am very optimistic that this could solve a large degree of the issues.
If you were to replace all inbound/outbound subway connection of Manhattan with bridges and car traffic you would need 49 bridges the size of Manhattan bridge as a replacement.
Cars are very useful to go wherever you want, but are literally the worst for volume.
Similarly to how trucks are necessary to move stuff around but they cannot replace train freight/air planes/container ships.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#326I don't think there is anything else more illogical in modern society than waking up in building A, hopping in a car and fighting traffic for an hour to get to building B just to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours (perhaps with a few minimally productive meetings here and there), then commute back to building A 8 hours later. Building B sits empty for 16 hours a day while Building A sits empty for 10 with both be…
Please tell me you don't heat/cool your house 24/7. Other than that I can't agree with you more.
In addition to what others have said about potential house damage, many people also have pets which need adequate heating/cooling.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#327My personal theory is that hybrid work is deliberately made to be chaotic and disastrous, so that when management wants people back 5 days a week; there will be much less grumbling.
If that is the case for a given business than it would only make sense for everyone to microwave sardines for lunch (near managements offices until wfh is reinstated.)
Joking of course.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#328> a lot of people who have returned to their offices for some or all of the week have found that they’re the only ones there, or others are staying isolated in their offices, and all communication still happens over email, Slack, or Zoom. As a result, they’re spending time commuting to and from the office and dealing with all the hassles of in-person work but without any of the promised payoff. This is hardly surpris…
Yep. And the management of these companies are dabbing their misty eyes as they grieve over all the "impromptu" "serendipitous" "water cooler" innovation sessions that have been lost.
You can just see the visuals in their minds. Stock images of their lowly, loyal drones clad in business casual, smiling, scurrying about with manila folders in hand, shaking hands. Not a single human being that they actually know or have observed in the workplace.
These people wouldn't be caught dead near a humble IC, and yet they have the gall to tell us how best to get our work done.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It is not so easy. Changing jobs cannot be always the answer. This. Everything you said is true about most of Europe, and even more so outside of major tech hubs. Companies call the shots and employees have to follow if they want to stay employed, because there are no good alternatives to go to, when all companies just act the same and pay the same. And most companies here don't give a damn about what their employee…
So, going with the Mexican dog analogy: the pain of working from the office is still less than the other scenario. If I had two offers, and one was 20% less compensation plus WFH and the other +20% but working from office ONCE a day, I'd go for the WFH one. Of course everybody's factors are different.
> Of course everybody's factors are different.
I'm glad you acknowledge it; with rising cost of living, housing prices, and (in my case) medical expenses (the part not covered by insurance, like physical therapy; we're still trying to get a diagnosis so it will be covered), I can't afford a 20% pay cut.
Even pre-pandemic, I rejected an offer from a company literally across the street from where I live, because their offer was >30% lower than what I was earning at the time. I just flat out told them I wouldn't be able to afford to live there - and I live in some of the cheapest houses in this area.
Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
To say it with the words of my first boss that stuck with me: "Love it, change it or leave it. No amount of complaining will ever do anything else than paint you as a naysayer." Was a hard pill to swallow, but my own experience proved me again and again he was spot on.
I'm starting to doubt this advice. I'm a "change it" sort of personality by nature - a reformer. When faced with these 3 options, I've chosen "change it" many times. And more often than not, I've found myself in a political crossfire, with new unwelcome knowledge of the various forces (typically some combination of self interest, ego, and turf-guarding) that are responsible for the thing I'm trying to change. My curr…
"I'm a "change it" sort of personality by nature - a reformer."
One of the things I've learned is that authority is a real thing. If you don't have the authority to change something, don't try. You will fail, and it will do nothing but cost you. I've jousted with this many times, and it was a failure every time. (More technical type stuff, but the same holds for this sort of thing too.)
Authority doesn't have to be given from on high; there is also some distributed authority that arises from the unofficial de facto org chart that every organization has. I've managed to push some things through with that (and relevant amounts of consensus) when I was more careful to ensure I had the authority.
But if you don't have at least some authority, you will fail.
This comment is is, not ought. You are welcome to feel about it however you like. But when it comes time to determine your own actions, you should work in the space of is and not ought.
That doesn't mean the only option is to give up. One may attempt to acquire the authority. This can either be by direct appeal, or in some cases, through the long-term acquisition of authority called "respect". One may attempt to convince an existing authority to help with whatever your issue is. Though in this specific case if the problem is specifically fighting existing authority that may not help. There are other options.
But it is a total wishful thinking myth that if you're just smart enough and good enough and just take charge, by golly, you can get anything done! In fact, after a while, when you see someone and on day 3 you see them charging around just trying to change things, you start to see someone who isn't going to be there long.
(Now, I actually like fresh perspectives on my team and don't squash people if they have new ideas, but at the same time, I ask them to take a couple of weeks and be sure they fully understand the changes they are proposing before we consider their suggestions. The end result is better suggestions, and we have taken many of them. This is why I'm specific about it being "day 3"; on day 3, you may know enough to have identified a problem, but you don't know the solution yet.)
But if you can't acquire some authority somehow, your options are reduced to deal with it or leave it. There is no "just bull through and change things anyhow". The entire political structure built into our very genes will not permit it. You're fighting not just your current organization but millions of years of evolution. You will not win.