Workers quitting over return-to-office policies • Hacker News Board

Re: Workers quitting over return-to-office policies

#191

Post by ChicagoDave » Tue, May 31, 2022, 10:29 PM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #122

ChicagoDave wrote: post #54

This will evolve. I think 100% remote is great for some people (small children, busy schedules, health issues) but many people would also benefit from being with their teams. The change I'd like to see is some sort of geographically centric pod office where it's not mandatory, but a team lead could say, "We need two days at Pod X to run through A, B, C initiatives." No one is required to arbitrarily attend a physical…

Any in-person gatherings are red flags. For a party, to hear the ceo speak or for a team building meeting.

A company has every right to build its culture, so I'd disagree with this. It's really the "you must be at a desk in our office for 8 hours just because" part that most people object to.

Re: Workers quitting over return-to-office policies

#192

Post by db48x » Tue, May 31, 2022, 11:36 PM UTC

elric wrote: post #187

db48x wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t generally pay people extra to commute either, but certainly do whichever is cheaper for you. The one time I had a long commute I was paying upwards of $200 a month for the train. Gas, maintenance, repairs, depreciation and so on for a car would have been even more. Add in the drudgery of the daily commute and the cost to me was not small.

My experience certainly isn't universal, but pretty much every knowledge worker in Belgium either has a company car or train pass.

The cost of which comes out of their salary either way.

Re: Workers quitting over return-to-office policies

#193

Post by elric » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 12:15 PM UTC

db48x wrote: post #192

elric wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience certainly isn't universal, but pretty much every knowledge worker in Belgium either has a company car or train pass.

The cost of which comes out of their salary either way.

Not really. For whatever reason, company cars (and trains, but at least those make sense) are taxed way less than salaries. There's no way in hell I'd fork up 3000EUR/year to get a train pass if $work wasn't paying for it.

Re: Workers quitting over return-to-office policies

#194

Post by db48x » Wed, Jun 01, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

elric wrote: post #193

db48x wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of which comes out of their salary either way.

Not really. For whatever reason, company cars (and trains, but at least those make sense) are taxed way less than salaries. There's no way in hell I'd fork up 3000EUR/year to get a train pass if $work wasn't paying for it.

It seems like your government has chosen one specific way for you to live, and not given you much financial flexibility to live any other way. Know that it is not the same everywhere. Where I live there are no government–imposed financial incentives to encourage people to commute. (A lot of _employers_ encourage commuting, but not all of them do).