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Remote startups will win the war for top talent

future.com

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Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#111

Post by danwee »

mbesto wrote: post #83
bearjaws wrote: post #16

I never really understood why people say productivity and socializing is difficult remote. It's difficult because people aren't putting thought into it. At my last big-co job the leadership just kept waiting for 'covid to be over' and not improving our remote work culture. Hybrid models will always struggle and 1/3/1 is going to be probably the best you can do. My company is fully remote, we embraced the GitLab model…

> Hybrid models will always struggle and 1/3/1 is going to be probably the best you can do. I think you should elaborate on why the hybrid model is a struggle, I personally don't see it as one.

For me at least, hybrid (some days remote, some days at the office) makes impossible to live in Antwerp and to work for a company based in Amsterdam. Commute is, at best, 2h one way. Same about working for any other Dutch company that is not based on Antwerp. So, basically hybrid means "back to pre-COVID times" when it comes to the pool of companies I can apply to.

Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#112

Post by wpietri »

bearjaws wrote: post #16

I never really understood why people say productivity and socializing is difficult remote. It's difficult because people aren't putting thought into it. At my last big-co job the leadership just kept waiting for 'covid to be over' and not improving our remote work culture. Hybrid models will always struggle and 1/3/1 is going to be probably the best you can do. My company is fully remote, we embraced the GitLab model…

> I never really understood why people say productivity and socializing is difficult remote.

If you'd like to understand, just go back and reread what you wrote. You described a lot of novel, innovative practices that require people to learn new habits and examine why their mostly subconscious, lifelong social habits aren't working for them anymore. That's hard! Hard enough that I'd guess you're in the top 1% of remote workplaces as far as collaboration goes.

That you've managed to succeed at a small, all-remote place is impressive. But imagine trying to go back to your bigco and switch everybody over. That sounds extremely hard to me.

Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#114

Post by whatever1 »

Remote work is great once a project has been scoped out and responsibilities have been assigned. You get to work on your own terms and be very productive, because let’s face it, modern open space offices are horrible places to get work done.

But, if you are not an entry level employee, your objective is to find work. That means socializing with people in the company to understand where the opportunities lie, collecting subtle clues, show your human side to gain trust. A zoom thumbnail on a scheduled call cannot do any of these.

One last thing. I have not found anything as effective for problem solving as having X people in the same room staring at a whiteboard and scratching their heads at the same time.

Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#115

Post by lm28469 »

jcims wrote: post #98
bearjaws wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We use a service called Deel, but we are US entity and that helps in many cases. Essentially they have companies in most countries and you pay them (deel) directly and then they payout to your staff. This also simplifies benefits for healthcare, taxes, retirement. If you find it helpful, heres my referral code https://deel.com/referrals/Michael-n53jPEZJ

I feel like this will continue to evolve until we get something akin to virtual countries, where I pay fees/taxes into some virtual substrate that manages my access to services regardless of where I am.

> where I pay fees/taxes into some virtual substrate

The thing is that you're supposed to be tax where you live to finance the public infrastructure you use, pension schemes of locals, &c.

I know a few of wantrepreneurs who live abroad, bill under an Estonian "e company" , don't pay taxes locally and on top of that illegally get unemployment benefits from their home country

This trend has to cease and with the new "remote first" mentality I can imagine it won't stop anytime soon

Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#116

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

icare_1er wrote: post #72
bearjaws wrote: post #16

I never really understood why people say productivity and socializing is difficult remote. It's difficult because people aren't putting thought into it. At my last big-co job the leadership just kept waiting for 'covid to be over' and not improving our remote work culture. Hybrid models will always struggle and 1/3/1 is going to be probably the best you can do. My company is fully remote, we embraced the GitLab model…

Have you made good friends amongst your colleagues in your remote company, during the remote-work era ? All the trustworthy people i know from work were people i socialized with in person, at the office, around coffe-breaks, post-work drinks, etc. I don't see something similar happening over Zoom meetings and my guess is that 95% of people are like me in that regards. Now, this may not be a big deal over the short-te…

That may be bad for the company, but I don't see it as being bad for the worker. Less work friends, but less loyalty so it's easier to pack and move on when it's time.

Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#117

Post by postalrat »

seibelj wrote: post #18
vinaypai wrote: post #13

That might be true, but this is probably the beginning of sharply declining developer salaries. If you're going remote, a developer in California is going to be competing with devleopers in Kansas, not to mention overseas. The era of people fresh out of a developer bootcamp getting six figure salaries is all but done.

My company pays SF-payscale salaries no matter where the employee lives. That's how we attract and retain the best talent.

For now.

Re: Remote startups will win the war for top talent

#120

Post by bratbag »

seibelj wrote: post #14

My productivity went at least 10x when the pandemic happened. - No commute - No 1 hour lunch (walking, buying, eating, cleaning up) - Not in an open-desk office where I'm constantly interrupted - Meetings are much more focused and I can hop between meetings quickly - Easy to do chores if necessary during the day and then work extra hours at night to make up - Office politics much reduced, output is easier to measure…

Meanwhile the people who were interrupting you have now had their productivity hit.

The question is, do the two tradeoff as a net positive or a net negative for the company and how does that tradeoff work in more collaborative roles?

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