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Why is remote work seen as a gift?

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Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#321

Post by ericmay »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #311
ericmay wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the definition of where one lives? For example what if you wanted the NYC salary and you rented out a bunk bed for $50/month and traveled around the country while working remote? Cities definitely don’t have the resources to track you down and I’m not sure employers especially larger ones have any mechanisms in place to keep track. I’m not advocating for this just surprised it’s not more well known. Though I s…

Whether something is illegal is different from whether it's easy to enforce. It's hard to say how likely they are to enforce this, but you're definitely taking a risk by pretending to live somewhere. What makes it more problematic is that it's not just tax offices that would be interested in finding out. The company you work at may also get in trouble with the tax office as they pay employment taxes too, so they are…

Legality is different than enforcement, but the two aren't totally separate.

For example, it's de facto not illegal to drive 5mph over the speed limit on the highway. No police officer will pull you over for that unless they have some other prior reason. So in that sense, lack of enforcement has made the practice legal.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#322

Post by fastball »

lampshades wrote: post #314

I wish I had an office to go to. I never leave my house anymore and it is becoming very very old. Before everyone says, “oh, go get some hobbies and live your life, work isn’t here for your social life,” understand that I have young children and no free time. I am nearing middle age in a city I moved to for work. I don’t have the base level of social interaction most people inherit by birth or school and no time to b…

What about a co-working space?

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#323

Post by ajsnigrutin »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #291
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This depends on the worker... if we're talking about a job that 'anyone' can do, sure... worker is replaced within a week, and the worker might need more than a week to find a new job. But a professional in a small team, usually witha bus factor of 1? This means a hard time finding a new employee + months of training, while the old worker probably found a new job before they even quit at the first one.

But if the current employee turned around and asked for double their wage their current employer would say no - they have leverage in that they can walk away and it would cause a lot of hardship for the company in the short term, but it's amazing how little the company is willing to part with to ensure that that employee stays.

Some companies care, and people don't leave because of that. Some don't care, and people leave. Nobody writes a blogpost saying: "i got a raise so I didn't quit", because noone reads that... a blog post saying "company has huge profits, only offers small raise, so I quit and find a better job" is a whole different thing.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#324

Post by gedy »

lbriner wrote: post #163

I wish people would stop posting articles that imply that remote working is somehow objectively better when it has already been made more than clear that it doesn't work well for everyone. I really miss the contact from the office but since most people don't go in any more, it is not worth much of my time to travel there. Yes, we employ some people fully remotely, which is fine because that's what we knew at the time…

> I work really effectively at home", it doesn't mean that there are people who are not taking multiple trips to the shops, to school etc. since they can

If you don't pay hourly, who cares how people manage their salaried time? You should measure by outcomes whether people are sitting there all day in the office too.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#326

Post by LaserToy »

ericmay wrote: post #276
jsty wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s plenty of virtual office / forwarding address services, but claiming you live at one when you don’t for a pay gain risks (1) fraud against your employer; and (2) tax fraud (if eg in a different city / state / country).

What’s the definition of where one lives? For example what if you wanted the NYC salary and you rented out a bunk bed for $50/month and traveled around the country while working remote? Cities definitely don’t have the resources to track you down and I’m not sure employers especially larger ones have any mechanisms in place to keep track. I’m not advocating for this just surprised it’s not more well known. Though I s…

In US, it is relatively easy to commit fraud. The question is: what happens if you get caught. Is it a slap on your wrist or a catastrophically failure (termination, prison time)

You can, for example, get employed at 10 companies and then outsource all the work (someone got caught doing it and it was in the news).

If you want to cheat, you can, but you probably should not be discussing it on hacker news.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#327

Post by horns4lyfe »

lbriner wrote: post #163

I wish people would stop posting articles that imply that remote working is somehow objectively better when it has already been made more than clear that it doesn't work well for everyone. I really miss the contact from the office but since most people don't go in any more, it is not worth much of my time to travel there. Yes, we employ some people fully remotely, which is fine because that's what we knew at the time…

Why do you cut time going to shops or whatever out of work time, but not commute times? I have a feeling in a lot of cases the two balance out. And one of those things doesn’t make people miserable and obese. You also make the claim that your teams remote work has been less productive and in the same breath that there’s no good way to quantify it. It’s entirely possible your gut Feeling is just wrong.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#328

Post by regularfry »

MrPatan wrote: post #193
regularfry wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People go hungry and homeless. This is visible today. This is literally why one function of the state is to act as a non-market-participant so it can provide a safety net. There are some things markets can't and shouldn't try to do.

Yes! I can't wait for food production and distribution to be put in the hands of government officials. Access to food is going to be equalized so hard! The market has been taking care of it for too long, we're getting too fat, we need a few decades of food controlled by the police to get back into shape.

Take it up with Adam Smith.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#329

Post by horns4lyfe »

5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #47

> But crucially, how much time I spend in the office is my choice . this is it really, wish we can move past this adversarial phase of remote vs office and just let people choose what works for them, as individuals and where reasonably accomodative as teams. nothing can suck the life out of a team or individual like multi level mgmt bureaucracy involving themselves in every little decision.

Definitely. I wish I could communicate the misery I feel from being told I have to be in a specific place all day every day. I really enjoy my work, but being forced to be somewhere all day is soul crushing.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#330

Post by HDThoreaun »

MrGilbert wrote: post #25

I find it kind of amusing (and annoying) that employers like to play the salaray game as it fits their needs. I got interviewed a few times, and some stated that they cannot pay the salary I was asking, because i don't live in a high-density, high-cost-for-living area, while others argued that they have to respect their local salaries, which are below what I would expect in my area. I'm yet to meet the employer that…

> It should be about the value I bring to the company

Your salary has never been even related to the value you bring the company. That is just the absolute maximum they're willing to pay. Your salary is the lowest your company thinks they can pay to get a suitable employee. They pay remote workers less because there are remote workers willing to work for less, simple as that.

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