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Why is remote work seen as a gift?

cdoyle.me

541–550 of 564 posts

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#541
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- You can easily steal code - if you were working on a company laptop with USB device protection (can't connect drives to transfer without approval) and heavy website moderation (can't send code to yourself), leaking code would prove way more difficult. Compare that to just copy+paste on your personal computer. (ofc it's possible to steal from company laptops too, but you'll leave a very visible trail). - You're a se…

I've only really worked at 2 different companies. Both had none of the mentioned protections. One was a windows without real AD, and the other was a MacBook I setup myself. I never even heard of USB protection there like. I really understand where you are coming from, but that's definitely not the standard I have witnessed so far.

That's really interesting to hear, I assumed wrongfully that most places have similar policies in regards to devices (from my experience, and my peers').

Maybe where I'm working we're more harsh than usual:D because we've got the full package - company laptop, transfering anything work related to personal PC is a no go, at home we must use VPN with 2FA, can't connect unapproved USB devices (including mice, keyboards, phone charging, anything), heavy website moderation, and heavy user-based access moderation for anything, and the company laptops are 100% tracked - you have no privacy on it. Even personal phones have to follow some security measures to keep Slack and authentication app (screen sleep <5min, screen lock is a must, and Slack is password protected).

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it defies belief that the highest-paid CEOs bring so much value to their company that it covers their salaries and other compensation. They are, to me, a clear indication that compensation rates are only loosely correlated to value. There is some correlation, don't get me wrong, but it looks like people are generally undervalued at the low end of the compensation spectrum and overvalued at the high end.

I think what you’ve described is the standard train track large company. For a smaller roller coaster company, I disagree.

Yes. I'm talking broad strokes. The overpaid CEO thing is primarily an effect in major corporations.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#544
post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Global inequality, yes. I'm talking about inequality within the developed nations—specifically, the US (I believe it also affects the UK; I don't feel qualified to talk about such effects beyond that, due to lack of information). As for what's happening with our politics...if you can't see that the current situation is wildly different than it was 40, 20, or even 10 years ago, then I'm sorry, but you have not been pa…

People always like to complain that times are getting worse.

I mean, yes, this is true, but it doesn't follow that times never actually get worse.

This is a case where, at least in certain respects, times are provably getting worse than they were before.

If politics are too fuzzy and nebulous for you, look at generational economics: I don't recall the precise figures off the top of my head, but the baby boomers are still holding wealth vastly disproportionate to their share of the demographics, and younger generations have vastly less income and wealth than they did at the same time in their lives, while over the same period, prices of many important things—like homes, health care, and higher education—have all risen much faster than the rate of inflation. The kind of house that someone working minimum wage could have afforded in 1960, they'd now need a white-collar job (probably requiring a college degree) and several years of savings to buy.

You can't just handwave all of that away as "eh, people have complained about times getting worse since the Ancient Greeks".

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It surprises me that the biggest knock on HN against people who prefer the office generally boils down to "get a life." Honestly, it's pretty insulting. And I've never seen someone comment, "I'm pro-office because I have no social life." So why is that the prevailing sentiment? To me it's more like those in favor of remote work find people who prefer office work very threatening and really look to knock them down a p…

> And I've never seen someone comment, "I'm pro-office because I have no social life." It’s not that surprising because it’s difficult to admit to oneself.

It’s also difficult to admit to oneself that one is just insulting others because one dislikes the others’ opinions and has no evidence to back up one’s insult.

Just one’s observations though.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it a false dichotomy? People are either allowed to stay home or not. I don't wanna be forced to go in so other people can feel good about me being there.

Why don't we ask people what their preferences are and organise teams accordingly? People who prefer remote can work with others remotely, while those who prefer more time in the office could work with others who'd prefer that. Ok not all teams could be reorganised, but I expect in reality a lot could be shuffled around.

So why did you object to my statement that giving people the choice is better for both parties? You’re suggesting the same thing.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#547
post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think so. Transaction costs for employee are small - several months of lost pay (before finding new employer), which would be mostly covered by severance pay or unemployment insurance anyway. Transaction costs for employer depends, they generally pay for lost productivity during training-in period and lost institutional knowledge in case of high-knowledge workers.

> Transaction costs for employee are small Must be nice being wealthy. Most people can barely go a single month without a paycheck. > severance pay or unemployment insurance Lol. In the UK, severance pay is one week per year of service, i.e. nothing. Unemployment insurance typically covers only specific costs, like mortgages, and can be significantly expensive. And this is quite good compared to what happens almost a…

> Must be nice being wealthy. Most people can barely go a single month without a paycheck.

Not necessary wealthy. For people with median pay, it is more about financial responsibility. According to EU-SILC data more than half EU population has financial reserves for at lest three months.

> Lol. In the UK, severance pay is one week per year of service, i.e. nothing. Unemployment insurance typically covers only specific costs, like mortgages, and can be significantly expensive.

Here in Czechia it is 2 months notice period, then severance pay is 3 months (for > 2 years of employment), and then 5 months of government unemployment benefits on ~half pay. So 10 months to find a new job.

> For any well-established business with significant redundancy, these costs are minimal

Even in large businesses you can have small teams with domain experts, losing them can be costly.

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#548
post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The IRS/state department of revenue won't care, and they won't tell your employer California FTB very much cares if you are collecting SV salary but are not paying CA taxes by living in LCOL areas. Unless you are a CPA, please do not spread lies.

The state of California can only tax you for the time you lived in California. Now, they may well throw a fit and try to claim you don't live out of state and use your employer information to substantiate it. But legally, they would not be able to keep you from getting a refund and paying elsewhere.

Your employers makes you sign some document about your place of residence in order to determine your salary. If you say California there, then I am sure CA-FTB will have standing when they come after you for unpaid taxes. Or, you might be perjuring yourself in some way. (IANAL so won't commit to the exact legal definition of that word).

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your mistake is to assume that you (being there 5 year) is doing your work well and over the expectations, You're willing to go the extent of accusing people you never met nor have any idea who and how they are of being incompetent at a job you don't even know just to preserve your cognitive dissonance. > Important enough that your manager wants to secure you as part of the team. Straight out of college I worked at…

Just reading how you write, I can Tell you: you are an average, lonely, angry and spoiled dev. IMO, Twitter is a better place for you to voice such rants. For sure I assume that everyone did their homework and found a great company to work. That's the step 1! The step 2 is to be the best version of you. That's the most important factor on your salary, assuming the step 1! Good luck

[deleted]

Re: Why is remote work seen as a gift?

#550
post #13

Before Corona I travelled a lot and now I live so remotely that a office job is out of the question without moving. The actual remote jobs I've seen in that time all had weird issues like fixed (early) meeting times, more often than not even daily. Or performance tracking that went as far as installing third party monitoring Software while not even getting a dedicated work computer. Or being available at slack the wh…

This is indeed extremely stressful. When I say work from home, I only have to make sure that I am present for the correct meetings and have the work done. No one cares otherwise.
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