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Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

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Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#161

Post by BLKNSLVR »

TexanFeller wrote: post #52

These protesters are just going to accelerate outsourcing. If companies can't get the benefits of in-office Americans and are forced into having a remote workforce they might as well get them for 1/4 of the price from Central and South America.

Isn't that the opposite of the direction that (Western) countries are looking to go after COVID exposed the fragility of global logistics dependencies? (and China's manufacturing power and Russia's energy production power).

On-shoring, in-sourcing, are the trends, from a country perspective anyway.

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#162

Post by notyourwork »

neom wrote: post #13

I still think out of all the...unique... things Elon has said... work from home is morally wrong has to take the cake. I try to spend time looking at things as radically as I can. I think it's helpful to accept folks views as widely as possible, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around work from home being morally wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5OHFt8QyiU I was on a bicycle ride listening to this intervie…

> At least he got me thinking I suppose, heh.

Wealth doesn't automatically give credence to valuable perspective. Further, I tend to just disregard Elon for what he is.

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#163

Post by cortesoft »

kcplate wrote: post #95
superfrank wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has been proven that knowledge workers can work productively and efficiently without being required to be in the office a set number of days. I'm a big proponent of "I don't care where you work as long as your work gets done" and have been since before covid, but I haven't come across anything that actually proves that, so... source? If there's a good study out there that shows that that is true, I'd love to see…

It’s my opinion that people feel like they are more productive at WFH, but it’s a bit of a hard metric to actually measure. I get the sense that the freedom and flexibility might create a feeling of personal productivity to accomplish many things (not just career related) they couldn’t before WFH, but as for job productivity…I bet it’s probably a wash overall. I say this as a remote worker who wouldn’t want to RTO—be…

I have been WFH since the pandemic, and I have grown used to it. My company doesn’t even have offices anymore.

However, last week we had a happy hour to all meet in person, and I had a 20 minute conversation with someone about a work topic, and it was amazing how much productive information we were able to share with each other in such a short time. It was just easier to work through things in person than on slack or zoom.

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#164

Post by notyourwork »

jredwards wrote: post #159
LapsangGuzzler wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pure speculation, but my guess is that he’s invested in the commercial real estate market and hoping for a turnaround. I don’t think it’s some profound or insane ideology he has, I think he’s just trying to prop up CRE like he does with crypto. He’s famous for buying distressed commercial properties and for gaslighting, it just makes sense and the whole moral argument was a great way to get people talking about it.

I don't think you have to get that creative. The man sells cars. He's invested in people commuting.

[flagged]

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#166

Post by stkdump »

Joky wrote: post #121
kcplate wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s my opinion that people feel like they are more productive at WFH, but it’s a bit of a hard metric to actually measure. I get the sense that the freedom and flexibility might create a feeling of personal productivity to accomplish many things (not just career related) they couldn’t before WFH, but as for job productivity…I bet it’s probably a wash overall. I say this as a remote worker who wouldn’t want to RTO—be…

There is something to be said about individual productivity (whatever that means in a very innovative/creative environment) vs team/company output, just today I saw this in my feed: https://flocrivello.com/changing-my-mind-on-remote-about-bei... And that's coming from someone who actually tried to build a business out of remote work (TeamFlow was the product). I can be much more productive at home when it is about my…

I have the experience that the quality of the office building makes a difference. We moved to a new building a few months back with more space, fewer people crammed into one room, generally quieter. People that used to work from home now prefer to be in the office as much as possible.

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#168

Post by 908B64B197 »

avocabros wrote: post #155
908B64B197 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they might as well get them for 1/4 of the price from Central and South America. Where can I find these mythical Central and South Americans that are "just as qualified as US engineers" and 1/4 of the price? I keep hearing about them, but the only devs I've met who would match that description were very much charging US rates.

I'd guess that most software work doesn't require super-specialized roles. You can get good quality engineers for generalist tasks (web app dev, API dev, etc.) all over the world. I agree, the end game for remote work for non-specialists isn't an obvious positive for those in HCOL countries

> You can get good quality engineers for generalist tasks (web app dev, API dev, etc.) all over the world.

The issue here is that, while code is easy to write for these tasks, the hard part is understanding the requirements and engaging with stakeholders.

There's a good level of business/domain expertise required. Of course, someone else could do that and just the coding part could be offshored. But at that point how is that different than the US analyst/offshored programmer business model of the 90's?

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#169

Post by dr_petes »

TexanFeller wrote: post #52

These protesters are just going to accelerate outsourcing. If companies can't get the benefits of in-office Americans and are forced into having a remote workforce they might as well get them for 1/4 of the price from Central and South America.

If that’s how your employer views your work, sounds like unions are in order. I don’t think workers should feel afraid of asking for better working conditions, and if workers are afraid, we’ll unions are the best answer to that problem.

Re: Amazon corporate workers plan walkout next week over return-to-office policies

#170

Post by Thorentis »

neom wrote: post #13

I still think out of all the...unique... things Elon has said... work from home is morally wrong has to take the cake. I try to spend time looking at things as radically as I can. I think it's helpful to accept folks views as widely as possible, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around work from home being morally wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5OHFt8QyiU I was on a bicycle ride listening to this intervie…

> when he said it and I literally pulled my bike over and sat for a half hour or so thinking

Meta comment, but seriously? A comment from Elon made you pause your commute for 30 minutes? I can't imagine ever being this affected by a podcast.

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