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Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

fortune.com

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Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#11

Post by pluc »

wildrhythms wrote: post #9
lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

It's the tax breaks: >Of the billions in tax incentives granted to US companies every year by cities and states, many agreements require workers to come into the office some of the time, or at least live in the region. For companies receiving these incentives, relaxing in-office attendance could be costly. >The contracts were crafted in a pre-pandemic era, at a time when commutes to the office were a given. Now gover…

That makes some sense. Massive amount of people converging on a downtown area does things to the local economy.. especially if that economy was adapted to cater 80% to them and 20% to tourists

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#12

Post by rr808 »

lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

I think its the unknown. Are big corporations with lots of WFH employees successful in the long term? The reality is no one really knows so its a risk. Maybe it'll turn out fine, maybe it'll increase productivity, maybe the company will slowly die as the culture crumbles. There is a lot of arguments going on but realistically no one has ever tried it.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#13

Post by _cenw »

wildrhythms wrote: post #9
lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

It's the tax breaks: >Of the billions in tax incentives granted to US companies every year by cities and states, many agreements require workers to come into the office some of the time, or at least live in the region. For companies receiving these incentives, relaxing in-office attendance could be costly. >The contracts were crafted in a pre-pandemic era, at a time when commutes to the office were a given. Now gover…

Maybe that's a small part, but even if you look internationally, 87% of CEOs in the 2023 CEO KPMG poll want return to the fiefdo-- office.

https://kpmg.com/xx/en/home/media/press-releases/2023/09/ceo...

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#14

Post by lightedman »

hmmmcurious1 wrote: post #5

Remote vs office is just smoke and mirrors. A company with a good product will thrive no matter the policy. Making a big deal of returning your cattle to the farm is just to soothe investors when you have a subpar product

"Remote vs office is just smoke and mirrors. A company with a good product will thrive no matter the policy."

Try doing manufacturing work entirely remotely. Good product doesn't move when you can't actually make it.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#15

Post by beernet »

lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

Reads like you're implying superior soft skills for MBAs, and the other way round. If SWEs really thought this type of way, this statement would explain more about SWEs than MBAs, oh well

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#16

Post by 01100011 »

null0pointer wrote: post #4

How much of a corporate real estate portfolio do they have?

They just built the second of the two large buildings making up most of their HQ in Santa Clara. Those buildings were designed and selected well before the pandemic though.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#17

Post by etskinner »

rr808 wrote: post #12
lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

I think its the unknown. Are big corporations with lots of WFH employees successful in the long term? The reality is no one really knows so its a risk. Maybe it'll turn out fine, maybe it'll increase productivity, maybe the company will slowly die as the culture crumbles. There is a lot of arguments going on but realistically no one has ever tried it.

There are plenty of companies who have tried it, and succeeded

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#18

Post by ghaff »

wildrhythms wrote: post #9
lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

It's the tax breaks: >Of the billions in tax incentives granted to US companies every year by cities and states, many agreements require workers to come into the office some of the time, or at least live in the region. For companies receiving these incentives, relaxing in-office attendance could be costly. >The contracts were crafted in a pre-pandemic era, at a time when commutes to the office were a given. Now gover…

Existing tax incentives are probably one of the legit reasons why some companies are concerned about wide-scale WFH though I tend to agree with a sibling comment that it's probably also not a major factor.

It's reasonable for cities to be concerned. Empty offices take a lot of supporting businesses with them. And, absent a need to go into an office, a lot of people will (and have) decide that the tradeoffs of urban life aren't for them--especially when their favorite restaurants or coffeeshops go out of business and friends move out.

In the US, many cities have had significant downcycles before. There's no law of nature that it can't happen again.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#19

Post by ghaff »

etskinner wrote: post #17
rr808 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its the unknown. Are big corporations with lots of WFH employees successful in the long term? The reality is no one really knows so its a risk. Maybe it'll turn out fine, maybe it'll increase productivity, maybe the company will slowly die as the culture crumbles. There is a lot of arguments going on but realistically no one has ever tried it.

There are plenty of companies who have tried it, and succeeded

Mostly smaller companies that built and hired remote from the beginning or at least early on.

Re: Nvidia, one of tech's hottest companies, is fine with remote work

#20

Post by candiddevmike »

lvl102 wrote: post #8

Why are companies so hellbent on asking their workers to waste hours in commute? WFH hurts people with “soft” skills the most. MBA types.

I like the "privilege for me, none for thee" theory: executives have typically always worked wherever. Suddenly giving that privilege to others upsets the natural order. The people under you aren't supposed to be your equals. You as an executive are supposed to jet around the country/world into offices full of smiling faces who will worship the ground you walk on.
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