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A WFH 'culture war' has broken out across Europe

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Re: A WFH 'culture war' has broken out across Europe

#12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My old employer did in Czechia - 2 day hybrid or move to Romania, Poland, or India. Foreign Tech Companies get tax holidays from the Czech, Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, etc governments if we invest $2-5mil in an office AND can prove that we have at least 15-20 employees working in that office, so we need to force employees in the office otherwise there's no point having a presence there. The Russian, Ukrai…

So long, I guess, don't let the door hit you on the way out? Employees of that company must feel really valued.

> Employees of that company must feel really valued

They were paid on the higher end of Czechia TCs

> don't let the door hit you on the way out

Most of the high TC companies across Eastern Europe required hybrid so there aren't many options if you want to be remote first - we get tax holidays from the Czech, Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, etc government if we invest $2-5mil in an office AND can prove that we have at least 15-20 employees working in that office.

It's hard to justify high wages when fully remote means you are competing globally.

The Czech office itself expanded as a reaction to finding out that remote productivity between the US and abroad was comparable.

Going remote first means you are competing with a global market, but being hybrid means you at least have facetime with leaders, and stuff does get done faster when dealing with cross-dependencies.

And ime, I saw the rise of the same kind of anti-techie disgust in a lot of Eastern Europe that I saw in the US.

It's hard for most people in a country where median household incomes are around $10k-20k/yr to empathize with employees earning $50-100k/yr who want to not go into a fully furnished office with catered food, events, and mentorship 2-3 days a week when most other employees earn a fraction working in a car factory or tending bar for drunk stag partiers while rents reach Dallas levels.

Re: A WFH 'culture war' has broken out across Europe

#13
I miss when WFH wasn't a religious war and was just about whether you could deliver enough that no one missed you so you wouldn't get called out for slacking.

Now if it's a war in the office, managers need to pick a side and the freedom is reduced even if you get some WFH days or whatever.

Full remote is a whole other can of worms.

Re: A WFH 'culture war' has broken out across Europe

#16

I don’t think that this is a war that employers can win. Employees got a taste of freedom, and it’s hard to go back.

Why not? It's not like offices have a solid union culture to organize or anything.

We want better pay too but the income gap widens.

Re: A WFH 'culture war' has broken out across Europe

#19

[flagged]

don't dip your pen in the company ink.

and plenty of reason to socialize with coworkers even if not for dating. you can still have "watercooler chats" with coworkers remotely. "how bout those _____" still works before big group calls, for example.

Re: A WFH 'culture war' has broken out across Europe

#20
post #13

I miss when WFH wasn't a religious war and was just about whether you could deliver enough that no one missed you so you wouldn't get called out for slacking. Now if it's a war in the office, managers need to pick a side and the freedom is reduced even if you get some WFH days or whatever. Full remote is a whole other can of worms.

> I miss when WFH wasn't a religious war and was just about whether you could deliver enough that no one missed you so you wouldn't get called out for slacking.

Well, if you're slacking you can be fired, it doesn't matter if you work from home or from the office.

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