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Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

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Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#201

Post by kstrauser »

tesch1 wrote: post #149
epolanski wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it absurd how Americans can't give up on their suburbs and car centric development dystopia and then spend so much time in their cars.

Because door-to-door transport is faster than public transportation. Average American commute time is 26 minutes, what is it where you live? https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter8/urban-trans... .

Not where I live. A bus ride takes about half an hour to get to downtown SF. The same drive during rush hour would take an hour, easy. You couldn’t make me drive to work here.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#202

Post by ryandrake »

FPSDavid wrote: post #128
ryandrake wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I lived in the Bay Area, my commute was ~2.5 hours each way. I would have killed for a 1 hour commute.

That is a ... choice.

I mean, I guess it's a choice in that I'm not willing to move my family into a tiny shoebox or split the cost with three other roommates in order to afford to live in my employer's city. I don't make $300K+ at a FAANG like everyone else on HN, so I have to live in a place farther away that is supported by my compensation.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#203

Post by scarface_74 »

abadpoli wrote: post #74
scarface_74 wrote: post #2

Hybrid is RTO. If I can’t live where I want to live and work from anywhere, it’s a non starter for me. In my little neck of the woods - cloud consulting/professional services - Google is worse than Amazon where I just left last year. AWS ProServe never had a RTO mandate and from former coworkers I’ve talked to, still doesn’t. Google’s Cloud Consulting division does force a hybrid office schedule which is really dumb…

> AWS ProServe never had a RTO mandate Before Covid, no team had an RTO mandate, so ProServe wasn’t really special here. In ProServe you were still expected to be in an office regularly, but it was just understood that you wouldn’t be in an Amazon office all the time because you’re likely at a client’s office instead. Post-covid, it’s mostly the same, although now even many clients aren’t requiring consultants to com…

During the first wave of RTO and hybrid work, ProServe was exempted because it was considered “sales”. I was there then.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#204

Post by doitLP »

epolanski wrote: post #133
ryandrake wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I lived in the Bay Area, my commute was ~2.5 hours each way. I would have killed for a 1 hour commute.

I find it absurd how Americans can't give up on their suburbs and car centric development dystopia and then spend so much time in their cars.

I find it tiresome how someone who lives elsewhere thinks we can waive a magic wand and change trillions in infrastructure and a century of entrenched car culture. Unless you have workable solutions please keep the peanut gallery comments to yourself.

There are solutions but they are the hard “get people to buck all incentives and change their behavior for the common good” kind that take a lot of work.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#205

Post by skybrian »

teractiveodular wrote: post #89
skybrian wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google had flex time for all the time I worked there, for a dozen years, well before the pandemic. I don't see any particular reason it wouldn't work for them now?

Google has always had the flexible working hours and didn't mind the occasional "plumber coming today" day, but before COVID it was very allergic to permanent WFH arrangements.

Yes, can confirm.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#207

Post by nickjj »

Ancalagon wrote: post #192
janalsncm wrote: post #46

RTO is effectively a cut to your hourly wage since you need to commute. I think people would be less sore about it if Amazon and others extended an olive branch of “commute time pay” or something. (And no, free food and snacks don’t count. Amazon doesn’t have that anyways.)

I just start my commute during work hours now and take standups from the car.

I wonder how different things would be if there were laws where if a company required you to RTO then your commute time is included in your expected working hours.

Some companies are asking to RTO for half the week even if you're 50 miles away. Depending on where you're at that could be a ~5 hour round trip commute. If you factor in parking in certain places like NYC you're almost forced into taking a train so having meetings during the commute wouldn't be too realistic. That would mean getting to work at 11:30am and leaving at 3:30pm to work a usual 9-6 hour job. If you take a lunch with your commute then you end up working 3 hours total at the office.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#208

Post by cruffle_duffle »

honkycat wrote: post #73

RTO is going to be brutal for us in 3rd tier cities like PDX The tech scene here SUCKS, but I much prefer the lifestyle to a large city ( plus, I can buy a house here. ) Not sure what will happen if the days of remote work ends. How will I get a gig? There was a time in the mid 2010s were they were obsessed with "servant leaders" and "leading from the front"... those days are long-fucking-gone. Guarantee the executiv…

> Not sure what will happen if the days of remote work ends. How will I get a gig?

The same way you did in 2019. Like it always was.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#209

Post by jerlam »

nostromo wrote: post #137
xyst wrote: post #12

They say this now. But in 12 months (or the next layoff period), they will move from hybrid to full RTO. Still a shitty move to mandate RTO. Most people (IT folks) have spoke with do this routine: 0) daily routine to prepare for day 1) 1 hr commute to shitty office 2) login to computer, do calls with cross regional (and international) teams over Zoom/Teams/Webex or whatever conferencing system 3) teleconferencing wit…

You're forgetting that a lot of people still have to WFH, they just do it now before or after going to the office - so it's even worse than you're stating. I know some folks that work from the west coast with customers on the east coast, and they regularly are taking meetings at 6am from home, then commuting in, and getting home late. If we return to the office, we should not also be expected to work long hours when…

West coast seems like the worst time zone to be remote. You have to get up early for meetings with your coworkers, and they can get your immediate feedback on their problems. But when you have your own problems, it's often too late for them to help you.

Re: Google won't be mandating a strict return-to-office plan

#210

Post by mikrl »

Spooky23 wrote: post #50
stego-tech wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, my experience says you’re right, but the red hot labor summer combined with Dell and Amazon _and_ Apple workers vocally opposing such mandates and leaving outright give me hope that maybe, _maybe_ leadership will accept this is a losing battle and embrace the new norms. Barring that, the younger working demographics have made it abundantly clear there’s a zero tolerance for the traditional corporate bullshit.…

Tech organizations are all overstaffed from the pandemic. Engineering is usually boom/bust. Likely outcome is recession and purge. The plucky gen alphas will be in the cube farm to pay they rent.

>The plucky gen alphas will be in the cube farm

I find it so ironic that around the turn of the century, cube farms and suburbia were the ultimate evil and seemingly a fate worse than death in the pop culture.

Meanwhile in 2024, me and my Gen Y/Z colleagues daydream about a comfy dedicated cubicle and a quiet 3.5 bedroom with matching furniture and a spot to grill.

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