Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

ign.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 52 posts

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#11

Post by Tade0 »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #6

The problem is, they don't even let most people have actual offices at the office. Even if productivity is better this way, isn't there an advantage to being able to hire people from a wider geography, access to a larger talent pool? I read @paulg and other leadership type YC people support return to office as well. I recall startups competing for talent desperately. That was why silicon valley startups always had cr…

The hypothesis I settled on is that they're cracking down on overwork, so people pulling two jobs in secret.

There's also the question of executives having a stake in the commercial real estate that's used for the office, but I think it's secondary, as they're too okay with firing people for that to be the main reason.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#12

Post by [deleted] »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #10
FinnLobsien wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think these things are really done because you get more done at an office. I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. So by saying "you have to come to the office 5 days a week", you will only get people who are very engaged and will get a lot done—even if it's not…

> I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. Sure, but what if there is another company closer to me (office), or offering hybrid or full remote work? I can about my work just the same elsewhere. I think you're on the right track, but in my opinion, it is more about having…

[deleted]

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#13

Post by PicassoCTs »

FinnLobsien wrote: post #8
notepad0x90 wrote: post #6

The problem is, they don't even let most people have actual offices at the office. Even if productivity is better this way, isn't there an advantage to being able to hire people from a wider geography, access to a larger talent pool? I read @paulg and other leadership type YC people support return to office as well. I recall startups competing for talent desperately. That was why silicon valley startups always had cr…

I don't think these things are really done because you get more done at an office. I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. So by saying "you have to come to the office 5 days a week", you will only get people who are very engaged and will get a lot done—even if it's not…

Its a filter for bad negotiators. Throw 1.5h commute on top of 9-10h work and you filter for people who have no sense of self-preservation and thus will also suck at negotiation. 3 years in burnout, rinse and repeat.

Game-development already is a super-hostile work environment, where "talent" is regularly replaced by some starry eyed university-grad for cheap. If people are just ablative material and payment is all the captain crunch you can eat in the cafeteria, nobody at a cult gets to work remote.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#14

Post by FinnLobsien »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #10
FinnLobsien wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think these things are really done because you get more done at an office. I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. So by saying "you have to come to the office 5 days a week", you will only get people who are very engaged and will get a lot done—even if it's not…

> I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. Sure, but what if there is another company closer to me (office), or offering hybrid or full remote work? I can about my work just the same elsewhere. I think you're on the right track, but in my opinion, it is more about having…

> I think you're on the right track, but in my opinion, it is more about having reliable employees than employees who care or are engaged.

Sure! I think the (maybe sad) reality is that most larger companies don't actually need excellence in most roles.

First, excellent people tend to have bigger variance and second, most jobs just don't require being that good.

I imagine that in today's Apple, there's no way Jony Ive would be as influential. And maybe that's just how things go:

The types of people who can innovate and change things are dissatisfied with the status quo. But once you ARE the status quo, you seek precisely the people who want to maintain it.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#15

Post by FinnLobsien »

PicassoCTs wrote: post #13
FinnLobsien wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think these things are really done because you get more done at an office. I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. So by saying "you have to come to the office 5 days a week", you will only get people who are very engaged and will get a lot done—even if it's not…

Its a filter for bad negotiators. Throw 1.5h commute on top of 9-10h work and you filter for people who have no sense of self-preservation and thus will also suck at negotiation. 3 years in burnout, rinse and repeat. Game-development already is a super-hostile work environment, where "talent" is regularly replaced by some starry eyed university-grad for cheap. If people are just ablative material and payment is all t…

As someone who's not into gaming, it's still astounding to me how people endure the working conditions in that industry just because they're obsessed with video games.

I suppose it's the weird dynamic in our society where you get paid less and have worse working conditions the more passion you feel for your work.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#16

Post by citrin_ru »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #6

The problem is, they don't even let most people have actual offices at the office. Even if productivity is better this way, isn't there an advantage to being able to hire people from a wider geography, access to a larger talent pool? I read @paulg and other leadership type YC people support return to office as well. I recall startups competing for talent desperately. That was why silicon valley startups always had cr…

May be the problem with hiring from wider geography is that evaluation of a candidate performance is a difficult and largely unsolved problem. Hiring from a small area (like SV) an employer can rely on offline social networks (friend of my friend knows a candidate). Though I don’t understand why US companies so afraid to make a bad hire given that it is easy to fire someone who doesn’t perform well in the US.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#17

Post by benterix »

FinnLobsien wrote: post #8
notepad0x90 wrote: post #6

The problem is, they don't even let most people have actual offices at the office. Even if productivity is better this way, isn't there an advantage to being able to hire people from a wider geography, access to a larger talent pool? I read @paulg and other leadership type YC people support return to office as well. I recall startups competing for talent desperately. That was why silicon valley startups always had cr…

I don't think these things are really done because you get more done at an office. I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged. So by saying "you have to come to the office 5 days a week", you will only get people who are very engaged and will get a lot done—even if it's not…

> If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged.

Or extremely stupid (if for the same money you get WFH without the need to move to another city or even country and waste I don't know how many hours commuting, and spending most of your life in a space that you can't really adapt to your needs).

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#18

Post by blitzar »

FinnLobsien wrote: post #15
PicassoCTs wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a filter for bad negotiators. Throw 1.5h commute on top of 9-10h work and you filter for people who have no sense of self-preservation and thus will also suck at negotiation. 3 years in burnout, rinse and repeat. Game-development already is a super-hostile work environment, where "talent" is regularly replaced by some starry eyed university-grad for cheap. If people are just ablative material and payment is all t…

As someone who's not into gaming, it's still astounding to me how people endure the working conditions in that industry just because they're obsessed with video games. I suppose it's the weird dynamic in our society where you get paid less and have worse working conditions the more passion you feel for your work.

"Do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life"

You will also get paid less than you are worth and eventually start to hate what you love.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#19

Post by blitzar »

xingped wrote: post #9
Fleetfantasy wrote: post #5

Probably the worst company I've interviewed for. Yet another reason to stay away

Agreed. I had a bizarre interview experience with them whereupon finishing the interview, the hiring manager emailed me once a week for about 4 or 5 weeks in a row asking if I was still interested. It was bizarre. How many times do I have to say yes? After the 4th or 5th time I just told them no, not any more.

> After the 4th or 5th time I just told them no, not any more.

I hope that is the point where they sent the offer.

Re: EA Pushes Full Return to Office, Effectively Ends Remote Hiring

#20

Post by FirmwareBurner »

citrin_ru wrote: post #16
notepad0x90 wrote: post #6

The problem is, they don't even let most people have actual offices at the office. Even if productivity is better this way, isn't there an advantage to being able to hire people from a wider geography, access to a larger talent pool? I read @paulg and other leadership type YC people support return to office as well. I recall startups competing for talent desperately. That was why silicon valley startups always had cr…

May be the problem with hiring from wider geography is that evaluation of a candidate performance is a difficult and largely unsolved problem. Hiring from a small area (like SV) an employer can rely on offline social networks (friend of my friend knows a candidate). Though I don’t understand why US companies so afraid to make a bad hire given that it is easy to fire someone who doesn’t perform well in the US.

>Though I don’t understand why US companies so afraid to make a bad hire given that it is easy to fire someone who doesn’t perform well in the US.

I assume because in the US employees can still sue for what they would consider wrongful termination, especially if the worker is part of a protected group, making firing a very expensive endeavor in the end.

Post reply on HN