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Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

businessinsider.com

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Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#241

Post by imcrs »

ChadNauseam wrote: post #236
imcrs wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about productivity at all. These same companies were commissioning studies during Covid that told their analysts "look how productive our employees are now that they are working from home!" It's about crushing labor. WFH forces employers to compete. It gives a lot of power to employees, because they can apply for far more roles, work fewer hours, moonlight for multiple companies, etc, apply for other jobs du…

> It's not about productivity at all. > WFH forces employers to compete. It gives a lot of power to employees, because they can [...] work fewer hours, moonlight for multiple companies, etc Probably "working fewer hours" and "moonlight for multiple companies" has negative effects on productivity that employers would like to avoid.

I've already kind of made it clear here where I stand on this, but I gotta tell you, you really do sound a lot like management.

Do you really think your superstar programmers are well and truly doing intellectual work, the kind of work that produces business value, from the time they hit the coffee machine at 9AM to the time they grab their briefcase to go home at 5PM?

If you believe this, I think you might be interested in bringing the Bobs in to discuss making our T.P.S. reporting process more efficient. They have thoughts on coversheets.

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#242

Post by letmetweakit »

I don’t think it’s hard to imagine that people work better together when they are in the same office. It’s also not hard to imagine people work harder when there’s more social control. From the perspective of the business owner, this makes total sense. Yes, some people work harder and better at home, but, in general WFH is net negative for a company I think.

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#243

Post by lolidiots »

letmetweakit wrote: post #242

I don’t think it’s hard to imagine that people work better together when they are in the same office. It’s also not hard to imagine people work harder when there’s more social control. From the perspective of the business owner, this makes total sense. Yes, some people work harder and better at home, but, in general WFH is net negative for a company I think.

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Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#244

Post by johnxie »

Remote is awesome until you hit the limits of it.

We tried building with 3 founders across 3 timezones. On a good day it felt magical. On a bad day it felt like the kind of lag you remember from SC BW, CS 1.6, or classic WoW raids where one spike wipes the whole run just so everyone has to start over.

Async is great for shipping, but not when you are moving fast on hard problems where alignment is the whole game. The drag shows up slowly and you learn zero to one needs tight loops, high trust, and shared tempo. You cannot patch that with calls or docs.

Some teams crush remote. We did sometimes but not often enough and learned that the hard way. The work decides the model. For us it was about momentum and getting the fastest feedback loop possible. Ideas die in latency. Execution dies in drift.

At the end of the day it is not ideology. It is just whatever keeps the product moving as a startup, aiming high to become better, faster, cheaper than the status quo.

Just my 2c.~

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#245

Post by lukas099 »

imcrs wrote: post #241
ChadNauseam wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not about productivity at all. > WFH forces employers to compete. It gives a lot of power to employees, because they can [...] work fewer hours, moonlight for multiple companies, etc Probably "working fewer hours" and "moonlight for multiple companies" has negative effects on productivity that employers would like to avoid.

I've already kind of made it clear here where I stand on this, but I gotta tell you, you really do sound a lot like management. Do you really think your superstar programmers are well and truly doing intellectual work, the kind of work that produces business value, from the time they hit the coffee machine at 9AM to the time they grab their briefcase to go home at 5PM? If you believe this, I think you might be intere…

I’ll attempt a steelman and say, no, employees are not doing deep work from 9–5, but I could see being in an office 9–5 setting the stage for a lot of deep work to be done. Moonlighting for another company I could especially see as detrimental to focus at work.

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#246

Post by everymathis42 »

johnxie wrote: post #244

Remote is awesome until you hit the limits of it. We tried building with 3 founders across 3 timezones. On a good day it felt magical. On a bad day it felt like the kind of lag you remember from SC BW, CS 1.6, or classic WoW raids where one spike wipes the whole run just so everyone has to start over. Async is great for shipping, but not when you are moving fast on hard problems where alignment is the whole game. The…

[dead]

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#247

Post by globular-toast »

kkolybacz wrote: post #16

"We're also offering the option to transfer from the MPK to SF office for those people whose commute would be the same or better with that change." So wait, you'll be able to switch offices even though your team might be in the second one? What's the benefit of working remote from your team but next to random, noisy people?

There is no benefit to you. That's the point. RTO is about your employer taking more from you and giving you less. Back in the school playground we used to squabble over who is "it" or had the biggest conker or something equally pointless. There is this belief that some day people grow up. Sadly, that day never actually comes.

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#248

Post by amrocha »

zaradvutra wrote: post #235
amrocha wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing for you that you’re productive anywhere. I’m not. I much prefer working from an office. I’m way more efficient and happy in an office than working from home. It’s not a matter of mentality. It’s a matter of being in an environment conducive to work. You would benefit from not assuming that everyone is the same as you.

> You would benefit from not assuming that everyone is the same as you. So would you. A typical office is not an "environment conductive to work" for everyone. Noise, recirculated air, lifeless rows of desks, bad company and a 2h total commute? No thanks.

I’m not the one saying people who prefer working from home are lazy, irresponsible slackers though, am I?

I just explained my experience. Funny that you perceive that as an attack on yourself. What does that say about you?

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#249

Post by amrocha »

stavros wrote: post #234
amrocha wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing for you that you’re productive anywhere. I’m not. I much prefer working from an office. I’m way more efficient and happy in an office than working from home. It’s not a matter of mentality. It’s a matter of being in an environment conducive to work. You would benefit from not assuming that everyone is the same as you.

Whenever I'm in the office, I get zero work done. It's great for socialising and catching up with colleagues, but abysmal for productivity.

That’s only because you go to the office once in a blue moon. If it was your daily routine you’d get used to it and be productive there too, just maybe not as much as when you’re home.

Did you work in an office before covid? I’m sure your productivity wasn’t abysmal or you wouldn’t still be working in tech

Re: Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026

#250

Post by amrocha »

ciberado wrote: post #240
amrocha wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing for you that you’re productive anywhere. I’m not. I much prefer working from an office. I’m way more efficient and happy in an office than working from home. It’s not a matter of mentality. It’s a matter of being in an environment conducive to work. You would benefit from not assuming that everyone is the same as you.

At work, we have the opportunity to choose. Many people are like you and find that going to the office helps their productivity and mental health. Most of us (including me) visit the office only a few times a year. I think having the choice is great. Although it comes with its own challenges, it works really well when you establish the right culture.

imo that’s the worst of both worlds.

That’s what my company does, and none of the engineers ever come in. My manager comes in when he has meetings, and I’ll go in sometimes, but I’m usually alone. None of the benefits of collocation with all the of downsides of an office.

I find that office days work a lot better. Everyone comes in Tuesdays and Thursdays or something.

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