11–20 of 68 posts
I wouldn't recommend making office visits a requirement, however, as some companies appear to do. Like all things corporate-mandated, this can seem heavy-handed and present logistical challenges for remote workers. I believe I've seen some companies requiring quarterly travel, and this places a burden on devs with families, pets, etc. Even then, would those who opt-out be treated differently? ("Well Jon has no proble…
I've been working remotely for a big bank for the past 7 years. I don't go into an office and haven't seen my team in the past 4 years. The last time people got together for a project kickoff a few years back they just sat around a conference table all on webex. I stayed home. Unfortunately new management is taking away the remote option for new hires for the most part. Also some people based on where they live had t…
In an effort to attract and keep more talent the company for which I work allows working remotely more and more. Without that option the turn over rate for engineers would have doubled in the last year.
I've been working remotely for a big bank for the past 7 years. I don't go into an office and haven't seen my team in the past 4 years. The last time people got together for a project kickoff a few years back they just sat around a conference table all on webex. I stayed home. Unfortunately new management is taking away the remote option for new hires for the most part. Also some people based on where they live had t…
Do you know the reasons why management is moving away from working remotely? In an effort to attract and keep more talent the company for which I work allows working remotely more and more. Without that option the turn over rate for engineers would have doubled in the last year.
The specific reasons they no longer want to go remote has not been shared with us other than the usual 'we want more teamwork'.
It's a shame. I tried to apply to other internal jobs, but they won't allow me to work remotely because of the new policy. So now they've severely limited their candidate pool and may have to look outside the bank and incur the costs that brings.
but i do like that more and more companies allow working remotely. I'm from a smallish city in Germany with not many jobs available. Having the opportunity to find interesting work in the US without moving there is awesome. Last month alone, I collected 700 job listings from various job boards for my remote work newsletter. (http://remoteworknewsletter.com)
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Webcam-Widescreen-Calling-Rec...
I've been working for the last 4 years with a 150 person software company that has no office whatsoever. Everybody is remote. As such, we get to remove the biggest land mine, which is being the "remote guy" on an otherwise onsite team, missing out on communication and finding yourself sidelined. Instead, everybody is forced through all the bullet points on the author's "communication" section, and the playing field is leveled.
It also kills off the "Sub Standard Treatment" and "Stopping Work" issues, since everybody is going through the same thing. I'm also 6+ hours ahead of most of my team, and there are only a handful of times a year when somebody forgets that and pings me at 10pm. And in those cases, since my work machine is out above the garage, I only find out about it the next morning.
The upsides the author touches on are just plain amazing. I'll often "commute" to work via an hour or so of mountain biking and bouldering. In the winter, I'll often simply up sticks and take the family to go live on a beach in the Caribbean because hey, they have internet there and it's actually a better time zone for the team. (That's where I am now, and will be through March).
In short, remote is the way forward. And Software is just ridiculously compatible with it. I'm amazed that there are any product companies left that force their employees to drive an hour each way to sit in a felt cube.
It's the future. If you're not remote, find a way to fix that.
So instead of you being for example 8 hours difference you might be 9, or 7, and so on. It is really super annoying and avoidable with a little cooperation.
Timezones can also be hard. We've struggled with getting our team together for daily standup meetings in the AM, which led us to build our own tool (http://heyflock.com).