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Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

businessinsider.com

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Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#181

Post by eitland »

dcolkitt wrote: post #7

It seems strange that Google management would push so hard on this. Nearly everyone I've spoken to has reported that WFH productivity has been equal, if not better than pre-pandemic. What possible upside could there be that justifies forcing the issue and hurting morale by pissing so many people off? Sure, maybe there's an argument that a fully remote company has a hard time propagating a coherent corporate culture.…

> Nearly everyone I've spoken to has reported that WFH productivity has been equal, if not better than pre-pandemic.

Whats more:

Late last year experienced search quality increased ever so slightly for me at least.

Granted Google is not my default search engine anymore so I cannot say for sure but I still consult it sometimes. (The quality on Google and DDG has been about the same for me but it is easier to go from DDG and back than the other way around.)

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#182

Post by macksd »

gipp wrote: post #141
macksd wrote: post #59

I've always been mystified by the state of remote work at Google, because I understood that they pushed pretty hard on being in the office. And yet I've had many video conference calls with various teams at Google over the last 8 years and in every single one, most of the Googlers on the call were obviously dialing in from home. I even flew to Mountain View once for a big all-day meeting. I got there, met my coworker…

Permanent or official WFH arrangements are generally not a thing, but just taking days here and there informally as WFH days is something that many teams are pretty permissive about from what I understand.

Yeah and that's the kind of thing I would hope really does become more normal virtually everywhere. Especially when a job is so easily done remotely most of the time, it should be very low cost for people to be a more available parent when kids are sick, or stay home when they might be contagious, or just get errands done in a timely manner.

But this has happened to me so much, it didn't seem like it could be a coincidence that I happened to catch everyone on their WFH day that week...

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#184

Post by jartelt »

notdonspaulding wrote: post #14

What people say they will do when there's no cost associated with an action and what people will actually do once a cost IS associated with the same action are frequently 2 different things. Bob Lutz, in his self-aggrandizing book "Gutz", describes the initial phase of an automobile design project where a survey is conducted asking respondents whether they would prefer a vehicle with heated cupholders. It turned out…

Also, if you are google employee who already moved away from the bay area, it may actually be easier to switch jobs (to a full remote option) than it is to move back to the bay area on September 1.

Many of the employees that are angry have already left, and have been working remote for 6+ months. The hard part of moving is already done. If anything, staying with google would be the more difficult choice since they need to move back!

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#185

Post by microtherion »

seg_lol wrote: post #57
spoonjim wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet somehow, these boneheads haven’t driven Google to bankruptcy yet, so I don’t think their decisionmaking authority is in immediate jeopardy.

You don't have to make good decisions when you are riding the Ads Rocket!

There is a great deal of ruin in a FAANG, as Adam Smith would say.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#186

Post by coolspot »

throwaway823882 wrote: post #64
dcolkitt wrote: post #7

It seems strange that Google management would push so hard on this. Nearly everyone I've spoken to has reported that WFH productivity has been equal, if not better than pre-pandemic. What possible upside could there be that justifies forcing the issue and hurting morale by pissing so many people off? Sure, maybe there's an argument that a fully remote company has a hard time propagating a coherent corporate culture.…

> What possible upside could there be Taxes? Could be that municipalities gave them huge tax write-offs assuming they would bring lots of jobs to the area, and now they may have to write all that off if they don't bring people back. Management is also terrified of not having hands/eyes on people. They are already so disconnected from people and have no concept of how to manage remote work, that they literally feel po…

But Google managers don’t monitor you when in person.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#187

Post by nitrogen »

coolspot wrote: post #174
MattGaiser wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should have tried chilled cupholders.

Funny you say that - my Audi has both. Like couldn’t decide which one to implement, so they made both.

My car put the cupholders in front of the center console air vents, so they are heated in winter, and cooled in summer. But any spills end up on the radio/nav.

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#188

Post by abruzzi »

CydeWeys wrote: post #119
sriram_sun wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality of life improvement when you work remote is several fold higher. You have to experience it. I've been working remote (consulting) for about 4 years now. My wife has done it about 1/2 her career. We live in sunny SoCal (expensive, but very tolerable when you don't have to get on the freeways). Take care of No. 1 first. That is you. GOOG folks, please don't cringe at FB. There is no difference.

Pretty much everyone has experienced what WFH is like a year plus into the pandemic. Those of us who want to go back to the office have experienced WFH, and our quality of life is lower with WFH. It's no longer true that people who say they don't like WFH would change their mind if only they'd experienced it.

100% agree. After 3 month of WFH, I started coming in to the empty building. I was the only one here, but it is so much easier to get work done when I'm not at home.

Most of my co-workers feel the opposite from me, but my home is a sea of distractions that I'd rather be doing than sitting at a computer working (and I live alone, so no kids or spouse at home). Instead I could be playing piano, practicing violin, writing music, taking photos, developing film, or 100 other things. When I'm at work, I work (mostly).

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#189

Post by d0mine »

ryan_j_naughton wrote: post #173
kyle-rb wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What grass though? This subset of employees seem to value working remotely above free food or massages or whatever other in-office perks. Work-from-home as a perk has a negative cost, so it's not crazy to think that companies might start offering it.

>Work-from-home as a perk has a negative cost Negative cost but also negative revenue / productivity loss if not done properly. Most data appears to show the hybrid model is the best for productivity. WFH several days a week, enabling focus and limiting distractions. Work from the office a couple days a week to enable coordination, connection, innovation, and alignment. This forced experiment in 100% WFH was clearly…

> This forced experiment in 100% WFH was clearly bad for productivity.

Could you link to some data that demonstrates that?

> A lot of it was to create an environment where workers worked longer hours and thus the firm got more productivity out of each worker.

"longer hours" "more productivity" is obviously false for the extremes. It is unclear what is the threshold when a programmer starts to introduce more issues than they fix.

It is hard to measure productivity for a programmer (e.g., what might be productive short-term may be counter-productive long-term).

Re: Google's push to bring employees back to offices, some say they'll rather quit

#190

Post by im3w1l »

Clearly some people want to work from home, whereas other people want to work in the office. There are reasons why mixed teams are bad so it would seem that you have to cater to one or the other. But, can't you make some teams fully remote and others fully onsite?
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