Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing • Hacker News Board

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#211

Post by philwelch » Fri, Feb 24, 2023, 11:45 PM UTC

manmal wrote: post #196

philwelch wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthy human beings can walk , let alone stand still, for over four hours a day easily.

Standing still is different from walking. It’s not that great really: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139.2017.14... Swelling in lower limbs doesn’t sound good. From an evolutionary POV I can’t really imagine why our bodies should be optimized for standing still.

Sounds like the best option for a standing desk is to add one of those walking treadmills then. For me though, whenever I'm using a standing desk I move around a lot; I almost never stand still.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#212

Post by wkat4242 » Sat, Feb 25, 2023, 2:32 AM UTC

c4mpute wrote: post #198

wkat4242 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sun Rays were indeed very cool. A bit like the thin client VDIs of today, but easier to use IMO. The smartcard was really handy. As always Sun was way ahead of their time. I still have some SunRays I was hoping to use for something but I never found a good use for them :(

Ack. I think there would be demand for a modern hotdesking solution that worked as quick and painlessly as SunRays. Like, plug in your Yubikey, do a FIDO exchange, get your VDI session. Should be implementable in software, all thinclients nowadays have USB.

This would be amazing. Most thin clients I know are way too complex, they have their own OS with a window interface, they don't really 'get out of the way' like the old X-Terminals or Sun Rays did.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#213

Post by srj » Sat, Feb 25, 2023, 1:42 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #85

dontreact wrote: post #37

I am sitting at a Google desk and there are 5/6 people not here in the desks in my vicinity. I would prefer fewer desks and to actually get to sit next to people rather than being scattered among a sea of mostly empty desks due to people WFH.

Same, but, they shouldn't be taking away the desks of me of my coworker, as we're in using them five days per week. We come to the office because we find that we're much less productive at home in our shared Manhattan apartments.

I agree, I come in 5 days a week and not having a dedicated space would make that experience much worse. I wouldn't rejoin the Cloud PA with this policy in place, and I imagine plenty of people will leave when the tech industry turns around again.

Re: Google asks some employees to share desks amid office downsizing

#214

Post by cududa » Tue, Feb 28, 2023, 8:24 PM UTC

wink wrote: post #201

ryandrake wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I agree with the practice, but many retail employees (at least in the USA) are required to stand while working, even if the job can easily be done while seated, as is the case for receptionists, fast food and grocery cashiers, and so on. It's definitely within the company's purview, even if the practice is unnecessarily cruel.

I think the only cashiers I see standing in Germany are at IKEA and hardware stores (because they have to stand to scan half the huge parts), and even then I think they have a chair inside their little spot next to the scanner and the conveyor belt. Only the "info booth" people are usually standing.

Ironic that in the United States, the only cashiers I've ever seen allowed to sit are Aldi employees