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Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

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Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#281

Let's be real. The loser here is middle managers. Not all of them. Just the ones who feed off of the high they get from having control over the office environment.

This strawman about middle managers in the WFH conversation is exhausting and annoying. Do you really think middle managers are some evil scum-sucking lizards that actually enjoy things like hour long commutes and wearing uncomfortable clothes? They're people just like you are, and they enjoy sitting at home in their pajamas just as much as you do. Maybe, just maybe the issue is that middle managers have actual, legi…

You sound like a middle manager trying defend themselves.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#282

Let's be real. The loser here is middle managers. Not all of them. Just the ones who feed off of the high they get from having control over the office environment.

This strawman about middle managers in the WFH conversation is exhausting and annoying. Do you really think middle managers are some evil scum-sucking lizards that actually enjoy things like hour long commutes and wearing uncomfortable clothes? They're people just like you are, and they enjoy sitting at home in their pajamas just as much as you do. Maybe, just maybe the issue is that middle managers have actual, legi…

Sigh, sadly, as much as I would like to think otherwise, you do have a point. The universal part that is. WFH is definitely not for everyone. In our little group we do have one member, who has has started to abuse the situation. My immediate manager is not one to micromanage, but as our team has gotten bigger, we had to stop relying on trust. So we started to rely more on raw numbers. And it sucks, because this particular unit had a rather high level autonomy.

But... maybe that is the point.. there should be a way to get those who can do WFH to keep doing it.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#283
post #75

I currently have 10 fully remote engineering jobs. The bar is so low, oversight is non-existent, and everyone is so forgiving for under performance I can coast about 4-8 weeks before a given job fires me. Currently on a $1.5M run-rate for comp this year. And the interviewing process is so much faster today, companies are desperate, it takes me 2-3hrs of total effort to land a new job with thousands to chose from.

this can't be true, how would you pass background checks?

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#284
post #189

Speaking as someone who now works remotely permanently, this has been... life-changing. So for 10 years I lived in NYC and--don't get me wrong--there are lots of things I liked about NYC but I'm so over the summers and the winters. Also bear in mind that I think NYC is infinitely better for most people to live in than the Bay Area. But I now live in Florida. It's about the 182nd day in a row where it's been 70-80F. S…

> NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity That is absolutely wild to me. I also lived in NYC for 10 years, the summers there are magical. The city comes alive in such a unique way, people are outside relaxing in the parks, having backyard and rooftop parties, heading out to the beach on the weekends. There are a bunch of great weekend trips to be had a few hours away by train in Long Islan…

>> NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity

> That is absolutely wild to me. I also lived in NYC for 10 years, the summers there are magical.

This, to me, is a perfect illustration of why the future of work is neither everyone staying remote nor everyone returning to the office. Some individuals thrive in close, convivial environments, others thrive when given the space that only comes with remote working; still others are at their best with a balance of the two.

Acknowledging and embracing this social diversity will be key to employers attracting and retaining the best talent in the post-pandemic world.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#286
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish society learned that there are things more important then corporate efficiency. Maybe optimizing for our quality of life should take precedence over squeezing out that last 10% of work effectiveness. I recently read Russel Bertrand's essay "In praise of idleness", he made this observation that work efficiency dropped during the world war but life still went on. This was from switching to production for the wor…

Europe seemed to have realized this a long time ago. Many Americans still make work much of their identity, and worshiping The Line (the stock market) is in direct conflict with labor rights.

I'm hoping the pandemic is a trigger for a cultural shift. There still seems to be a bit of "get back to work" attitude though.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity That is absolutely wild to me. I also lived in NYC for 10 years, the summers there are magical. The city comes alive in such a unique way, people are outside relaxing in the parks, having backyard and rooftop parties, heading out to the beach on the weekends. There are a bunch of great weekend trips to be had a few hours away by train in Long Islan…

>> NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity > That is absolutely wild to me. I also lived in NYC for 10 years, the summers there are magical. This, to me, is a perfect illustration of why the future of work is neither everyone staying remote nor everyone returning to the office. Some individuals thrive in close, convivial environments, others thrive when given the space that only comes with…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#288
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> NYC summers are a special kind of hell beyond the heat and humidity That is absolutely wild to me. I also lived in NYC for 10 years, the summers there are magical. The city comes alive in such a unique way, people are outside relaxing in the parks, having backyard and rooftop parties, heading out to the beach on the weekends. There are a bunch of great weekend trips to be had a few hours away by train in Long Islan…

FWIW I was shocked how brutal the NYC summer was, and I’ve spent most of my life in Arizona and Texas. I’d guess it’s mostly the humidity and the stagnant airflow.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#289

Let's be real. The loser here is middle managers. Not all of them. Just the ones who feed off of the high they get from having control over the office environment.

This strawman about middle managers in the WFH conversation is exhausting and annoying. Do you really think middle managers are some evil scum-sucking lizards that actually enjoy things like hour long commutes and wearing uncomfortable clothes? They're people just like you are, and they enjoy sitting at home in their pajamas just as much as you do. Maybe, just maybe the issue is that middle managers have actual, legi…

I'm sympathetic to this position, but I do wonder: is it actually easier for underperforming employees to hide when they're remote? I feel like, anecdotally, they are pretty good at hiding in person too.

Maybe it makes them try harder to appear busy with real work when people are around to hover over their cubes, but I'm unconvinced that you can really wring blood from a stone.

Maybe around the edges the "personal touch" is enough to inspire (or frighten) an employee in a way that remote communication does not allow, but I've not seen many poor performers actually improve unless they were already personally motivated to do better themselves.

Re: Facebook extends its work-at-home policy to most employees

#290
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get the job from the bay area and then move. Once you have the job, you're a black box that takes inputs and spits out work outputs in return for a monthly payment, and the company doesn't need to care where you actually are doing the work, as long as the black box works to specs (the JD).

> Get the job from the bay area and then move. What’s to keep you from getting a job that’s ostensibly in Washington state and then moving to California? I believe that’s called, “tax evasion.”

Is that illegal?
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