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Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

businessinsider.com

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Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#291

Post by ajsnigrutin »

Meh... working from home for 3 days a weak is great... all the time, really sucks (for me atleast).

Yu miss all the fun with coworkers, all the fun side projects, productive or not...

..on the other hand, working from home, especially when they promote "whenever you feel like it", means you're "on call" all the time. Having "core hours" (eg 10-15h, weekdays) and having everybody available then (for calls, meetings, skypes,...) is ok, but I imagine this will mean ealy morning and late night calls and tasks, and workers will never be able to fully separate work and free time.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#292

Post by hombre_fatal »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #121

I guess it's not surprising but I am super disappointed by some of the comments here that show a total lack of empathy for people who aren't like you. I mean, you love working from home? Congrats, more power to you. But the number of comments stating that "only people who are good at office politics like going to the office", "only incompetent managers need to see you in person", "your co-workers aren't your friends"…

I agree that the comments you've cited are a bit ridiculous.

But it's also important to acknowledge that pre-Covid, only a tiny fraction of jobs were remote at all. People who preferred remote work had very little choice in the matter. Our society assumes that commuting to work and sitting in a cubicle (or worse) is fitting for 99% of the work force.

So what I mainly see here aren't the comments you cite, but a "ugh but I like the office", which gets very little sympathy from me in a society where, virus aside, the majority of jobs are office-only. Like, the world is already tipped in your favor.

To put it into perspective, I was so desperate for a fully remote job that I took a $50,000 salary for it when I was making $130,000 in Austin, Texas. Now I live in South America on a beach doing exactly what I want to be doing.

I don't like the optics of calling Covid a "good thing", but it must be pointed out that it got offices (like my former job) that were adamantly ass-in-seat only to go remote-only. It spurred fundamental (hopefully lasting) shifts in our work culture. And a lot of them were a long time in the making and waiting. How many of these companies that were firmly ass-in-seat are now fully or mostly remote realizing that the sky isn't falling? I hope we reach a better equilibrium.

Ideally our employment options would have something for everyone without you needing to go for a $50k job to get what you want. Another culture change I'd like is for WFH options to come with a signing bonus to get your home office sorted out, something that's sorely lacking.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#293

Post by renewiltord »

thebean11 wrote: post #138
renewiltord wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it, though? I've always brought my own tools - my Aeron, my preferred high-refresh monitors, a Linux dev machine where possible, my monitor arms, my IDE. I have a good setup. I know it works. It's not as feasible to get my own standing desk in each time so I let that go. But they always give me everything and I just set them aside and use my (superior) tooling. I don't think that's paying the company. That's just…

I'd never even consider paying for an IDE I need for work. Why would a company not buy me software that has a direct and immediate impact on my productivity? Huge red flag.

All of these things are productivity improvements. And I'm sure any company would buy them if I cared, but $200? It's a rounding error. And it liberates me from any choices they'd make.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#294

Post by sidlls »

oblio wrote: post #274
bob33212 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done this for years. I have seen that some people don't like it for the following reasons. 1. They prefer a predictable schedule. 2. They don't like being at home ( family or workspace issues) 3. They are good at or enjoy office politics. 4. They are incompetent managers and they don't know how to manage engineers other than looking over shoulders and taking attendence.

5. They enjoy socializing with coworkers. Even in tech, not everyone is an introvert.

Introverts have never been the majority, even in tech. I'd also argue that with the rise of social media masquerading as development tools (gitlab/github), extroverts are now more over-represented today than even just a few years ago.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#295

Post by schoolornot »

syspec wrote: post #258
trimbo wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not too long ago, Dropbox signed the largest office lease in SF history[1]. What changes are you making to Dropbox's RE plan in light of this? [1] - https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/10/10/dro...

I know the Pinterest cancelled their lease, I forget how much but they had to pay 90M to do it, but they got out of it

I wonder why a landlord would even entertain such an offer. It's not uncommon for leases to be ~15 years. That is a hell of a risky move to think that you'll be ahead by offering a buyout with the hope of finding new tenants.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#296

Post by rocqua »

choppaface wrote: post #277
dhouston wrote: post #33

To be clear (if you only read the headline :)), not entirely remote. Solo work at home, collaborative work in "studios", basically reimagining the offices into collaborative/convening spaces that you go into from ~once/week to once a quarter depending on team/role. Remote-only cuts out the in-person experience entirely, which is problematic for building teams and culture; and ad hoc "WFH whenever you feel like it" ge…

Am curious what sort of metrics and studies that Dropbox HR plans to do to assess this change. The current COVID-mandated WFH atmosphere is a lot different than how things were pre-COVID. In particular, there's the impact of children at home, and for ICs there's a special stigma (due to COVID) to support isolation. However, Dropbox's culture has always been uniquely supportive of IC independence during pre-COVID time…

What are "IC"s?

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#297

Post by notherthrowaway »

schoolornot wrote: post #295
syspec wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know the Pinterest cancelled their lease, I forget how much but they had to pay 90M to do it, but they got out of it

I wonder why a landlord would even entertain such an offer. It's not uncommon for leases to be ~15 years. That is a hell of a risky move to think that you'll be ahead by offering a buyout with the hope of finding new tenants.

You could use the $90 million to diversify your real estate assets or pay down your debt.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#299

Post by notherthrowaway »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #241
dml2135 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say on top of that, remote work comes with some of the same communication problems as social media platforms. Without facetime, the assumption of goodwill starts to wear way.

The quickest way to resolve political standoffs in remote companies is to fly people out to an office and stick them in a conference room for a day. The agenda barely matters. People just tend to behave better when they're dealing with a real human being that they've met instead of a screen name in Slack that they argue with every day. This is why I never promise anyone 100% WFH or 100% remote any more. I tell everyo…

== People just tend to behave better when they're dealing with a real human being that they've met instead of a screen name in Slack that they argue with every day.==

I’ve seen this work with unruly customers, too.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#300

Post by ashtonkem »

sib wrote: post #219
ashtonkem wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like you, I am genuinely baffled by "WFH 4 days a week" arrangements (as compared to "WFH when you have errands that make it necessary", which is pretty common). If I have to come into the office 1 day a week, then I still have to foot the bill for a home office within driving range of the office, which sucks. I think at once a quarter you're starting to look at the ability to live on the other side of the country an…

I think coming in to the office 1x / week would let you live quite a bit further away than coming in 5x / week. At least for me, I could do a 60-90-minute drive to work 1 day per week, but would not want to 5 days.

But for what benefit? Will the office be full sized (forfeiting the cost savings to the business), or will teams have to negotiate which days they’re supposed to come in (forfeiting a large amount of the team building benefits).

It just seems like a lot more work and hassle than being fully colocated or fully remote.

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