Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH • Hacker News Board

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#311

Post by spdionis » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:04 PM UTC

scatters wrote: post #255

aranelsurion wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this expectation really strange. It's like 'violence in games', if you refer to it everyone will nod, but how it became such a widely accepted fact is at best unclear. I'm sure some cases of it happened somewhere, there are some papers, and some appeal to authority is a given, but do we really know if WFH equals mental health issues en masse? For example, I wonder if: long commute, all the preparation before/a…

> What about constant interruptions, loud neighbours and that white light above you, even though you'd rather have it yellow? All the inconveniences of sharing a place with other people, wouldn't any of this take a toll? Are you describing working in an office or working from home?

Stole the words out of my... keyboard.

Wait till people who love WFH say "You just need the proper setup".

Yes, I need a proper setup. An office, please.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#312

Post by surfsvammel » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

Permanent WFH sounds great. In some places, like the Scandinavian countries, employers are responsible for the workplace. Ergonomics and such. It is right now unclear how this would work when people will work from home.

One of my clients is worried about this, that employees will get hurt from having bad office chairs, and-what-not, and having to pay up for it. The solution during the pandemic has been to allow employees to come in and grab chairs, monitors, etc., from the office.

It's an interesting development of what a workspace is.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

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Post by kulix425 » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

I'm sure this will do wonders for mental health

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#314

Post by aussieguy1234 » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

Improved Collaboration is often cited as an advantage of the office. I've been working from home throughout covid and I haven't found this to be the case.

If anything, I have more energy due to less distractions and this gives me more energy for collaboration.

The extra energy also makes the collaboration that does happen better because I can concentrate easier.

Apart from that, my productivity working on code as an engineer has gone up probably 2x what it was in the office.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#315

Post by rossdavidh » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:14 PM UTC

hourislate wrote: post #282

These companies think they're some kind of trend setters or they're embracing some kind of new way to work, Nokia was doing this back in the early 2000's in the Americas. No one had a desk unless you needed one. Otherwise you came in sat down where ever you liked, plugged in and went to work. You decided your hours, you decided when you came in or worked from home. They also subsidized your home Internet connection b…

Yahoo also went for WFH in a big way, until a CEO change and they did an about-face. It will be interesting to see how many of these companies "do a Yahoo" in a year or two.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#316

Post by mdoms » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:26 PM UTC

monsieurbanana wrote: post #80

beardbound wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. I'm single and have worked from home for years, minus a brief contracting gig in an office a few years ago. I made sure to make time for seeing people though. I have friends in my neighborhood and we would meet up for lunch or tea during the week and I would always go out on the weekends. With social distancing it's been really challenging. I'm fortunate that I have friends that are also careful t…

I'm not telling you to completely isolate, but this is wrong: > I keep telling my friends that you can't eliminate risk, just mitigate it to an amount that you're comfortable with, and that amount is different for everyone This is a pandemic, any risks you consciously take are risks you're forcing the people around you to take too. No single person can set the amount of risks he wants to take, it has to be decided gl…

The fact that you're being downvoted shows how American HN is. You're plainly correct, and anyone who isn't indoctrinated in the Cult of Individualism knows it. The nations that have performed the best this year have been the more collectivist ones.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#317

Post by michaelt » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:28 PM UTC

randomsearch wrote: post #182

michaelt wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I'm concerned, saving an hour of commute each day more than covers the costs of a desk and using a bit more electricity :)

Hate this argument, because many of us deliberately live close to workplaces - and often for environmental reasons.

Surely environmentalists would be glad that their car-owning colleagues are no longer driving to work?

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#318

Post by ccktlmazeltov » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:30 PM UTC

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"…

Commuting is destroying cities (we give up space for cars, noise pollution, pedestrian streets, etc.), people (how much time do you lose in commute?), and the world (pollution).

Cars were invented in an era where cities were not as dense, and where jobs were mostly done in person. With the advent of the internet and personal computers, this is changing, that you want it or not.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#319

Post by taxcoder » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:38 PM UTC

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #242

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"…

My hypothesis is that WFH has been somewhat ostracized, generally, by companies for bad reasons that would otherwise benefit employees who find it beneficial. The pendulum is now swinging in WFH's favor and those who it benefits want to cement it as a very viable and practical alternative to the traditional office model.

I wonder if it will swing to an extreme the other way, as many pendulum like responses tend to. In other words, if WFH will become more common than is reasonable as we reach and then pass an ideal.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#320

Post by taxcoder » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 10:42 PM UTC

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…

Definitely agree with the idea of a scheduled in office time. I work ~400 miles from my company's office and get there several times a year. I enjoy WFH, but would prefer being close enough to go to the office more often.