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I hope work from home continues

ryanmercer.com

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Re: I hope work from home continues

#391

Post by richardwhiuk »

pottertheotter wrote: post #250
globular-toast wrote: post #109

> Do not have to go to work sick, because they act like you murdered 30 children if you call in sick. > Do not have to be exposed to multiple sick coworkers at any given time. This is a really important one and something that occurred to me recently. Now that we've all established that we can, in fact, work from home just fine, we should at the very, very least stop the ridiculous practice of coming into work sick. P…

The thing that baffled me as I read this point is that the choice set when sick is (a) go to work and work, or (b) stay home and work. What we should be discussing is not working at all when you're sick. Rest and get better. I can't be the only one that finds this odd?

I think it's mainly an American thing where sick leave comes out your holiday AIUI.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#392

Post by irrational »

JackFr wrote: post #193
protonimitate wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

> I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office Informal communication, informal collaboration, a culture of apprenticeship. To the extent that the organization values these they are all served much better in person than remote. All companies and all people are different. There isn't a one size fits all. But it's not like there are no benefits to in person.

> Informal communication, informal collaboration

This has been happening with greater regularity when we have been working from home. All the time we will have informal communication on slack or jump on an informal unscheduled zoom call to mob on an issue. I worked on campus for 18 years prior to starting to work from home last March. I cannot remember a single time informal communication or informal collaboration happened. For some reason people are much more open to it over slack and zoom than they ever were in person.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#394

Post by kritiko »

TuringNYC wrote: post #279
cm2012 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The companies mandating 100% office time are doing so because their particular executive teams are nuts about it. See Netflix.

To me it is a cost issue. Living within 5-day-a-week commuting distance to an office is expensive for the weighted majority of technology jobs. You are trading space/rent for facetime. That is fine, but the salaries for 5-day-a-week-from-office jobs need to compensate for this -- not just for execs, but also for normal workers. Living in a 1br was charming as a 25yo, and not so much for someone with a family. Driving…

Your trade assumes that none of your employees will want to live in a high cost of living area if given the opportunity to WFH. If their age / hobbies / etc. make city living attractive you will need to compensate them appropriately or be unable to attract them.

I love living in the city. If work wants to keep me remote, I need an extra bedroom or dedicated office space.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#395

Post by w0mbat »

bigcorp-slave wrote: post #70
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals Anecdotally, the people I know reluctant to go back to the office have some combination of lovely homes into which they've put care, terrible offices reflecting zero care or empathy and/or introversion, sometimes to the point of social anxiety. (Stark minority in the third, but a life changer for them.) Offices don't have to have terrible meal options.…

Do you live in Silicon Valley? Nice homes cannot be chosen close to work. All homes in the South Bay that aren’t literally falling down are multi-million-dollar. I personally know people who bought a $2.5m home with a rat infestation.

The south bay has hordes of pretty nice apartment complexes for newly arrived renters, and newish condos and townhouses for entry level buyers. Eventually you trade up to a 3 bedroom house or whatever you need.

I have worked at various tech companies since the 90s, am by no means rich but I've have always lived somewhere decent that's within 15 minutes drive of work.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#396

Post by Sodman »

spurdoman77 wrote: post #201
protonimitate wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

Trust issues. While 80% of employees could be more productive remote, 18% could have serious issues with productivity and 2% might actually turn nefarious while remote (steal company IPR or something like that). Or I would imagine thats what the fear is.

> 80% of employees could be more productive remote, 18% could have serious issues with productivity

My experience has been almost the inverse of this. I wouldn't quite say 80% of people are less productive at home but I'd think at least above half? For various reasons mentioned elsewhere here (disruptive home environment, can't communicate effectively with co-workers remotely, etc). Many people just become very unproductive if they're not physically in the presence of other people being visibly productive.

I'd like to see some formal studies into this to get the true split.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#397

Post by jonnycomputer »

sologoub wrote: post #199
jonnycomputer wrote: post #45

Things I miss: - interacting with my colleagues, going out to lunch - the very high-speed and reliability of being on the network wire - dedicated work-space outside of my home where home-chores don't press on my mind while I'm trying to work - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great - a clearer separation of work and home life Things I don't miss: - interacting with my colleagues, when i don…

Pandemic is the only thing preventing organized lunch with coworkers. Nothing about wfh prevents it - just agree on a place and time. Internet is a problem, but a solvable one - assuming you are in the US, we need competition for ISPs. I had ATT fiber for a while and it was for all practical purposes as good as office (symmetric gigabit). Cycling has been covered :) Separation - door closed to the space I work in wor…

But in practice it is will happen less frequently, and will be a longer commute for most. Not least because many people live in the suburbs, but work in places where places to eat are nearby.

On the plus, many more lunches with spouse and children.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#398

Post by jonnycomputer »

shard wrote: post #383
jonnycomputer wrote: post #45

Things I miss: - interacting with my colleagues, going out to lunch - the very high-speed and reliability of being on the network wire - dedicated work-space outside of my home where home-chores don't press on my mind while I'm trying to work - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great - a clearer separation of work and home life Things I don't miss: - interacting with my colleagues, when i don…

The absolute best thing about WFH: naps whenever I need it. No more slogging through the post-lunch mid-afternoon slump. I take a 15 minute nap and am good to go for the rest of the afternoon. Also, early meetings at 6~7AM scheduled to work with European coworkers can be followed by a short nap afterwards as well. This has done wonders for my energy throughout the day.

I should try it.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#399

Post by lotsofpulp »

selimthegrim wrote: post #387
lotsofpulp wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, employers pay unemployment insurance premiums to the state. The state then pays unemployment benefits to qualifying individuals. Individuals who resign (quit) or are terminated for cause are not eligible for unemployment benefits. For example, an employer can slowly ratchet up requirements at work to the point where they can document an employee is not performing, terminate them, and the employee is not el…

They are still active until early September

Oh, this was the most recent government website I could find quickly. Looks like its dated before the new stimulus.

https://blog.dol.gov/2021/01/11/unemployment-benefits-answer...

Re: I hope work from home continues

#400

Post by ryandrake »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #113
ryanmercer wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What kind of office was this person working in? An office on the property of an international airport. Our maintenance hanger happens to be behind our parking lot and immediately on the other side of it is an active runway. If you work at an airport, not in the terminals, you get used to smelling aviation fuel/jet exhaust. As far as the indoor temperatures, it's a leased building and the HVAC is just inadequate (my…

> Many on HN are accustomed to nice offices with a bunch of perks or remote work, but for a lot of us we work in conditions like this (or far worse) and it's just life. I don’t know where you live, but I can assure you that what you’re describing is not “just life” in most developed countries. You’re not describing a normal office. Offices like you describe continue to exist because employees put up with it. The tech…

That’s funny.. when I read OP’s post, I was pretty underwhelmed by the complaints. He describes a pretty typical office environment, in my experience. The HVAC problems and disgusting facilities rang the most true to me. I remember a spider infestation in a break room that did not get addresses until an employee threatened to complain. (The place ended up spider-free but smelling of insecticide, and the complainer was fired for “poor performance”.) I agree that a lot of HN readers seem to have only been exposed to idyllic FAANG workspaces, and have no idea the conditions most office workers have to put up with.
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