Google use to be a good company to work for.
Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
41–50 of 623 posts
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#42This focus on returning to work or a hybrid model really seems like a missed chance to pivot the economy in a new direction. It would be great if these companies let employees work remotely full time if they choose. That'll allow people to have more freedom in where and how they live, and also distribute the economy more evenly. Right now, working for big tech companies means having to live in one of a few big city centers, that all share virtually the same cultures (socially and politically) and lifestyles. Haven't people figured out how to make remote work successful in this last year? Anecdotally, it seems like most people are just as productive.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#43After spending more than a year remote, full remote is difficult ( not impossible ) . Most of us have settled on 3 days at home, 2 days at work, so we can socialize, make new connections or just simply have lunch. Going back to in office 100% is a thing of the past unless you are a team that has to be there - making hardware etc. For ex I cant imagine the Pixel team working 100% remote.
Curious, do the members of your team have activities, hobbies, and relationships they are involved with outside of work? From what I have seen the folks itching to get back to the office are the ones that don't have many outlets outside of work. On the other hand, for many of us who do have significant non work passions (rock climbing for me) as well as social circles around these activities appreciate remote work be…
Remote work is great for companies that have a work life balance. But remote work is a bummer at places that expect more than a 40-hour work week. At those places social activity happened over lunch or dinner. Then suddenly we were all locked down with no pre-existing social circle to fall back on.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#44Remote work is terrible for productivity especially if the company was not already remote first. In my employer, we've noticed a 30-40% productivity dip across the board. Not only that, but people are reporting more stress and are working unhealthy hours. Replying to emails at 9pm, etc. The communication breakdowns are constant. Previously you'd absorb information through osmosis, but the watercooler chat about proje…
Odd. We supposedly saw a doubling of productivity.
We have many offices in offices in different timezones, and remote-only helped cross office collaboration.
Also, the company is open floor plan, which is well-known to be productivity minimizing.
On top of that, we’re pathologically meeting-heavy (“Don’t write it down or send an email. Schedule a meeting instead.” is part of new-hire training.)
If I weren’t under NDA, and I had business school contacts, I’d try to write this up as a case study.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#45Remote work is terrible for productivity especially if the company was not already remote first. In my employer, we've noticed a 30-40% productivity dip across the board. Not only that, but people are reporting more stress and are working unhealthy hours. Replying to emails at 9pm, etc. The communication breakdowns are constant. Previously you'd absorb information through osmosis, but the watercooler chat about proje…
Your feelings are very much not shared in regards to productivity.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-su...
I will grant you that multi-person video meetings are subpar. Which is a blessing, because now we have smaller meetings.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#46"I spent all this money on offices, better force the minions to sit in them"
If that was really the case Google would just sell all these. Do you understand how costly it is to maintain offices?
I worked at a place with a historic, beautiful, downtown office. It was great ... for a while. Then they expanded but the location could not. My enjoyment dropped rapidly once we were five to a desk. The question of remote work came up and upper management was heavily invested in on site ICs. And this around the time they promoted some semi-remote folks to be our managers. It was weird. Possibly some trust issues from past contractors.
EDIT: Forgot to mention they did specifically call out the expense of the location and parking privileges as a reason to disallow remote work.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#47That's interesting, since my assumption is that Google would be fairly data driven. I'd be curious if Googlers feel like this is because they are really seeing reduced productivity, or if there's a different motivation.
Disclaimer: Googler managing a small product engineering team. I have to say WFH has a considerable impact on productivity. Coding is actually fine, but the problems are: 1. Designing over VC is very difficult, especially for something entirely new. 3~4 people working on a single whiteboard is far more efficient. 2. Personal relationships are difficult to grow, especially for newbies. Usually those things got grown v…
>...whether you know someone in the other team matters a lot...
I was kind of hoping the remote work experience would help folks make that sort of inside baseball less important. There are real equity concerns to consider, but practically speaking, you end up with narrower and less open decision-making processes in general.
It's definitely a complicated subject, but maybe some folks are partly missing some privilege that they need to learn to let go.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disclaimer: Googler managing a small product engineering team. I have to say WFH has a considerable impact on productivity. Coding is actually fine, but the problems are: 1. Designing over VC is very difficult, especially for something entirely new. 3~4 people working on a single whiteboard is far more efficient. 2. Personal relationships are difficult to grow, especially for newbies. Usually those things got grown v…
>...whether you know someone in the other team matters a lot... I was kind of hoping the remote work experience would help folks make that sort of inside baseball less important. There are real equity concerns to consider, but practically speaking, you end up with narrower and less open decision-making processes in general. It's definitely a complicated subject, but maybe some folks are partly missing some privilege…
I have to say it's human nature. When asking for a favor, you always feel more comfortable if the other guy had a nice chat with you yesterday.
There are always things cannot be easily rationalized via formal processes.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#49I feel like the "max 14 days per year" put the slam down on 2 days home / 3 days office everyone said would happen.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#50That's interesting, since my assumption is that Google would be fairly data driven. I'd be curious if Googlers feel like this is because they are really seeing reduced productivity, or if there's a different motivation.
Disclaimer: Googler managing a small product engineering team. I have to say WFH has a considerable impact on productivity. Coding is actually fine, but the problems are: 1. Designing over VC is very difficult, especially for something entirely new. 3~4 people working on a single whiteboard is far more efficient. 2. Personal relationships are difficult to grow, especially for newbies. Usually those things got grown v…
> 3. Really bad work-life balance in general.
I think this is very subjective. When I carpooled to an office my personal life lost commute time and arriving early or leaving late to coordinate with rides or buses. Gained an extra 8h a week when I went remote.