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The future of work is not threatening your employees

warzel.substack.com

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Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#41

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

autokad wrote: post #35
whack wrote: post #31

Unpopular opinion - is the CEO really threatening her employees? Or talking more abstractly about the downsides and ramifications of people deciding to work remotely? Ie, downsides that people would face at many/most companies, not just her own. I read the original article with a more charitable assumption, and the latter is how it came across to me. "If you park in my driveway again, I will have your car towed" - ve…

agree, I think tech employees should be weary of remote work. We'll probably see even harder interview process and less pay / benefits as a result.

Weary or wary?

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#42

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #39

I think one of the consequences of work from home culture will be less of an emphasis on how many hours you work, and more focus on what you produce, and how that can be monetized. What this means is that a good manager will farm work out all over the place finding the right mix of quality / quantity / price. People will not be paid salaries, they will be paid per unit of work. Rather than interviewing people to join…

The future is apparently going to be impossible for new grads and people who would thrive with mentorship.

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#43

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

zero_deg_kevin wrote: post #15
GoToRO wrote: post #2

The future of work will be whatever is easier for the CEO. So easy for CEO, hard for everybody else is what we will get.

The future of work is whatever employees will tolerate. CEO’s are less than worthless without competent people to boss around.

That only works as long as the demand is greater than supply. If that shifts then the employee will either require the means to reskill or they can accept the new future. Software development in America is in a unique place for that future.

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#44

Post by variaga »

whack wrote: post #31

Unpopular opinion - is the CEO really threatening her employees? Or talking more abstractly about the downsides and ramifications of people deciding to work remotely? Ie, downsides that people would face at many/most companies, not just her own. I read the original article with a more charitable assumption, and the latter is how it came across to me. "If you park in my driveway again, I will have your car towed" - ve…

The Washingtonian's employees presumably know their CEO better than any of us do, and their interpretation of the op-ed resulted in them organizing a work stoppage the next day.

So maybe your reading is a bit too charitable, as it seems like all the employees heard the threat loud and clear.

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#45

Post by UncleOxidant »

autokad wrote: post #35
whack wrote: post #31

Unpopular opinion - is the CEO really threatening her employees? Or talking more abstractly about the downsides and ramifications of people deciding to work remotely? Ie, downsides that people would face at many/most companies, not just her own. I read the original article with a more charitable assumption, and the latter is how it came across to me. "If you park in my driveway again, I will have your car towed" - ve…

agree, I think tech employees should be weary of remote work. We'll probably see even harder interview process and less pay / benefits as a result.

Or as jay_kyburz suggests above, there will be even more contractors and less employees. The interview process is usually easier for contractors because it's not like you're vetting a new family member.

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#46

Post by heavyset_go »

ineptech wrote: post #21

I have tried to gently help my corporate overlords to understand that wfh is something happening that they need to react to, not a decision they get to make. It is 100% not working. The convo goes like this: Them: We understand the concerns, but we have decided that the return to the office will be mandatory. Me: So those who are not comfortable returning to the office will be let go? Them: No! Yo mean fired? Good he…

Organize with similar minded employees so that everyone is on the same page when push comes to shove.

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#47

Post by [deleted] »

davesque wrote: post #5

Seems like there are a lot of ways that employers are effectively blaming their employees for COVID. Some of the anecdotes in this article really resonated with me. It does feel "super shitty" when you feel as though you've been barely holding it together during what has undoubtedly been one of the most difficult years of the previous century and yet your employer seems to feel entitled to hold you to the usual stand…

[deleted]

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#48

Post by nr2x »

whack wrote: post #31

Unpopular opinion - is the CEO really threatening her employees? Or talking more abstractly about the downsides and ramifications of people deciding to work remotely? Ie, downsides that people would face at many/most companies, not just her own. I read the original article with a more charitable assumption, and the latter is how it came across to me. "If you park in my driveway again, I will have your car towed" - ve…

Meaning exists in how language is interpreted by the intended audience, in this case, that audience identified this as a threat. No other interpretations are pertinent.

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#49

Post by burkaman »

whack wrote: post #31

Unpopular opinion - is the CEO really threatening her employees? Or talking more abstractly about the downsides and ramifications of people deciding to work remotely? Ie, downsides that people would face at many/most companies, not just her own. I read the original article with a more charitable assumption, and the latter is how it came across to me. "If you park in my driveway again, I will have your car towed" - ve…

First of all, the pandemic is still happening. Imagine telling your neighbor about the abstract dangers of parking in your driveway when they're currently doing so because their house blew up and they don't have anywhere else to park.

Second, the CEO published this without talking to a single one of their employees about the issue. Why? "I am concerned about the unfortunately common office worker who wants to continue working at home and just go into the office on occasion." Can you imagine your colleague stating this publicly without ever speaking to you about it? It's incredibly disrespectful. Your neighbor is parked in your driveway out of necessity, and you're within earshot asking a friend "Can you believe these people who think they can park wherever they want? I hope they realize how easy it is to tow a car off your own property."

Re: The future of work is not threatening your employees

#50

Post by commandlinefan »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #39

I think one of the consequences of work from home culture will be less of an emphasis on how many hours you work, and more focus on what you produce, and how that can be monetized. What this means is that a good manager will farm work out all over the place finding the right mix of quality / quantity / price. People will not be paid salaries, they will be paid per unit of work. Rather than interviewing people to join…

That's pretty much what the demonized CEO in the linked article is predicting, too.
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