Live data from Hacker News

Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

theverge.com

441–450 of 1001 posts

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#441
post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Dropbox served food I valued it at 50k, ie: in order fro a company to poach me, given they don't have food, that's 50k they'd have to make up for. While I don't spend anywhere near 4k a month on food, there were a few things to consider: a) 3 meals prepared for me saves me time and money. I love to cook but I don't have tons of time anymore and I don't have a a good kitchen. If I want to save time via delivery I…

I guess I just can't comprehend a mindset where 3 meals a day at a company is this huge win. On the occasions when I went into an office with a non-free cafeteria, I didn't even always eat lunch. ADDED: This subthread to me is such a bizarre look into a certain bubble of SV. [See also apparent disagreements with the statement that spending $60/day in restaurants is somehow abnormal.]

I feel like I justified my point well. Eating extremely well made food is a major win for me. There's the obvious financial and time savings, but there's also a lot to be said for having a fresh made meal three times a day - and Dropbox always had variety, they pretty much never repeated dishes (other than the standards - burgers, pizza, etc).

I ate some of the best meals I've ever had while working there. After a certain point that matters more to me than an extra N dollars a year.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The food/drink part could be the most of it. A Google employee enjoying free food and drink could save $60/day versus buying prepared food ($10 for breakfast, $20 for lunch, and $30 for dinner). If you drink much coffee or other beverages, that could be another $15/day. If you weigh this against spending an extra hour or two commuting, then it looks like a lousy bargain. But if you are like many people, and ended up…

Jesus Christ. I eat well and spend maybe $400 a month on groceries and food. I’ve heard that Google recruiters attempt to con potential employees into some ridiculous assessment of the “free” food as a compensation benefit with numbers like those that you posited above. I can’t imagine valuing daily meals that highly.

Likewise here, I'm floating around $300-350/month at the store, and that includes non-food consumables like tissues and cleaning supplies.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#443
post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My coworkers are great, but do you know who is better? My family and friends.

then get a job that requires less hours and/or less transit. Don't try to work at a place that requires a very high dedication with a lot of hours and then use wfh as a way to lie to you boss to spend more time with your kids when you are supposed to work.

That’s not what GP implied.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#445
post #51

I work for another company that is going to do a partial return to office. I will be looking at options for companies that offer full in person office (or 90% in person office) after things settle down. I have worked full remote for a total of 5 years of my career, and I believe working in the office is a competitive advantage. * Overhearing hallway conversations (and joining them) helps spawn invocation. * I often d…

> I save money by spending less on food, drinks, and electricity. For those of us who have to commute, it's not exactly the norm to be saving money while commuting. Commutes are responsible for a 10% drop in hourly wages[1], and the median commute time results in spending 10 full days commuting a year. The average commuter in one of the largest metro areas in the country will spend over 13 full days commuting a year:…

You don't have to commute. You chose to commute.

You maybe did it for a larger house. Or maybe for cheaper rent/mortgage.

We're not talking here about folks on minimum wage who can only afford to live 2 hours outside of the city they are working in.

The highly paid software engineers on hackernews could absolutely afford to live 5 minutes from the office, 30 minutes from the office, or 2 hours from the office.

They could afford to move to a city with good transit where they can only afford an apartment, or to a city with no transit where they can afford a giant mansion.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#446
Well that was fast. I’m not sure what I expected.

SV companies and their investors have been actively working to suppress remote work for as long as I can remember. So this move makes sense in theory.

I’ll be curious to see how much turnover this causes. I can’t name a single person I know that ever wants to go back to an office.

I see many comments here waxing about the virtues of forced commute and force colocated work, but it seems more like a cope for personal issues. If you’re relying on your work for friends, social interaction, preventing yourself from distractions, etc. then it sounds like you have personal issues. Issues unrelated to remote work.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I save money by spending less on food, drinks, and electricity. For those of us who have to commute, it's not exactly the norm to be saving money while commuting. Commutes are responsible for a 10% drop in hourly wages[1], and the median commute time results in spending 10 full days commuting a year. The average commuter in one of the largest metro areas in the country will spend over 13 full days commuting a year:…

The food/drink part could be the most of it. A Google employee enjoying free food and drink could save $60/day versus buying prepared food ($10 for breakfast, $20 for lunch, and $30 for dinner). If you drink much coffee or other beverages, that could be another $15/day. If you weigh this against spending an extra hour or two commuting, then it looks like a lousy bargain. But if you are like many people, and ended up…

I save a huge amount on food wfh. Working somewhere without free food, I would buy prepared food every day.

From home, I whip something up from my kitchen every day

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#448
post #319

Some here are being honest, so I'll be brutally honest: Covid has upset the master-slave relationship, and they're realizing they're giving up too much control. Yes, even the supposedly forward-thinking, progressive tech world. It's so much easier to ignore the BS of "company culture," "a new family" and other such nonsense when working remote. Plenty of people here have outright stated they work as a way to fund the…

100%. A lot of the people here commenting that they like forced in person work don’t realize they’re indoctrinated.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#449
post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus Christ. I eat well and spend maybe $400 a month on groceries and food. I’ve heard that Google recruiters attempt to con potential employees into some ridiculous assessment of the “free” food as a compensation benefit with numbers like those that you posited above. I can’t imagine valuing daily meals that highly.

Likewise here, I'm floating around $300-350/month at the store, and that includes non-food consumables like tissues and cleaning supplies.

Thats pretty extreme. I am usually around $800 a month, but that includes about 2 meals a week at casual restaurants with friends.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#450

"Cook wrapped up the memo by saying that he's looking forward to seeing employee faces. "I know I'm not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we've all built," he wrote." CEO's all spout the same nonsense. The majority of people work because they need to earn money. They're not working to make a new 'family' or change the wo…

There are also plenty of people who like their coworkers and enjoy spending time with them each day. I don't think everybody finds work to be an unfulfilling drain on their leisure time

Not everyone who prefers to WFH finds "work to be an unfulfilling drain on their leisure time", they just prefer to WFH for a myriad of reasons. (I like spending more time with my child, oof).

If you aren't a middle manager and the employee is productive, then honestly why do you have an opinion?

Post reply on HN