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Shopify Goes Digital by Default

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Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#51

Post by anarbadalov »

This one is behind a paywall and i'm not a Bloomberg subscriber. Here's a long article published today at Vox that gets into this: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/21/21234242/coronavirus-co...

"A survey of senior finance leaders by research firm Gartner found that 74 percent of organizations plan to shift some employees to remote work permanently. Consulting company Global Workplace Analytics estimates that when the pandemic is over, 30 percent of the entire workforce will work from home at least a couple times a week. Before the pandemic, that number was in the low single digits."

This is kind of terrifying. I started working from home a few months before this mess, and i've found that work-life balance hasn't really improved. Yes, my day is more flexible — i can spend a few hours in the morning with my kid and make up lost time in the evening when she's down — but the days stick to one another, and i'm having trouble disconnecting completely. I used to get home from the office at 4:30, hang with the kid, get her to bed, and then have a few hours to either write or go to the gym or hang with my wife. These days, work is always on my mind to some degree, accompanied by low-level anxiety — and not just because of this surreal and disorienting pandemic.

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#52

Post by newfeatureok »

Remote-first is the future. I'm not sure why anyone would be against it. No one is forcing you to work from home. From a compliance and operations perspective a remote-first company is effectively forced to do a lot of things many companies do not or will not undertake:

- Make meetings accessible to everyone

- Communicate more effectively and transparently internal to the organization (and even externally, for the adventurous types)

The main "downsides" of working from home (which is not necessarily remote-first) - not seeing your colleagues in person, life work separation, etc. will be a new industry that will end up resolving itself. I've seen office space costs. It would be cheaper to fly literally every employee out once a quarter and throw a giant party than to maintain an office space sized for the same amount of people by an order of magnitude in a large, popular city (NYC office space is approximately ~$100/sqft/month - a desk sized for two monitors, a keyboard and writing space is about 2 x 4 minimum, so 8sqft, or $800/month just for a single person in a nice space)

In other words, being forced to do anything - whether that was working from home or from an office - is an oppressive activity. Remote-first simply gives back that freedom of choice. Companies can maintain more minimalist offices for those who insist, and coworking spaces will grow for those who don't like the office and want separation, and finally those who have the space in their homes can work from home.

I'd be curious to hear a good argument against all organizations that can be remote-first being remote-first.

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#53

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

testfoobar wrote: post #41

How does corporate security handle permanent work-from-home? It seems that there would be vastly more risks added. E.g. When Joe Employee walks into the office, we know it is him and what he does and where he works. At home, Joe Employee might have a friend who looks over his shoulder at the project launch document he is completing, at the financials that are being submitted to the CFO.

The security risks aren't any different in permanent work from home vs "once in a while when I have to watch the kids" work from home, and most companies have long since allowed the latter. You just don't give sensitive documents to people who can't be trusted to protect them.

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#54

Post by pb7 »

djohnston wrote: post #44
pb7 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the glaring problems with SF were fixed, this is still one of the best places in the world to live quality-of-life wise. Weather, accessibility to some of the best nature in the world, great food, entertainment, etc.

Yeah fair enough, but if my job let me live anywhere I think I could find a reasonable approximation for a significant CoL reduction somewhere else.

Sure, not denying that, but I think it's uncharitable to question why anyone would want to live here. There are many reasons. You personally may not strike that ideal cost-value balance but it's certainly there for many people, especially if the biggest reasons why people leave SF are gone -- cost, homelessness, and possibly politics (mostly related to homelessness and cost).

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#56

Post by tachyonbeam »

weston wrote: post #50
godzillabrennus wrote: post #26

Anyone else think these companies will pull a Yahoo and undo this policy after the pandemic?

Only if they want to end up like Yahoo. Taking away a benefit, be it free cokes or working from home, likely would cause a huge exodus of engineers.

I don't think of it as a benefit... It kind of sounds like WFH is going to be mandatory from now on?

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#58

Post by kwanbix »

testfoobar wrote: post #41

How does corporate security handle permanent work-from-home? It seems that there would be vastly more risks added. E.g. When Joe Employee walks into the office, we know it is him and what he does and where he works. At home, Joe Employee might have a friend who looks over his shoulder at the project launch document he is completing, at the financials that are being submitted to the CFO.

Well, many Joe Employees take work home, so how is that different? And also, Joe Employee can be decide to take interesting docs/info for his own use, I don't see much of a difference.

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#59

Post by lazerwalker »

evgen wrote: post #45
joelbluminator wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different tastes. With all due respect, for every guy like you who doesn't want to work there, there are 10 that do. I understand that remote first doesn't work for everyone, nothing works for everyone.

You are quite delusional if you think the ratio is 10:1 in favor of WFH. One thing that the recent lockdown and forced WFH experiment has revealed is that while people are strongly in favor of flexibly WFH the ratio is closer to 10:1 against having no office at all.

It's really not fair to describe the current situation as a "forced WFH experiment". We're trying to work and be even remotely productive during an unprecedented global pandemic, and also happen to be working from home.

Re: Shopify Goes Digital by Default

#60

Post by cryptoz »

tachyonbeam wrote: post #35
godzillabrennus wrote: post #26

Anyone else think these companies will pull a Yahoo and undo this policy after the pandemic?

It's possible. Lots of people don't like working remotely. They might lose a lot of valuable employees. I suppose over time they might also attract people who prefer working from home exclusively, but they would be losing many older employees with valuable knowledge. One way or another, there's going to be some kind of pushback. Many people threatening to quit, many actually quitting. The cynical part of me thinks th…

Is any of this forced? I can't read the article (paywall) but it sounds like work-from-home at Shopify will be optional right? The employer is 'letting' it happen, not forcing it, correct? Why would this make so many people so angry that they would leave? Or am I misunderstanding?
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