Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 287 posts

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#51

Post by ghaff »

ajross wrote: post #41
onetimemanytime wrote: post #2

Covid might actually result in permanent changes. Sucks for a lot of commercial real estate companies. WeWork is probably 100% done

> WeWork is probably 100% done WeWork specifically was failing anyway, but it strikes me that in a world where permanent workplaces are deemphasized and workers are inherently more mobile, the market for a broker of temporary spaces is probably larger, not smaller.

For at least some who want to live in a city and are WFH full-time, it will make more sense to rent a co-working space than to move to a bigger apartment with a dedicated office.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#52

Post by jon-wood »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #11
onetimemanytime wrote: post #2

Covid might actually result in permanent changes. Sucks for a lot of commercial real estate companies. WeWork is probably 100% done

Sucks for the worker who now has to bear the cost of providing office space and internet connections and your local network. Also longer term a lot of housing stock will become les desirable and new residential housing will become bigger and more expensive. Oh and H&S inspections will now have to be included

For most people I suspect they come out on top even with the extra expense of needing a decent internet connection and some office space. Commuting (particularly into London, which is what I'm most familiar with) is expensive - I'm a 1.5 hour train ride out from London, and an annual season ticket costs £6,000-£7,000 per year, depending on the route and whether I want a travelcard for London as well.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#53

Post by jdhn »

cactus2093 wrote: post #42
alistairSH wrote: post #26

Can Japanese residents comment on how this works WRT office space in the home? Do people typically have space in their homes to have a proper home office setup? My wife and I are both WFH right now, and we had to buy a second desk and chair and repurpose what was previously our 2nd bedroom. The 3rd bedroom has always been a home office. If we lived in a downtown apartment, I'm not sure what we'd do, as we're both in…

I mean FWIW I’m American and your explanation sounds very foreign to me. I’m a millennial though, so owning a house at all is quite obstacle. Scrounging up a down payment when even a 2 bedroom apartment is $1-$1.5 million is not the easiest task. Renting an extra 2 bedrooms to have lying around in case we suddenly need 2 offices would also cost an extra couple thousand dollars a month. My wife and I are both working…

>Scrounging up a down payment when even a 2 bedroom apartment is $1-$1.5 million is not the easiest task.

This is why I don't live in the Bay Area, and have no plans to. I was casually surfing Trulia, and found new construction in my area starting at $170k for a 3 bed/2 bathroom. The idea of paying that much for an apartment(!) is simply foreign to me.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#54

Post by reallydontask »

noir_lord wrote: post #17
saos wrote: post #15

Thats really good. I wonder how UK companies will respond.

They largely won't unless forced to. Management in the UK by and large sucks.

> Management in the UK by and large sucks.

I don't necessarily disagree but I have to say that it's miles worse in Spain.

I might've been lucky but I've only had a bad boss and even he treated me far better than the best bosses some of my friends in Spain had treated them, so clearly YMMV. (obviously anecdotal evidence)

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#55

Post by fzzzy »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #11
onetimemanytime wrote: post #2

Covid might actually result in permanent changes. Sucks for a lot of commercial real estate companies. WeWork is probably 100% done

Sucks for the worker who now has to bear the cost of providing office space and internet connections and your local network. Also longer term a lot of housing stock will become les desirable and new residential housing will become bigger and more expensive. Oh and H&S inspections will now have to be included

For existing companies like Mozilla where we are mostly remote anyway, the company already reimburses home internet and office equipment like chairs and monitors and desks.

Also, Mozilla will reimburse space in the form of a coworking lease in the worker's city. (Edit: Who knows if this will continue after Coronavirus) I don't think there's any kind of benefit for the costs incurred by the increased use of home space, but I do think there should be.

Mozilla did an ergonomic inspection on my workspace at my request when I still worked in an office. I haven't had one on my home office, but I do agree that companies should pay for ergonomic assessments of home offices.

I do agree that as more traditional companies switch over, they may not be so generous with their reimbursement since one of the biggest benefits for them is cost reduction. They can silently move all the costs of working space onto employees. And I do think this will result in people seeking larger living spaces in general as well, unfortunately for energy efficiency.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#56

Post by ghaff »

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #13
murgindrag wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends on the company and on the team. In my company, my productivity skyrocketed, while that of my work colleagues crashed. It largely correlated with things like tech literacy and being open to change. Where I work, there are a few people with who invested in nice WFH setups, work-life integration, and all the things needed to make this work, who found productivity going up. And then there is the majori…

I'm curious, what all do you include when you think about a "nice WFH setup"? For me it's largely a defined space, a nice desk, a nice chair, and a nice monitor. Anything else on your list?

A defined ergonomically equipped workspace that isn't in the way of other day-to-day living (with or without a door depending upon who else is regularly in the space day-to-day) and a good audio-video setup for video calls and other video recording. Even though in practice I often work elsewhere in my house on a laptop for various reasons, it's important to me to have an office.

And, as others have said, childcare and other arrangements to allow you to work without distraction.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#57

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M »

kubatyszko wrote: post #40
zkid18 wrote: post #8

Wow, that huge for Japan I believe. I live at Kichijoji and it takes me 1 hour to get to work in Akasaka. I love my place and somehow get used to this routine, but honestly I wish I could rent a place in Japanese countryside.

You can actually get a house for free in some areas, mostly central Japan. Many cities are becoming deserted and houses are left alone, governments offer incentives to take them over. Might come with a catch such as committing to maintenance of farming.

The main catch is that the "free" houses are usually in complete disrepair and require a lot of non-free work to make them livable.

Building a new house in Japan is surprisingly affordable, but getting one built to Western standards (say, effective insulation and an expected lifespan of more than 20 years) is not. And I'm not even being facetious here: Japanese building codes assume that wooden houses last for 20 and concrete ones for thirty, then they get torn down and rebuilt by the next land owner.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#58

Post by marcosdumay »

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #14
onetimemanytime wrote: post #2

Covid might actually result in permanent changes. Sucks for a lot of commercial real estate companies. WeWork is probably 100% done

I also wonder the impact it'll have on retail and lunch places. A lot of small restaurants popped up around places with a lot of office workers. If those office workers are all WFH now, the previously desirable restaurant locations will become semi-worthless. On top of that, my guess is that WFH people will go out for lunch less often, so those restaurants won't just relocate to more residential areas, they (and thei…

That's a different market.

If 10% of the people keep WFH after the pandemics, that means real state prices will plummet. But restaurants will see a 10% decrease on revenue.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#59

Post by ghaff »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #28
CubsFan1060 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also wonder the impact it'll have on retail and lunch places. A lot of small restaurants popped up around places with a lot of office workers. If those office workers are all WFH now, the previously desirable restaurant locations will become semi-worthless. On top of that, my guess is that WFH people will go out for lunch less often, so those restaurants won't just relocate to more residential areas, they (and thei…

OTOH, isn't it pretty customary for any large office (let's say 1k+) to have a cafeteria, with presumably most employees eating there? Some of these will not want to cook lunch in the middle of work, and at least order takeout instead.

Making a sandwich or soup for lunch is not a big deal. And probably the vast majority of urban offices do not have cafeterias and people go out to eat (if they didn't bring something from home).

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#60

Post by caymanjim »

matchbok wrote: post #43
cactus2093 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean FWIW I’m American and your explanation sounds very foreign to me. I’m a millennial though, so owning a house at all is quite obstacle. Scrounging up a down payment when even a 2 bedroom apartment is $1-$1.5 million is not the easiest task. Renting an extra 2 bedrooms to have lying around in case we suddenly need 2 offices would also cost an extra couple thousand dollars a month. My wife and I are both working…

In the same spot. Home ownership is so out of reach for the vast majority of the people my age. Even with good salaries and savings! Most people my age who have purchased a home got significant help from their parents.

It's really not out of reach unless you insist on living in a major metropolis. A young couple earning under $100k combined can afford a comfortable 3-bedroom home in all 50 states, just not in a large city. Mortgage rates are near all-time lows and the 20% "required downpayment" has been a myth since before you were born. You don't even need great credit to buy a home with a mortgage under $1500/mo all-in with taxes and insurance. Now that remote work is increasingly accepted there's never been a better time to buy in the suburbs.
Post reply on HN