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The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

blog.roblox.com

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Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#51

Post by Ancalagon »

LoganDark wrote: post #42
laweijfmvo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did carve something out for these folks: > There will be some remote employees who are not asked to return... individuals who have niche skill sets or significant institutional knowledge (e.g., multi-disciplinary skills, deep expertise with Roblox systems, etc.).

> There will be some remote employees who are not asked to return... individuals who have niche skill sets or significant institutional knowledge (e.g., multi-disciplinary skills, deep expertise with Roblox systems, etc.). So they are just straight-up admitting that RTO is a punishment for bad performance / inadequate skillset? They're apparently just trying to extract extra performance out of people that would rathe…

No, they're trying to get them to leave without increasing their unemployment insurance rates.

Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#52

Post by LoganDark »

Ancalagon wrote: post #51
LoganDark wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There will be some remote employees who are not asked to return... individuals who have niche skill sets or significant institutional knowledge (e.g., multi-disciplinary skills, deep expertise with Roblox systems, etc.). So they are just straight-up admitting that RTO is a punishment for bad performance / inadequate skillset? They're apparently just trying to extract extra performance out of people that would rathe…

No, they're trying to get them to leave without increasing their unemployment insurance rates.

So I was at least somewhat correct, they're trying to do anything but lay off the people that they no longer want.

Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#53

Post by jitl »

ghthor wrote: post #7
NotGMan wrote: post #4

>> But there was a pivotal moment for me when we had our first post-quarantine, in-person group gathering. Within 45 minutes I came away from three separate conversations with spontaneous to do’s and ideas to put in motion, something that hadn’t happened during the past few years of video meetings. This is the only reason to work in an office: in person brainstorming is much better. Virtual brainstorming doesn't seem…

No reason remote work can’t be spontaneous, even easier IMO because you don’t have to herd cats into the same space. A ping on chat and within 1 min multiple people can be in the discussion without even having to move.

What they mean by spontaneous is things happing by chance. You pinging someone isn’t happening by chance, you’re choosing to do that - to make contact.

Compare to a physical office, where by chance you’re in the cafe at the same time as someone else who you usually don’t think about. But somehow you start talking and a good idea comes from it.

I’m remote and have no problem pinging anyone on slack from my teammate to the CEO — but when I visit the office I always find connections & ideas I would never find sitting at home.

Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#55

Post by lvass »

flerchin wrote: post #28

Plenty of kids play roblox. They're not profitable. Clearly this is a shadow layoff. They carve out an exception for their best and brightest, but clearly the writing is on the wall. Profitability is not on the horizon, and talent should leave.

>They're not profitable

How is that possible? They don't even have to bother making the "games" they immensely monetize on.

Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#57

Post by michaelkaufman »

I feel like Roblox were not using the tools for remote work effectively. It needs to start at the top so I'm not surprised it failed for them.

Each employee at Roblox now has to commute to/from work which means every employee will likely spend at least 5-10 hours a week commuting. For 'commuting' I include the time to wake up earlier, showering, getting food, getting in the car & warming it up, waiting at lights etc... and per month that's ~20 to 40 hours a MONTH per employee 'commuting'. That equals a WORK WEEK of time per month taken from each employee for NOTHING!! It feels wrong morally.

Remote companies STILL have too many Zoom or Teams meetings, Slack Huddles, or whatever tech they use. Many companies opt for the free versions of tools or non-enterprise versions of better collaboration tools which often limits their ability to record virtual meetings and share files more easily. I'm not familiar with what tools Roblox used inside, but I wouldn't be surprised they skimped on paying for the right tools.

Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#58

Post by sg47 »

LoganDark wrote: post #17
nerpderp82 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to post the same comment. They are going to lose their best people but it wont matter. Or their top 5% will get the ok to work remotely. Roblox is the exact opposite of any company I would want to be involved with. It is a platform to create malformed children, a simulated dystopian hellscape.

> They are going to lose their best people I doubt Arseny is going to leave over this.

left already

Re: The Future of How We Work Together at Roblox

#59

Post by foogazi »

imetatroll wrote: post #46
Communitivity wrote: post #35

Yes, spontaneous things can happen when in person. Many of those spontaneous things are time sucks and not productive. Remote work has so many things going for it, it does not make sense to me to use a different model. Commute time is eliminated, as are commuting costs. That is time better spent. Remote communications have a built in forcing-function making us gather our thoughts before we type them in or call someon…

A CEO, whose personality is so closely tied to the company and as a result probably doesn't bat an eye at extreme overwork and constant office presence while also being able to disengage anytime (they are upper management after all), is not going to care about how nice remote is for employees.

How did the CEO handle WFH during Covid ?
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