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Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

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Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#61

Post by clairity »

outside1234 wrote: post #36
eunoia wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally dislike the hybrid approach because it means everyone still has to remain in the greater Bay Area. Surely there have to be more people like me that enjoy the bigco work but want to live in more human friendly places where we have an actual shot at establishing roots and living real lives.

I hear you and there might be different models that can work for different teams. And I will note that the greater Bay Area just got a lot bigger if its only once a week.

from a fair bit of the LA area, you can do burbank/long beach to oakland/san jose/sfo (though fog delays are common to sfo) and access a fair bit of the bay area in ~3 hours of commute time each way. not ideal, but once a week would be tolerable for many folks. i’ve done that day trip a number of times (though not weekly), and have known folks who did that (or the reverse) on a weekly basis.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#62

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

dnndev wrote: post #43

A larger role will be the team you work on. If the team wants to WFH then your set, if that’s what you want. If your team goes into the office they will expect you to do the same. Companies that have a heavy management layer will be more likely to say to get real work done you need to be in the office - just a hunch. Personally, my team would be half day a week encouraged (the same day for everyone), all else optiona…

Is “encouraged” here also optional or is this a euphemism for required?

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#63

Post by sanderjd »

justaguy88 wrote: post #8

> Employees were also expected to "live within commuting distance" of offices. I can't see how the must-be-in-office companies think they win this in the long term. All the companies that want to poach from FAANG will offer remote work

Something a lot of comments here seem to be missing: lots of people (anecdotally I would say it's most people) prefer an office to working remotely. So companies that don't offer remote work will limit their hiring pool a bit, but remote-only companies will also limit their hiring pool by turning off people who want to go into an office.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#64

Post by CarelessExpert »

ryandrake wrote: post #13

> "If they want to become a people manager, if they want to get increasing responsibilities, or if they want to build a culture within their teams, how are we going to do that remotely?" he asked. I love how these executives are all of a sudden so worried about my career trajectory. Maybe you should assume I’ve thought about this trade-off and decided that I’m fine with no promotions if it meant I can work remotely.…

What's especially weird about this is that any executive will tell you they do a ton of their job on the phone and doing video calls both internally and with customers.

Speaking for myself, my job has become increasingly less local the further up I've moved, specifically because my influence is broader and requires touchpoints across the org regardless of geography.

Now as a staff manager? Yeah, remote 1:1s and coaching is inferior to in person, at least IME. But that's about the only part of my job I would prefer to do in person. And its just that, a preference, as witnessed by the fact that I continue to do it even though I work from home full time right now and haven't seen my direct reports in person in over a year.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#65

Post by sanderjd »

skwirl wrote: post #58
Guthur wrote: post #18

I can't personally say with confidence that these big companies are not being influenced by political motivations. I'm confident that if CBDs essentially die because of remote working it will be a financial apocalypse. There is so much wealth tied up in inflated inner city property that if it is suddenly not in demand anymore there will be a huge correction that is going to hurt a lot.

I can't say that the "health of CBDs" has come up in my company's discussions over the future of remote work. And I'm not sure why the company would care. We don't own any real estate. We lease our office space. I think this must be true of 95%+ of companies in Boston/Cambridge, where I'm located.

I don't even know what a CBD is.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#66

Post by sanderjd »

sparker72678 wrote: post #35

Management is terrified of remote work because it reveals how useless many middle managers actually are.

I honestly feel the opposite. It's more necessary for people managers to be greasing the skids of communication and inter-organizational awareness when I'm not bumping into people in the halls.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#67

Post by Guthur »

skwirl wrote: post #58
Guthur wrote: post #18

I can't personally say with confidence that these big companies are not being influenced by political motivations. I'm confident that if CBDs essentially die because of remote working it will be a financial apocalypse. There is so much wealth tied up in inflated inner city property that if it is suddenly not in demand anymore there will be a huge correction that is going to hurt a lot.

I can't say that the "health of CBDs" has come up in my company's discussions over the future of remote work. And I'm not sure why the company would care. We don't own any real estate. We lease our office space. I think this must be true of 95%+ of companies in Boston/Cambridge, where I'm located.

And similar statements came up from the C-level at my previous company as well.

I know members of c-level meet with politicians and even leaders at the likes of Google. Are these conversations happening? I don't know, but I would not be surprised.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#68

Post by faeriechangling »

outside1234 wrote: post #9
k__ wrote: post #5

Any sufficiently big company is working remote already, because not all employees fit in one room or even one building. Working from home is just a small step after that.

I think there is an advantage to having folks in the office one day a week. The pandemic has shown us that we definitely can work from home - but on the other hand it also sucks to only see your teammates exclusively on zoom. I think there is room to find a more rational engineering culture that balances the time and carbon from your commute with the fact that we are all human and need some face to face.

It's the 9-5 plus overtime in the office culture that has no justification, let's not even get into the 80 hour work week cultures you see or 996. It's stressful to the employees and you really don't need your employees all within walking distance of eachother every hour of every shift. That's obvious enough now. Especially when it's costing companies so much money they shove people into overcrowded open offices which gut productivity.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#69

Post by pseudalopex »

outside1234 wrote: post #9
k__ wrote: post #5

Any sufficiently big company is working remote already, because not all employees fit in one room or even one building. Working from home is just a small step after that.

I think there is an advantage to having folks in the office one day a week. The pandemic has shown us that we definitely can work from home - but on the other hand it also sucks to only see your teammates exclusively on zoom. I think there is room to find a more rational engineering culture that balances the time and carbon from your commute with the fact that we are all human and need some face to face.

I know people whose teams used to meet in person a few times a year. They loved it.

I know someone who had to drive 3 hours for a weekly customer meeting. They started to resent every person they saw those days.

Re: Remote working: Is Big Tech going off work from home?

#70

Post by Ericson2314 »

sanderjd wrote: post #65
skwirl wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't say that the "health of CBDs" has come up in my company's discussions over the future of remote work. And I'm not sure why the company would care. We don't own any real estate. We lease our office space. I think this must be true of 95%+ of companies in Boston/Cambridge, where I'm located.

I don't even know what a CBD is.

"central business district" not "cannabidiol".
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