There's a part of me that wants to stop reading Google headlines and remember them as they were before the Great Decline.
Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
601–610 of 623 posts
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#602Just in case you were operating under the illusion that tech giants are run by forward thinking executives who are immune to the usual politics and problems of corporate life. Nope, most of their exec layer is a bunch of people who cut their teeth the industry in the 90's, and are operating within a thick fog of local workplace politics. I guarantee that behind this move is an executive who believes that developers n…
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Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#603Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can be friendly without having to socialise. Not sure why those things would have to go together? Doing socials after work is such a waste of time - sure it may be fun, but this way you are using up time that otherwise you could use to maintain friendships outside of work. Socialising at work is when you develop unconscious and conscious biases and it is a breeding ground for a toxic atmosphere and disruption of…
Sure, a 100% remote company might be friendly, for example. I mentioned "friendly" since the previous comment mentioned "friends". Not my intention to suggest inclusivity/exclusivity.
I genuinely don't understand why this was down voted. A comment would help. My intention was to be conciliatory and explanatory.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#604Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about those who _do_ want a friendly workplace with some element of social interaction?
Then by all means go into the office and get their element of social interaction together and let the introverts get their stuff done in their preferred environment.
There are introverts who value a dose of in-person interactivity. Some find the structure of the work schedule useful in ensuring a degree of socialisation. My question was more around whether the workplace can function better for both introverts and extroverts. There are several comments in this thread that suggest entirely remote work has issues, and hybrid models might favour the extroverts (although one interesting comment suggests they'd experience an increase communications burden, repeating messages in-person and in chat). Personally I would not want a 100% in-person workplace. How do we resolve the issues that come with, let's say, hybrid working?
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#605Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you explain why? Everyone is on Slack or Teams or even Discord and always available to talk during "office" hours.
Whiteboards were a huge part of my daily work prior to COVID and the lack of whiteboards had a negative impact on my team. Touchscreens have not really been the same for us, it is too much overhead when all you wanted was to quickly work out an idea with someone else.
I completely understand this. I think best through conversation with others involving drawing on paper or whiteboards. Without being able to do this, I can really struggle to focus ideas and plans. Online just does not work as well for this, not for me anyway.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#606Executives likely have data showing that wfh doesn't work. From a cost perspective, most executives would prefer wfh because
1) the talent pool is greater
2) they can save on facility expenses
3) they can dramatically reduce compensation
Over time (1) and (3) could see compensation easily halve as supply of developers becomes more easily globalized
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#607Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does wfh really give back time to people? From what I've seen with colleagues and friends, it mostly has led to longer working hours. The commute time and the time before dinner has been replaced by more work. If you have been able to draw the line and log off at 5pm, good for you, but that's not the experience for a lot of people.
> If you have been able to draw the line and log off at 5pm, good for you, but that's not the experience for a lot of people. That's a personal issue though. It seems backwards to insist on an in-person work environment because someone doesn't have the personal discipline to log off at 5pm on their own.
If it's one person, sure. But not if it's a widespread problem.
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#608Earlier quoted context omitted.
For many people, that doesn't work for whatever reasons. Which is why we have a loneliness problem. WFH may be good for introverts with good social skills. It's awful for shy extraverts (which is a less-than-ideal combination to begin with).
> for whatever reasons If you can't speak to people unless they're forced to, that doesn't mean that you need to make it so that everyone else is forced to because otherwise you're uncomfortable.
You must have misread my post.I wrote "many people", not "me".
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#609Everyone keeps saying, "There are so many good things about WFH". Ya, good for you. People who make these decisions don't care what's good for you. "But I'm more productive when I'm happy" you say. They don't care how productive you are. They care how profitable you are with is the ratio of how productive you are to how much you cost. If they can hire three miserable people to do what you do at one fifth the cost they'll do it. You being a happy is incidental to what they're doing.
"But they don't have to pay for office space". Sure, but you're totally discounting the amount of power that they gain by having control of your physical body. I get to tell you where to be, when to be there, and what to do. I have cameras and badges to verify you're there. You're also physically close so you're buying a house with a mortgage, putting your kids in school. If I fire you your only choice is something within a 100mi radius. I'm a member of local business groups so there's a good chance I know where you're going and maybe even play golf with the companies CEO. You better not burn any bridges on your way out or I might shake my head and make a face when I mention your name on the back nine.
I guarantee you that some people will be allowed to work from home. Others won't. Right now they're busily working to determine which ones those will be where it's best for them. The outcome will be you'll always get the worst deal. The ones that are fungible and I can cut costs to the bone? Sure work from home. The ones that I need a little more leverage with? You're coming into the office. I'll even buy a foosball table and put some snacks in the kitchen if it makes you feel better.
I don't really give a shit if you go across town. They take my people, I take yours. The point is your ours and we trade you as we see fit. Think I'm being dramatic. Think again https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/24/apple-goo...
Re: Google is accelerating reopening of offices and putting limits on remote work
#610Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's our duty as human beings to resist any normalization of remote working. Loneliness is a far worse problem in our society than commuting. We need to make sure everyone has a baseline level of social contact.
Maybe you should get friends outside your work?
And depressed people should stop being so unhappy?