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Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

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Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#81
post #22

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…

The restaurant owners who really want to make it work will hustle into delivery out of more affordable commercial kitchen space. If WFH sticks I won’t be surprised to see more commercial kitchens opening closer to residential areas.

This could be nice. Often observed restaurants struggling around residential areas. WFH could help support more heterogeneous zoning, which would also reduce needing to own a car or use public transit

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#82
post #66

Any Japanese care to chime in on how WFH is accepted culturally? When I worked for a Japanese tech company I was surprised by how old school they were. Landlines, business cards, reams of paper, week long meetings about policies, and this was a software company. WFH was forbidden unless it was an emergency.

Ah, office theatre.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#83
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High quality microphone and headphones so you dont echo. I already bought a Blue Yeti microphone ages ago but it works wonders when I have to hop on a call. As for nice chair depending on your employer I would ask for the one from your job if its sufficient. I was able to take mine home. Its just gonna collect dust otherwise.

My UK employer has closed the office and tried to sell us our own redundant desk chairs...

That is awful, my employer actually gave out some of our "old" desk chairs, so I took one with an arm missing, I don't use the arm rest, so I took out the spare arm, otherwise if I had asked for my actual desk chair I'm sure they would of given it to me to use. We're technically allowed in the office due to the type of work we do (defense contracts) but mostly work remote, I have only heard of a few people going to the office for anything they need. It's sad when companies don't treat you like adults.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#84
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And I think there's a currently underserved niche of single/DINK people who would enjoy the freedom of remote work but don't want to spend the working day socially isolated.

I'm not sure how underserved it is. I suspect that a lot of people just don't want to pay for a co-working space out of their own pockets and would normally content themselves with going to coffeeshops, etc. to get out of their apartments.

Added: And people can make do with situations for a limited length of time whether working from their kitchen table or suffering through a 90 minute commute that aren't necessarily sustainable long-term.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

$100k? A quick google shows me that median household income in the US is closer to $60k. And that's the median, so half of households will be lower than that.

I presume the OP's comment was in the context of the typical HN crowd, which I would imagine has a higher than average income.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#86
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.

I always wonder how people come up with these statements, is it just anecdotal?

To add my own, my company was shifting to working remotely for the development team gradually, but now our CEO has been impressed with how well we adapted to working from home and has told us that our office will not be open until September at the earliest.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#87
post #15

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

UK companies will broadly respond the same way.

WFH is now more normalised and sensible companies will adopt it ASAP as the standard. Laggards will begrudgingly have to adopt it as otherwise they will lose talent and restrict their access to new talent.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#88

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…

I get it. That's part of the reason we live AND work in the 'burbs (out near IAD, instead of inside 495). We were very purposeful about where we bought - balance of cost, location, etc. It's doable in most regions (SF/SV and NYC being notable exceptions). And it's why I asked. At least my mental picture of Japan has most people living in very small (by American standards) apartments. That might not be accurate, based…

2+ hours sounds like they want to live pretty far outside of the city. You can get a reasonably priced and sized place in Chiba and be in the heart of Tokyo in an hourish.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#89
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Employees HATE hot desking - you'd also have to disinfect / clean much more rigorously similar to hospital standards.

There are other reasons to dislike hot desking but COVID doesn't seem to be one of them: surface transmission is low risk, disinfecting a desk is easy and can be done by staff overnight, ...

OH yes but it would have to be done properly between uses and regular office cleaning would now have to be more rigours and costly than it is now.

Probably closer to how a low risk hospital ward is cleaned than the perfunctory wipe - you might also have to use those sealed keyboards designed so they can be cleaned.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#90
post #66

Any Japanese care to chime in on how WFH is accepted culturally? When I worked for a Japanese tech company I was surprised by how old school they were. Landlines, business cards, reams of paper, week long meetings about policies, and this was a software company. WFH was forbidden unless it was an emergency.

Add fax machines and it will be perfect picture of current situation in Germany.
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