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Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

bbc.com

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Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#91

Post by C1sc0cat »

fzzzy wrote: post #55
C1sc0cat wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And the increased rent/mortgage/property tax payments for the extra rooms/space ?

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#92

Post by C1sc0cat »

jon-wood wrote: post #52
C1sc0cat wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes but you will get a pay cut its not like they are going to pay London /SF wages in the country.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#93

Post by ekianjo »

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…

In Japan you can end up with more office space at home if you can spare space for a decent desk than at work, where desks are small and crammed next to each other's, at least until COVID19.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#94

Post by hef19898 »

murgindrag wrote: post #10
dcow wrote: post #3

Is productivity going up, or are workers more happy, or both?

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…

My wife's company is kind of curious, and also typical, I think. She works in production planning and SCM, so obviously the early phase of the Covid-19 crisis was the one with the highest workload. It was also the first time they were allowed to WFH. One would have expected that it would be very difficult. It was, for a week or so until people got to understand Teams.

Now, that things calmed down and they started "Kurzarbeit", basically reducing working hours where the state offsets salaries, the company insists that everyone returns to the office. Old ways die hard it seems.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#95

Post by dfxm12 »

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

America is a big country and is not specific enough when describing these prices.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#96

Post by C1sc0cat »

ghaff wrote: post #72
jon-wood wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's a subset of people who can normally walk or bike to their office and are now faced with either moving into a larger apartment or renting a co-working space--which I don't expect to be typically reimbursed. But most people commuting in from or around the suburbs can probably make the space at home work and are saving double-digit dollars per day.

Probably make space very unlikely the average person is not going to have a spare room to fit a desk with a double monitor.

And if its a couple or a shared house even worse - probably increase the divorce rate for couples both WFH

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#97

Post by cdavid »

I am quite bearish about the impact of WFH, especially for software engineers, but if there is one country where I think the coronavirus can have a huge positive effect for the economy, it is Japan.

Japanese companies are generally extremely inefficient. Outside of a few powerhouses, partially thanks to a protected and large domestic market, Japanese labor practices are antiquated. There is a culture of overwork that begets a culture of inefficiency that boggles the mind. Few people know that Japan has a labor productivity lower than Italy, for example.

To give a concrete example, you will have companies where people will make sure to start meetings at 7 pm to make sure they can maximize "残業" (overtime). The labor ministry is trying to curb on companies that expect more than 80 hours of overtime per month. On top of it, if you live in one of the big city (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka), 3 hours of commute per day is not atypical. And then you have the practice of 飲み会 ("business dinners" where people drink, abuse toward women common, etc.), which also takes time.

Finally, Japanese companies rely a lot on paper and 判子 (hanko) and other seals systems. My wife sometimes has to go the desk of a colleague dozens of times a day to get some paperwork. IT systems are antiquated. And yet, Japan has one of the most educated workforce in the world. Especially women are often relegated to menial work. Internet is fast everywhere. It is the true steam punk country !

Coronavirus and WFH change this. Seeing large companies like fujitsu publicly taking a stance is highly significant in a country like Japan where executives are often extremely risk adverse.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#98

Post by C1sc0cat »

ghaff wrote: post #48
C1sc0cat wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I have never heard of a health and safety inspection for a home office. I'm quite sure mine would fail in multiple counts. But, yes, a small urban apartment is not going to be great for working from home. Especially without coffeeshops etc. open. Longer term, people who WFH indefinitely will either need to move to larger places or they'll want a co-working space that either they or their company pays for.

Its the law in the UK and from what others have said the USA as well

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#99

Post by kyllo »

caymanjim wrote: post #60
matchbok wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

People go where the jobs are. They are going to live wherever employers "insist on" locating their offices.

20% down payment isn't a myth; if you don't put 20% down (and don't have some special situation like a VA loan) you have to pay for private mortgage insurance which can be hundreds per month, as you're buying the lender insurance against the possibility of you defaulting on your loan.

Re: Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan

#100

Post by fzzzy »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #91
fzzzy wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And the increased rent/mortgage/property tax payments for the extra rooms/space ?

I agree that it is unfortunate that workers will mostly silently have to bear these costs. I am experiencing that right now.
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