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Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

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Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#931

Post by zumachase »

mundo wrote: post #909
wonderwonder wrote: post #854

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked from home for the last couple of years. Prior to the Covid shutdown, I had generally enjoyed it. Once my children's school closed and my wife's work switched to work from home, my productivity has plummeted. I find it impossible to focus as every 10 minutes I have a young child running into my office, or have to listen to them yelling at each other (as all kids do). My wife has had a hard time adjusting…

My company (large-ish un-sexy software company you've never heard of) gave the software managers clear direction on this: "It's not realistic for people with school-aged children to be fully productive right now. Do not demand they take PTO or ask them to work at night. If they can only work five hours a day, that's what they can do." I suspect it's unusual that my boss actually said that out loud, but I hope everyon…

One of the reasons we built Squawk, a push-to-talk group chat platform, was for this very reason. Many of our team have young kids at home, and current chat tools require too much work to ensure you're muted and not spamming your background noise all over the place. Might be worth a click - https://www.squawk.to

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#932

Post by ci5er »

polskibus wrote: post #840
gmtx725 wrote: post #836

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My office is a wework so it's literally like 1000 times better than my shitty apartment. I just have to worry about so much less at the office. Free barista coffee, washing up and cleaning done for you so you're not messing up your workspace. I miss it a lot.

isn't wework an unsustainable business that will shutdown pretty soon?

That isn't clear yet. Money in/out this month was about 80%/target, so they may pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#933

Post by mrexroad »

wonderwonder wrote: post #854
jjjensen90 wrote: post #781

I always thought I enjoyed remote work as an engineer/architect, I did it for 6 months by my own volition before coming back. I am extremely unhappy. I really miss being in the office with my coworkers and friends. I've struggled deeply with overwhelming sadness at the idea of not going back anytime soon. My work has suffered from a lack of dynamic interactions. I get lots of focus time, just like I did at the office…

I have worked from home for the last couple of years. Prior to the Covid shutdown, I had generally enjoyed it. Once my children's school closed and my wife's work switched to work from home, my productivity has plummeted. I find it impossible to focus as every 10 minutes I have a young child running into my office, or have to listen to them yelling at each other (as all kids do). My wife has had a hard time adjusting…

Thanks for sharing. Three kids spanning elementary and middle; one is neurotypical, other two have different strengths and needs. My work space is a single car unconditioned garage, atop a stack of boxes. Yesterday I was inside between meetings for a total of 4 minutes between meetings and had reduced two of them to tears. Today I had to cut off my 1st grader, who was in middle of excitedly presenting me a LEGO she completed, because it was :59 after and I needed to get on a call. Granted, most days are a little more even, but it's hard to not feel like there's a choice between damaging relationships/reputation at work or damaging relationship with kids. They're of course not mutually exclusive, and kids are clear priority if it were.

Having work and home contexts now collapsed into single environment has had the surprising effect where each interaction with the family during my work day triggers the subconscious thought of whether I just made a tradeoff between work and home -- and if so, was it the right one. In isolation the amount of energy each thought takes is negligible, but add up each interaction throughout the day, and day after day, it's been incredibly draining.

I dunno, my thoughts change daily on this topic. But this is my venting of for whatever day it is. usually I type these replies and never submit, but cathartic, if nothing else, to vent and post this one today.

p.s. agree, while not optional, still incredibly grateful to still have a job.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#934

Post by product50 »

lumost wrote: post #730
product50 wrote: post #676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are wrong that FAANG companies will pay the same salary as you make in SF if you are in a low cost state like Indiana. I have a friend at one of those companies and they were running a survey to gauge employee's keenness for permanent wfh - and they were very clear that employee's salary will be adjusted based on which city they are based in. So, while this is still healthy, since FAANG pays pretty well, but don'…

Most FAANG have a high cost of living band and a regular band. The high cost of living band pays 15-30% extra for living in the Bay Area/NYC. Everywhere else pays the same whether it's Boston, Detroit, or the middle of the desert.

Yeah - just that FAANG don't hire people outside top cities. So your middle of desert point is misleading.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#935

Post by ci5er »

kuu wrote: post #807
bl4ckm0r3 wrote: post #806

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This time is not a great example of Remote working, it would be as sad and stressful (maybe more) if you were forced to live in the actual office and share the same space with all your coworkers every day without being able to leave. on top of the actual stress given by just looking at the current state of the world.

We're not just working from home, we're working from home while there is a pandemic

I keep reading your comment because it seems intense and sincere, and ... I don't know what you mean. What's the difference?

I mean, like being under rubble in Battery Park after 9-11, waiting 3 days for the people to dig you out as your batteries die is stressful, but that's not really the same as hiding from a virus that won't kill you, is it?

EDIT: Re-reading my comment, that 2nd paragraph sounds snarky. It wasn't intended to be. I guess I just don't understand your comment. Would you be kind enough to clarify my mind? :-)

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#936

Post by djjsjdjsjsjs »

cheshireoctopus wrote: post #877
djjsjdjsjsjs wrote: post #861

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If this field goes primarily remote, I will leav See you later! I will never miss commuting, uncomfortable chairs, loud offices, the filth of public transport in USA, office politics, and high cost of living areas!

Do office politics go away in a remote setting?

I'm not entirely sure, but I at least have observed that meetings are a lot less "charged" and backdoor rumors aren't as "present" in a remote situation.

When people are physically in a room, you can focus on body language, you can focus on emotions. On a voice call or email, its a little bit easier to focus on data and not who has the fancy watch on.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#937

Post by globular-toast »

alex_young wrote: post #707
shibeouya wrote: post #705

I work in FAANG and I am really not convinced this is the start of a trend. First Twitter was already moving towards permanent WFH before the pandemic, it only accelerated their plans. I highly doubt (m)any other companies were also seriously considering that move before the pandemic. Second, working in a remote only team is very different from working in an office, or even from occasionally working from home. I have…

The value of the valley has always been the hallway chat. You can't easily replicate that with a zoom culture.

That's what they say, but I just don't buy it. In practice even if you get people together in a place with hallways they always tend to stay in their own departments and even at their own desks. Those vibrant conversations you see with carefully selected people from all demographics exist only in marketing brochures.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#938

Post by thisiszilff »

danhhieu910 wrote: post #795
shibeouya wrote: post #705

I work in FAANG and I am really not convinced this is the start of a trend. First Twitter was already moving towards permanent WFH before the pandemic, it only accelerated their plans. I highly doubt (m)any other companies were also seriously considering that move before the pandemic. Second, working in a remote only team is very different from working in an office, or even from occasionally working from home. I have…

Working is not just about work, we're spending a good amount of our time with our colleagues. I cannot imagine me sitting alone in a room, working every day 8 hours for 10-20 years and never meet anyone in my team. All the team building, get a smoke together, off-work activities... are gone. Sounds scary like a chapter in Black Mirror.

In theory you would be trading hanging out with your coworkers for hanging out with your friends, you neighbors, others in your community + a lesser commute. You would definitely lose some and gain some, the question is whether that gain would outweigh the loss. For some people, their lives are organized around work (makes sense, mine defiantly is) so it would be a big shift.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#939

Post by wonderwonder »

mrexroad wrote: post #933
wonderwonder wrote: post #854

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked from home for the last couple of years. Prior to the Covid shutdown, I had generally enjoyed it. Once my children's school closed and my wife's work switched to work from home, my productivity has plummeted. I find it impossible to focus as every 10 minutes I have a young child running into my office, or have to listen to them yelling at each other (as all kids do). My wife has had a hard time adjusting…

Thanks for sharing. Three kids spanning elementary and middle; one is neurotypical, other two have different strengths and needs. My work space is a single car unconditioned garage, atop a stack of boxes. Yesterday I was inside between meetings for a total of 4 minutes between meetings and had reduced two of them to tears. Today I had to cut off my 1st grader, who was in middle of excitedly presenting me a LEGO she c…

Yeah, not a day goes by during this compression of work and home life that I don't wonder at least a couple of times if I am a bad parent. Kind of (I hesitate to use the word) good to hear others going through the exact same thing. Kids just want to spend time with me but after the 4th time of them just coming to say hi in 10 minutes and the cursor still just blinking on an empty line on the screen I sometimes, regretfully snap and feel bad about it. My productivity is 25% of what it was and now I'm not worried about being laid off but rather fired for lack of production.

Note: I thought I had it bad with my office, that has no door, but you have me beat pretty handily.

Re: Twitter Will Allow Employees to Work at Home Forever

#940

Post by lumost »

product50 wrote: post #934
lumost wrote: post #730

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most FAANG have a high cost of living band and a regular band. The high cost of living band pays 15-30% extra for living in the Bay Area/NYC. Everywhere else pays the same whether it's Boston, Detroit, or the middle of the desert.

Yeah - just that FAANG don't hire people outside top cities. So your middle of desert point is misleading.

most faang don't hire remote - but they do allow people to work remote in certain circumstances, they also tend to maintain smaller engineering offices all over the country so transferring isn't as difficult once your in.
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