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Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

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Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#981

Post by Nbox9 »

zenron wrote: post #872
Nbox9 wrote: post #51

I work for another company that is going to do a partial return to office. I will be looking at options for companies that offer full in person office (or 90% in person office) after things settle down. I have worked full remote for a total of 5 years of my career, and I believe working in the office is a competitive advantage. * Overhearing hallway conversations (and joining them) helps spawn invocation. * I often d…

> I save money by spending less on food, drinks, and electricity. That is more on you being a good steward of your money than anything else. Our development team eats out at restaurants nearly every day when we were at the office. Code together, dine together. Bad boys for life.

It’s mostly me having a programmable thermostat, taking full advantage of free food, and having negligible transportation costs.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#982

Post by Nbox9 »

com2kid wrote: post #509
Nbox9 wrote: post #51

I work for another company that is going to do a partial return to office. I will be looking at options for companies that offer full in person office (or 90% in person office) after things settle down. I have worked full remote for a total of 5 years of my career, and I believe working in the office is a competitive advantage. * Overhearing hallway conversations (and joining them) helps spawn invocation. * I often d…

$200-$300k less to buy a house that is "outside commute range" of tech companies in the Seattle area. ~90 minutes of commute saved each day (2 hours a day for me actually), valuing my time at $100/hr. That comes out to roughly 5k-6k a month in savings.

In my opinion living in Seattle is $200k-$300k better than living in Tacoma.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#983

Post by TheCycoONE »

codyb wrote: post #819
enriquto wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Commutes are responsible for a 10% drop in hourly wages Maybe statistically, OK. But if you have a nice commute it may be likely the best part of your day. I have a mostly flat, 40 min bike ride in the woods every day, and it is my "me time" that I cherish and lets me unwind before and after work. Definitely not "lost time".

That sounds wonderful. Why would you need a commute to do it? Couldn’t you just take a bike ride for the pleasure and let me skip the hour long sardine can frequently delayed train ride often in the snow, sleet, or rain in the process at the end of the day?

Could but probably won't. At least I found that even though I like the bike portion of my commute and had kept it up for the first few months it eventually dwindled away in favor of sleeping in and working longer. Something to be said for the motivation of being required to get somewhere.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#984

Post by tdeck »

dannyw wrote: post #881
tdeck wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if some part of this is the ego trip of seeing your workers in your building working for you . As an executive, that's got to be more fulfilling than looking at some OKR slides and an employee roster. I don't believe this is the only motivator but it's surely somewhere in the mix.

How about the fact that executives are regular people, who (1) have their human emotions, including possibly a natural desire to have in-person interaction with the people they work with, and (2) listen to other employees, some of which are in the pro-office camp (as seen in this HN thread)? Executives ain't some mystical species. They are regular people in a position of power.

Not sure how that contradicts what I've said. I, as a regular person, understand the thrill of walking around a place I own. I enjoy playing SimCity-style games and seeing everything running in the city I built, but I don't get the same result looking at the stats screen. If I were in such a position of power, this would be a perk of return-to-office that would apply to me more than to my subordinates.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#985

Post by arcturus17 »

ryanSrich wrote: post #448
Elora wrote: post #319

Some here are being honest, so I'll be brutally honest: Covid has upset the master-slave relationship, and they're realizing they're giving up too much control. Yes, even the supposedly forward-thinking, progressive tech world. It's so much easier to ignore the BS of "company culture," "a new family" and other such nonsense when working remote. Plenty of people here have outright stated they work as a way to fund the…

100%. A lot of the people here commenting that they like forced in person work don’t realize they’re indoctrinated.

This is so woke, presuming you know better than others around you. You should become a politician, so that you can force your enlightened beliefs on others.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#986

Post by pojzon »

bloqs wrote: post #675
pojzon wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People should realize that wfh is highly dependant on self-discipline. Some ppl have it, some dont. (Actually only very small % of ppl have high self-discipline). Due to this all corporations will and are going to try to “control” ppl simply because most of them cannot control themselves.

You talk like its not a learned skill. Outsourcing your self discipline to a company if you do anything remotely related to tech should mean developing it is a top priority. Impulsivity is to a large degree a dimension of Extraversion, also.

I know its a learned skill, but still only a very small percent of people develop or learn it.

Tho I would say overall in any field its pretty much one of the most important skills/or in life generally.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#987

Post by swiley »

yoz-y wrote: post #682
swiley wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just have lunch with them then, no need to make them change where they're working.

Having lunch together is much easier when you have all already commuted to work.

I doubt the office is the midpoint between you and most of your coworkers (taken one at a time, not together obviously.)

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#988

Post by aikinai »

dcolkitt wrote: post #959
aikinai wrote: post #784

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is tier one only Silicon Valley? There are plenty of people raising kids with short commutes in the Seattle area; you don’t even need a FANG salary. And Seattle’s still on the high end; people can also live in places like Austin, Portland, Boulder, etc. And that’s all just in the US. It’s even more obtainable in other countries with better urban planning.

Out of curiosity, have you looked at the housing market in Seattle since the post-pandemic real estate boom? I did a quick smoke test with the following family/commute friendly criteria: * 2000 square foot house * 7500 square foot lot for backyard * 7/10 or higher GreatSchools * Built after 1980 (older houses have much higher lead content which is terrible for young children) * 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms * 30 minute comm…

Someone looking for a 2,000 square foot house with a 7,500 lot is not someone who's prioritizing an accessible location or short commute. The median house in Seattle is 1,460 ft², the median lot is 3,893 ft², and the median home age is 53 years. What you're describing is an actual mansion in any populous city; of course you're going to pay mansion prices.

I lived in Seattle for a long time and know plenty of large families living in comfortable homes close to work on regular non-FANG salaries. They don't live in estates, but they don't need to. The people who do want that either need to be rich or drive an hour; there are a lot of those people too. And I'm sure the ones who drove an hour are thrilled with work-from-home.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#989

Post by futureshock »

Tronno wrote: post #977
dougmwne wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bingo. People who lead companies are not wired like the rest of us. It's not some bullshit about mission or impact. Executives are there for power. Power is the sweat under a subordinate's arms when you address them. Power is having control over the bodies of others when you tell them where to be, how long to be there, where to sit and how to dress. Power is having roomfuls of people in rapt attention to you. Power i…

I don't think what you are describing is a normal work environment. I have experienced something similar though - and it sounds like you work with sociopaths. If that's the case, the classic advice is to disengage and find another job as soon as possible. Staying will not be healthy for your mind. Good luck.

I'm out of there now and working with a much better team. Unfortunately positions of power magneticly attract sociopaths, so it's not an uncommon situation, especially as the companies get larger. I've found the best measure of an organization's empathy is the owner or CEO themselves.

Re: Apple asks staff to return to office 3 days a week starting in early September

#990

Post by leethakssor »

Nbox9 wrote: post #51

I work for another company that is going to do a partial return to office. I will be looking at options for companies that offer full in person office (or 90% in person office) after things settle down. I have worked full remote for a total of 5 years of my career, and I believe working in the office is a competitive advantage. * Overhearing hallway conversations (and joining them) helps spawn invocation. * I often d…

Registered just to respond to you.

Don't you have any other ambitions than working for someone under their rules your whole life? That you even have to be present to overhear convos and so on?

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