Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
1–10 of 278 posts
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#2This article seems much more nuanced than the title. Looks like it's mostly part time WFH, modulo specific authorization from one's manager.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#3The really interesting thing here is the possibility of part-time work. I recently switched from full-time work to independent contracting, and have a single part-time contract while looking for a second. Honestly, part-time contracting work is really, really nice. The pay is more than enough to live on and I have a ton of free time which I am devoting to rock climbing, finally writing a bunch of blog posts, and learning physics. Plus, honestly, I doubt I was doing more than four hours of "real" work a day while full time.
If I could be fully remote and work part time, I would consider eventually rejoining Microsoft. There is a lot of hand-wringing over how fully remote workers get left behind but I've never been interested in moving beyond an IC level.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#4IMHO companies need to either embrace WFH fully or not at all.
This current "we're kinda mostly WFH but not really sometimes" is the worst, as you have archaic processes still in place from pre WFH days that are still enforced, and most importantly, if management is in the office and you're not, over time, the colleagues who will be in the office will seem to get really lucky in regards to promotions and opportunities for some reason and you'll be left out because you'll miss the coffee/water cooler/cigarette chit-chat where future projects/directions are discussed casually and off the record without you.
Example: I once ran into my boss talking to a colleague at a coffee break about a potential project with a new customer and volunteered to work on it as I liked the tech. Months later, I got it. If I would have been remote that day I would have never heard about it as stuff like new projects and new customers is pretty hush-hush until the ink dries on the contract so they're never written about in public slack channels until then, but then it's usually too late to call dibs as the pieces are already in motion.
Not to mention, you can't really move far away from the office either since you could at any time be expected to show up in the office for $IMPORTANT_MEETING.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#5The nuance you might not get from just the title: "Microsoft will now allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week, or for managers to approve permanent remote work. "
In order for true relocation to be an option, that 'manager approval' must be unequivocal, unrevocable and transferable, when, as happens very frequently at Microsoft, the worker gets a new manager.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#6IMHO companies need to either embrace WFH fully or not at all. This current "we're kinda mostly WFH but not really sometimes" is the worst, as you have archaic processes still in place from pre WFH days that are still enforced, and most importantly, if management is in the office and you're not, over time, the colleagues who will be in the office will seem to get really lucky in regards to promotions and opportunitie…
Yes - for someone living in a big city half office, half WFH is the worst of everything. It means that I have to maintain an expensive home office, don't get all the benefits of working in an office with other people (which I prefer) and I can't move out of the big city.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#7The nuance you might not get from just the title: "Microsoft will now allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week, or for managers to approve permanent remote work. " In order for true relocation to be an option, that 'manager approval' must be unequivocal, unrevocable and transferable, when, as happens very frequently at Microsoft, the worker gets a new manager.
Remote work is possible, but it’s not for everyone. Some people are good at it; they adapt well and remain productive. But... as Marissa Meier found out, some people are utterly bad at it, or some take advantage of the privilege of self management and milk the system. So they will have to measure and gauge to see the balance of benefits and detriments of permanent change.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#8IMHO companies need to either embrace WFH fully or not at all. This current "we're kinda mostly WFH but not really sometimes" is the worst, as you have archaic processes still in place from pre WFH days that are still enforced, and most importantly, if management is in the office and you're not, over time, the colleagues who will be in the office will seem to get really lucky in regards to promotions and opportunitie…
The practices/processes need to embrace a "fully remote" model. That doesn't mean you can't have a physical office. I've been part of companies where this works very well.
That being said, yes, you usually don't want to be the special remote snowflake in the middle of a strong on-site culture.
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#9IMHO companies need to either embrace WFH fully or not at all. This current "we're kinda mostly WFH but not really sometimes" is the worst, as you have archaic processes still in place from pre WFH days that are still enforced, and most importantly, if management is in the office and you're not, over time, the colleagues who will be in the office will seem to get really lucky in regards to promotions and opportunitie…
I don't feel like it needs to be one or the other, missing out on things doesn't bother me
Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently
#10The really interesting thing here is the possibility of part-time work. I recently switched from full-time work to independent contracting, and have a single part-time contract while looking for a second. Honestly, part-time contracting work is really, really nice. The pay is more than enough to live on and I have a ton of free time which I am devoting to rock climbing, finally writing a bunch of blog posts, and lear…
health insurance is my big wish. 20 hrs/wk with health insurance I'd work for 1/3rd my salary.
EDIT: I have a family like most people.
EDIT2: I'm thinking about how insurance isn't as expensive as giving up more than that in salary, but maybe I need the security of steady work on the resume, sick leave and a job to lean on if things get tough.