Work in office or remote?

[potsticker]

@potsticker

To add on to what @sleepy5136 said, we do this all the time because we have multiple locations. We've also had to teach/train offshore developers and that has no change for in-person interaction.

Teams or whatever video chat you use does wonders for conversations that need face time. There are quite a few people that I've built relationships via Teams and then when I finally meet them in person, it's like I already know them (because I do).

That's the key to remote... using the communication and collaboration tools to their fullest.

I just need a button to press to wake someone up from a nap.

I think you call it out correctly that it's important to use collaboration tools to the fullest. Some people just aren't good at it. I will often times get replies back..."I've been in meetings all day, sorry I'm just getting back to you now." Makes you wonder...

 

[sleepy5136]

I think you call it out correctly that it's important to use collaboration tools to the fullest. Some people just aren't good at it. I will often times get replies back..."I've been in meetings all day, sorry I'm just getting back to you now." Makes you wonder...

don't think too much dude. it's not your problem to worry about.

 

[akkord]

Our whole team is still WFH.

 

[potsticker]

don't think too much dude. it's not your problem to worry about.

It is my problem when it's within my span of responsibility (aka my Org).

 

[sleepy5136]

It is my problem when it's within my span of responsibility (aka my Org).

Not if you do you have everything in writing to back up your reasoning of why your work is delayed due to a late response from an individual /team. Active communication with your boss is key.

 

[morekaos]

Amazon tells employees to be in the office at least three days a week

· Amazon will require corporate staffers to be in the office “a majority of the time,” or at least three days per week, according to a memo from CEO Andy Jassy.

· Previously, Amazon left it up to individual managers to decide how often their teams would be required to work in the office.

· The new policy will take effect May 1.

· It marks a shift from Amazon’s previous policy, which left it up to individual managers to decide how often their employees would be required to work from the office.

· Jassy said he and the S-team, a tight-knit group of senior executives from almost all areas of Amazon’s business, decided at a meeting earlier this week that employees should be in the office “the majority of the time (at least three days per week).” They made the decision after determining that it would benefit the company’s culture and workers’ ability to learn from and collaborate with one another.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/17/ama...e-in-office-three-days-a-week-andy-jassy.html

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Activision/Blizzard also forcing in-office:

Activision Blizzard Is Forcing Employees Back to the Office

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson has confirmed that the publisher will […]

www.yahoo.com

But there will be resistance:

However, a Blizzard employee called LeastMyHairIsOk on Twitter who reported the news on February 13 believes that this policy will cause “a large reduction in force” if it occurs. They say that “the majority of employees at ABK have no interest in returning to office either full or part time.”

One of the issues is that if they are going to force employees to go back in, they need to have better cost of living adjustments.

 

[CalBears96]

Activision/Blizzard also forcing in-office:

Activision Blizzard Is Forcing Employees Back to the Office

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson has confirmed that the publisher will […]

www.yahoo.com

But there will be resistance:


One of the issues is that if they are going to force employees to go back in, they need to have better cost of living adjustments.

Didn't you always say, "resistance is futile"? Good luck with quitting when MSFT, GOOG, and AMZN, not to mention a bunch of smaller companies are having huge layoffs.

Not sure what you meant by cost of living adjustments. They're just going back to the same office they worked at before the pandemic. Nothing has changed.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

If you read some of the articles about Blizzard, they haven't been adjusting salaries to account for the higher inflation/costs/etc even before Covid.

As for resisting... it can still happen... both ways.

 

[The Motor Court Company]

If you read some of the articles about Blizzard, they haven't been adjusting salaries to account for the higher inflation/costs/etc even before Covid.

As for resisting... it can still happen... both ways.

inflation has hit the lower income households the worst like people in the service industry...ABK employees are well compensated I don't buy their argument at all.

 

[CalBears96]

inflation has hit the lower income households the worst like people in the service industry...ABK employees are well compensated I don't buy their argument at all.

I'm in complete agreement here. Inflation eats into a huge % of the lower income households' savings (if they even had any to begin with) while it only makes a dent ABK employees' savings.

 

[daedalus]

If you read some of the articles about Blizzard, they haven't been adjusting salaries to account for the higher inflation/costs/etc even before Covid.

To them I say welcome to the club. Last year around this time I was pretty cheesed as I had made more of an impact the past year than any other year in my 20+ year career. And got the smallest % raise I had ever received. I recall seeing a headline that same week about the 8% annual inflation rate that was "shocking", though not to me. I expect I'll get something along the same % again this year. It's not just me...the average raise in my co is in the low single digits every year.

Through my reputation and my network I could certainly jump ship and probably get a 15-20% bump to do so...but that would mean more commuting every day...and I really don't like commuting. And I would be starting from square 1 with seniority and respect.

So I'm not entirely happy, but I look at the young men and women we're hiring out of college, for over 2x what I started at, and that sounds pretty nice, but they're coming in with more student debt than what I paid for both my degrees, and none of them (even as DINKs) could hope to afford to buy anything in my zip code within probably 10 years without help, and the young people living 2 doors down are paying 50% more for rent than what my monthly fixed mortgage is, for a house that's 2/3 the size of mine, with a garage 1/3 the size, and I don't feel so bad anymore. I'm going to continue to suck it up for a little longer I think.

 

[sleepy5136]

you know what's interesting with these "forced" return to office news? It's all from companies that have invested millions and billions of dollars in their campus across the country. I'm not surprised about it what so ever. You really think they are going to leave their campus empty? Hell no. The companies that don't have a campus mostly don't care and have no requirements of returning to office.

Being in tech gives you more leverage compared to other jobs. Non big tech companies cannot afford to lose great talent because of WFH. Great talent aren't slackers and aren't worth losing due to WFH.

 

[morekaos]

Iger is old school, he’ll fire them…

Disney workers rebel against CEO Bob Iger's return to the office mandate demanding staff come in four days a week: 2,300 employees sign petition begging him to abandon the new rule after he laid off 7,000 workers​

• More than 2,300 Disney employees have signed a petition pushing back against the return to the office mandate recently announced by CEO Bob Iger
• Starting March 1, Disney staff must work in the office four days a week
• The petition comes as Disney prepares to layoff 7,000 employees

Disney workers sign petition against Bob Iger's return to office order

Disney employees are pushing back against the mandate recently announced by CEO Bob Iger requiring them to return to the office four days a week.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[usctrojancpa]

Iger is old school, he’ll fire them…

Disney workers rebel against CEO Bob Iger's return to the office mandate demanding staff come in four days a week: 2,300 employees sign petition begging him to abandon the new rule after he laid off 7,000 workers​

• More than 2,300 Disney employees have signed a petition pushing back against the return to the office mandate recently announced by CEO Bob Iger
• Starting March 1, Disney staff must work in the office four days a week
• The petition comes as Disney prepares to layoff 7,000 employees

Disney workers sign petition against Bob Iger's return to office order

Disney employees are pushing back against the mandate recently announced by CEO Bob Iger requiring them to return to the office four days a week.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Yeah, he'll wipe his behind with that petition. Let's see how much quite quitting there will be with more companies cutting jobs.

 

[CalBears96]

Yeah, he'll wipe his behind with that petition. Let's see how much quite quitting there will be with more companies cutting jobs.

Personally, I don't understand this WFH entitlement. We've always worked 5 days in the office before. Now workers are threatening to quit if they're not allowed to NOT work in the office? WFH was NEVER meant to be a permanent thing. It was a temporary solution to the pandemic, not a new norm.

Let see how much leverage the non big tech workers will have when all the big tech companies start having massive layoffs. For now, the smaller tech companies cannot afford to lose talent, but when the talent starts flooding the market, let see if the smaller tech employees still have the same leverage.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Personally, I don't understand this WFH entitlement. We've always worked 5 days in the office before. Now workers are threatening to quit if they're not allowed to NOT work in the office? WFH was NEVER meant to be a permanent thing. It was a temporary solution to the pandemic, not a new norm.

I keep forgetting to reply to this.

I was very anti-remote (even though I had done so as a contractor for many years) because I always felt in-office work was the most productive. But during Covid, it forced us to move our systems to the cloud, set up users with the ability to access the everything remotely and use collaboration tools to keep communication effective. All these changes increased productivity for most (I say most because there will always be those people who take advantage)... but definitely increased morale for all.

I don't know about "never meant to be permanent". Once the genie was out of the bottle and teams learned how to work remotely with the same or higher output... as a business owner, if it cost less (in maintaining office space), was just as productive and increased employee satisfaction... that sounds like it should be permanent.

It is a new norm. Prior to Covid, there was already a move to more remote work (I'll find the article some day) but the pandemic just hastened it to a point where many people understood the advantages of it. I wish I had the option of remote work earlier in my career and as I said before... if they were to tell me to be in-office now... I will look elsewhere.

Let see how much leverage the non big tech workers will have when all the big tech companies start having massive layoffs. For now, the smaller tech companies cannot afford to lose talent, but when the talent starts flooding the market, let see if the smaller tech employees still have the same leverage.

Yes... WFH is not for all people and industries... but where it can be done... it should be done. I know someone who had a major footprint in the Spectrum area and they were planning to make everyone come back because they had a lease until 2025... after a few attempts and some cost analysis... they are trying to sublease their space as most of the office is WFA (work from anywhere).

I think a smaller tech company would prefer remote... less cost and... increased access to talent who would rather WFH.

 

[Innosint]

I wouldn't say it's entitlement, it's already a ever so slowly shifting trend, Known families that have parent(s) working from home or in some hybrid form for at least a decade, and it was ever more slowly increasing in number.

COVID simply accelerated it.

Just FYI, even with the massive offs, the hybrid schedule for many of those tech companies remains.
They simply hired too many in the past two/three years, regardless of the work model.

 

[CalBears96]

I wouldn't say it's entitlement, it's already a ever so slowly shifting trend, Known families that have parent(s) working from home or in some hybrid form for at least a decade, and it was ever more slowly increasing in number.

COVID simply accelerated it.

Just FYI, even with the massive offs, the hybrid schedule for many of those tech companies remains.
They simply hired too many in the past two/three years, regardless of the work model.

Oh, it's definitely entitlement. I'm not referring to the hybrid form. I mean, GOOG mandated the employees to return to office 3-4 days a week, which is just hybrid form, but no, the employees are demanding the CEO to rescind that mandate. They HAVE TO WFH ALL THE TIME. That's what I meant by entitlement. Why? Because they moved outside the suburb for cheaper housing.

I do agree that the big techs did hire too many in the past 2-3 years due to labor shortage. However, I was referring to leverage the employees will have in the future, due to the fact that there will be a lot of talent in the market now that there massive layoffs.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Why? Because they moved outside the suburb for cheaper housing.

I don't see the harm in this.

Irvine is too expensive to live for many starters.. if their Irvine-based company let's them work from home... they can afford cheaper housing in a surrounding OC city... or even farther out.