5 ms·

Why Palo Alto one day a week? That seems odd.

debacle 11y ago
As someone who has worked remotely in various percentages, being in the office one day a week can be quite helpful for developing social capital, team building, keeping in sync, etc. Some things, even with video, are just hard to do remotely.
- packetized 11y ago
  I'd largely agree with that - but that's not what's going on here. It seems that the person entertaining the offer would work in an office in Soma, then commute another 50 miles one way, once weekly.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    Honestly, that doesn't seem particularly horrible. Lots of people spend a lot of time driving to spread-out customer sites and/or travelling by air to various places. I know Bay area traffic etc. but one day a week in an office that's a bit of a drive doesn't seem a particularly onerous imposition.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
erichurkman 11y ago
We have two offices, one in Palo Alto, one in SOMA. Our product teams are based in Palo Alto, but client services, customer success, etc are based in SOMA. We want a lot of cross-pollination between those groups and our product teams, so we commute to the main office once a week. It works pretty well – sometimes talking face to face is more effective than through Hangouts or Slack. Obvious disclaimer: engineering at eShares.
- jldugger 11y ago
  Be that as it may, eShares has essentially made choosing a home with a short commute impossible.
- Eridrus 11y ago
  Does your commute to the non-home office count as work time?
  - phamilton 11y ago
    I did the opposite for about a year, PA to SF once a week. In our company, it was pretty forgiving. Most people going to SF were in the office from 10:30-4. I'd leave home and be back at roughly the same times as when I went to work down the street.
- packetized 11y ago
  Water cooler talk & f2f meetings are essential to building intra- and inter-office relations. However, given a choice between a job that mandated this and one that didn't, I'd choose the one that didn't. Given that I have a 25 minute walk to work every day, I'm sure that my worldview is terribly skewed, and I acknowledge how lucky I am to have such a great commuting situation. But that still strikes me as odd. Are product teams under the same mandate?
  - erichurkman 11y ago
    No. Product does not. Our Palo Alto office is larger and has always been our main 'hub'.

As someone who has worked remotely in various percentages, being in the office one day a week can be quite helpful for developing social capital, team building, keeping in sync, etc. Some things, even with video, are just hard to do remotely.

packetized 11y ago
I'd largely agree with that - but that's not what's going on here. It seems that the person entertaining the offer would work in an office in Soma, then commute another 50 miles one way, once weekly.
- ghaff 11y ago
  Honestly, that doesn't seem particularly horrible. Lots of people spend a lot of time driving to spread-out customer sites and/or travelling by air to various places. I know Bay area traffic etc. but one day a week in an office that's a bit of a drive doesn't seem a particularly onerous imposition.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

erichurkman 11y ago

We have two offices, one in Palo Alto, one in SOMA. Our product teams are based in Palo Alto, but client services, customer success, etc are based in SOMA. We want a lot of cross-pollination between those groups and our product teams, so we commute to the main office once a week. It works pretty well – sometimes talking face to face is more effective than through Hangouts or Slack. Obvious disclaimer: engineering at eShares.

jldugger 11y ago
Be that as it may, eShares has essentially made choosing a home with a short commute impossible.
Eridrus 11y ago
Does your commute to the non-home office count as work time?
- phamilton 11y ago
  I did the opposite for about a year, PA to SF once a week. In our company, it was pretty forgiving. Most people going to SF were in the office from 10:30-4. I'd leave home and be back at roughly the same times as when I went to work down the street.
packetized 11y ago
Water cooler talk & f2f meetings are essential to building intra- and inter-office relations. However, given a choice between a job that mandated this and one that didn't, I'd choose the one that didn't. Given that I have a 25 minute walk to work every day, I'm sure that my worldview is terribly skewed, and I acknowledge how lucky I am to have such a great commuting situation. But that still strikes me as odd. Are product teams under the same mandate?
- erichurkman 11y ago
  No. Product does not. Our Palo Alto office is larger and has always been our main 'hub'.