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One downside of full time working from home is that the WFH workers are faceless, and easier to cut if it comes time to lay off employees. It's harder to tell

One downside of full time working from home is that the WFH workers are faceless, and easier to cut if it comes time to lay off employees. It's harder to tell the worker you eat lunch with every day that you're laying him off than the worker you only know via video chat.

padobson 10y ago
This is true. As someone who's worked remotely for the last four years, I can say that you want to be in the room for decisions that are made in the room. For those who are thinking of going fulltime remote, I recommend doing so at companies where everyone works remote, or on teams where everyone works remote. Freelancing and contracting can work too, if you don't mind the extra hustle needed to line up clients. But being the only remote guy at a company full of cubicle dwellers is just asking to me left out of important discussions or being the first to be fired or blamed in times of trouble.
greglindahl 10y ago
I thought that it was still common practice to fly employees to the same place so that they can meet in person? It's been part of the onboarding process of every part-remote company I've been involved with.
papabrown 10y ago
By extension you could say that working with a remote office would make them easier to lay off as well. I'm sure there's some truth to it but I think it all comes down to perceived value. If you're in someone's face everyday reminding them of how valuable you are, it does make it seem you are more valuable. A remote worker or someone working in a satellite office is going to have a more difficult time tooting their own horn. That said, I work from the main office and we have an additional three offices spread across three different countries and I don't feel that it would be easy to lay off someone in one of those offices anymore than it would be to lay someone off in my office. Each person has a specific skill they're bringing to the table and without them that work wouldn't get done. Perhaps if there was real or perceived redundancy in job skills, the situation might be different but then you've got redundancy and if times get tough, someone has to go anyway. Now we're just talking about who. If there are 10 people on a team and only one of them works remotely, well, that might be the person who gets cut first but if you have 10 people and 4 of them are working remotely, you're back to the same issue of their perceived value to the organization. Whether working from an office or working remotely, the people who have done the best job at standing out are the least likely to get cut.

padobson 10y ago

This is true. As someone who's worked remotely for the last four years, I can say that you want to be in the room for decisions that are made in the room. For those who are thinking of going fulltime remote, I recommend doing so at companies where everyone works remote, or on teams where everyone works remote. Freelancing and contracting can work too, if you don't mind the extra hustle needed to line up clients. But being the only remote guy at a company full of cubicle dwellers is just asking to me left out of important discussions or being the first to be fired or blamed in times of trouble.

greglindahl 10y ago

I thought that it was still common practice to fly employees to the same place so that they can meet in person? It's been part of the onboarding process of every part-remote company I've been involved with.

papabrown 10y ago

By extension you could say that working with a remote office would make them easier to lay off as well. I'm sure there's some truth to it but I think it all comes down to perceived value. If you're in someone's face everyday reminding them of how valuable you are, it does make it seem you are more valuable. A remote worker or someone working in a satellite office is going to have a more difficult time tooting their own horn. That said, I work from the main office and we have an additional three offices spread across three different countries and I don't feel that it would be easy to lay off someone in one of those offices anymore than it would be to lay someone off in my office. Each person has a specific skill they're bringing to the table and without them that work wouldn't get done. Perhaps if there was real or perceived redundancy in job skills, the situation might be different but then you've got redundancy and if times get tough, someone has to go anyway. Now we're just talking about who. If there are 10 people on a team and only one of them works remotely, well, that might be the person who gets cut first but if you have 10 people and 4 of them are working remotely, you're back to the same issue of their perceived value to the organization. Whether working from an office or working remotely, the people who have done the best job at standing out are the least likely to get cut.