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For me, it was easy. In 2015, we really wanted to move back to our east coast flyover-city home from the Bay Area. Google would not let me work remotely, but
by drewg123 9y ago
For me, it was easy. In 2015, we really wanted to move back to our east coast flyover-city home from the Bay Area. Google would not let me work remotely, but Netflix would. So it was a no-brainer.
It turned out to be a great move. In my experience, just about everything is better about Netflix as compared to Google: impact, pay, freedom, culture. The only thing that's worse is that I really miss the on-campus food at Google. And TGIF, eng-misc, etc.
- kevingadd 9y agoRemote work was a medical requirement for me and even in those circumstances Google refused to consider it. They also insisted part-time work wasn't an option (there were official policies for it that were kept secret!). So likewise, that was really all it took. It baffles me that companies can't be remotely flexible on these things - over 50% of the Google employees I interacted with daily were in other offices (or overseas, for that matter), so the cost of remote workers was already being paid.
- electrograv 9y ago> Remote work was a medical requirement for me and even in those circumstances Google refused to consider it. Certainly that must be illegal under the ADA, or something similar?
- bspn 9y agoIANAL but I don't think it's necessarily illegal by default under the ADA. The first thing the employee has to do is establish that their condition falls under a protected class and then they can request an accommodation. If the employer can demonstrate that there's no way to reasonably accommodate the employee then I believe they're off the hook - that is a much higher burden for a large company to satisfy than say for a small 10 person start-up.
- prepend 9y agoDepending on the position working remotely is reasonable or unreasonable as determined by the company. I think it’s pretty typical to say coming into the office is a requirement so full time remote would not be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. I think the reason why many companies don’t allow as a rule is that by selectively allowing remote work, they are vulnerable to ADA suits.
- DamnYuppie 9y agoIf it was an existing condition or not a work related injury then most likely they have no legal recourse.
- FlyingBears 9y agoCompanies can choose not to be flexible about remote work because IBM ...
- zerr 9y ago> but Netflix would Hmm, where can I find out more about remote roles there? Is it worldwide or US-only?
- tbranyen 9y agoGuessing not a full time engineer or some kind of niche talent? Never heard of anyone going remote or even being a possibility. Its written into the culture and all job postings.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- dsacco 9y agoMost of the large tech companies allow but don’t advertise remote work flexibility for senior staff. I know someone who works remotely at Apple on a team on the other side of the country.
- drewg123 9y agoThis. A lot of it depends on your VP and management chain. The VP above me at Google was very traditional and believed strongly in "butts in seats", and ironically complained he'd exhausted they bay area talent pool. There was a chance I could have moved to a different team at Google under a more remote-friendly VP, but its future and funding was much less certain, so I left instead.
- neuland 9y agoI can confirm that the option is there. I'm at a big 4 tech company and recently transitioned to remote. If it is a deal-breaker and you are senior or otherwise considered a key team member they can't let leave, going remote can sometimes work out.
- nerfhammer 9y agoYeah but once you've spent some time on a team there and are trusted and respected, all that stuff becomes pretty negotiable.
- drewg123 9y agoThat's what I'd hoped for at Google, and my manager would have been fine with me being remote. However, my VP did not allow remote work. We even lost out on having a fairly famous guy work for our team, because he was unable to transfer a deal he had with his current team where he could work 3 days at home (in Pleasanton, so the commute to Mountain View was terrible).