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Flexible working shows 55% high performers compared to 36% for 40 hours/week

137 points by Oras 6y ago

mprovost 6y ago
Total side note, but the chair pictured really reminds me of the aluminum folding chairs that were ubiquitous in backyards when I was growing up. I'd love one like that for the (home) office!
- account-5 6y ago
  Looks uncomfortable. I remember the folding ones too but they weren't compfy.
jstanley 6y ago
I haven't read the whole thing but stopped at this sentence: > So if men are more likely to work from the office, and managers retain a bias towards in-office workers, we should expect to see managers over-rewarding male employees at the expense of female employees This is frustratingly wrong in at least 2 different ways. 1. If an employer over-rewards a group of employees, it's at the expensive of the employer, not the other employees. 2. Even if you believe that other employees are responsible for paying the wages of the over-rewarded employees, then if the over-rewarded employees are those who work from the office we'll just see managers over-rewarding in-office workers at the expensive of from-home workers. A woman who works from the office would be over-rewarded, and a man who works from home would be paying. To say that men will be over-rewarded at the expense of women is to throw away a high-quality signal in favour of a lower-quality signal.
- BoorishBears 6y ago
  > If an employer over-rewards a group of employees, it's at the expensive of the employer, not the other employees. I don't know where you got this idea... Most places I've worked have at the very least a vague definition of a budget for talent acquisition and retention If you give person X more of a bonus, there's less to go around for everyone. It's not that complicated.
  - vidarh 6y ago
    It's been very explicit some places I've worked. I was given an allocation of X thousands pounds of raises and Y share options. This was allocated based on a certain percentage of the current remuneration of the overall team, and combined with a set of guidelines for how to allocate it based on team performance. If I wanted to go above my allocation, I'd have to justify it a couple of management levels up, and if approved they'd recoup it by adjusting someone in another team in my group down.
- enkid 6y ago
  None of what you are saying actually contradicts the sentence. More men would be over-rewarded, because more men work from the office. This is bad for the employer, but it is also bad for the under-rewarded employees (they would be missing out on the normal rewards which should go to them).
- mywittyname 6y ago
  I don't agree with your argument. Salaries are paid largely from a finite pool. If a group of people gets a larger slice of that pie, for any reason, legitimate or not, then that leaves less money for raises and salaries of other groups.
  - reader_mode 6y ago
    That's a zero sum view of a person who probably contributes little to the bottom line. I've worked on projects where I was directly responsible for landing client deals worth millions and I got compensated accordingly.
    - sudosysgen 6y ago
      In the vast majority of companies at some level (generally the project or department) there is a fixed pool that managers get to spend on things including salaries. Your position was either not at all that of a programmer, or the structure of your company was exceptional.
    - onion2k 6y ago
      I've worked on projects where I was directly responsible for landing client deals worth millions and I got compensated accordingly. I bet you didn't. I've known people who've done the same sort of thing (technical architect in pre-sales), and their bonuses were about 1/20th of the salesperson's bonus for the same deals. Unless you've negotiated a bonus structure where you're compensated based on what work you land you never really get the sort of cut you should.
    - BoorishBears 6y ago
      The painful irony of this comment. The view of the person you replied to is the view of a person who has information generally considered "above your pay grade" - Also generally your comment doesn't make sense, what does "compensated accordingly" even mean? How does it rebut the idea that compensation comes from a pool? If anything it affirms it, you're saying the deal was worth millions, do you think your employer just had a check for the millions of dollars and was prepared to divy it up for bonuses? Or do you think they budgeted a certain percentage of the cashflow for retention to ensure it landed smoothly? Like any competent business would?
- wastedhours 6y ago
  Whilst completely ignoring common second-order effects that have been shown time and time again to be true. The point made is 100% valid: men are more likely to work in the office than women, and if there's a systemic bias toward office-workers, that's very definitely a systemic bias against women. Not as the first order problem, but the second order problem. Equity vs equality - equality has it that women should therefore work from the office. Equity questions why you're not actively seeking to address a bias that disproportionately affects a demographic.
tchalla 6y ago
Original Article Title : 9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2021 and Beyond The 9 trends listed in the article are below > 1. Employers will shift from managing the employee experience to managing the life experience of their employees. 2. More companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates. 3. The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. 4. New regulations will limit employee monitoring. 5. Flexibility will shift from location to time. 6. Leading companies will make bulk purchases of the Covid vaccine for employees — and will be sued over Covid vaccine requirements. 7. Mental health support is the new normal. 8. Employers will look to “rent” talent to fill the skills gap. 9. States will compete to attract individual talent rather than trying to get companies to relocate.
- Mauricebranagh 6y ago
  #2 companies realise that they where asleep at the wheel and allowed enyryist extremists to take over teh GOP / Tory party. #5 a recipe for over work #7 will be used to manage out emploees #8 casualisation of the work force
- lom888 6y ago
  > 2. More companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates. Smart companies will need to figure out the way to alienate a minimal amount of customers while appeasing the mob.
tryonenow 6y ago
>In 2020, this desire accelerated: Gartner research shows that 74% of employees expect their employer to become more actively involved in the cultural debates of the day. The research appears to be paywalled so I can't evaluate the methods, but this whole section is concerning. I suspect the survey is politically biased much like this entire article. Politics has no place in the workplace, unless you want to discourage diversity of thought among your employees. If anything, this survey data may only indicate the degree to which polarization has increased in our society, to the point that people want their offices to align with their own politics - that's dangerous and normalizing overtly political companies will only further the growing institutional divide in the country. Imagine more than just separate social media platforms; this is how you get separate societies.
lummmm 6y ago
I used to be a "40 hours of focused work a week isn't even doable guy". After working at a startup, I believe this is incorrect. I think personally I have a capacity of 55-60 focused hours, and some people might have more, maintainable indefinitely.
- asutekku 6y ago
  The question is, is that sustainable on the long term mental health wise.
  - hh3k0 6y ago
    Not just mental health but health in general. That said, would it really be desirable? There's no work-life balance as long as we work 5 days a week and rest 2, imo. > The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said: > “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
    - Hydraulix989 6y ago
      What's the alternative? Being broke isn't fun either.
  - whizzter 6y ago
    I think that depends a bit on personality, place/time in life, etc. I could easily pull those hours in my early 20s,etc but nowadays I have family and other things so if I do those hours I'll be behind with other things so in addition to needing a bit of extra rest as I'm older, I'll also be in a "todo-deficit" that needs to be caught up with making for more stress in the near/middle term.
  - fizx 6y ago
    Yup, also, as someone who's done sustained 60+ (maybe even a month of 80+), there's very little room for creativity. It works ok for pursuing the solution to that one clear, looming problem. I much prefer 5hrs/day of focus, arriving at the office refreshed, excited, and creative.
tester34 6y ago
>Employees’ desire to work for organizations whose values align with their own has been growing for some time. Weird. I or We, here in Eastern Europe do not talk about politics in work "seriously", just sometimes more or less random thoughts, it'd be viewed as unprofessional to talk about stuff like this unless you're very close with your co-workers who are very fine with some banter. Our lives are already full of politix I don't want it at my job. You may argue that politics is still there, indirectly at big companies, but it's still indirectly. > The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. We aren't going back, at least fully. Office decreases speed of communication
- umvi 6y ago
  > Office decreases speed of communication Does it though? I have some coworkers who I used to be able to just walk next door and talk to. Now I ping them on Teams and they might not respond for hours.
  - inetknght 6y ago
    > I have some coworkers who I used to be able to just walk next door and talk to. Now I ping them on Teams and they might not respond for hours. I've found that team members who did that were actually interrupting those coworkers. It takes time to digest questions and comments. Now those coworkers have an opportunity to respond with a fully reasoned discussion instead of being obligated, by a verbal conversation, to respond immediately without fully thinking. ...unless they just don't monitor their work communication channels when they should be available to that. But that's a different kind of problem.
  - tester756 6y ago
    > I have some coworkers who I used to be able to just walk next door and talk to. I have different experience - I had people sitting at the next door who were always on the phone with $important_customer and I needed to wait 15mins meanwhile they can answer me <1min on _chat_
- arcatech 6y ago
  The change that’s being described here is going FROM what you’re saying TO the realization that “politics” is not some separate thing that you can choose not to talk about, but actual issues that affect the lives of employees. People are tired of trying to ignore things that shouldn’t be ignored.
Kranar 6y ago
Honestly it's worth pointing out that these figures are based on employee surveys. Basically employees who have more flexible work accommodations are more likely to rate themselves as high performers compared to employees who don't. Also when you try to actually click on the links to follow up on the claims made in the article, see the methodology and raw statistics well surprise... surprise... the links are either dead or just go to some corporate page.
philmcp 6y ago
In years to come we will look down on the 5 day working week in the same way we currently do with 15hr factory shifts during the industrial revolution. It absolutely blows my mind that 99% of office roles are still 5 days / week, Monday to Friday - why is there basically no variation on this model? It annoys me so much that I've just launched https://www.fourdayweek.io/ https://www.fourdayweek.io/ (shameless plug)
- ganzsz 6y ago
  I feel you. I just started working for a smaller company where I can work 4 days. And I have to say, my midweekend(Wednesday off) is amazing. Still able to pay the bills, but I'm working to live, not living to work. I really hope this option is possible when I decide to go for a new challenge in a few years. I really like what you try to achieve with the platform. Will keep an eye on it.
  - philmcp 6y ago
    Thanks! You're setup sounds great. It should be more common than it currently is - the option should at least be available I just asked my boss if I can move to 4 days per week and he said yes, changing next month - cannot wait...
- bamboozled 6y ago
  It absolutely blows my mind that 99% of office roles are still 4 days / week, Monday to Thursday - why is there basically no variation on this model?
  - philmcp 6y ago
    It absolutely blows my mind that 99% of office roles are still 3 days / week, Monday to Wednesday - why is there basically no variation on this model?
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      Sarcasm aside, there actually is a metric we can use as a society to decide these things. If we track productivity gains since the 40 hour work week was established in law, we can determine how many few hours we can work without lowering our standard of living. The magic number appears to be about 12-15 a week. Or, we can track how many hours people actually spend working. Most office workers will (anonymously) self report that they work roughly 3.5 hours a (edit) day; the rest is spent doing non-productive things. Assuming a five day week filled with only work, that gives us about 17.5 hours a week.
cableshaft 6y ago
I found this line in the article more interesting (and more disturbing) than the headline: "The number of skills employers are looking for has risen dramatically — our analysis shows that companies listed about 33% more skills on job ads in 2020 than they did in 2017." Three years ago there was already an issue with employers being overly specific in their job ads and making it look like basically no one (except maybe the person who just quit) is fully qualified for their position. This just gives even more room for companies to claim there's no qualified individuals and they have 'no choice' but to pursue H-1Bs or contract work (who also will in no way fully match the giant laundry list, but at that point they always seem to be less picky).
- tachyonbeam 6y ago
  Companies going full remote also means they can completely avoid work visas. It's even cheaper to directly hire someone in a poorer country directly, and not even pay for office space or a relocation allowance...
  - foolfoolz 6y ago
    you need to maintain a presence in the country you hire. this is not free and different countries have different requirements. you may avoid visas but at minimum you pay taxes and need to discover and set policies to follow local laws and regulations. this impacts more than finance, a lot of eu countries have specific on-call rules for example
    - em-bee 6y ago
      only if you insist on having employees and not contractors. there is absolutely no problem to send someone money and have them do work for you. taxes is the contractors responsibility
- ryandrake 6y ago
  I remember my first entry level job out of college 20 or so years ago. The job description said I needed to know C and x86 assembly. That was pretty much it. During the interview I found out I'd be writing display drivers and working with the Windows kernel, so between the time I accepted the job and started, I grabbed a book on writing Windows drivers and crammed. They did not expect me to have "3 years of experience with their stack" for an entry level job. Those were the days!
undefined1 6y ago
> Gartner research shows that 74% of employees expect their employer to become more actively involved in the cultural debates of the day. I believe CEOs will have to respond in order to retain and attract the best talent. the best talent won't be attracted to those companies long term. they'll seek companies focused on what they are building, focused on a well defined mission. why? because they will get the most done and be more successful than anyone distracted by the day to day Twitter drama.
- foolfoolz 6y ago
  this is not the experience i have in a large san francisco based company. i think these things are distractions and retarded waste of time. however i am not representative of others who view this involvement as critical to working at the company. or even a reason to apply in the first place. it’s important for hiring and engagement. it has a real impact on people. so you have to be involved or your risk losing a good employee / candidate who falls in this category
- mywittyname 6y ago
  I disagree. Everyone is interested in shaping the world we live in. Driven people probably more-so than average. I'm already seeing my CEOs responding to cultural changes to attract and retain talent. They are reaching out to local government officials to petition for social change (for example, banding together with local business to have the mayor ban the use of chokeholds by the police). We have a third party audit salaries to ensure there's no gender pay differentials. Maternity & paternity leave is generous and equal. Etc.
  - undefined1 6y ago
    > Everyone is interested in shaping the world we live in. Driven people probably more-so than average. yes, so imagine a driven person who wants to solve the food waste problem, and there are two choices: Food Savers A who is focused on developing a method to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Food Savers B who is less focused on developing a method to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Food Savers A is much more likely to solve the problem. it's the one that the serious, driven person would choose.
WhompingWindows 6y ago
This title needs editing...Compared to 36% what? 36% low performers, medium performers?
- Oras 6y ago
  compared to 36% high performers in 40 hours/week work. Flexible working => 55% of the workforce are high performers. Traditional working => 36% of the workforce are high performers. I apologise if this wasn't clear.
hackerbabz 6y ago
I’m a software developer working from home, and I work 4 purely focused hours per day (using pomodoro technique). I haven’t told my employer this. I keep getting told I’m doing a good job, and I know I’m getting promoted soon. I refuse to believe I’m a 10x engineer, so what I’m left to believe is that either everyone else at my company is doing the same, or they are working 8 hours without focusing.
- nfriedly 6y ago
  It sounds to me like you're a 2x engineer :P
- mesaframe 6y ago
  10x engineer is the most atrocious bullshit I have heard about. It can be only said by people who are not developers. I don't believe there is a meaning behind 10x programmer.
  - sub7 6y ago
    Oh they definitely exist. If you can manage the ego/personality issues that come with the package they can do to your company in 2-3 months what a team of 20 would take a year+ for.
    - goatinaboat 6y ago
      If you can manage the ego/personality issues that come with the package The only genuine 10x programmer I have ever met was the nicest, most humble guy you could imagine. He didn’t just crank out code, he saw patterns in things that no one else could until he pointed them out, and then it seemed obvious because he explained it so well. But I have met many 1.1x programmers who act like the worst stereotypes of a 10x, and when the dust settles and someone has to maintain their rockstar code they have the net effect of a 0.1x.
    - Kluny 6y ago
      I don't know, the smartest programmers I've ever met have also been the most helpful ones, willing and able to explain incredibly complex concepts patiently and clearly.
camjohnson26 6y ago
URL doesn’t match the title?
averyem2 6y ago
>The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. Stopped reading there.
averyem2 6y ago
>The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. Stopped reading there.
armagon 6y ago
"For many organizations [upended priorities] included responding to the social justice movements... "2. More companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates.... Gartner research shows that 74% of employees expect their employer to become more actively involved in the cultural debates of the day." Ugh! I don't share woke beliefs, and no others seem to qualify to be worthy of non-derisive attention. I hardly want employers to promote these beliefs. (Worse is that they may feel fake in doing it. If there were an organizations authentic beliefs, that might be slightly different.) Interesting times.
dqpb 6y ago
Yesterday I was rocking my baby to sleep for his mid-day nap, and at the same time reading up on documentation for a new library I’m using. His room is dimly lit and very quiet, only some faint bird chirping out the window. The warmth of his body on my chest, the sweet smell of his head, and the quiet atmosphere made for the best documentation reading of my life. Fuck the office.
naebother 6y ago
> Gartner’s 2020 ReimagineHR Employee Survey revealed that only 36% of employees were high performers at organizations with a standard 40-hour work week. Organizations that offer employees flexibility over when, where and how much they work, see 55% of their work force as high performers. I'll wait until a more independent institution conducts a study and pass on these "re-imagined" numbers.

137 points by Oras 6y ago

Total side note, but the chair pictured really reminds me of the aluminum folding chairs that were ubiquitous in backyards when I was growing up. I'd love one like that for the (home) office!

account-5 6y ago
Looks uncomfortable. I remember the folding ones too but they weren't compfy.

jstanley 6y ago

I haven't read the whole thing but stopped at this sentence: > So if men are more likely to work from the office, and managers retain a bias towards in-office workers, we should expect to see managers over-rewarding male employees at the expense of female employees This is frustratingly wrong in at least 2 different ways. 1. If an employer over-rewards a group of employees, it's at the expensive of the employer, not the other employees. 2. Even if you believe that other employees are responsible for paying the wages of the over-rewarded employees, then if the over-rewarded employees are those who work from the office we'll just see managers over-rewarding in-office workers at the expensive of from-home workers. A woman who works from the office would be over-rewarded, and a man who works from home would be paying. To say that men will be over-rewarded at the expense of women is to throw away a high-quality signal in favour of a lower-quality signal.

BoorishBears 6y ago
> If an employer over-rewards a group of employees, it's at the expensive of the employer, not the other employees. I don't know where you got this idea... Most places I've worked have at the very least a vague definition of a budget for talent acquisition and retention If you give person X more of a bonus, there's less to go around for everyone. It's not that complicated.
- vidarh 6y ago
  It's been very explicit some places I've worked. I was given an allocation of X thousands pounds of raises and Y share options. This was allocated based on a certain percentage of the current remuneration of the overall team, and combined with a set of guidelines for how to allocate it based on team performance. If I wanted to go above my allocation, I'd have to justify it a couple of management levels up, and if approved they'd recoup it by adjusting someone in another team in my group down.
enkid 6y ago
None of what you are saying actually contradicts the sentence. More men would be over-rewarded, because more men work from the office. This is bad for the employer, but it is also bad for the under-rewarded employees (they would be missing out on the normal rewards which should go to them).
mywittyname 6y ago
I don't agree with your argument. Salaries are paid largely from a finite pool. If a group of people gets a larger slice of that pie, for any reason, legitimate or not, then that leaves less money for raises and salaries of other groups.
- reader_mode 6y ago
  That's a zero sum view of a person who probably contributes little to the bottom line. I've worked on projects where I was directly responsible for landing client deals worth millions and I got compensated accordingly.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    In the vast majority of companies at some level (generally the project or department) there is a fixed pool that managers get to spend on things including salaries. Your position was either not at all that of a programmer, or the structure of your company was exceptional.
  - onion2k 6y ago
    I've worked on projects where I was directly responsible for landing client deals worth millions and I got compensated accordingly. I bet you didn't. I've known people who've done the same sort of thing (technical architect in pre-sales), and their bonuses were about 1/20th of the salesperson's bonus for the same deals. Unless you've negotiated a bonus structure where you're compensated based on what work you land you never really get the sort of cut you should.
  - BoorishBears 6y ago
    The painful irony of this comment. The view of the person you replied to is the view of a person who has information generally considered "above your pay grade" - Also generally your comment doesn't make sense, what does "compensated accordingly" even mean? How does it rebut the idea that compensation comes from a pool? If anything it affirms it, you're saying the deal was worth millions, do you think your employer just had a check for the millions of dollars and was prepared to divy it up for bonuses? Or do you think they budgeted a certain percentage of the cashflow for retention to ensure it landed smoothly? Like any competent business would?
wastedhours 6y ago
Whilst completely ignoring common second-order effects that have been shown time and time again to be true. The point made is 100% valid: men are more likely to work in the office than women, and if there's a systemic bias toward office-workers, that's very definitely a systemic bias against women. Not as the first order problem, but the second order problem. Equity vs equality - equality has it that women should therefore work from the office. Equity questions why you're not actively seeking to address a bias that disproportionately affects a demographic.

tchalla 6y ago

Original Article Title : 9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2021 and Beyond The 9 trends listed in the article are below > 1. Employers will shift from managing the employee experience to managing the life experience of their employees. 2. More companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates. 3. The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. 4. New regulations will limit employee monitoring. 5. Flexibility will shift from location to time. 6. Leading companies will make bulk purchases of the Covid vaccine for employees — and will be sued over Covid vaccine requirements. 7. Mental health support is the new normal. 8. Employers will look to “rent” talent to fill the skills gap. 9. States will compete to attract individual talent rather than trying to get companies to relocate.

Mauricebranagh 6y ago
#2 companies realise that they where asleep at the wheel and allowed enyryist extremists to take over teh GOP / Tory party. #5 a recipe for over work #7 will be used to manage out emploees #8 casualisation of the work force
lom888 6y ago
> 2. More companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates. Smart companies will need to figure out the way to alienate a minimal amount of customers while appeasing the mob.

tryonenow 6y ago

>In 2020, this desire accelerated: Gartner research shows that 74% of employees expect their employer to become more actively involved in the cultural debates of the day. The research appears to be paywalled so I can't evaluate the methods, but this whole section is concerning. I suspect the survey is politically biased much like this entire article. Politics has no place in the workplace, unless you want to discourage diversity of thought among your employees. If anything, this survey data may only indicate the degree to which polarization has increased in our society, to the point that people want their offices to align with their own politics - that's dangerous and normalizing overtly political companies will only further the growing institutional divide in the country. Imagine more than just separate social media platforms; this is how you get separate societies.

lummmm 6y ago

I used to be a "40 hours of focused work a week isn't even doable guy". After working at a startup, I believe this is incorrect. I think personally I have a capacity of 55-60 focused hours, and some people might have more, maintainable indefinitely.

asutekku 6y ago
The question is, is that sustainable on the long term mental health wise.
- hh3k0 6y ago
  Not just mental health but health in general. That said, would it really be desirable? There's no work-life balance as long as we work 5 days a week and rest 2, imo. > The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said: > “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
  - Hydraulix989 6y ago
    What's the alternative? Being broke isn't fun either.
- whizzter 6y ago
  I think that depends a bit on personality, place/time in life, etc. I could easily pull those hours in my early 20s,etc but nowadays I have family and other things so if I do those hours I'll be behind with other things so in addition to needing a bit of extra rest as I'm older, I'll also be in a "todo-deficit" that needs to be caught up with making for more stress in the near/middle term.
- fizx 6y ago
  Yup, also, as someone who's done sustained 60+ (maybe even a month of 80+), there's very little room for creativity. It works ok for pursuing the solution to that one clear, looming problem. I much prefer 5hrs/day of focus, arriving at the office refreshed, excited, and creative.

tester34 6y ago

>Employees’ desire to work for organizations whose values align with their own has been growing for some time. Weird. I or We, here in Eastern Europe do not talk about politics in work "seriously", just sometimes more or less random thoughts, it'd be viewed as unprofessional to talk about stuff like this unless you're very close with your co-workers who are very fine with some banter. Our lives are already full of politix I don't want it at my job. You may argue that politics is still there, indirectly at big companies, but it's still indirectly. > The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. We aren't going back, at least fully. Office decreases speed of communication

umvi 6y ago
> Office decreases speed of communication Does it though? I have some coworkers who I used to be able to just walk next door and talk to. Now I ping them on Teams and they might not respond for hours.
- inetknght 6y ago
  > I have some coworkers who I used to be able to just walk next door and talk to. Now I ping them on Teams and they might not respond for hours. I've found that team members who did that were actually interrupting those coworkers. It takes time to digest questions and comments. Now those coworkers have an opportunity to respond with a fully reasoned discussion instead of being obligated, by a verbal conversation, to respond immediately without fully thinking. ...unless they just don't monitor their work communication channels when they should be available to that. But that's a different kind of problem.
- tester756 6y ago
  > I have some coworkers who I used to be able to just walk next door and talk to. I have different experience - I had people sitting at the next door who were always on the phone with $important_customer and I needed to wait 15mins meanwhile they can answer me <1min on _chat_
arcatech 6y ago
The change that’s being described here is going FROM what you’re saying TO the realization that “politics” is not some separate thing that you can choose not to talk about, but actual issues that affect the lives of employees. People are tired of trying to ignore things that shouldn’t be ignored.

Kranar 6y ago

Honestly it's worth pointing out that these figures are based on employee surveys. Basically employees who have more flexible work accommodations are more likely to rate themselves as high performers compared to employees who don't. Also when you try to actually click on the links to follow up on the claims made in the article, see the methodology and raw statistics well surprise... surprise... the links are either dead or just go to some corporate page.

philmcp 6y ago

In years to come we will look down on the 5 day working week in the same way we currently do with 15hr factory shifts during the industrial revolution. It absolutely blows my mind that 99% of office roles are still 5 days / week, Monday to Friday - why is there basically no variation on this model? It annoys me so much that I've just launched https://www.fourdayweek.io/ https://www.fourdayweek.io/ (shameless plug)

ganzsz 6y ago
I feel you. I just started working for a smaller company where I can work 4 days. And I have to say, my midweekend(Wednesday off) is amazing. Still able to pay the bills, but I'm working to live, not living to work. I really hope this option is possible when I decide to go for a new challenge in a few years. I really like what you try to achieve with the platform. Will keep an eye on it.
- philmcp 6y ago
  Thanks! You're setup sounds great. It should be more common than it currently is - the option should at least be available I just asked my boss if I can move to 4 days per week and he said yes, changing next month - cannot wait...
bamboozled 6y ago
It absolutely blows my mind that 99% of office roles are still 4 days / week, Monday to Thursday - why is there basically no variation on this model?
- philmcp 6y ago
  It absolutely blows my mind that 99% of office roles are still 3 days / week, Monday to Wednesday - why is there basically no variation on this model?
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    Sarcasm aside, there actually is a metric we can use as a society to decide these things. If we track productivity gains since the 40 hour work week was established in law, we can determine how many few hours we can work without lowering our standard of living. The magic number appears to be about 12-15 a week. Or, we can track how many hours people actually spend working. Most office workers will (anonymously) self report that they work roughly 3.5 hours a (edit) day; the rest is spent doing non-productive things. Assuming a five day week filled with only work, that gives us about 17.5 hours a week.

cableshaft 6y ago

I found this line in the article more interesting (and more disturbing) than the headline: "The number of skills employers are looking for has risen dramatically — our analysis shows that companies listed about 33% more skills on job ads in 2020 than they did in 2017." Three years ago there was already an issue with employers being overly specific in their job ads and making it look like basically no one (except maybe the person who just quit) is fully qualified for their position. This just gives even more room for companies to claim there's no qualified individuals and they have 'no choice' but to pursue H-1Bs or contract work (who also will in no way fully match the giant laundry list, but at that point they always seem to be less picky).

tachyonbeam 6y ago
Companies going full remote also means they can completely avoid work visas. It's even cheaper to directly hire someone in a poorer country directly, and not even pay for office space or a relocation allowance...
- foolfoolz 6y ago
  you need to maintain a presence in the country you hire. this is not free and different countries have different requirements. you may avoid visas but at minimum you pay taxes and need to discover and set policies to follow local laws and regulations. this impacts more than finance, a lot of eu countries have specific on-call rules for example
  - em-bee 6y ago
    only if you insist on having employees and not contractors. there is absolutely no problem to send someone money and have them do work for you. taxes is the contractors responsibility
ryandrake 6y ago
I remember my first entry level job out of college 20 or so years ago. The job description said I needed to know C and x86 assembly. That was pretty much it. During the interview I found out I'd be writing display drivers and working with the Windows kernel, so between the time I accepted the job and started, I grabbed a book on writing Windows drivers and crammed. They did not expect me to have "3 years of experience with their stack" for an entry level job. Those were the days!

undefined1 6y ago

> Gartner research shows that 74% of employees expect their employer to become more actively involved in the cultural debates of the day. I believe CEOs will have to respond in order to retain and attract the best talent. the best talent won't be attracted to those companies long term. they'll seek companies focused on what they are building, focused on a well defined mission. why? because they will get the most done and be more successful than anyone distracted by the day to day Twitter drama.

foolfoolz 6y ago
this is not the experience i have in a large san francisco based company. i think these things are distractions and retarded waste of time. however i am not representative of others who view this involvement as critical to working at the company. or even a reason to apply in the first place. it’s important for hiring and engagement. it has a real impact on people. so you have to be involved or your risk losing a good employee / candidate who falls in this category
mywittyname 6y ago
I disagree. Everyone is interested in shaping the world we live in. Driven people probably more-so than average. I'm already seeing my CEOs responding to cultural changes to attract and retain talent. They are reaching out to local government officials to petition for social change (for example, banding together with local business to have the mayor ban the use of chokeholds by the police). We have a third party audit salaries to ensure there's no gender pay differentials. Maternity & paternity leave is generous and equal. Etc.
- undefined1 6y ago
  > Everyone is interested in shaping the world we live in. Driven people probably more-so than average. yes, so imagine a driven person who wants to solve the food waste problem, and there are two choices: Food Savers A who is focused on developing a method to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Food Savers B who is less focused on developing a method to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Food Savers A is much more likely to solve the problem. it's the one that the serious, driven person would choose.

WhompingWindows 6y ago

This title needs editing...Compared to 36% what? 36% low performers, medium performers?

Oras 6y ago
compared to 36% high performers in 40 hours/week work. Flexible working => 55% of the workforce are high performers. Traditional working => 36% of the workforce are high performers. I apologise if this wasn't clear.

hackerbabz 6y ago

I’m a software developer working from home, and I work 4 purely focused hours per day (using pomodoro technique). I haven’t told my employer this. I keep getting told I’m doing a good job, and I know I’m getting promoted soon. I refuse to believe I’m a 10x engineer, so what I’m left to believe is that either everyone else at my company is doing the same, or they are working 8 hours without focusing.

nfriedly 6y ago
It sounds to me like you're a 2x engineer :P
mesaframe 6y ago
10x engineer is the most atrocious bullshit I have heard about. It can be only said by people who are not developers. I don't believe there is a meaning behind 10x programmer.
- sub7 6y ago
  Oh they definitely exist. If you can manage the ego/personality issues that come with the package they can do to your company in 2-3 months what a team of 20 would take a year+ for.
  - goatinaboat 6y ago
    If you can manage the ego/personality issues that come with the package The only genuine 10x programmer I have ever met was the nicest, most humble guy you could imagine. He didn’t just crank out code, he saw patterns in things that no one else could until he pointed them out, and then it seemed obvious because he explained it so well. But I have met many 1.1x programmers who act like the worst stereotypes of a 10x, and when the dust settles and someone has to maintain their rockstar code they have the net effect of a 0.1x.
  - Kluny 6y ago
    I don't know, the smartest programmers I've ever met have also been the most helpful ones, willing and able to explain incredibly complex concepts patiently and clearly.

camjohnson26 6y ago

URL doesn’t match the title?

averyem2 6y ago

>The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. Stopped reading there.

averyem2 6y ago

>The gender-wage gap will continue to increase as employees return to the office. Stopped reading there.

armagon 6y ago

"For many organizations [upended priorities] included responding to the social justice movements... "2. More companies will adopt stances on current societal and political debates.... Gartner research shows that 74% of employees expect their employer to become more actively involved in the cultural debates of the day." Ugh! I don't share woke beliefs, and no others seem to qualify to be worthy of non-derisive attention. I hardly want employers to promote these beliefs. (Worse is that they may feel fake in doing it. If there were an organizations authentic beliefs, that might be slightly different.) Interesting times.

dqpb 6y ago

Yesterday I was rocking my baby to sleep for his mid-day nap, and at the same time reading up on documentation for a new library I’m using. His room is dimly lit and very quiet, only some faint bird chirping out the window. The warmth of his body on my chest, the sweet smell of his head, and the quiet atmosphere made for the best documentation reading of my life. Fuck the office.

naebother 6y ago

> Gartner’s 2020 ReimagineHR Employee Survey revealed that only 36% of employees were high performers at organizations with a standard 40-hour work week. Organizations that offer employees flexibility over when, where and how much they work, see 55% of their work force as high performers. I'll wait until a more independent institution conducts a study and pass on these "re-imagined" numbers.