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Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
- sigmonsays 6y agocan't whip workers to work harder while they're at home
- jgalt212 6y agoIt's also harder to trade on Robinhood when in the office.
- Someone1234 6y agoIt is a mobile app primarily, so I'm not sure that's true.
- derision 6y agoIs it? I've made over 6 figures off (realized) profit on robinhood and never touched the app after signing up
- pmlnr 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
- Someone1234 6y agoIf companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting they'd have stopped this antiquated modus operandi long ago. As it stands I feel like we're going to have to wait until all Silent Generation/Boomers retire before we can see real progressive change in this area. Honestly it really speaks to poor management in general. If your only measure for project progress is "butts in seats," then you have no idea what is going on below you. It isn't like slacking off while physically at work isn't basically a meme already. Companies would actually be more efficient if they communicated progress/expectations in a trackable way, telecommuting just forces that issue, but it is an issue regardless of where people are.
- chrisseaton 6y ago> If companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting I don't know how much a parking lot costs in terms of real estate but I'd guess it's absolutely massively expensive. Also, property taxes don't they pretty directly pay for roads which are used for commuting?
- ticviking 6y ago>Also, property taxes don't they pretty directly pay for roads which are used for commuting? Basically the answer to this is no. Often roads are paid for out of grants to build infrastructure in the next ring of suburbs. https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme This impacts the cost of parking lots, and basically because we tax property rather than land value, parking lots are generally pretty cheap if you already own the ground, but expensive enough that buying new land to meet a parking minimum is one of the single largest line items in many development projects.
- sokoloff 6y agoProperty taxes contribute to local road building and maintenance at most. They do not (here at least) contribute to roads located in other towns or states that an employee may commute on.
- akhilcacharya 6y agoThey do though, they pay me around $180 a month for an unlimited transit card (that I can’t use) and a transit debit card for Uber (that is currently capped because I also cannot use it). For most other folks that pays for parking.
- after_care 6y ago> If companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting they'd have stopped this antiquated modus operandi long ago. I personally lost money by working from home. My transportation costs were negligible, but I lost access to free food/drink and have to consume much more electricity at home.
- omega3 6y agoI plan to remain in an home office centric culture as my baseline after pandemic.
- SinasinaX 6y agoI'm not optimistic about my chances remaining in home office.
- toomuchtodo 6y agoInterview now while everyone is remote and it’s easier to do versus taking time off when you’re forced back into an office.
- rnd33 6y agoThis! Job-hunting is so ridiculously easy when everyone is working from home.
- banach 6y agoDid you bring it up with your manager? How about your colleagues. You can significantly affect your chances by talking about it, making clear that you see this as a major benefit (that doesn't cost the company a dime and, in fact, opens up for saving money on office rent), and highlighting that you can be as productive at home as you can in the office, if that's actually the case of course :) Several of us where I work have been doing this over the past year, and in my last conversation with my manager I got approval for working from home permanently even after the restrictions are pulled back. It's hard to say for sure, but I don't think I would have gotten the same answer if we hadn't been very clear and vocal about our preferences. And of course it helps that the company outperformed its pre-COVID19 projections :)
- grillvogel 6y agoam i the only person excited about this (i dont work at amazon) im pretty burned out on wfh
- sneak 6y agoNo, there are lots of extroverts who like social interaction in the workplace, and bad managers who think their main job is to observe and ensure butts-in-seats.
- d1zzy 6y agoI don't think I qualify for either introvert or extrovert (that is, I tend to be self-reflective about some things and outgoing about others). There are plenty of other reasons too. It is much faster to communicate face to face (for me) and I tend to be much better at resolving micro-miscommunications that can blow up in hours of days of work delays when I'm face to face than when I'm remote. Compounded with the fact that I am not good at reading people in general (but much worse so remotely), in the WFH setup I end up having a lot more situations where I don't know exactly where a coworker and I stand on a certain issue, which even if it happened in the office it would be resolved in < 5 minutes face to face. I think it's because in the office, interrupting someone with a quick question is a much lower barrier/less hassle than asking them to join you on a short video conference.
- throwaway1777 6y agoI’m excited to go back to the office. I would be happy to never use zoom again.
- Teknoman117 6y agoI'm definitely burned out on wfh for a number of reasons. Mainly, my productivity has gone through the floor. I have a significantly harder time focusing at home. Home is supposed to be my safe space where I don't have to worry too much about external things, but now my job has been brought in and I still really haven't figured it out. Surrounded by all the distractions I've accumulated. Maybe I have ADD, who knows. Maybe I should talk to someone. I understand that there are people who are the opposite because they'd rather be with their families or not face an awful commute. I chose to live a block from the office to avoid that. Having a clear divide between work and play space was working for me.
- kevinsundar 6y agoLol when you're an amazon employee and find out on hacker news. I must say, the communication during covid hasn't been great internally
- teekert 6y agoDon’t you guys have api’s for everything internal? ;)
- emit_time 6y agoSame here >.< I just went through my email to try to find a notice. Nope... nothing...
- kevinsundar 6y agoYup I did the same.
- akhilcacharya 6y agoI got an email yesterday and it was reforwarded by my skip level manager. I’m surprised you wouldn’t get it.
- nvr219 6y agoMaybe you were supposed to reforward it to the other person.
- akhilcacharya 6y agoOops, my bad y'all!
- tjalfi 6y agoSomeone always misses the memo in a large organization. We have had two cases where a system was replaced with company-wide announcements and we received questions about where its predecessor went over a year later.
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- standardUser 6y agoAmazon seems to be bending over backward to prove they are a place no one should want to work. Not that working in an office is bad, but refusing to entertain a hybrid model, even a mild one, screams "we know best, our way or the highway" to employees.
- regularfry 6y agoAm I misremembering, or did Reed Hastings not say something similar last year?
- mountainriver 6y agoI’m curious is they have any metrics on worker productivity that are informing this. They certainly seem to be pushing out features and making money still
- almost_usual 6y agoAnother reason not to work at Amazon.
- akhilcacharya 6y agoDon’t get it, why is this the response when Google did the same thing and the comments there defended it?
- mav3rick 6y agoCurious on your response to this story - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/30/amazon-twitter-defenders-fake-accounts https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/30/amazon-tw...
- akhilcacharya 6y agoI legitimately, from the bottom of my heart, don’t care.
- mav3rick 6y agoYou must be tweeting too. Makes sense.
- mav3rick 6y agoAt least G's office perks are way better lol
- akhilcacharya 6y agoThe ones you haven’t gotten for a year? Doubt the perks at Intel were much more impressive.
- mav3rick 6y agoHaha nice ! Your bad attempts to doxx me are nice. Are you tweeting in favor of Amazon too ? It took a pandemic for Amazon's perks to be equal to other companies lol. Just go to blind and see how every Amazon employee bitches and moans about the perks at Amazon. Even at your "concert" people were allowed "2 sodas" lol. Nice.
- emit_time 6y agoBoooooooo I want to be in the office only 1-2x a week and WFH the rest. Current amazon employee who started remote during the pandemic.
- dnndev 6y agoI have been working from home for 10 years. My wife recently had a baby and I wish I had an office to go to...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ykevinator 6y agoAbout 10 years ago I found an office a mile from my house for $250/mo and I haven't looked back. I could not work from home with kids.
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoNot sure why the person below with the office rental was downvoted, but it's a reasonable compromise. Having a space to go to can be really important, as parenting can really eat up headspace. My first contract/WFH job overlapped with when my first child was born and it was hell and I ended up just packing it in and returning to full-time in office work. Just too distracting.
- lghh 6y agoI was remote pre-pandemic and it's much harder with a toddler than it was without a toddler.
- nugget 6y agoAs someone a few years ahead of you, what you may want the most is flexibility - the flexibility to decide to work from home when you want, but the option to hot desk in an office when you just need a break or distance from hectic home life. The most attractive employers may be the ones who strike this balance.
- ktsmith 6y agoI've been working from home for even longer and working from home when my children were born was awesome. Being able to be a bigger part of the first year for both children was great for our whole family. Having the flexibility to do so was great. I definitely adjusted how and when I worked but I wouldn't have traded that for anything.
- the-dude 6y agoCongrats. Who is the father?
- Redwing1010 6y agoInteresting to contrast it with the other big Seattle tech employer's, Microsoft, view on this. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hyb... Disclosure: I'm a current MSFT employee very happy with their approach.
- mav3rick 6y agoAre you okay taking a pacycut while moving to the Midwest ?
- devn0ll 6y agoThe world has changed @amazon. We've moved on. We want options.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- stunt 6y agoI think companies should let employees to choose. People should work where they feel more productive. For some people it's in the office, and others is home.
- worksocial 5y agoLooking forward to know about this plans with Amazon coworking offices https://www.worksocial.works/ https://www.worksocial.works/