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Yahoo is an internet company. Tesla makes cars. Even for IT workers, I guess that sometimes you need to test on the actual hardware, and the factory is where m
by GuB-42 4y ago
Yahoo is an internet company. Tesla makes cars.
Even for IT workers, I guess that sometimes you need to test on the actual hardware, and the factory is where most things happen.
I am not saying that working from home is impossible, or that banning it is a good thing, but you can't really compare Yahoo and Tesla.
- ryanbrunner 4y agoDo Tesla office workers work at the same place as factory workers? I guess it's possible but it feels pretty unlikely. If someone in software dev is in an office at a different address from the factory I don't see how Tesla having a factory is relevant.
- usr1106 4y agoThose producing cars in the factory have never worked from home. The discussion is only about R&D, legal, finance whatever. And most of those don't differ significantly between Yahoo or Tesla.
- marvin 4y agoIt's an incredibly unpopular view on HN, but I don't think we can categorically conclude yet that WFH is always equally good as working in-person for all white-collar jobs that have good prerequisites for WFH. For me personally, the train has left the station and I would not expect to ever consider a non-WFH job again in my career. But that's a completely different question than asking whether companies that require physical attendance can in some cases out-compete those that don't. I think we have a tendency to project our wishes onto this debate, and not make an honest attempt at figuring out the truth.
- ericd 4y agoThanks for the intellectual honesty, it seems to be a rare thing in the WFH discussion.
- _ph_ 4y agoActually, I would be surprised if anyone thinks, that WFH always beats working in an office. But that doesn't mean, that there are not a ton of jobs where it does, or just part time, even if the job requires a lot of on-site presence. But a company shouldn't have to mandate in-office work permanentely and for all. It should be obvious from the job profile and the working conditions, when it is advantageous to be in the office rather than at home.
- jeffbee 4y agoA measurable amount of Tesla’s profit margin comes from pre-selling a $10,000 software package that does not yet exist.
- jhgb 4y agoIs it really the case? Surely the development of this software package has its own very significant expenses, considering how much effort such a thing must take. What exactly are the annual revenue from selling this package and the expenses spent on working on it?
- ncallaway 4y agoDepend on which profit margin you’re using, but gross profit margin is revenue from a sale compared to COGS and wouldn’t include R&D
- jhgb 4y agoMy point was, if the company is getting $10k extra per sale but actually for example spending a total of $12k per sale, then arguing with these sales seems pointless if they're actually worsening the company's situation. At this point it seems far from certain that this is a net benefit for the company, other than perhaps as an investment in its future (but long-term investments in your future don't prop up your current profits).
- ncallaway 4y ago> but long-term investments in your future don't prop up your current profits This is exactly why gross profit margin typically excludes R&D, because the measure is usually used to see “is this business profitable on a per-unit basis”. That is, would you make profit if you decided to stop the long term investment.
- alkonaut 4y agoThe net gain from investing the car buyers money instead of investors/banks money must add up...
- alkonaut 4y agoWorking every single minute at the factory regardless of role also seems more like dogma than anything actually based in facts. It's the (cargo) cult of work rather than wanting productive employees. Maybe a software company should have 1/5 days in office (for meetings/dicussions/onboarding/...) while a manufacturing company might need 4/5 days for desk workers to be on site. But to say 40h of 40h should be at a desk doesn't seem like a sensible treshold. Right now my time is 6PM and I'm at my office desk. Because I'm home. Granted, I'm writing on HN waiting for some tests, but if I had been at my office, I would have taken a 2h lunch and left at 2 or 3 this afternoon ...