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Looking back it really is funny how impressed people used to be by dumb office perks. Free food and coffee? Sure, for the convenience. But the slides, the ball

Looking back it really is funny how impressed people used to be by dumb office perks. Free food and coffee? Sure, for the convenience. But the slides, the ball pits, the scooters? Sure it might make the office a nice place to be but once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home.

Andrew_nenakhov 3y ago
For me even the rather bad office beats working from home. I vastly prefer to work in a different environment from where I live.
mtmail 3y ago
I liked the pinball machine we had on our floor (edit: not at github, different company), it was a nice distraction during breaks, something novel. I didn't like that it was installed 10m away from me (loud!)
paulcole 3y ago
> once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home For you, it’s really hard to beat working from home. For some people, it’s really hard to beat working from an office.
- bluepizza 3y ago
  He didn't say it was for everyone, did he?
  - namdnay 3y ago
    > Sure it might make the office a nice place to be but once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home. That was definitely a general statement
  - jeltz 3y ago
    > it really is funny how impressed people used to be Yes, he did. By talking about "people" he obviously meant everyone or at least a clear majority.
  - paulcole 3y ago
    Yes, it was clearly implied when they said, “people.” Otherwise they would have said, “it really is funny how impressed I used to be”.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
robertlagrant 3y ago
> But the slides, the ball pits, the scooters? There is an extent to which the "cool tech office designer" role has been fulfilled by people who otherwise might've decorated kindergarten classrooms. It's a very strange convergence.
- kylecazar 3y ago
  Right? And who are the adults that are drawn to ball pits and slides.
echelon 3y ago
I want both. The office is energizing. Collaboration is amazing. Food and amenities take pressure off. White boards, conference rooms. Everything is always clean. Hanging out after hours with an open bar and video games helps with bonding. Working from home is comfortable. There's no pressure, no transit, and you can build it however you like. You can interleave your chores, focus without distraction, and be around the people and pets you love. Both of them are good. I truly want to have both.
- tinyhouse 3y ago
  Great comment. This is exactly it. The best of both worlds is when you live close to the office and have the flexibility to come and go whenever you please. For companies that means either an office in a place like Manhattan where they know that they can hire young talent in close proximity to the office, or an office somewhere in the suburbs where they can attract older folks.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    No matter where a company is located some percentage of people will have lousy commutes. People buy houses then change jobs. Spouses have jobs a long way in the opposite direction. Commuting into a city is probably going to be bad if you don't live in the city. And so forth. Around major cities, a "good" commute is probably still a good 30 minutes.
    - tinyhouse 3y ago
      True. But even those with lousy commute can come in once a week. My company currently set Thursday as the day everyone is expected to come. It's also the only day with lunch provided. The other days only those with short commutes come in. On Mondays and Fridays the office is usually very quiet. We also have out of state folks. They are of course fully remote but expected to visit the main office 2-3 times a year, depending on their role. The one on my time who is remote said he would've come even if it wasn't required since they get good value from it and feel more energized after a visit.
matwood 3y ago
The coolest office perk we had was a ping pong table and keg. We also had a very good table tennis player come by and give us lessons every few weeks. A lot of great memories from that time, but everyone got older, married, had kids, and stopped hanging out after work. About a year before covid we went fully remote. Now, I'll never go into an office again if I can help it. But, if I was in my 20s again I'd probably have a different opinion.
- tinyhouse 3y ago
  > But, if I was in my 20s again I'd probably have a different opinion. Or in your 60s and empty nester.
  - matwood 3y ago
    > Or in your 60s and empty nester. Between my spouse, dogs, and hobbies, very unlikely.
rsynnott 3y ago
> once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home. This is fairly subjective/personal. Unless another horrendous global pandemic results in me being legally required to (odds of this seem... medium? The period between the 1918 flu pandemic and covid was historically rather high), I don't plan to work from home again. Not for me, at all; I wouldn't consider taking a remote-only job.
quickthrower2 3y ago
Looking back my best office perk was working in the countryside and having fields to walk through during the lunchbreak.
no_wizard 3y ago
Yes, I live for this stuff. I love perks. Remote work killed perks en masse and I hate it. I found when I worked in the office I could just focus. No family members interrupting me because they can (though this has gotten better). Never had to worry about food except maybe dinner. I could roam around free away from my desk and enjoy a quiet office park that allowed me to feel safe. I had access to a very nice gym that was quiet and well maintained. The on-site dentist and doctor was also nice, kept my costs down to virtually zero on both accounts. Pay and stock options were just as good if not better. I’m sad it’s gone to be honest. While I’d likely advocate for a true hybrid solution myself I don’t dismiss the upsides of offices like this at all
- Apocryphon 3y ago
  How did you somehow get your own office and not be forced to work in an open office plan
  - no_wizard 3y ago
    I didn’t. We had high walled cubicles though and buildings / floors were designated (IE only product and engineering worked in my area), and we had plenty of meeting rooms and micro offices for meetings that people didn’t take them at their desk either. I also had really good company paid noise canceling headphones and I’m hard of hearing, so that helped
    - Apocryphon 3y ago
      Sounds like you were able to at least partially avoid the ubiquitous open office trend. Pre-pandemic, many in tech would’ve killed for a cubicle space of their own. It does sound like a rare good modern office space.
      - no_wizard 3y ago
        Was my favorite in office experience bar none. I had a different one with open ish plan and I would still take that today. Noise canceling headphones and good culture norms mitigate a lot for me
mattlondon 3y ago
> it's still really hard to beat working from home Citation needed. Personally, working from home is an absolute nightmare for me. There is an endless list of chores and things to do around the house that are a constant distraction and mind-space consumer, it is hard to disconnect at the end of the day, I am continually continually interrupted by family members (...and if I am not I am worrying if the kids are ok since why cant I hear them? Are they ok? Are they laying on the floor unconscious? etc etc), cleaners, the post man, the amazon delivery guy/gal, the list is endless. I have to keep half a brain "on-call" to listen out for and react to these interruptions. This is even with a good sized dedicated office room. I did not even have that during covid and my entire family was in one room at a time. At the office I can concentrate and get work done, since it is a workplace and there are no non-work distractions. Any interruptions at work are for work, so it is my job to handle them on work time.
- Vvector 3y ago
  When you are at the office, who watches your kids? I had a few coworkers that skipped out on daycare when they worked from home. Then they complained about being interrupted all the time by their kids. IMO, there is nothing wrong with putting the kids in daycare while you are working at home.
  - mattlondon 3y ago
    For me, my wife and childcare look after the kids, but you cant just block-out the shouts and noise and screaming and crying. So e.g. blood-curdling scream from your kid and then silence. Or lots of laughing and running about and then a huge crash and bang followed by silence as something is clearly falling over. What do you do? Just shrug and ignore it because there is someone else down there? Of course you cant. 99.9% of the time its all fine, but you can't just turn off that sensation of needing to keep half-a-brain listening for something major happening. The divided attention is a killer for productivity. Out-of-sight-out-of-mind at the office is an absolute godsend. Day care is very, very expensive in the UK (especially if you earn over £100K) so financially it is often not viable to send them to daycare for 5 full days a week (this will often cost £2-3,000 a month in London, often more than a mortgage or rental costs)[1] 1 - personal experience, the only data I could find is UK average of £15K a year (https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/advice/childcare-costs-how-much-do-you-pay-in-the-uk https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/advice/childcare-costs-how-mu...) but that is UK average, not London. For comparison the UK average house price is £285K, but in London it is £742k. I suspect the average figures include a lot of people who earn under 100K and so get some aspect of free care - any tech worker will be earning more than this so gets zero help.
ElfinTrousers 3y ago
In practice my favorite perk has turned out to be working without a shirt on hot days. WFH for life it is, then.

Andrew_nenakhov 3y ago

For me even the rather bad office beats working from home. I vastly prefer to work in a different environment from where I live.

mtmail 3y ago

I liked the pinball machine we had on our floor (edit: not at github, different company), it was a nice distraction during breaks, something novel. I didn't like that it was installed 10m away from me (loud!)

paulcole 3y ago

> once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home For you, it’s really hard to beat working from home. For some people, it’s really hard to beat working from an office.

bluepizza 3y ago
He didn't say it was for everyone, did he?
- namdnay 3y ago
  > Sure it might make the office a nice place to be but once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home. That was definitely a general statement
- jeltz 3y ago
  > it really is funny how impressed people used to be Yes, he did. By talking about "people" he obviously meant everyone or at least a clear majority.
- paulcole 3y ago
  Yes, it was clearly implied when they said, “people.” Otherwise they would have said, “it really is funny how impressed I used to be”.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

robertlagrant 3y ago

> But the slides, the ball pits, the scooters? There is an extent to which the "cool tech office designer" role has been fulfilled by people who otherwise might've decorated kindergarten classrooms. It's a very strange convergence.

kylecazar 3y ago
Right? And who are the adults that are drawn to ball pits and slides.

echelon 3y ago

I want both. The office is energizing. Collaboration is amazing. Food and amenities take pressure off. White boards, conference rooms. Everything is always clean. Hanging out after hours with an open bar and video games helps with bonding. Working from home is comfortable. There's no pressure, no transit, and you can build it however you like. You can interleave your chores, focus without distraction, and be around the people and pets you love. Both of them are good. I truly want to have both.

tinyhouse 3y ago
Great comment. This is exactly it. The best of both worlds is when you live close to the office and have the flexibility to come and go whenever you please. For companies that means either an office in a place like Manhattan where they know that they can hire young talent in close proximity to the office, or an office somewhere in the suburbs where they can attract older folks.
- ghaff 3y ago
  No matter where a company is located some percentage of people will have lousy commutes. People buy houses then change jobs. Spouses have jobs a long way in the opposite direction. Commuting into a city is probably going to be bad if you don't live in the city. And so forth. Around major cities, a "good" commute is probably still a good 30 minutes.
  - tinyhouse 3y ago
    True. But even those with lousy commute can come in once a week. My company currently set Thursday as the day everyone is expected to come. It's also the only day with lunch provided. The other days only those with short commutes come in. On Mondays and Fridays the office is usually very quiet. We also have out of state folks. They are of course fully remote but expected to visit the main office 2-3 times a year, depending on their role. The one on my time who is remote said he would've come even if it wasn't required since they get good value from it and feel more energized after a visit.

matwood 3y ago

The coolest office perk we had was a ping pong table and keg. We also had a very good table tennis player come by and give us lessons every few weeks. A lot of great memories from that time, but everyone got older, married, had kids, and stopped hanging out after work. About a year before covid we went fully remote. Now, I'll never go into an office again if I can help it. But, if I was in my 20s again I'd probably have a different opinion.

tinyhouse 3y ago
> But, if I was in my 20s again I'd probably have a different opinion. Or in your 60s and empty nester.
- matwood 3y ago
  > Or in your 60s and empty nester. Between my spouse, dogs, and hobbies, very unlikely.

rsynnott 3y ago

> once the novelty wears off it's still really hard to beat working from home. This is fairly subjective/personal. Unless another horrendous global pandemic results in me being legally required to (odds of this seem... medium? The period between the 1918 flu pandemic and covid was historically rather high), I don't plan to work from home again. Not for me, at all; I wouldn't consider taking a remote-only job.

quickthrower2 3y ago

Looking back my best office perk was working in the countryside and having fields to walk through during the lunchbreak.

no_wizard 3y ago

Yes, I live for this stuff. I love perks. Remote work killed perks en masse and I hate it. I found when I worked in the office I could just focus. No family members interrupting me because they can (though this has gotten better). Never had to worry about food except maybe dinner. I could roam around free away from my desk and enjoy a quiet office park that allowed me to feel safe. I had access to a very nice gym that was quiet and well maintained. The on-site dentist and doctor was also nice, kept my costs down to virtually zero on both accounts. Pay and stock options were just as good if not better. I’m sad it’s gone to be honest. While I’d likely advocate for a true hybrid solution myself I don’t dismiss the upsides of offices like this at all

Apocryphon 3y ago
How did you somehow get your own office and not be forced to work in an open office plan
- no_wizard 3y ago
  I didn’t. We had high walled cubicles though and buildings / floors were designated (IE only product and engineering worked in my area), and we had plenty of meeting rooms and micro offices for meetings that people didn’t take them at their desk either. I also had really good company paid noise canceling headphones and I’m hard of hearing, so that helped
  - Apocryphon 3y ago
    Sounds like you were able to at least partially avoid the ubiquitous open office trend. Pre-pandemic, many in tech would’ve killed for a cubicle space of their own. It does sound like a rare good modern office space.
    - no_wizard 3y ago
      Was my favorite in office experience bar none. I had a different one with open ish plan and I would still take that today. Noise canceling headphones and good culture norms mitigate a lot for me

mattlondon 3y ago

> it's still really hard to beat working from home Citation needed. Personally, working from home is an absolute nightmare for me. There is an endless list of chores and things to do around the house that are a constant distraction and mind-space consumer, it is hard to disconnect at the end of the day, I am continually continually interrupted by family members (...and if I am not I am worrying if the kids are ok since why cant I hear them? Are they ok? Are they laying on the floor unconscious? etc etc), cleaners, the post man, the amazon delivery guy/gal, the list is endless. I have to keep half a brain "on-call" to listen out for and react to these interruptions. This is even with a good sized dedicated office room. I did not even have that during covid and my entire family was in one room at a time. At the office I can concentrate and get work done, since it is a workplace and there are no non-work distractions. Any interruptions at work are for work, so it is my job to handle them on work time.

Vvector 3y ago
When you are at the office, who watches your kids? I had a few coworkers that skipped out on daycare when they worked from home. Then they complained about being interrupted all the time by their kids. IMO, there is nothing wrong with putting the kids in daycare while you are working at home.
- mattlondon 3y ago
  For me, my wife and childcare look after the kids, but you cant just block-out the shouts and noise and screaming and crying. So e.g. blood-curdling scream from your kid and then silence. Or lots of laughing and running about and then a huge crash and bang followed by silence as something is clearly falling over. What do you do? Just shrug and ignore it because there is someone else down there? Of course you cant. 99.9% of the time its all fine, but you can't just turn off that sensation of needing to keep half-a-brain listening for something major happening. The divided attention is a killer for productivity. Out-of-sight-out-of-mind at the office is an absolute godsend. Day care is very, very expensive in the UK (especially if you earn over £100K) so financially it is often not viable to send them to daycare for 5 full days a week (this will often cost £2-3,000 a month in London, often more than a mortgage or rental costs)[1] 1 - personal experience, the only data I could find is UK average of £15K a year (https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/advice/childcare-costs-how-much-do-you-pay-in-the-uk https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/advice/childcare-costs-how-mu...) but that is UK average, not London. For comparison the UK average house price is £285K, but in London it is £742k. I suspect the average figures include a lot of people who earn under 100K and so get some aspect of free care - any tech worker will be earning more than this so gets zero help.

ElfinTrousers 3y ago

In practice my favorite perk has turned out to be working without a shirt on hot days. WFH for life it is, then.