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Ask HN: What's happening with remote work? Why they want workers back to office?

3 points by rrmdp 3y ago

rrmdp 3y ago
Remote work is working for a lot of companies out there, I think that companies forcing people back to the office is because they like to micromanage or are using it so people quit.
- hypercube33 3y ago
  I've also seen it as an excuse to not bump pay to larger area norms since the HQ is in a "small town"
teovall 3y ago
They'll try and justify it all sorts of ways, but what it really comes down to is commercial real estate. If this big return to the office push doesn't work, the commercial real estate bubble pops.
- rrmdp 3y ago
  Oh, I never thought about this!
wizzerking 3y ago
Yes I agree wirrrndp Companies are using the excuse to quiet layoff/fire people enmasse I have fewer interviews for remote work now because of IMO ageism companies interview me once then never call back unless the requirement is for something I specvialize in like DICOM, GPU and/r NVIDIA Jetson programming. But then the contracts sare never more than a few month. Companies insist that 65 per hour is still top tier rates. Now that many many softwsare engineers are flooding the market, that may be true.
vsskanth 3y ago
Companies get a lot of tax credit from the city or the state for opening an office, with the assumption that the workers pay taxes, spend money and improve the local economy and businesses. If the workers aren't physically present, the company probably won't get the tax credit because it comes with strings attached. This is why the mayor of NYC was pushing firms to bring their workers back into the office because the city economy collapses otherwise.
- berniedurfee 3y ago
  This is definitely one driver. Most municipal tax incentives for companies with offices in an area require butts in seats. The tax incentives diminish when seats are empty and there are sometimes thresholds that must be maintained per year or all the incentives vanish.
stephenr 3y ago
Middle managers whose idea of "performance monitoring" is counting bums on seats need to be able to see the bums in the seats.
lordkrandel 3y ago
You spend millions on offices and then they get empty. You get tax credit for those. Do you sell the office for a loss or tell employees to come back? Suppose you are CEO. Do you want to see 500 people working for you, with the power and control feeling that comes with it or stay home and talk to a screen?

3 points by rrmdp 3y ago

Remote work is working for a lot of companies out there, I think that companies forcing people back to the office is because they like to micromanage or are using it so people quit.

hypercube33 3y ago
I've also seen it as an excuse to not bump pay to larger area norms since the HQ is in a "small town"

teovall 3y ago

They'll try and justify it all sorts of ways, but what it really comes down to is commercial real estate. If this big return to the office push doesn't work, the commercial real estate bubble pops.

rrmdp 3y ago
Oh, I never thought about this!

wizzerking 3y ago

Yes I agree wirrrndp Companies are using the excuse to quiet layoff/fire people enmasse I have fewer interviews for remote work now because of IMO ageism companies interview me once then never call back unless the requirement is for something I specvialize in like DICOM, GPU and/r NVIDIA Jetson programming. But then the contracts sare never more than a few month. Companies insist that 65 per hour is still top tier rates. Now that many many softwsare engineers are flooding the market, that may be true.

vsskanth 3y ago

Companies get a lot of tax credit from the city or the state for opening an office, with the assumption that the workers pay taxes, spend money and improve the local economy and businesses. If the workers aren't physically present, the company probably won't get the tax credit because it comes with strings attached. This is why the mayor of NYC was pushing firms to bring their workers back into the office because the city economy collapses otherwise.

berniedurfee 3y ago
This is definitely one driver. Most municipal tax incentives for companies with offices in an area require butts in seats. The tax incentives diminish when seats are empty and there are sometimes thresholds that must be maintained per year or all the incentives vanish.

stephenr 3y ago

Middle managers whose idea of "performance monitoring" is counting bums on seats need to be able to see the bums in the seats.

lordkrandel 3y ago

You spend millions on offices and then they get empty. You get tax credit for those. Do you sell the office for a loss or tell employees to come back? Suppose you are CEO. Do you want to see 500 people working for you, with the power and control feeling that comes with it or stay home and talk to a screen?