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In one of my shortest HR screening interviews ever, I was asked if I'm interested in remaining remote, to which I responded "I'd be potentially open to a hybrid
by brailsafe 3y ago
In one of my shortest HR screening interviews ever, I was asked if I'm interested in remaining remote, to which I responded "I'd be potentially open to a hybrid option leaning towards remote". The interviewer said "For full transparency, we do have a mandated 3 days a week in-office policy, would that work for you?" and I said (really trying to be optimistic and giving them the benefit of the doubt) "Well, I suppose it would depend on why that policy exists, is there specific necessity for it?" to which she rattled off the standard nonsense that most companies do, amounting to approximately "It's just the way we work for collaboration purposes, we have a beautiful office here in town, and we're a startup that's been going since 2021" (strange time to start a RTO company) etc...
Trying to find even the slightest bit of positivity in that, I responded with "In that case, I'd have further questions, such as what is the physical office space like? If it just the entire company in a giant open-office with everyone chatting away and so on, I have zero interest in moving forward with that." and she said "Yes, that's pretty much exactly what it's like, so in that respect we can probably stop here", and I agreed and wished her well in her journey. Quite comical.
I'm not going to drive myself into another depression and burnout cycle while trying to do technical work in a physical space there's really no reason to be, while trying to ignore the stupid distractions and mouth sounds of sales people and managers around me.
- turtlebits 3y agoI think you just agreed with the point of the article which is to "disagree and commit", instead of companies being wishy-washy in their policies. Sounds like an ideal experience.
- deagle50 3y agoIt's just code for "do it anyway", which would be fine in exchange for payment if expressed honestly.
- brailsafe 3y agoDo it anyway as in the employees should commit to their stance on working remotely , or Amazon should commit to their stance on RTO? Re-reading it, it's hard to parse for some reason.
- knownastron 3y agoIn Amazon-speak, "disagree and commit" means even if you disagree with the decision, you still commit to following the decision whole heartedly. You can't just debate endlessly or put in less effort because your preferred option was not chosen. See "Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit": https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-principles https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-...
- brailsafe 3y agoAh, so in this circumstance, bend the knee because daddy Amazon knows best, not that I necessarily disagree with the notion in principle.
- user_named 3y agoSo what's the point of your comment
- brailsafe 3y agoJust an anecdote that reflects my disdain for arbitrary RTO policies. It's news to me that comments need be anything more than comments.
- flangola7 3y agoExcept for the fact that I'm not going to commit to working in an office. COVID showed what kind of life is actually possible. Eliminating the commute alone means 10 more hours I get to spend with my family each week. I don't care how nice their campus is or what kinds of espresso machine they have. I'm not going back into an office, ever. Period.
- brailsafe 3y agoIt's hard to tell what they meant by that. Did they mean it's time that Amazon disagrees with Employees who want to work remotely and commits to it by firing them? What did you mean by "Sounds like an ideal experience."?
- JohnFen 3y agoSo they want to mandate working in the office, but also mandate the worst possible office arrangement to work in? Good luck to them.
- brailsafe 3y agoThat's right. I can't buy back my time and sanity.