I am enjoying working from home, especially when I go to the office, and I'm there by myself. But I do see the value in in-person collaboration, especially when developing new products.
What no one is saying however, is that the job isn't yours. It belongs to Apple (or whatever company). They pay you for meeting the requirements of the job. If they want you to be in the office, then the office you should be. If you don't like the requirements of the job, you are free to look elsewhere.
Requiring workers to come into the office is not about productivity or communications. It's about power. Managers need to see their minions toiling away to feed their fragile egos. All other reasons are just window dressing.
Employees are going to get a little reality check about who calls the shots.
Those who’d rather stay home will have plenty of time to do just that when they’re looking for another job.
Those who work at Apple will have no trouble finding other jobs if remote is what they desire. Tech companies are throwing insane amounts of money at engineers right now. Talent is not easy to acquire and there is so much competition. The smart ones are offering options with remote only along with these offers. We have had countless no-shows once candidates make it to the "onsite" portions of the interview process because they already have three offers in hand. Just got done paying off someone's entire four year sign on bonus from a previous employer so we wouldn't miss out.
All you’re focusing on is landing a job as opposed to performing it effectively once your job is secured. Did ya bother reading Marvin the Moderator’s post above? It is the collaboration of multiple disciplines that can’t be replicated with Zoom or Skype.
At my company we work in multidisciplinary teams that rely on each other’s talents to move projects forward. Zoom or Skype meetings have been far too formalized. I can’t believe the number of people who display a certain unhappiness when receiving an unscheduled and informal video call to someone else. It’s like their private space has been invaded. You don’t get to do that on site if someone shows up at your door. You wouldn’t even think to do that. You would most likely welcome the conversation. Maybe this behavior is due to my particular company’s culture. Who can say for sure. But I suspect this behavior is wide spread.
Several SW engineers have commented here on how productive they are working remotely. They may indeed be seeing high productivity while working with other SW engineers, who largely communicate and share workloads electronically anyway. But it doesn’t work so well between people with very different skill sets. Steve Jobs understood this. Why are people so easily dismissing this here? Strange.
Requiring workers to come into the office is not about productivity or communications. It's about power. Managers need to see their minions toiling away to feed their fragile egos. All other reasons are just window dressing.
If that’s what you believe then perhaps it’s best that you continue to work alone on your own projects. I’m sure you will do well. But you would be a poor fit in a collaborative environment.
Employees are going to get a little reality check about who calls the shots.
Those who’d rather stay home will have plenty of time to do just that when they’re looking for another job.
Those who work at Apple will have no trouble finding other jobs if remote is what they desire. Tech companies are throwing insane amounts of money at engineers right now. Talent is not easy to acquire and there is so much competition. The smart ones are offering options with remote only along with these offers. We have had countless no-shows once candidates make it to the "onsite" portions of the interview process because they already have three offers in hand. Just got done paying off someone's entire four year sign on bonus from a previous employer so we wouldn't miss out.
And Apple will replace them easily. Dont let the door hit you on your ass on the way out
Employees are going to get a little reality check about who calls the shots.
Those who’d rather stay home will have plenty of time to do just that when they’re looking for another job.
Those who work at Apple will have no trouble finding other jobs if remote is what they desire. Tech companies are throwing insane amounts of money at engineers right now. Talent is not easy to acquire and there is so much competition. The smart ones are offering options with remote only along with these offers. We have had countless no-shows once candidates make it to the "onsite" portions of the interview process because they already have three offers in hand. Just got done paying off someone's entire four year sign on bonus from a previous employer so we wouldn't miss out.
And Apple will replace them easily. Dont let the door hit you on your ass on the way out
Employees are going to get a little reality check about who calls the shots.
Those who’d rather stay home will have plenty of time to do just that when they’re looking for another job.
Those who work at Apple will have no trouble finding other jobs if remote is what they desire. Tech companies are throwing insane amounts of money at engineers right now. Talent is not easy to acquire and there is so much competition. The smart ones are offering options with remote only along with these offers. We have had countless no-shows once candidates make it to the "onsite" portions of the interview process because they already have three offers in hand. Just got done paying off someone's entire four year sign on bonus from a previous employer so we wouldn't miss out.
And Apple will replace them easily. Dont let the door hit you on your ass on the way out
Software engineers are not easy to replace. Probably the most in demand job right now. Software engineers basically hold all the cards.
Requiring workers to come into the office is not about productivity or communications. It's about power. Managers need to see their minions toiling away to feed their fragile egos. All other reasons are just window dressing.
If that’s what you believe then perhaps it’s best that you continue to work alone on your own projects. I’m sure you will do well. But you would be a poor fit in a collaborative environment.
Having worked for a few of those type of managers, I can attest to the fact that they do, in fact, exist. Fortunately, they are not the majority, but they're common enough that I've had to make my desire to work for someone else known more than once in my career.
Requiring workers to come into the office is not about productivity or communications. It's about power. Managers need to see their minions toiling away to feed their fragile egos. All other reasons are just window dressing.
If that’s what you believe then perhaps it’s best that you continue to work alone on your own projects. I’m sure you will do well. But you would be a poor fit in a collaborative environment.
Having worked for a few of those type of managers, I can attest to the fact that they do, in fact, exist. Fortunately, they are not the majority, but they're common enough that I've had to make my desire to work for someone else known more than once in my career.
I'd recommend the book (article) "Traits of a Jackass Manager", in it's 5th edition.
I thought I recall something about the signees only numbering about 80. The 2,800 was the size of the “group” in which it was discussed. There’s no way 2,800 people signed that ridiculous letter.
As if a corporate monster would ever really listen to employees. And i expect most of the commentary here is against workers, but I’m not going to keep reading it because why should I make myself mad at the same antisocial people who always make antisocial comments on this site...
As if a corporate monster would ever really listen to employees. And i expect most of the commentary here is against workers, but I’m not going to keep reading it because why should I make myself mad at the same antisocial people who always make antisocial comments on this site...
How do you know Apple didn't listen to their employees?
Maybe they did and found this was a minority position within the company.
Maybe they listened and still determined it was in their best interest to disagree. Just because they're vocal doesn't make them right.
It's ironic that you're complaining about antisocial people, when the employees you are defending are being antisocial.
Comments
Isn't this a great country?
At my company we work in multidisciplinary teams that rely on each other’s talents to move projects forward. Zoom or Skype meetings have been far too formalized. I can’t believe the number of people who display a certain unhappiness when receiving an unscheduled and informal video call to someone else. It’s like their private space has been invaded. You don’t get to do that on site if someone shows up at your door. You wouldn’t even think to do that. You would most likely welcome the conversation. Maybe this behavior is due to my particular company’s culture. Who can say for sure. But I suspect this behavior is wide spread.
Several SW engineers have commented here on how productive they are working remotely. They may indeed be seeing high productivity while working with other SW engineers, who largely communicate and share workloads electronically anyway. But it doesn’t work so well between people with very different skill sets. Steve Jobs understood this. Why are people so easily dismissing this here? Strange.