Is there really work culture with remote work?
I am currently a student graduating in 2 semesters and I have a question on what culture really means with remote work. If our software engineering jobs remain remote, what actually defines a culture? During my internship, I felt the work culture was okay but could have been so much stronger/better in person. Would a culture include: - The work life balance - Free linkedin learning - 1-2 days off every month - Unlimited pto/sick time - The number of hackathons - The diverse perspectives/people the company have - Panels to speak about women/or those underrepresented in tech - Playing games with work colleagues virtually - What are some other ones????? I will be interning at one of these companies this summer. I also hope to land an offer from one of these places for new grad next year. Any responses would help but I am interested in hearing from these companies too. #Citadel #Coinbase #Facebook #Google #Gusto #janestreet #LinkedIn #Lyft #Nuro #Oscar #Palantir #Square #Twitter #Uber #Waymo Looking to hear from those in: #finance #remotework #productmanagement #softwareengineer Sorry if the question comes off as super naive. Im new to tech.
Real culture: Knowing in your sleep that your colleagues will do the right thing. Knowing your colleagues will do exactly as they say. None of these need you to be in the office.
Nice! Im liking these comments - looking forward to hearing more.
Culture shows how people can respect your time. Just because we are home doesn’t mean we are available anytime. I know of managers who strictly discourage calls after 5pm and some expect to be available even at 10pm. Team knows there is something called “burnout” and is real. Team who encourages questions. Are ready to help the slow and not just judge right away.
Definitely beware of "unlimited" PTO - it's usually a way for companies to get out of paying you for your accrued time if you leave. The other things you mentioned will depend on your team - if you're a new grad working with mostly new grads, virtual games and more social events will likely follow. If you're the only new grad in a team of 30 year olds, the chances that they'll want to log straight off as soon as work is done are high. Things like work life balance, transparency, and accountability all make a great culture and can come across remotely. The social aspects of work (chatting with coworkers over lunch, grabbing a beer together, work sponsored events) are definitely missing these days, but that's just the nature of the current pandemic situation. As for panel discussions featuring women and underrepresented groups, those have still been happening virtually at my company and I'm sure many others.
WLB scores have tanked since COVID for FB. So sure, there's a "culture", it's just significantly worse.
It's the "new normal" people have been talking about for almost a year.
Your mind is on work for more hours a day now (although your actual work output is down)
I have tons of people that I've only met through video call and I know them better than people I met in the office pre COVID. There is definitely still culture when remote. You just need to use the tools available to you and invest yourself in getting to know others.
It varies alot from company to company. In my opinion socializing and social culture is a lot more difficult. In my case ppl rarely socialize remotely vs in the office when ur forced to be in that environment. Culture relevant to work related to mutual respect , helping others, getting shit done is totally fine. I've heard stories of ppl putting in much more OT hasn't happened in my case.. depends on company and management I guess. So basically for most ppl who already have social outlets remote work culture is honestly great. For ppl looking for forge relationships and experiences with new ppl YMMV. I think a company respecting it's coworkers enough to let them wfh is worth it's weight in gold compared to those that buy it thru food and stuff. I worked at a company that was gearing up to get a basketball hoop and other goodies so they can have a better office environment so they can keep ppl in the office, even now.
Workplace culture is not going to go back to the pre-pandemic style for quite some time. We'll have to learn to live with it.
No there is no “culture” as in the pizza and beer - useless cheap crap that ceos and recruiters love to brag about. Real culture is how teams interact. And yeah, it exists remotely.