Research on remote work shows less collaboration and info sharing

Amazon
LrAH25

Go to company page Amazon

LrAH25
Sep 10, 2021 16 Comments

Based on 61K Microsoft workers' data: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01196-4

It is a legit Nature paper, so high quality peer-review etc. coming from a UC Berkeley/MIT researcher's work mostly (who worked as Data Scientist at Airbnb and holds a master's in Physics & Astronomy, so he knows the stats he is applying). The findings are not that surprising to be honest.

Below a personal rant about WFH, don't read it if you are not in for a 100 page book:

Not surprising to me that many people want to WFH. If I had the possibility to work 4 days x 8 hours a week with the same salary, would I say no? How would that be reflected in company polls? Would it be in the company's best interest to follow the polls?

One thing I never understood of all this fad is the logic behind companies moving fully remote just now. Take any big FAANG company and think about the money spent on real state worldwide. Think about whether the means of remote working were available (>10 years). Think that these companies already have a minority of workers doing full remote and can collect their data. They have for sure already evaluated this idea in the past and concluded it was not in the best interest of the company, otherwise they would have saved money and increased hiring possibilities years ago.

The only difference now is fad, worker pressure and marketing. Companies struggling to survive in the near term cut cost by moving fully remote (nothing new, partial remote move happened at Yahoo and IBM when they started to lag, later reversed). Other fad-followers (for example Square, not surprising that it intersect with "bitcoin adpoters") take the "this is the new paradigm" illusion and go with it. Others will try to compete for talent with this strategy because they are not able to match compensation. In the end, max. 5 years from now, I wouldn't be surprised if some were forced to modify their policy like it happened for IBM and Yahoo.

(Offtopic rant about bitcoin below):

I am honestly a bit surprised by the lack of critical reasoning to follow this argument within the tech community, but then again I am also very surprised by the lack of critical reasoning of Bitcoin and what a currency is. What it means, what it is supported by, what its utility is, why we use one currency and not 5000, what the problem is with a free market of currencies with respect to currency stability and trust, the problem with not being backed by a state (legal system, law enforcement, etc.), what property actually means and what supports it and so on.

#WFH #Remote #RTO #Office

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TOP 16 Comments
  • Biased results.
    Sep 10, 2021 5
    • Akuna Capital / R&D
      Kizuna ML

      Go to company page Akuna Capital R&D

      Kizuna ML
      In short, the findings are different from the conclusions people draw from the research.

      I'm not saying that the paper/authors are biased, but those drawing conclusions (and making posts, news articles, etc) from it are.
      Sep 10, 2021
    • Amazon
      LrAH25

      Go to company page Amazon

      LrAH25
      OP
      There actually is less collaboration in the magnitudes they measure, you just have to look at the graphs which are more clear than the wording. Info propagates exponentially in a network based on collaborative nodes (just like viruses and contacts), so not a big leap to follow with info sharing as a consequence.
      Sep 10, 2021
  • This research only shows that boomers cannot work remotely and want everyone back to a miserable office completing tps reports

    Personally, I’m not going to work from office anymore.
    Sep 10, 2021 1
    • Amazon
      LrAH25

      Go to company page Amazon

      LrAH25
      OP
      I can say that personally, I'm not going to work more than 3 days a week for the same salary I am getting full time anymore. Does not depend on me though. Same for you in the long term.
      Sep 10, 2021
  • Hubspot
    0chainz

    Go to company page Hubspot

    0chainz
    I trust the central bankers to continue to flood the market with more dollars, making everyone else's stash worth less and less over time.
    Sep 10, 2021 5
    • Amazon
      wryajbnxm

      Go to company page Amazon

      wryajbnxm
      OP understands how currencies work. Once you realize how taxes drive a currency, it’s astounding how ppl believe in Bitcoin.
      Sep 10, 2021
    • Google
      Tzfw47

      Go to company page Google

      Tzfw47
      LrAH25 I 100% agree that Bitcoin is essentially garbage and agree with mostly all your points. Except, why LrAH25 coin would be less valuable is because it has less consensus (which is of course subject to change). If Bitcoin falls out of favor and/or your coin goes viral, that of course changes and it may not be any less valuable. To take it a step further you could clone BTC exactly as is… but it would be less valuable until it’s “adopted” by all the speculators.

      Anyhow… crypto is garbage and not the future. It’s a tragedy that so many talented engineers/others are wasting time and effort working on that crap. Block chain is legitimate and a breakthrough technology, but I reckon it won’t find its day within cryptocurrency ….
      Sep 13, 2021
  • Microsoft / Eng
    fb_rds

    Go to company page Microsoft Eng

    fb_rds
    Less synchronized communication means I don’t have time for incompetent colleagues
    Sep 10, 2021 0
  • Google
    dj3ifh4ufb

    Go to company page Google

    dj3ifh4ufb
    OP is a Bay Area home owner or landlord doing all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify staying in HCOL.. most of the gymnastics isn't worth responding to since the arguments break at first inspection
    Mar 14 0