The headline makes it seem like every role in the company needs to switch to full-time in-office.

But anyone who was hired in a remote role is exempt.

This order only applies to in-office workers with assigned desks.

He's basically saying that they can't expect to have a hybrid work schedule, although not so strict that they can't ever work from home.

▲ Arainach 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Exempt temporarily. Very temporarily.

This is a standard boiling the frog playbook:

* No more remote hires

* Mandate non-remote employees into office (Instagram is here)

* Mandate remote employees who live within X miles of office return to office (significant chunks of Alphabet, etc. are here)

etc. - this will get ramped up and very soon

▲ simoncion 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Yep. I've been through almost exactly that, and know many other folks who have. If you're working in the US or other places that don't have really good labor regs, "RTO exemptions" are temporary, no matter what you're being told today.

Though, in my case bullet #1 was more like

  No more remote hires. However, we will more than backfill the folks quitting or being laid off in the US and the EU with folks in India and China. We hope you enjoy the in-office synergy when communicating with your new teammates who are literally half a world away!

	▲	callc 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Same here. It’s amazing how much intense of a Scrooge McDuck vibes we’re getting from the MBA executive class. Crank the screws, tighten the belt, offshore, increase profits at all costs. The next generations are going to have it rough since these elites have intentionally hoarded prosperity at the expense of their countrymen

▲ meowface 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm thankful I was "grandfathered in" by starting a remote role pre-COVID. Honestly I wouldn't be shocked if I'm more productive in an office (due to pressure to seem busy, which correlates somewhat with amount of time actually being busy) but I overwhelmingly prefer remote work.

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keyle 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm one of the rare remote in an office where most are full time there and I'm there one day a week.

I have no idea how they get anything done in there. I feel they only can focus before and after business hours.

So don't be so sure. Home has distraction when the mind is distracted. But once working I feel we are much more productive and capable due to long uninterrupted stints.

It does take discipline but that's what deadlines are for.

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SV_BubbleTime 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>Honestly I wouldn't be shocked if I'm more productive in an office (due to pressure to seem busy, which correlates somewhat with amount of time actually being busy)

As a hiring manager, I appreciate the honesty and nuance. There is so much bullshit about remote work from the people doing it that it’s a little too much “doth protest”.

“I get so much more work done and I cracked the code to productivity, and surely no one would abuse this system, especially not you ultra worker 5000. Anyone who disagrees with me is a threat to the oversightless system I have an I must try and protect this by attacking them.”

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ribosometronome 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>As a hiring manager ... it’s a little too much “doth protest”.

Have you considered evaluating your own beliefs with this perspective?

	▲	SV_BubbleTime 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s a fancy “no u” but it doesn’t make any sense. I have remote employees, and I have people I would never allow WFH because they can’t handle it. I don’t care what you do. I’m explaining from the position of someone responsible for a team that MANY people who are strictest about WFH being absolute are the people abusing it. This shouldn’t even be remotely controversial… yet… all I see is more protest and digital foot stomping.

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interpol_p 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Depends what you see as “abusing” the system. By working from home, I can take a walk in the garden when I find it hard to think, it energises me. At my office I can (and do) take a walk in the car park, but inevitably I leave the office with a headache caused by constant noise and fluorescent lighting

At home, I can put my family first if needed. When I’m at the office and something comes up at the kids’ school that I need to deal with, it’s a mad dash to get away soon enough that I almost have to drop everything and run

The times working in the office has been good as a software engineer: when we are prototyping on physical hardware I do not have at home. That’s it

It’s great if people love to go to the office. That’s fine. It’s managers that enforce it who are the problem — the people who work for you aren’t children and if you feel like you can’t trust them to make the decision to work from home, why on earth would you trust them in your office?

	▲	wiseowise 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You seriously think this clown cares about any of this? I don’t know a single person living comfortable life who woud speak like that, only some miserable sod living in a shoebox who hates everyone around them.

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meowface 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah, people differ, and there are different forces that can increase and decrease productivity in an office and at home. If I'm honest with myself, being remote gives me more opportunity to slack off and do whatever I want, which often is not really working. But if I'm in an office I also am less able to get in a flow state.

An ideal working environment for me would probably be working from home, alone, perhaps with some stimulants (I have severe ADHD, or at least am diagnosed as having it and perceive myself as having), a close deadline, a lot of intrinsic motivation and interest in a task, and no distractions. In practice, most of the time I find working on a laptop at a library or cafe or on a laptop/desktop in an office does push me to do more work-related stuff more frequently on an average day, since I know people near me may notice I'm spending ages on Twitter or HN or whatever and that somewhat discourages me from doing non-work things.

I don't think you deserve to have been downvoted. I love having a work-from-home job and love that I was able to get one pre-pandemic, but I also don't necessarily blame higher-ups for wanting more people to work in an office. It's complicated.