Remote Working News and Discussions

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Elon Musk Trashes Remote Work
by Herb Scribner
June 1, 2022

Introduction:

(Axios) Tesla employees "should pretend to work somewhere else" if they're not willing to return to their offices, CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Many companies nationwide have embraced remote work policies, while others are pushing for employees to come back into the office.

Driving the news: “Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla. This is less than we ask of factory workers," Musk wrote in a leaked memo to staff, per Bloomberg.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/06/01/elon-m ... -employees

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Yelp to close 3 U.S. offices, saying the "future of work" is remote

June 23, 2022 / 5:21 PM / CBS/AP

Yelp is closing three of its U.S. offices after finding most of its employees prefer to work remotely.

In a blog post Thursday, Yelp Cofounder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said the company will close its offices in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C., on July 29. The online review and reservation company also plans to downsize its office in Phoenix.

"Combined, the three offices we're closing saw a weekly average utilization of less than 2% of the available workspaces," Stoppelman wrote.

San Francisco-based Yelp announced a remote-first work model in February 2021. Stoppelman said Yelp has proven it can be successful with a remote workforce, noting that the company achieved record revenue of just over $1 billion in 2021.

Yelp is the latest in a wave of companies embracing remote work following the pandemic. Dropbox in March joined a growing number of tech firms to declare themselves "virtual first" employers, for the first time in corporate history.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yelp-close ... is-remote/

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Remote Work for Companies in San Francisco and its Consequences for the Local Economy
by Connie Loizos
August 12, 2022

Introduction:

(Techcrunch ) Spend any amount of time in New York, and you’ll feel it. Manhattan and Brooklyn are teeming with activity. It’s electrifying to be there after years spent relatively locked down.

The question, and one asked this week by the San Francisco Chronicle, is why San Francisco isn’t bouncing back in the same way.

As reporter Roland Li writes: “There’s always been a disparity — New York has 10 times the population of San Francisco — but the coastal tourism and economic hubs have diverged in striking ways as they recover from the pandemic.”

Consider, writes Li, that while the construction of major commercial property projects in Manhattan were completed during the pandemic — and while much of that new office space is almost fully leased — over in San Francisco, projects have stalled and existing buildings struggle to find tenants because of work-from-home policies.

Read more from the Techcrunch article here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/12/it-m ... es-bluff/

You can also read the San Francisco Chronicle article here (although it is more about San Francisco versus New York’s post-pandemic recovery, with remote working as a factor just mentioned in passing): https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article ... 365339.php

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AT&T workers fight return to office push: ‘We can do the same job from home’

Long commutes to and from work, exorbitant childcare costs, ongoing concerns over exposure to Covid cited

Mon 15 Aug 2022 10.00 BST

The Covid-19 pandemic sent millions of workers in the US from working in offices to working remotely. As unemployment benefits ended, vaccines rolled out, and reopenings expanded, employers and commercial real estate groups have been pushing to try to get workers back into offices.

But the pandemic further exposed the issues in returning to office, from long commutes to and from work, exorbitant childcare costs, ongoing concerns over exposure to Covid-19 variants and now monkeypox, workers are pushing to keep working from home as an option as employers force a return to the office.

At AT&T, the world’s largest telecommunication company, workers represented by the Communications Workers of America agreed to a work from home extension until the end of March 2023, but workers say the company is forcing many workers to return to the office much sooner than that, while other departments had already been forced back to the office by their managers.

James Bloch, an AT&T employee in Cleveland, Ohio, for 21 years, said the work from home option has been beneficial for workers’ mental health, protection from Covid-19, productivity, attendance and carbon footprint.

“These are extremely stressful times over the last few years and being at home has allowed us to have less distractions, giving us better one-on-one time with our customers and our clients,” said Bloch. “With AT&T technology, they’re a communication company. We have some of the best stuff out there. Let’s use it. We can do the same job from home anywhere that we could do if we were all sitting there together.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... ffice-push

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Apple sets new deadline for corporate employees to return to the office three days a week

Filipe Espósito
- Aug. 15th 2022 3:35 pm PT

After Apple employees began returning to in-person work in April of this year, the company paused the rollout of its plans due to cases of COVID-19 increasing again. On Monday, Apple set a new deadline for its corporate employees to return to the office. Starting September 5, employees will need to work in person at least a few days a week.

The news comes from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman. According to the report, corporate employees will have to return to the office three days a week. The mandatory days are Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus a third day that can be defined by each team.

Despite the new deadline, it’s unclear whether Apple will stick with its new plan or whether the date set for returning to the office will be changed again. Apple’s corporate employees have been working from home since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A few employees returned to the office in late 2020, while others have settled on more permanent and flexible remote working arrangements.

At first, Apple required employees to work one day a week in person. Earlier this year, the requirement was increased to two days a week. Part of the reasoning behind this arrangement is that the company still doesn’t feel that it’s time to have all employees working in the office every day, but the problem goes beyond that.

Apple has faced criticism for its insistence on requiring in-person work for employees, particularly since the company’s policies are more restrictive than other Silicon Valley companies. Back in May, Apple’s director of machine learning Ian Goodfellow left the company due to his disagreement with the in-person work policy.

https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/15/apple-de ... he-office/

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"I’m an Independent Contractor. This company wants me to waste a day of unpaid time and gas to attend pointless meetings. The compensation they offer is half a Subway sandwich."

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Back-to-the-office Moves Leave Tech Uneasy
by Scott Rosenberg
September 7, 2022

Introduction:

(Axios) A lot of CEOs are itching to get workers back to the office, but tech CEOs who want that face an extra uphill battle: After all, theirs is the industry that made remote work possible.

Why it matters: The tech industry was built on "dogfooding" — the idea that companies should use the products they push on the public — and every effort by a tech leader to hound reluctant employees back to the office park seems to betray that ideal.

Driving the news: This week Apple, tech's most valuable company, began requiring its workers to report to the office at least three days a week.

• Many leaders in tech and beyond see this week and coming weeks as their "best hope at getting workers on a more regular office schedule before the fall and winter holidays," per the Wall Street Journal.

• Others are gradually accepting that there's no going "back to 'normal,' the way it was before the pandemic, in most industries," as Jason Bram, a NY Fed economist, told Axios' Emily Peck last month.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/09/07/remot ... ice-apple

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The Number of People Working Remotely Tripled During COVID
by Erin Doherty
September 15, 2022

Introduction:

(Axios) The number of people primarily working from home tripled between 2019 and 2021, per survey results released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Why it matters: The new figures provide a fresh look into how the pandemic upended how Americans work, play and live.

By the numbers: 17.9% of people primarily worked from home in 2021, compared with 5.7% in 2019, per the survey results.
• Nearly half, 48.3%, of workers in Washington, D.C., worked from home in 2021, the highest percentage of remote workers in the country, per the Census Bureau.
• The states with the highest percentage of residents working from home were Washington, Maryland and Colorado, all around 24%.
• The average commuting time by private vehicle in 2021 was on average two minutes shorter than in 2019, per the data.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/09/15/censu ... mic-labor

The linked Axios article also features an interesting interactive map.

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Spain plans ‘digital nomad’ visa scheme to attract remote workers

Sun 25 Sep 2022 13.04 BST

Spain plans to issue “digital nomad” visas giving Britons and other non-EU citizens the chance to work in the sun and enjoy a lower cost of living with tax breaks thrown in for good measure.

The visas will be offered to people who work remotely for enterprises outside Spain and who derive a maximum of 20% of their income from Spanish firms.

As the law has yet to be passed there are still some details to be hammered out but it is expected that the visa – essentially a residency permit – will be initially valid for one year, renewable for up to five years depending on the applicant’s circumstances. Close relatives, such as a spouse or children, will be eligible to join the applicant.

Applicants must be from outside the European Economic Area and be able to demonstrate that they have been working remotely for at least a year. They must have a contract of employment or, if freelance, show that they have been regularly employed by a company outside Spain.

[...]

Excellent 4G cover almost everywhere in Spain is tempting some nomads to set themselves up in rural areas where rents are very low. Internet speed is among the fastest in Europe and, at 148Mbps, almost double the UK speed of 75Mbps.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... te-workers

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The Future of Work. New Report from Institute for Gender and the Economy Looks at Remote Work and the Pursuit of Equality.
November 8, 2022

Introduction:

(EurekAlert) Toronto – The shift to remote working in March 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has raised many questions on the future of work. A new report looks at who has benefited from remote and hybrid work models and what organizations and governments can do to ensure those currently disadvantaged by the current models can also benefit.

The report, from the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, says that remote work and hybrid models have improved many workers’ lives, but they have also been associated with career penalties, work-family conflict, higher stress, and other mental health challenges—particularly for those who already experience inequity. Many of these disadvantages come about not because of anything inherent about remote work but because of bias, stereotypes, and social norms surrounding paid and unpaid work.

The report found that the ability to work remotely disproportionately belongs to higher-income, white-collar workers who are predominantly white and male. Those with poor access to housing and high-speed internet or who experience unsafe situations such as domestic violence cannot readily work remotely. Primary caregivers, who tend to be women, may particularly experience an erosion of boundaries between work and care responsibilities while working from home, leading to an unsustainable amount of paid and unpaid work. For others the opportunity to work remotely increases economic opportunity by allowing caregivers to remain in the workforce and allowing workers to move to less expensive regions. However, women and racialized people tend to experience disproportionate stigma and bias for using them, resulting in significant career penalties such as wage reductions and fewer promotions.

Such issues with working remotely suggests the need for remote-work policies that support both equity and wellbeing and that aim to mitigate bias and other structural disadvantages for remote workers. Public policies such as affordable childcare, adequate paid family leave, and a range of options for flexible work can facilitate more egalitarian relationships and households. Both workers and organizations benefit from policies that remove stigma of remote work because it increases worker motivation and job performance. Flexible work stigma can also be reduced by ensuring information is accessible online, and creating team-building opportunities for hybrid- and remote-working employees.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/970716

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God I hate this prick so much.

Does he really expect to attract and retain talent by doing this?

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Musk tells Twitter staff remote working will end

12 minutes ago

Elon Musk has told Twitter staff that remote working will end and "difficult times" lie ahead, according to reports.

In an email to staff the owner of the social media firm said workers would be expected in the office for at least 40 hours a week, Bloomberg reported.

Mr Musk added that there was "no way to sugar coat the message" that the slowing global economy was going to hit Twitter's advertising revenues.

The BBC has contacted Twitter for comment.

Mr Musk, who also is the boss of Tesla, told staff at the electric car maker in June that working remotely was no longer acceptable.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63582273

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Here is a variation on the basic theme of this thread.

WeWork China’s Former Tech Head Introduces On-demand Work Pods for Mental Health
by Rita Liao
November 24, 2022

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) At a time when China’s zero-COVID policy continues to interrupt offline work and face-to-face interactions, Dominic Penaloza, the former head of innovation and technology at WeWork China, is introducing a bold idea — on-demand work booths placed in public locations — and has managed to quickly raise capital for the business.

Penaloza named his new venture Peace in hope of boosting mental health for those using the company’s quiet, privacy-first space to avoid crowded offices and noisy cafes. Peace announced this week that it has raised a seven-figure funding round from a group of business partners and entrepreneurs.

Peace is the latest iteration of Penaloza’s continuous experiment with flexible work. In 2019, the executive spearheaded an internal project to offer pay-as-you-go spaces at WeWork China. A year later, he moved on to found his own proptech-focused startup studio, which incubated a similar on-demand workspace service but tapping third-party landlords.

Seven-month-old Peace launched its first batch of portable pods last week at three high-end malls and two office buildings in the heart of Shanghai. It aims to deploy 1,000 of them across the metropolis in the coming year, Penaloza said on a video call from one of the pods in the mall.

Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/24/wewo ... ork-pods/

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PwC to close offices at Christmas to save energy

2 hours ago

One of the UK's largest accountancy firms will close most of its offices over Christmas and New Year for the first time to save on energy bills.

PwC, which employs about 24,000 people, will shut its main London office from 23 December to 3 January, as well as some smaller sites.

Its chairman Kevin Ellis said having all offices open over the festive period "doesn't make sense at a time of energy scarcity".

PwC has 19 offices across the UK.

Most staff will be taking annual leave over Christmas, but the Covid pandemic has meant that working remotely from home is now common practice.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63857339

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Offices are more than 50% filled for the first time since the pandemic started

Updated 12:32 PM EST, Fri February 3, 2023

Nearly three years after the pandemic began, American offices are finally more than halfway filled again as workers have gradually returned to the office.

Office occupancy across 10 major US cities crossed 50.4% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since early 2020, according to security swipe tracker Kastle Systems. That marks the first time occupancy has crossed the 50% mark since March 2020, when many offices sent workers home because of Covid.

Workers still aren’t coming back to the office consistently or every day: Last week’s data showed that Friday was the lowest day of occupancy and Tuesday was the highest. Kastle noted that all 10 cities that it tracks “have now reached occupancy rates above 40%.”

Major companies have begun to crack down on employees who are reluctant to return. Disney is ordering corporate employees to return to offices four days a week beginning March 1. Starbucks (SBUX) also recently instituted a three-days-a-week office schedule.

Apple (AAPL) has also called for its corporate workers to be in the office at least three days a week, sparking tensions with some of its staffers. Snapchat’s parent company recently asked workers to return to the office 80% of the time, or the equivalent of four days a week, beginning this month.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/03/busi ... index.html

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