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Comment by miguelmota | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting that Google only recommends it but doesn't make it mandatory. I also wonder how many of those people that do want to work remote end up going to coffee shops and/or order food from postmates where the delivery guy is all around town and the employee still ends up getting contaminated with the virus and spreading it in their household.

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My job (at Google) would be pretty damn hard if I couldn't duck into the office to do certain tasks. I work on hardware devices. I can get by working remotely for a bit, but there are certain things I need physical access to. I will commute in for a short visit tomorrow to pick up and flash some devices, etc. then turn around and come home. I suspect others will be doing similar things. Mandatory WFH at this point would be very tricky.

But as others have pointed out, we really are being messaged to stay home if possible, and I think that's very responsible.

Honestly, going into work should be fine - as long as precautions are taken. Everyone washes their hands, things get cleaned more often (especially shared things like handrails, door handles, bathrooms, HVAC systems, etc).

Yep, not a Googler, but as a hardware person, I have been preparing my "on-the-go lab equipment" in case my workplace gets shut down. I also have a few devices I will actually be writing firmware for and testing with the lab equipment. This is probably a bit different than Google where the hardware is a under tighter control.

My main concern is that my good gear is all at my workspace, so even if I have the hardware device I'm working on with me, I can't troubleshoot it unless I have my gear.

Remember that it's not necessary to get to 100% WFH. I would guess that reducing 80% of people from the office, would eliminate 99% of viral spread.

'Recommend' is pretty tame for the steps that are being taken. It is more like "if you can WFH, absolutely do so." To the extent that people are taking monitors etc. home with them.

source: Googler

Even if 10% of the people still come into the office, it will still reduce the spread dramatically. The 90% of people who WFH won't get it from a co-worker. The 10% who go to the office will have way more physical space than normal and have an actual shot at keeping some distance between themselves and others.

Also, they might just be expecting their employees to be adults about things and do the responsible thing even if not forced to. Basically the honor system.

Reminds me of what happened in Japan.

They closed schools, and now all the kids are playing together in the park.

They are still likely coming into contact with fewer people than if they went to school.

I actually prefer it this way. 1. I do not need to attend any meetings in person, so that is good. No forced contact or seating near infected people. 2. Because I live close to work (less than 20 minutes), I do drop in to office after our daily standup to get 4-6 hours of focussed work.

There are people around, maybe just 5%, maybe 10%, but some people are definitely in office probably because they all find it easier focus in an empty office than at home, partly because of other family members going in and out, and partly because you are so used to working at your desk.

Having it be mandatory will make it hard IMO.

[BTW I do not work for Google]

You can ask the delivery person to leave it in front of your door and heat/microwave it. Anyway, some risk is inherent if you are depending on someone else preparing/bringing your meal, there is only so much you can do, but remote still helps a little to reduce exposure imo.

Food itself is meant to be safe. So as long as you wash your hands right before eating this doesn't seem any less safe.

I'd like to understand how eating food prepared elsewhere is safe though as it seems like the perfect delivery mechanism from someones hands to your mouth.

I'm in the greater Seattle area. Anything getting delivered to my house gets immediately transferred to the garage (without direct skin contact), where it's sitting for about a week before I open it.

I think they're just not making it mandatory yet. It seems like more of a "when" not an "if"

Google is a corporation and I cynically expect any corporation to care more about employee->employee transmission than employee->family.

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