Hacker News Reader

Comment by walamaking | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what impact will WFH have on getting promotions, and the likelihood of being laid off.

Probably flux at first, and after some time an equilibrium. People get used to all kinds of things - change or die, for companies and careers alike. Worrying about this will be irrelevant after some time. Too much concern on this kind of suggests to me that a significant portion of people’s pay is based on the perception of productivity derived from interfacing with many people at work, but not necessarily producing a lot more for the company than saliva.

This is correct IMO. Most of the workforce at any office-y (including tech) company of significant size isn't a positive investment for their employer. We're all just spending our days trying to prove that there's good reason to hesitate in firing us.

It is absolutely a concern for us if something happens that makes it more difficult for us to keep up this charade, especially if it coincides with a dramatic recession that gives management a reason to sniff around for cost savings.

I don't agree with the dichotomy here. There's no "more than" about it; interfacing with people is one of the most important ways that white collar professionals produce value for a company.

Thankfully we have technologies now that have moved beyond smoke signals and we can actually talk to people without being in visible range.

Most people I know, me included, are willing to go much further out of our way to accommodate those we've met and interact with in person. That's a large part of why things like industry conferences exist, despite how obvious it is that they're an ineffective and tremendously expensive way to communicate information.

It remains an open question whether online interactions are a sufficient replacements to in person interactions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com