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Comment by traceroute66 | Hacker News Reader

> I see modern IBM unable to give up their cult culture.

Indeed. Google of all companies should have embraced the future that was exposed by the pandemic, i.e. remote working.

This is even more the case given 100% of their products are based around the internet and so inherently facilitating remote work:

   - Android
   - Chrome
   - Docs
   - Forms
   - Google Search
   - Gmail
   - Google Meet/Chat
   - etc.

I mean they pretty much don't have to license any third-party software, all they need to do is eat their own dogfood.

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What nonsense, they were one of the first companies to send people home to work remote. First week of March if I recall. And we will be one of the last to go back... they're not asking for us to come back until January at the earliest, and even then we will have the option to work fully remotely, and even coming in it's only 3/5 days a week.

Honestly, I've been going in voluntarily 3 days a week recently because I like it -- it's a distraction free environment where I can focus, have better Internet, get free food, not have to do dishes, listen to my kids argue, etc;

HN has recently become an echo chamber of remote work advocates. Not everyone wants to work remote. Not every job is amenable to it. And as a software engineer I'm far more productive in the office than at home.

I'm glad Google is still investing in our offices.

I don't see that at all. A hybrid culture sure, but all remote work? I think it's way too early to tell if companies like this will end up with a few marquee offices in places like NYC, SF, Berlin that employees who want to can go to while everyone else can work remote. I'm more ambivalent now but in my early 20's I definitely wanted to be in an office in a big city where I was with lots of colleagues in an energizing environment.

I think for those who are seasoned it a viable option. However, I’ve seen the new hires really struggle to come up to speed.

Hell, even a pain moving within companies.. I just switched teams/projects at Google in the winter, and it was a months long slog to come up to speed... I've been at the company for almost 10 years, but never had this slow of a ramp up before.

Until recently, where a couple days in the office with the TL and a whiteboard and I feel way more connected and competent.

I don't see anything on that list that can effectively compete with the speed, efficiency and fluency of a quick huddle around a whiteboard.

Hear, hear!

Indeed, it's orthogonal to their information collection strategy to encourage non-digital communication.

I mean, not really. Imagine how much more information they can collect by literally observing employees all day in the office. There is no limit to the amount of information they can gain from surveillance.

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