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Comment by uptownfunk | Hacker News Reader

I don't think this is as big of a deal as it sounds. Many will get approved for remote location. The rest I am sure will want to come back to the office. And I'm sure there are a good amount of managers who won't really care as long as you're getting your work done. Meaning I wonder how this will be enforced and at what level if at all. Given that a senior leadership team was mentioned I expect this will be tracked at a senior level with metrics and all that, so I'm guessing now it will be more enforced than not.

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Read his original message here: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/andy-jassy-upd...

Regarding remote work:

“Of course, as there were before the pandemic, there will still be certain roles (e.g. some of our salespeople, customer support, etc.) and exceptions to these expectations, but that will be a small minority.”

>Many will get approved for remote location.

Well, that is not what he writes.

If I get approved for a remote location I get a huge paycut, despite continuing to pay the same taxes and COL in the same location.

Then let the people who want to work in the office work in the office. Let the people who don't work from home. That will even reduce the number of people you're trying to fit into a building, making offices possible once more, so the people who do need to be in the office get a better working environment as well.

If most people don’t go back to the office, most people in the office will spend most of their time in video calls, which defeats the purpose.

The same will happen if most people don't go back to the same office. They will be in different offices on video calls all the time to each other.

That seems to suggest going back to the office isnt a great idea?

I’m glad to see someone got my point :)

I see, you fell afoul of that thing where <CLEARLY_SATIRICAL_NOTION> has also been presented as a straightforward and earnest position by some one else.

That assumes that most people spend most of their time on video calls now. Which hopefully isn't true.

And if it is true, all of the points that Jassy makes suggests that they are doing remote collaboration wrong. For example: holding meetings instead of working together, which is just as possible to do effectively remotely as in person.

Given my job isn't to spend all days in meetings, why would making me go back to the office change that?

Moreover, when I am in the office, and have meetings, I'm still video calling to other people. The _only_ thing being in the office does is mean I lose 4 hours a day driving to and from that office. For no reason at all.

The only communication an office allows - for me - that is impossible remotely, is the kind where one person decides they're more important than their coworkers, or their coworker's work and starts interrupting everyone around them.

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