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Comment by tivert | Hacker News Reader

Eric Schmidt is right: WFH has been a moral disaster. The absolute, most important thing in the world is that companies be able to successfully extract maximum value from their workers. Something is seriously wrong if workers end the work day with even a little bit left for their families.

Good people are in-office and 100% engaged at delivering value to the company. Anything less is violence.

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Well, there are real drawbacks to remote work. It hinders creativity and practically limits exchange between workers. Whether it's still worth it for the company or whether they can mitigate the downsites is another question but there definitely are downsites.

As someone who has been working remotely for a worldwide organization even before the pandemic, I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement.

> It hinders creativity and practically limits exchange between workers.

Exactly! Those things are essential to delivering the most value to the company and ultimately to its shareholders, and there's nothing in the world more important than that. Those pompous, selfish, self-important WFH workers need to understand that.

I personally hated working for a remote-first company. I was paralyzed because my coworkers were never online and then they would only pop in to reply briefly to my questions or requests and then disappear again. It was extremely isolating as well never leaving my house, and I was glad to go to a company with actual offices. Separating work life from home life was something I didn't think I needed, but over the long term it really does affect you.

Nice anecdote, but it sounds like you worked for possibly a badly managed company and has nothing to do with remote work first. I’ve worked with plenty of remote teams that do not function this way.

Nice anecdote.

The only times I’ve ever felt hindered in my communication with teammates online has been when they refused to communicate in anything but ad-hoc rambling video calls.

Absolutely! Where else the backbone of every company would get ideas for their presentations.

I have had maximum value extracted during military service. The corporate world in comparison is a leisure ride of 2 hours work per day with lots of time to day dream, take walks out doors, or nap.

including bathroom breaks

How quickly you forget the unpleasant realities of shared spaces—like the distinctly unpleasant aroma of communal restrooms. It's amazing how some things are easy to overlook, but after a long break, those less-than-pleasant details hit you like a ton of bricks. Definitely one of the 'perks' of office life I didn't miss!"

sarcasm? hard to know on the internet

it’s very obvious to me that parent comment is sarcasm, but it’s not obvious to me that your comment isn’t sarcasm. Hmmmmmm

you forgot <sarcasm> tag, or didn't you?

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