CEO Carl Pei says remote work “is not compatible” with the company.
  • mercano@lemmy.worldEnglish
    771·
    24 days ago

    The way this usually works out is you loose all the good employees and you’re left with the dregs who were unable to find another remote position in time.

  • exanime@lemmy.worldEnglish
    221·
    23 days ago

    Remind me to check in 6 months, we’ll see headlines that “Nothing’s” valuation is going to be doing honours to its name

  • Fedditor385@lemmy.worldEnglish
    323·
    22 days ago

    He is not wrong tho… it’s the company interest vs employee interest. And I must say, as someone who works 100% remotely, sometimes I do wish we are all again at the office. It was so easier to know whats happening around you on the fly, instead of spending half a day in your calendar making or taking meetings.

    • TheDuckPrince@lemm.eeEnglish
      121·
      22 days ago

      So you can spending half of the day you save to travel to and from work…smart

      • Fedditor385@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        22 days ago

        In comparison to the non-existing work-life balance in most remote positions where you are basically available 0-24? No thanks. I’d rather travel, the 20min in the morning is perfect to “wake up fully” and in the afternoon to decompress while getting home.

          • Fedditor385@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            20 days ago

            Nobody bosses me around, I just work until I’m done, and I don’t need to manage my time, because I have all the time in the world working from home. Also, it feels like being in home prison, never seeing anyone you work with. Have the feeling some people exist only on computer screens.

            I understand the benefits of working from home, but meeting other people in the office is what made it human to begin with. I miss chatting with people while getting coffee about non-work related stuff. I knew what was going on without needing a meeting or briefing. I could just work in the office on things I needed to work - which made it so I could go home earlier. Now I am just at home all the time, wasting my time in meetings. Idk, I wish it would work for me, but it just doesn’t. I need the social aspect of the office.

    • atrielienz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      22 days ago

      Not according to the article linked. It never mentions this. I was so confused as someone who read this article more than once to see people in the comments saying things like read the article.

      According to this and other articles I’ve read they were already requiring hybrid work accomodations (and had transitioned to hybrid work from purely WFH). One other thing is this doesn’t necessarily seem to effect sales and press related roles.

      ** "After launching remotely during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Nothing has now mandated that its 450 employees will have to come into the company’s London office five days a week. In an email to staffers last week, Nothing CEO Carl Pei suggested that those unable to transition from remote working should leave the company and “find an environment where you thrive.”

      Pei’s goal, according to the email he published on LinkedIn, is to improve collaboration and innovation across design, engineering, and manufacturing, which he argues “does not work well remotely.” The new mandate will take effect in two months, and Pei will be accepting live questions about the decision from Nothing staffers during the company’s next town hall meeting.

      “Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed,” Pei said in the email, telling employees who are worried about flexibility that “this is a company for grown ups.”

      “I know this is a controversial decision that may not be a fit for everyone, and there are definitely companies out there that thrive in remote or hybrid setups,” he added. “But that’s not right for our type of business, and won’t help us fully realize our potential as a company.”

      Return-to-office mandates are hardly unique in this industry. Meta, Amazon, Google, Roblox, and even Zoom have all scaled back their remote working policies following the winding down of pandemic-driven lockdowns, but most of those changes require staff to be in offices for up to three days a week.

      By comparison, Nothing’s demand for five-day office attendance may sting for employees who helped shape the company while embracing its founding work-from-home environment. We haven’t found any comments from staffers on the situation, but they may be waiting until the company meeting to voice concerns." **

  • zcd@lemmy.caEnglish
    111·
    23 days ago

    Unnecessary RTO mandates need to be outlawed

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        23 days ago

        I dunno, I felt the most spied upon in my (programming) career when my team had a Slack channel going and everybody was expected to be available during working hours, even though I was WFH. When I actually worked in the main headquarters in downtown Philly, I would fuck off a lot and go shopping or take two hour lunches with beer and stuff like that. They even had a “sick room” on my floor with a very comfortable couch that I would take regular 45 minute naps on after lunch (until the fucking InfoSys contractors discovered it). Nobody ever said shit.

        Ultimately both situations required me to produce actual software to keep the bosses happy, but the Slack channel experience was the only time I was really expected to be present mentally the whole official work time.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4·
          23 days ago

          Really? You can keep Slack up in the background and appear “online” all day. Get the app on your phone, and you don’t even have to be at your desk to be “available.” I’ve had Slack conversations while walking around at the local park. It’s really no big deal.

          If they expect you to be available for huddles at the drop of a hat, that’s just unreasonable. But as long as responding to a chat within an hour or two is acceptable, WFH is fantastic.

          • Tja@programming.devEnglish
            2·
            23 days ago

            I respond to Slack messages by end of day. If someone has something urgent they will call me (on the work number, of course).

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              4·
              23 days ago

              At my org, we don’t have phone numbers for each other. If it’s urgent, just keep pinging them on Slack until they respond, and ping multiple people who can potentially help. It’s incredibly rare that you’ll ever need a specific individual on an urgent basis, almost everything can wait until tomorrow morning, and even emergencies can be handled by more than one person.

        • nullroot@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          21 days ago

          That’s a fair take and I’ve certainly heard horror stories about the invasive programs WFH people have been made to install on their devices.

          Maybe it just feels like it’d be easier to spy on you in the building they own haha.

  • Noxy@yiffit.netEnglish
    26·
    22 days ago

    That headline could use some clarification.

    At first I thought it was gonna be an opinion piece supporting fully remote work.

    Turns out it’s abouy a company named “Nothing”.