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by srich36 1999 days ago
People often argue that remote working flexibility is the future, but I think it will be detrimental to both younger employees (losing out on mentorship) and those that do go into an office.

An office is at its most effective when everyone is there to collaborate; it loses most of its benefits when only some people are in person. Because of this I think there will be many companies advertising themselves as office-only as a benefit.
2 comments
sircastor 1999 days ago
I think it can be, but only of your business is monolithic. My work affects and spans offices in 3 time zones, and very disparate ones at that. I have a few local colleagues, but I can’t think of a situation where talking over the wall or desk has been more effective than a slack message or a call.
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srich36 1999 days ago
Fair enough. My main work experience is at a smaller startup that has a heavy focus on collaboration so my opinion is biased towards that. In my experience trivial things can be solved with a slack message/call but I greatly prefer in-person interaction for more in-depth debugging, etc. But I understand how that’s not necessarily applicable to all situations.

My main concern, and the reason I posted the above comment, is I think companies may over -correct with hybrid work models. For those that prefer office work a hybrid work model is barely better than a remote-only culture; the office loses its benefits when everyone isn’t there. I’m not arguing these remote-only/remote-first cultures shouldn’t exist - in many cases they provide large advantages - but think there will be a significant desire for office-only environments for those that prefer office work.

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shahbaby 1999 days ago
Personally, as a new employee, the idea of trading all the benefits of remote for some in person mentorship is absurd.
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srich36 1999 days ago
I’m not arguing you should. But there are undoubtedly some people who would. And a hybrid work environment is detrimental to those who want that in-person experience. There should be opportunities for remote-only/remote-first cultures and in-person only jobs going forward. My argument is that a hybrid model misses the point - you lose almost all the benefits of in-person work in the process.

EDIT: I’m a new employee as well, just so it doesn’t seem like I’m projecting what new employees would want without at least some personal experience

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