[matchbok3]

I'm not sure I understand the point. The vast, vast majority of jobs simply cannot be done remotely. So I have little patience for the entitlement of people thinking they "deserve" it or yell about conspiracy theories about why it is going away.

There is a reason YC is in person. There is a reason why the top companies are in person.

[toomuchtodo]

You say entitlement, but the reality is you have sour grapes about people who can have a flexible work arrangement. Some people pick jobs that are not able to be flexible, that’s a choice. Pick better. People work to live, not live to work, they should not tolerate how they should have to work because some manager or c-level is lucky to be in their position of power.

The UK provides by law the ability to seek and obtain flexible working arrangements on day one of a job [1]. Certainly, the US is behind as it always is, but it will catch up eventually, if only because of structural demographics and total fertility rate declines across the developed world creating perpetual labor shortages in various verticals. We’re just arguing window of time.

YC isn’t a good example, they simply sell lottery tickets to founders and early investors as a confidence play. You say top companies, but that’s an opinion without evidence. According to what metric?

[1] https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working

> As of March 2025, approximately 22.8% of U.S. employees worked remotely at least part of the time, equating to about 36 million individuals. This percentage has remained stable between 21% and 23% since early 2024, indicating that remote work has become a consistent component of the workforce.

> What this means: Remote work has stabilized at about one-fifth of the US workforce—this isn't a temporary trend but a permanent shift in how work gets done.

Source: https://wfhresearch.com/

> Approximately 90% of companies plan to maintain or increase remote work options moving forward, indicating a lasting shift despite some return-to-office mandates.

> What this means: The vast majority of companies recognize remote work as a permanent feature—even those mandating office returns are keeping some flexibility.

Source: https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/topics/future-of-...

https://www.breeze.pm/blog/remote-work-statistics

[matchbok3]

I work from home, champ. No sour grapes here. Try again, and please engage in the argument, don't throw personal attacks.

The UK? The UK has 0 innovative companies. No silicon valley. Nothing. If you want American to be like them, no thanks.

[asdff]

What say you to the fact that there are companies that work remote today and are competitive and doing fine? Anomalous? Or maybe your prior assumptions need adjustment?

[ahtihn]

I'd say they are outliers.

They have been setup like that from the start and have a management structure that is fully on board with remote work from top to bottom.

Most companies aren't setup like that and don't have the people to make it work.

[asdff]

Why can't they be? Chances are in 1989, most companies weren't set up to work well with computers either. 5 years later everyone had a desktop an email account.

[matchbok3]

Yes, they are outliers. Or they are coasting.

Again (and again). There is a reason why YC and the top, most innovative companies are in person.

[asdff]

A whole lot of outliers then. Top companies are in person? I only know a few people in FAANG but they all work remote. Maybe different for certain tasks like on site hpc work. They are in software engineering though.

YC in person doesn't mean anything to me. These bay area types often have a screw loose and do things like have people live on site maybe even in tents during sprints. Megalomaniac behavior, not a lesson to follow.

[matchbok3]

Again. If you think you can do your job remotely 100%, then there is no reason why someone in South America can do your job for 20% of your salary.

Think about it.

[defrost]

To expand upon a particular point; near as I understand WFH, or rather more broadly _not_ "RTO" (ie. endure office bound work) has a strong backbone of people wanting to maximise home/work life balance.

The point about rig work, FIFO mine work, nursing (again, FIFO) et al is these are jobs that are a priority choiice for many that are living that somewhat off-grid lives with a big home-life component dream .. and have been doing that for many decades now.

I'm over 60, have worked in a majority of countries across the globe (geophysical exploration field work), and have avoided offices like a plague for the entirity of my career - I enjoy 24/7 field work with weeks off at home to work projects there or to code / build for various projects from home.

We've even built up resource and energy intelligence services and sold them on to FinTech companies that way.

And met and talked to many people that way.

So, from some PoV's you chose the worst possible examples of jobs that supposedly tie people to an office grind.