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Comment by blagie | Hacker News Reader

I don't care what they're getting as much as I care about what I'm getting.

If I have a nice dual-monitor setup, in a business where everyone gets a 19" Dell, I will be more productive. That will lead to more promotions, lower odds of being fired, etc. I will come out ahead. Plus, I'll be happier.

If my employer benefits too, how does that hurt me?

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Fair enough! I don't fully agree but it's a matter of opinion ultimately. Was just answering your question as I see it.

I haven't worked in an office in years, but in my case it's travel. The company has travel policies that are what they are. If I'm going to spend my own money and points to upgrade to travel that is outside of policy, well I'll do that. I might object if company policy were to travel baggage-class but it's really not. So I'll pay out-of-pocket here and there.

For a while it was company policy that all international flights had to be business class.

It all got restricted due to covid, and I doubt they’re going back :/

I wouldn't mind getting fired if I worked for a corporation that can't even provide proper screens for employees. Not getting equipment from employer is only acceptable for startups low on cash.

Especially when you can get half decent 120hz ones for like $400-$600 now. If they can't pony up for that then there's a lot more to the story or they are going to be a pain in the rear to deal with whenever you need resoures.

There's sometimes more to the story.

Another lesson from my career: No place is perfect. Don't make simplistic judgements.

I didn't say there can't more to the story, but I'm not going to just assume they always have a good reason either. It's not a simplistic judgment, it's simply working with the information I have on hand. If they have a good reason for not giving me the resources I need to do my job better than I'm all ears. I sincerely mean that. Maybe they can't get me the $3000 thing I want, but a $1500 one instead that is a suitable compromise. That being said I'm not just going to hear "no" and then buy what I think I need for the company.

I've done a lot of work in nonprofits, education, and government domains, and this can be a bit cumbersome. My experience is that in most cases, this comes down to administrative or bureaucratic issues which make sense on an organizational level, but very little sense on an individual contributor level.

At an organizational level, it's often not so much about money as about fairness, controls to avoid corruption, IT/supplier overhead costs, or similar sorts of reasons. I've been in C-suite, individual contributor, and everything in between. To flip things around, it's often cheaper to by a standard $3000 thing than a non-standard $1500 thing. Equipment costs are much lower than labor costs.

From my perspective, given three choices:

1. Spend $2000 of my time and $2000 of my boss' time to make an exception for a $500 monitor purchase

2. Be less productive

3. Drop $500

Often, I pick #3. I like my manager, and I don't want to complicate his life over a monitor. That lets me complicate his life over more important things, by the way.

When I was a director, I'd occasionally even spend personal dollars to buy things employees needed too. Dropping $20 is often easier than making a case to expense $20.

I was a freelancer/production company owner for a decade. I worked with plenty of non-profits and such. I actually am very sympathetic to the many reasons their hands can be tied. I assure you this is not a lack of imagination or understanding.

That being said, this is not that situation. I am a salaried employee at a small tech startup. It's always either "we have the money/don't have the money" or "I don't see the point." Luckily the latter is rare because they trust my judgment. But in the case of the former, while i get it's about resources, I'm not going to make it my problem. I am not going to fund their startup with my hardware. Which is why they are reasonable with me and just change their expectations when the resources aren't there. Of course I always try to find a solution that accomplishes the goal because I want us all to succeed, but I am not going to do it the way they want if they can't pay for it and it will only happen on my own dime.

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