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Comment by amf12 | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand the negative sentiment with this. Do people expect employers to assign everyone a big desk, which is not completely open office and also have the flexibility to come to the office 1-2 days a week?

I hope there are exceptions for people who come in everyday, but otherwise it's a win-win the way I see it.

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part of it, for me, is that this policy says, 'hey googlers, we order you to _not_ come to the office -- at least, not at the same time or day as your desk friendo, or your desk friendos.'

so when CEO 'x' says, 'everyone back to the office, we need to whisper sweet idea nothings to each other on our way to/from the bathroom, in the office, so that we can $$$$$' -- ceo google just said, "that's obviously untrue, and completely ridiculous, besides".

either that, or ceo google just said that the money we save by creating desk friendos will surpass the alleged value we gain by whispering sweet idea nothings to each other in the hallways, or at our covid- and flu-covered desks.

but one commenter said 'stackable desks' like bunk beds - which makes sense - kind of like that vertical pig farm in china. not sure how productive that will be -- for the desk jockeys, not the pigs -- but worth a try i guess.

https://medium.com/halting-problem/open-office-floor-plans-g...

Google is also one of those companies pushing for RTO though, from what I understood.

RTO is barely being pushed for. They said "you should come to the office these 3 days", but almost no one did and no manager seems to care.

Yet another sign of a CEO being completely out of touch.

The negative sentiment is in the being forced to return to office then, in the same stroke, diminishing the quality of the in-office experience.

Google let's you apply for remote work, and Hybrid RTO isn't being enforced.

It’s being enforced unevenly is the issue. Some floors are packed and some are mostly empty.

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