Re:Stripe’s fifth engineering hub is Remote
by patio11 on Thursday May 02, 2019 @10:47AM
(#19808446)
We have talented lawyers and comply fully with employment-related requirements everywhere we do business. These get rather nuanced, particularly when factual situations get complicated, but if we weren't ready to implement complex state machines and handle edge cases then we picked a really poor line of work.
Generally speaking, most Stripes work for a subsidiary which hires them in the standard fashion for professional employees in their jurisdiction. For example, I work for Stripe Japan, K.K., and demonstrated/maintain authorization to work in Japan. We can and do support people moving internally, including regarding immigration status where appropriate.
While it's not sufficient, travel budget is an important element IMO. I'm more or less remote but the ability to get together multiple times a year with both formal team members and other people who I collaborate with is pretty important to me. Also just getting out of the house to have regular contact with other people in the industry. I suppose, I could more proactively do more local events but, generally, I find interacting with people at events an important part of working remotely.
H1Bs are used for non-immigrant workers to be allowed to work on US territory. So no, no need for H1B if workers live and work from a different country.
Re:Stripe’s fifth engineering hub is Remote
by BurningFrog on Thursday May 02, 2019 @12:15PM
(#19809488)
> The few challenges I've encountered seem solvable
I see a lot of people saying this.
I never see anyone saying "We have solved these problems"...
Well, they're probably ongoing challenges that any company needs to consider--and I'd argue that culture and communications can be challenges even within a company location as it scales. I'd shy away from ever saying they're "solved."
But the fact that there are successful companies with a significant percentage of remote and/or distributed workers suggests that they can be solved well enough.
Re:Stripe’s fifth engineering hub is Remote
by Androider on Thursday May 02, 2019 @12:58PM
(#19809940)
There are plenty of very successful 100% remote companies, including GitLab, Zapier, Automattic (Wordpress) etc. I think it's fair to say they've solved it well enough.
Traditional office space also comes with its own fair share of challenges and problems.
I'm interested to hear how Stripe addresses these and which challenges they find.
One question at a higher level: what are the immigration law impacts here? Does Stripe need to get H1Bs for internationally located workers? I hope not: effective remote work is fantastic step toward bringing labor mobility more in line with capital mobility, with potentially positive effects on income, taxation, and social policies for people around the world.