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A comment on Apple employees criticize work-from-home policy in open letter. Parent comment

Re:Apple employees criticize work-from-home policy in open l... by shrimp_emoji on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @02:29PM (#31251745)
My story is the same as yours, but I don't think online communications (especially "structured", formal, work ones, like a daily standup over Zoom) capture everything that spontaneous "hallway" conversations do, including with people not on even on your team who you'd never talk to otherwise.

I wish it were same, but, even as someone who grew up with more online relationships than meatspace ones, I'd be lying if I said it is. Maybe VR in some 15-minutes-after-tomorrow future can bridge the gap.

I experienced how "not the same" it is with in-person and then remote interactions with other young people in college classes and then with older people in work, and, in both cases, I felt things were lost once we went remote.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple employees criticize work-from-home policy in open l... by fartcannon on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @03:38PM (#31252540)
The hallway conversation thing befuddles me. Have you ever opened a chat window with someone at work to speak to them on the side? That's a hallway conversation. You can tell them any secret you want there. Have you ever seen two people interact in a group chat and learn something you didn't know before? That's the same as overhearing a hallway conversation. Grabbed a few friends in a group chat to chat about the weekend? Water cooler.

The only difference is no one is going to tell you to be quiet and get back to work. No one is going to send an email about how there are too many people wasting time around the water cooler!

I just don't see the advantage.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple employees criticize work-from-home policy in open l... by jimbokun on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @04:24PM (#31253125)
> You can tell them any secret you want there.

Well, secret in the sense of fully accessible to everyone in management at your company.

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Re:Apple employees criticize work-from-home policy in open l... by fartcannon on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @05:00PM (#31253515)
Can't argue with that! Used to just be nosy people, backstabbers and snitches in the office. Now Microsoft will do all that for free through Windows/Teams.
[ Parent | on HN ]