Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

UltravioletClearance t1_itl2o0w wrote

>Workers don't want to stay at home because they can't be bothered to commute.

Nah, commute is my biggest reason for remote work. In Boston, companies insist on putting their HQs in the most expensive neighborhoods in the city, then refuse to pay enough to actually live anywhere near the office. Upper management lives in swanky condos next door, but the rest of us spend 2-4 hours driving in from 60 miles away because housing prices in Boston and immediate suburbs are completely out of control.

344

cesium-sandwich t1_itl4p4f wrote

It's amazing how much better rested I feel after not having a 4 hour commute each day!

140

typing t1_itlhurz wrote

4 hours? 2 hours each way? Man, did you move and not find a new job or happen to live in some really remote location? I would not take a 2 hour commute each way.

28

UltravioletClearance t1_itlorez wrote

That's what happens to cities that add tens of thousands of new jobs then blocks the construction of housing for said new workers. You can't afford a home within 30 miles of Boston on the median household income of the city. So everyone lives 30 miles away and clogs highways, causing that 30 mile commute to turn into a 2 hour drive. Except upper management who can afford a $600k condo next to the office building, and are completely bewildered at why their employees hate their commutes.

52

paceminterris t1_itnj28t wrote

Bro, upper management isn't living in 600k condos, try 800k-1million. Either that or they're living in a single family home very close-by that goes for like 3mil.

4

_catkin_ t1_itoxxy5 wrote

Commuter railways into Boston would help, surely. Americans are mental.

1

kor_the_fiend t1_itnelwa wrote

Boston has good public transit though so that helps

0

greatkat1 t1_itnnktu wrote

As someone who lives in Boston that’s more true in theory and less in practice - the transit here is literally and figuratively a dumpster fire

5

ShakotanUrchin t1_ito8gsq wrote

Where is this good public transit of which you speak? Living in Boston suburbs vs NJ/CT commuting to NYC is like night and day

2

cesium-sandwich t1_itlv3q8 wrote

Pretty standard in the bay area if you don't want to live near an office park. It was also a reaally good job. But working from home making the same money is waaaay better.

21

wild_bill70 t1_itmgdjo wrote

It sneaks up on you. I left a job that was only about 35 to 45 min total each way. Mostly by bus and was near bus station. New job paid $40k more a year in base and bonus and I eventually cashed out about $125k in stock over 3 1/2 years. Started with about same commute time but all driving. Was not hard driving. Then management pulled the trigger on getting everyone to the same place. Took a while but eventually we were in new building. Was spending 1 1/2 hours each way driving/bus/train/walk. Did that until covid. Drove both ways when we got called back. Finally matched my pay with a full remote job. But I couldn’t for a long time just walk away from the unvested stock and base pay/bonus. They do t call them golden handcuffs for nothing.

8

treletraj t1_itmuzzk wrote

Pretty common here, to be honest. my wife only goes in once per week now but it’s been a 2 hr commute fro the last 15 years she’s worked there. we both have colleagues that have similar commutes. Northern California. some people actually enjoy sitting in the car for a long time and listening to music and news and not being bothered by family, work, dogs, or children. I am not one of those people, I’ve like to get where I’m going quickly and get the hell out of the car.

6

Tex-Rob t1_itmnj37 wrote

When I was in the Air Force, stationed at the Pentagon, there was a TSGT that drove from Phily to the Pentagon each day and back. He did that all in a turbo diesel Ram.

5

MarylandHusker t1_itnpayd wrote

I lived 14 miles from my office and my commute would often be about 45 minutes in the morning if I planned to get in just a bit after 9, commute home was easily 90 minutes most days. Sometimes I’d stay till 7:30-8 and be lucky to get home in an hour. And that’s all in DC suburbs. Don’t ask me how bad the commute was when I was saving up money living at home 45 miles away.

2

FlashbackUniverse t1_itl7qst wrote

> companies insist on putting their HQs in the most expensive neighborhoods

Westinghouse in Pittsburgh did this. The HQ had been in one spot for decades, but because of "Real Estate Advantages," the company decided to build a new mega complex in a "prime business" location.

Overnight, people who once had 30 minute commutes suddenly found themselves driving 90 minutes twice a day.

It was the start of a huge employee exodus.

55

djkianoosh t1_itlcmml wrote

Maybe the exodus was part of the decision making.

22

UltravioletClearance t1_itlfesi wrote

Definitely. In the Boston area the decision to move a suburban office to downtown seems guided by a desire to attract a "younger" and thus cheaper workforce.

24

CoolHandSnoop t1_itm0be2 wrote

Yeah - sounds like something GE would have done in the Jack Welch era…

Edit to add: when UPS moved HQ from Greenwich, CT to Atlanta, GA, one of the deciding factors in the decision was the known fact that many long term (expensive) employees would never move to GA from CT.

5

netsurfer3141 t1_itmd401 wrote

Pittsburgh has very interesting commuting challenges. Fort Pitt and Liberty tubes on one side (and bridges) Squirrel Hill tunnels on the other (and bridges) , with major rivers (with bridges) , smaller tunnels, and did I mention bridges? And with construction and one-way streets you can make 4 right turns and not be back where you started downtown. I’ve been WFH since 2012 and don’t miss any of that.

3

TotallyNotMeDudes t1_itl9psu wrote

Used to work near the common and live in Lowell.

It was fucking awesome having a sweet office in Downtown. Going for walks in the Common on lunch, being near all that awesome food and Chinatown. Quite often I’d hit a C’s or B’s game at the Fleet Center on the way home. Fridays I’d get out of work and already be where the fun was. It was sooo fucking awesome.

But that commute made it the worst 4 years of my life.

26

bigrareform t1_itlqway wrote

The Fleet Center… really showing your age on that one 🤣

6

muxman t1_itlaiwh wrote

Not having to spend that time commuting gives you back so much of your day. For me I feel like I have so much more free time, that even though my work hours are still the same I feel like I work less having that time freed up.

Not to mention the money being saved by not paying it out of my pocket just for gas alone.

15

DeafHeretic t1_itmh1ug wrote

I am retired, but I have worked from home for months several times during my career. Besides avoiding an hour long commute each way, I could also take a break and do some minor chores at home, fix my lunch from my own fridge, not be so tired after work, more or less set my own hours not dictated by trying to avoid rush hour traffic, and be able to do things before and after work because I was already home not spending that time driving.

That and as a s/w dev, it was a lot more productive to be able to concentrate in a quiet more comfortable environment.

4

Hyper_Villainy t1_itldu3q wrote

I live in LA, and it’s exactly the same over here - businesses rent floors to swanky buildings downtown or renovate buildings in up and coming neighborhoods where the rent is skyrocketing. Meanwhile, everyone lives about 2 hours away from where they work.

If you want to know why LA traffic is so bad, this is the reason.

13

GeekdomCentral t1_itlt9sl wrote

Yep that’s 100% my reason. And the funny thing? Overall my commute wouldn’t even be that bad, at my last job is was 20-30 minutes each way. But it’s just such a pain in the ass to have to deal with, especially with random traffic spikes. But at home? I can roll out of bed and start work, and then exercise/shower on my own time throughout the day. It’s fantastic

8

DeafHeretic t1_itmiz3p wrote

>I can roll out of bed and start work, and then exercise/shower on my own time throughout the day. It’s fantastic

That is what I would do; eat my breakfast and work, get something done and push it to the repo, attend the online standups, then take a shower/break, get dressed, then go back to work until noon, take a lunch break, repeat and rinse.

I always put in my 8 hours (contract employee paid by the hour, no overtime allowed), but sometimes started at 5-6 AM (I am a morning person) and would have a task done early in the morning so those who started at 8-9 AM would have the code they needed from me that morning and I could talk about it at the standup,

If I needed to run an errand or get something personal done that day, it was a lot easier to do it from home.

Also, I live on 16 acres, half forested, on a mountain, so taking a 5 minute break was a lot better than being in a stinky noisy sometimes dangerous downtown.

9

swistak84 t1_itlo18m wrote

This reminds me when I was working in London. I was working for a small boutique agency, 5 people including boss. Of course it was a small agency so they didn't even have a proper office, just a converted apartment.

The thing is, the agency was in very middle of London - W1 postcode. But 3 of them lived in the North London. With a long commute.

But instead of renting a nice proper office in north London, for half the price, every single day three of them - including the owner! - would spend an hour commuting to the centre, to work in cramped converted office. They often rode on the same metro train!

I asked them why not move office closer to their homes ... Been told that y'know, all the serious companies are in W1 right?

5

DeafHeretic t1_itmhfpm wrote

>I asked them why not move office closer to their homes ... Been told that y'know, all the serious companies are in W1 right?

Seattle, Portland, LA, San Fran, etc. - it seems the execs all had the same idea; that they had to be in downtown to appear "serious", even though it was cramped and expensive and inconvenient.

Now we are seeing an exodus of not just employees, but companies too.

3

WayEducational2241 t1_itlcnfv wrote

A latte on the coffee shop of my office is $6, bro is not even good coffee I need to be back in remote.

4

Override9636 t1_itly5l8 wrote

> Workers don't want to stay at home because they can't be bothered to commute.

I mean, that statement is 100% accurate. Commuting bothers me to the point where I can't do it anymore. Life is far better without it.

4

annieisawesome t1_itlbpd8 wrote

Same; I don't live in Boston and my office is kinda the opposite; I live in a working class neighborhood in the city, and the office is in a suburb on the other side of town. I actually enjoy the office enough to want to go in once or twice a week, but the commute is brutal. I'm in a smaller city so it's not as bad as it could be, but 30-45 minutes each way depending on traffic. I would so much rather be in bed in the morning, or walking the dog right at 5. Driving is the thing I hate doing more than any other activity.

3

mnewberg t1_itlfj59 wrote

Upper Management also is able to downsize to Condos since their ids are grown up and moved out, while those of us with kids are stuck commuting unrealistic distances.

3

Captain-Neck-Beard t1_itmfhs5 wrote

Pandemic exposed the reality that we have the infrastructure to not need to commute in a lot of situations. Working class figured it out and is now leveraging it. It’s cheaper and safer for us to stay home, and they need our labor.

3

timallen445 t1_itllv1q wrote

Where they put HQs in Boston these days is wild. Never really in Boston always in some extremely pricey suburb.

I had coworkers having to hop multiple busses to get to the office.

2

jmlbhs t1_itlqu47 wrote

Precisely this. My old office was in downtown manhattan by the WTC, and of course the CEO was a 15 min walk away. I was a 45 minutes in Brooklyn on a good day. I don’t miss that time commuting.

2

[deleted] t1_itm6hyc wrote

[deleted]

2

UltravioletClearance t1_itmb3ab wrote

$95K. A mortgage payment on a $450K condo is like $2600 a month on today's interest rates, or over half my take home pay - and that assumes 20% down. That's not even counting taxes and condo fees. Single family homes in suburbs within 30 miles of Boston is the same deal too.

My salary is good money but what kills me is being single. You need dual $100K incomes to even come close to qualifying for a mortgage on a property in the neighborhoods you mentioned.

3

Security-check t1_itmdhso wrote

This right here is almost my exact situation. You start making basically 6 figures just to find out that in 2022 100k is somehow a wagie salary.

9

SchmeckleHoarder t1_itm8iec wrote

Yeah even 45 mins there and back a dat gets tiring. That's an hour and a half a day of me just driving to work.

1

kayakguy429 t1_itmve0z wrote

Don't forget to mention that most of these HQ's in Boston have no access to parking and Boston public transportation is unreliable at best.

1

Affectionate_Ear_778 t1_itnaj3i wrote

That is miserable. Going to Boston now for a work trip. Been there before and the roads are monstrous.

1