Silicon Valley's Remote Work Lie
Facebook today announced that they require masks on campus, regardless of your vaccination status. The near-Trillion dollar market cap company that makes tens of billions of dollars a year selling advertisements on the Internet is requiring people to come to the office “at least half the time” (if they’re required to come into the office), to “ensure that the office remains vibrant and that employees who do come into the office make the most of being a part of that community.” Casey Johnston put it perfectly:
While the idea that anyone on campus should wear a mask is a good one, the idea that the campus is still open is utterly ridiculous. As Johnston said, if things are dangerous enough to warrant mask-wearing, and they have established (and I quote) “that good work can get done anywhere,” there is no good reason to keep it open other than the vacuous shibboleth of “office culture.”
And in the case of Facebook, this is not “allowing everyone to work remotely,” but will allow them to request to work remotely, which is not the same thing at all. Google, another company that literally sells itself on its ability to be accessed and used just about anywhere in the world, has also created an opaque policy around remote work, with some people being able to remote, some having to move (and take pay cuts!), and some being told they’re not allowed to work remote at all. I’ve already written a lot about Apple’s approach to remote work post-pandemic, and they’ve now had to postpone their “return to work” until October.
