from Hacker News

Google CEO defends desk-sharing policy, says offices like 'ghost town'

by gpresot on 3/6/23, 10:21 PM with 7 comments

  • by PaulHoule on 3/6/23, 10:26 PM

    Might be a way to keep the offices looking like a ghost town.

  • by melling on 3/6/23, 10:33 PM

    Not sure why it matters.

    Sharing desks and saving money will encourage companies to continue WFH.

    People not driving to work has so many pluses.

  • by fatnoah on 3/7/23, 3:45 PM

    Desk sharing isn't a new concept. Hoteling is a thing, and has been for a long time. I think it makes perfect sense as a balance to support office, hybrid, and remote work.

  • by steponlego on 3/6/23, 10:44 PM

    What do Google employees even do other than ruining the Google standbys which formerly made Google a powerhouse? How many people do you need to employ to let your systems go to shit and cancel everything new and interesting? Google will have a reckoning soon, I believe the only thing propping it up at this point is data collection and government handouts.

    Close the offices. Fire everybody. Sell the pieces off and start fresh. How about with search? That’s broken by design now.

  • by fl0ps on 3/6/23, 10:35 PM

    Basically "We've got so many empty desks you'll have to share them until we have more people filling desks...".

    The quote here was interesting though: Pichai said in a companywide meeting last week, according to audio obtained by CNBC. “There are people, by the way, who routinely complain that they come in and there are big swaths of empty desks and it feels like it’s a ghost town — it’s just not a nice experience.”

    Personally I don't go into the office to measure up "the feel of the crowd", or to get a social experience. I do it to get work done, and only when I have to. We can coordinate social experiences outside of the office if need be. It'd be interesting to see an experiment where workmates only get physically together to do social events like team sports or the like, but work mainly remote relative to each other. I bet this would be just as cohesive to teams.