<story><title>Apple employee group rejects planned return to the office</title><url>https://www.engadget.com/apple-employees-reject-return-to-office-plans-153302337.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Vadoff</author><text>I never understood why someone would live over an hour away from where they work. There&amp;#x27;s been numerous studies showing the number one cause of unhappiness&amp;#x2F;dissatisfaction at work is commute time, especially when it reaches over 40 minutes one way.&lt;p&gt;If you live in San Jose, getting to Apple would only be 15-20 minutes.&lt;p&gt;I once had a coworker who lived an hour and 40 minutes away, literally wasting almost 3.5 hours of their day.</text></item><item><author>cgb223</author><text>Not an Apple employee but for me it would be the commute not the office that’s the pain point&lt;p&gt;Driving or even bussing down or up or across the bay to get to Apple is a huge stressor. Doing it every single day both ways easily kills 2 hours of my life.&lt;p&gt;If I stay home and work instead I am better rested, more relaxed, and consequently more productive</text></item><item><author>mensetmanusman</author><text>As others have mentioned, I also wonder how much of this annoyance to return has to do with the failed open-office concept.&lt;p&gt;People more-or-less occasionally like having their own place during work where they can some action (e.g. closing their door) to focus 100% without interruption.&lt;p&gt;Cost-cutting open-office plans that let management see their flock typing away destroyed this option, and covid has reminded people how valuable and productive this option is&amp;#x2F;was (for those at home with this option).&lt;p&gt;We are now in new territory, as we are experiencing the end of the first pandemic during the information age. What we decide now will resonate for many years.&lt;p&gt;Something to think about: for most millennia of human experience, where one worked and where one lived amongst the family and community were one and the same. It’s only a blip in post-industrial history have we had this situation of leaving the family (et al.) behind to pull levers and receive $coins.&lt;p&gt;If the internet lets us go back… that would be huge</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>closeparen</author><text>- It&amp;#x27;s thrifty: houses further away are cheaper.&lt;p&gt;- It&amp;#x27;s good for the kids: suburban schools perform better.&lt;p&gt;- It&amp;#x27;s a sacrifice: a family man is supposed to prioritize his own comfort last.&lt;p&gt;- It&amp;#x27;s accessible: we don&amp;#x27;t look at bankers or tech workers and say how great it is that they&amp;#x27;re doing so much for the families. That&amp;#x27;s just classism and privilege at work. Maybe, if we&amp;#x27;re feeling charitable, natural-born talent. But we, too, could deliver a better life to our families by driving longer hours. We just don&amp;#x27;t have the stomach for it. So we respect those who do.&lt;p&gt;Of course no one cares what it&amp;#x27;s doing to the environment. That really ought to factor in the moral calculus. But right now super-commuting is just about the most virtuous thing an American middle-class adult can do.</text></comment>
<story><title>Apple employee group rejects planned return to the office</title><url>https://www.engadget.com/apple-employees-reject-return-to-office-plans-153302337.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Vadoff</author><text>I never understood why someone would live over an hour away from where they work. There&amp;#x27;s been numerous studies showing the number one cause of unhappiness&amp;#x2F;dissatisfaction at work is commute time, especially when it reaches over 40 minutes one way.&lt;p&gt;If you live in San Jose, getting to Apple would only be 15-20 minutes.&lt;p&gt;I once had a coworker who lived an hour and 40 minutes away, literally wasting almost 3.5 hours of their day.</text></item><item><author>cgb223</author><text>Not an Apple employee but for me it would be the commute not the office that’s the pain point&lt;p&gt;Driving or even bussing down or up or across the bay to get to Apple is a huge stressor. Doing it every single day both ways easily kills 2 hours of my life.&lt;p&gt;If I stay home and work instead I am better rested, more relaxed, and consequently more productive</text></item><item><author>mensetmanusman</author><text>As others have mentioned, I also wonder how much of this annoyance to return has to do with the failed open-office concept.&lt;p&gt;People more-or-less occasionally like having their own place during work where they can some action (e.g. closing their door) to focus 100% without interruption.&lt;p&gt;Cost-cutting open-office plans that let management see their flock typing away destroyed this option, and covid has reminded people how valuable and productive this option is&amp;#x2F;was (for those at home with this option).&lt;p&gt;We are now in new territory, as we are experiencing the end of the first pandemic during the information age. What we decide now will resonate for many years.&lt;p&gt;Something to think about: for most millennia of human experience, where one worked and where one lived amongst the family and community were one and the same. It’s only a blip in post-industrial history have we had this situation of leaving the family (et al.) behind to pull levers and receive $coins.&lt;p&gt;If the internet lets us go back… that would be huge</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dredmorbius</author><text>Apple is in Cupertino, one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S.  Numerous of the competing cities are in the immediate vicinity.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Cheap&amp;quot; housing is at best across the Bay.  Commutes from Santa Cruz (itself small and not cheap), the East Bay, or Central Valley are not uncommon.  Traffic is insane.&lt;p&gt;Mean housing price is &amp;gt; $1,000,000.  Median gross rent $3,335&amp;#x2F;mo.  Population density is 5,418&amp;#x2F;mi^2 (compare SF at ~17,000, NYC at ~27k, and Guttenberg, NJ at ~57k&amp;#x2F;mi^2).&lt;p&gt;California has had an utterly dysfunctional housing &amp;#x2F; work &amp;#x2F; transport policy for the past 50 years.  Cupertino makes the state as a whole look sane.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.city-data.com&amp;#x2F;city&amp;#x2F;Cupertino-California.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.city-data.com&amp;#x2F;city&amp;#x2F;Cupertino-California.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;List_of_United_States_cities_b...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>