Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says work-from-home culture means US struggles to compete with China

[lonetac]

nd they seemingly went off the rails far faster than on a Zoom. This one, strictly anecdotally.

That does not happen at my home. I can concentrate and have been far more productive. Negatively, I tend to work more hours, not less, simply because I'm "in the zone", so to speak.

This really gets missed a lot. Folks who WFH tend to put in far more hours than any office dweller. We have no separation from work and home, you end up working past your time, late nights, weekends, etc. Not less.

When you leave the office, you shut down and separate, doesn't happen when working from home. I put in probably 30% more hours wfh than I did when I went to the office but I save the time and money in the commute so it doesn't bother me one bit.

 

[redgarl]

Nothing better to get the dedication of your workforce than making their life miserable for no meaningful advantages...

Ironically, he is talking about training the entry-level workforce when we know that companies doesn't train their employees anymore. HR are hiring the candidates that doesn't need training while underpaying for their qualifications.

 

[redgarl]

If it was true, then why is Japan having one of the worst productivity numbers, which are already inflated without the inclusion of similar 996 work ethic?

Eric should understand that China, South Korea and Japan are facing a way worst problem right now, their birth rate is falling down a cliff because of these work policies making people not wanting to have kids.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

He's an EX-CEO. Says it all.

 

[netman]

"Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says work-from-home culture means US struggles to compete with China"

Well, US public loves laziness...!

""If you're going to win, you're going to have to make some tradeoffs""

They don't want to win...! That's why China has progressed tremendously...!

 

[Shirley Dulcey]

We actually have a stupid amount of empty properties in Pittsburgh. The problem is everyone bought property during COVID and thinks their $60k house is worth $500,000. I was lucky enough to refinance during COVID, but houses are not worth what they are asking. We literally have houses that are over 100 years old that people are asking $2000/m for. I literally build houses and see all the costs going in and out of every job. Most houses can be built for around 40k in material and another 60ish in labor depending on who is doing what. The idea that houses cost 400-500k now is ludicrous. Everyone thinks real estate investing is some money printer and it's just not.

Apartment complexes are a different story as you need to pour the foundation deep into the ground to for the central support structure. If you want to live in town in some highrise those rents are absolutely justified because the building has to "hang" off a central support structure. Building that central support structure and hanging the building off of it requires an astounding amount of engineering and expensive material cost. We're talking concrete that's 8 feet thick and multiple 18" ibeams on every floor. Units in those buildings go for around $4000/m here and that's 100% justified. But just because those new construction buildings cost several million to put doesn't mean that a 100 year old house is worth 500k. I hate hearing the whole "that's the market rate" thing, the profit margins on new housing is 400% and you can throw a house up in 2 months for under 100k. Very lucrative business but those profit margins are entirely based on COVID, 5 years ago it wasn't like this. It's at a point where people are moving to different cities because they can't afford to live here with a "regular" job. Everyone likes to talk down on McDonalds workers or Walmart employees until there is no one to stock grocery store shelves. That's the point we've reached, stores closed because no one can afford to work for them. It was all fun and games making money flipping houses until the flippers made it so there is no one to make their coffee at Starbucks or stock the shelves at the grocery store.

A big part of the reason that urban homes cost so much is the value of the land they are sitting on. If the price of those homes were to come down, people would buy them, tear them down, and build apartment buildings. (That's already happening to some of them anyway.) Unless the government prevented them from doing that with zoning, that is.

 

[Rumiku]

This really gets missed a lot. Folks who WFH tend to put in far more hours than any office dweller. We have no separation from work and home, you end up working past your time, late nights, weekends, etc. Not less.

When you leave the office, you shut down and separate, doesn't happen when working from home. I put in probably 30% more hours wfh than I did when I went to the office but I save the time and money in the commute so it doesn't bother me one bit.

This 100%. I'm happy to work the extra to save the wear and tear on my car, commute time, office banter, etc.

 

[yRaz]

A big part of the reason that urban homes cost so much is the value of the land they are sitting on. If the price of those homes were to come down, people would buy them, tear them down, and build apartment buildings. (That's already happening to some of them anyway.) Unless the government prevented them from doing that with zoning, that is.

I see this paperwork come across my desk fairly frequently. I have seen so many properties that have been sold back and forth between the same few real estate companies or investment firms. There is tons of artificial price hikes. So much of you sell it to us for 200, well buy it back for 250 and then we'll it you for for 300 is going on.

Further, apartment buildings are absurdly expensive to build. Per unit, apartments are easily twice cost to build than houses. Especially with the 5-by-1 building they want everyone to do.

The thing is, there are already tons of vacant housing on the market that people are refusing to rent out. The problem is absolutely that investors don't want to concede on price. This is Pittsburgh, not California. The price was jacked up to California and New York prices during COVID and noone wants to back down from it.

I work all over the Northeast, but there aren't jobs in Pittsburgh that pay what these people are asking. If you live in Pittsburgh, there is no money to be made outside of working at a university or healthcare. However, we want the world to run smoothly when people who work at shops and stores can't afford to live. You know why the gas station isn't open? Because it's too damn expensive to live near it. If you are a doctor or a lawyer, do you want to live somewhere where you can't even put gas in your car?

Housing costs were artificially inflated over the last 5 years and it is causing a mass exodus. The reason my company sends me all over the place outside of Pittsburgh is that we are hardly building anything in Pittsburgh. People are leaving, not coming here. Restaurants are closing, gas stations aren't open and grocery stores can't keep enough staff to stock their shelves, who in their right mind would want to pay luxury prices to live in a place that has no luxuries?

 

[emotionsexpert]

Talk about another billionaire's self-serving perspective. yea, if we want to compete with china on china's terms - top down autocracy - we have to work more hours. then again, they're always going to out-people us as they have 4 times the US population.

how about, instead,
1) managers learn how to actually manage people versus autocratically looking over their shoulders and taking credit for their output while also getting in their way and
2) we figure out how to master/maximize collaboration, because china doesn't permit individual thinking and that is our biggest advantage, provided, of course, we can ever figure out how to do that. regardless, nature proves it. delegation and diversity win every single time.

 

[TheStreets]

US corporations are always obsessed with the bizarre idea of "beating China," but oddly only when it comes to increasing worker output.

We're not really "at war" with China as much as Schmidt is at war with shareholders.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

The point about learning from co-workers is valid.

The only way to "win" is working yourself to death is lunacy.

EVERYTHING is about trade-offs and working 72 hours a week to win at money is fine, but you won't be winning at most other things in life.

 

[toooooot]

Uhm, allow me to ask. Can we compete with China if we disregard every last of their patent, if we copy EVRYTHING they have created and make money off?

 

[TheMiah]

"If I'M going to win, you're going to have to make some tradeoffs"

ftfy...

 

[NyaAgain]

I don't know if office or work-from-home are better, but I do agree with him that Google products get worse every year now, and that Google is doing the least-effort catch-up and has no leaders in AI.

 

[BogdanR]

Welcome to the digital Middle Ages serfdom, folks.
I remember the promise that technology will improve our lives.
What a crock!

 

[James321]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deaths_from_Karoshi.png

Deaths due to long working hours per 100,000 people (15+), joint study conducted by World Health Organization and International Labour Organization in 2016.

So this EX-CEO thinks it's good if people work themselves to death.

 

[whateversa]

This guy is so out of touch with reality.

 

[whateversa]

The point about learning from co-workers is valid.

The only way to "win" is working yourself to death is lunacy.

EVERYTHING is about trade-offs and working 72 hours a week to win at money is fine, but you won't be winning at most other things in life.

Our juniors still learn from our arguments on team calls and team chats... In fact the chat history gives them resources to reference...something that conversations did not offer.

 

[Rudyduu]

He's right. Work from home culture has caused a massive reduction in productivity.
At least 50% of people when they work from home take the pi55 whenever they think they can get away with it. In my experience most the people who were most keen to WFH were the ones who just were then never at their computer if you called them unexpectedly etc etc - always - oh sorry was just making a coffee or some other excuse. But the entitled culture we now live in especially amongst gen-z and beyond makes them expect so much for so little effort on their part.

People who don't produce while working from home likely didn't produce when they worked in an office either, working from home doesn't turn a hard worker into a less productive one. It just doesn't work like that, and you have no evidence to support it. The "entitled culture" you mean people who don't want to work more while not making enough money or getting enough time off? If you want to work 60 hours a week you go for it, but I'm not going to burn myself out for a company that doesn't care about its employees. If I can't retire after a few years of working 60-hour weeks what's the point in working myself that hard if the only person that benefits from it are C suite executives?

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Our juniors still learn from our arguments on team calls and team chats... In fact the chat history gives them resources to reference...something that conversations did not offer.

That's true but there is far less informal conversation and mentoring on zoom calls. This often includes tacit knowledge.

I love working at home but there are some things that can't be replicated without face to face time. Especially when you are new.

Relatedly, during covid lockdowns many companies also found that remote work on existing projects was smooth but remote only work when starting new projects was less so.

 

[lonetac]

I see this paperwork come across my desk fairly frequently. I have seen so many properties that have been sold back and forth between the same few real estate companies or investment firms. There is tons of artificial price hikes. So much of you sell it to us for 200, well buy it back for 250 and then we'll it you for for 300 is going on.

Further, apartment buildings are absurdly expensive to build. Per unit, apartments are easily twice cost to build than houses. Especially with the 5-by-1 building they want everyone to do.

The thing is, there are already tons of vacant housing on the market that people are refusing to rent out. The problem is absolutely that investors don't want to concede on price. This is Pittsburgh, not California. The price was jacked up to California and New York prices during COVID and noone wants to back down from it.

I work all over the Northeast, but there aren't jobs in Pittsburgh that pay what these people are asking. If you live in Pittsburgh, there is no money to be made outside of working at a university or healthcare. However, we want the world to run smoothly when people who work at shops and stores can't afford to live. You know why the gas station isn't open? Because it's too damn expensive to live near it. If you are a doctor or a lawyer, do you want to live somewhere where you can't even put gas in your car?

Housing costs were artificially inflated over the last 5 years and it is causing a mass exodus. The reason my company sends me all over the place outside of Pittsburgh is that we are hardly building anything in Pittsburgh. People are leaving, not coming here. Restaurants are closing, gas stations aren't open and grocery stores can't keep enough staff to stock their shelves, who in their right mind would want to pay luxury prices to live in a place that has no luxuries?

I moved out of NYC (Brooklyn) at the end of COVID.
Purchased a house in CT and my mortgage isnt much higher than my rent was in NYC for the guys 3rd house. CT isnt exactly cheap but it feels like it after living in Brooklyn.

Rent is insane too. I literally own a huge house with backyard, front yard, 2 car garage in a great part of town for slightly more than I was paying rent in NYC for a 1k sq ft apt with no backyard and no parking. Once he came to me and said he was raising the rent on us again, my wife and I had purchased a house 3 months later and moved out.

The websites say my house has gone up around 150k in market value since we moved in 3-4 years ago. I dunno if thats reality though.

 

[toooooot]

Welcome to the digital Middle Ages serfdom, folks.
I remember the promise that technology will improve our lives.
What a crock!

It is just our human nature, to use technology to make our lives worse. We are destructive.

 

[redgarl]

That's true but there is far less informal conversation and mentoring on zoom calls. This often includes tacit knowledge.

I love working at home but there are some things that can't be replicated without face to face time. Especially when you are new.

Relatedly, during covid lockdowns many companies also found that remote work on existing projects was smooth but remote only work when starting new projects was less so.

You didn't read my comment... industry don't even hire entry-level position anymore. HR are filtering resumes so they don't have to train their workforce because they know they are going to leave after 3-5 years.

 

[disinfect8280]

Work from home isn't about the work, it's that if companies don't want to pay people enough to live then they need to make concessions.

Gen z's apparent lack of work ethic isn't from not wanting to work, it's that if they can't pay their bills even if they do work. I started doing commercial construction over 20 years ago and I made $10/hr as an apprentice, that was good money back then. Today, apprentices start at $23/hr and I watch them struggle to pay their bills.

What incentive is there to work if you can't pay your bills? In 2004 when I started working rent was $300/m for a two bed room in my area. You can't get studios now for less than $1500. I don't blame them for not working, late stage capitalism has ruined the economy and any desire for people to work.

I sympathize with this generation and we don't need billionaires telling us what is AMD isn't good for work culture. You want people to work? Take your billions and give it to your employees, stop catering to investors.

Growth at the cost of employees is the problem, not work from home culture

Yes but you should be blaming Government spending and the Federal Reserve for the devaluation of the dollar. That is the root cause of these ailments.

 

[lonetac]

Yes but you should be blaming Government spending and the Federal Reserve for the devaluation of the dollar. That is the root cause of these ailments.

I mean we gave 20 billion to argentina to bail them out. They gave us the middle finger, lowered their food costs and sold it to china under cutting us and screwing the USA over. It was a horrible deal that backfired horrifically against the USA. As usual Trump was outsmarted by a seasoned politician.

Yet our government isnt getting funded... let that sink in. We have money for Israel to commit genocide but not to keep our country open.

All these countries have free healthcare that we give money too yet they want to increase our premiums up to 75% so that the rich donors of the Trump admin can have more tax breaks.

We are being fleeced repeatedly and so many morons are like "thank you sir may I have another". They want their lives to be worse just so they can "own the libs". its ridiculous.

At this point the dems are the only ones fighting for maga's health care too but they are too stupid to see how their lives continually get worse.

The whole transgender thing, locking immigrants up, all of this, none of this makes their lives better. But lets be real, Trump is looked at as a success from his fan base because of the pain and humiliation he inflicts on others, not because of how their lives are being improved.