Discussion

• @chamath Chamath Palihapitiya on x

  The most important implication of this permanent WFH movement are state income taxes. The warm, sunny states with affordable housing and zero taxes will see an influx of educated, rich workers. States will need to cut taxes to keep up. The biggest loser in this is CA.

• @dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x

  🚨 NEW: Mark Zuckerberg tells me Facebook is transitioning to permanent “work from home” for many employees. He expects 50% of staff will work remotely in 5-10 years. “We are going to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work at our scale.” https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @nytimes @nytimes on x

  Starting in January, Facebook's employee compensation will be adjusted based on the cost of living in the locations where workers choose to live https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @kimmaicutler Kim-Mai Cutler on x

  Winners & losers from today's WFH announcement: 🔺Bay Area renters 🔺Startups that want a presence in the Bay 🔺Parents/mid-career (esp. moms!) that want WFH 🔺POC that want to work from diverse cities 🔺Budgets of second-tier US cities 🔺Property owners in Santa Cruz, Napa, etc

• @arampell Alex Rampell on x

  “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his location” 🤔😁 https://twitter.com/...

• @khanoisseur @khanoisseur on x

  More companies allowing more employees to work from home could save tens of thousands of lives each year, particularly in the flu season. Reduced stress, more time to work out, avoiding polluted commutes could add quality years to a worker's life (like making $40K extra/year). ht…

• @susie_c Susie Cagle on x

  RIP local economies that rely on large centralized tech campuses. https://twitter.com/...

• @jadande J.A. Adande on x

  Nah. Gotta pay me what I'm worth, not what the local housing costs are. Base salary affects so much, especially 401k contributions. https://twitter.com/...

• @bambenek John Bambenek on x

  Surprising that Facebook is the first company to attempt to depress tech worker wages in a remote work world. https://twitter.com/...

• @shaft Leslie Miley on x

  1/Let me break down why this is problematic. People of Color and Women of Color specifically get lower performance ratings on average at most big tech companies https://twitter.com/...

• @bariawilliams Br A. Williams on x

  Interesting. So, all of those building they acquired in and around East Palo Alto which sped up gentrification may be half empty now? Oh. So, will they do land grants back to the folks they displaced, or...? https://twitter.com/...

• @atifatif Atif Rafiq on x

  Excited for how this will push workplace collaboration way beyond ! https://twitter.com/...

• @shaft Leslie Miley on x

  2/By scoping this to high performers Facebook would be valuing the lives of some employees over others making historically marginalized groups choose between their health and the health of their families or their job. A group already disproportionally impacted by Covid-19

• @intrinsicinv @intrinsicinv on x

  “Location based wages” won't be sustainable. With many companies adopting WFH, they'll all end up paying wages based on competition for talent. Not whether that talent's IP address is in San Francisco or Chattanooga. https://twitter.com/...

• @tonyamosley @tonyamosley on x

  What will this mean for the economies that have grown or were built around FB campuses? Like East Palo Alto? https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x

  Mark Zuckerberg is talking on a public town hall about a shift in remote work. He says — I agree — this will teach the company much about connecting people on the net. FB used to have a heavy office culture; this is a big change for them. Video: https://www.facebook.com/... https…

• @kehaulyons @kehaulyons on x

  honestly hearing this stuff is really scary and confusing because i know so many of these rich tech gentrifiers are going to want to move to hawai'i https://twitter.com/...

• @heatherkelly Heather Kelly on x

  Now Facebook can turn its fancy buildings into affordable childcare so anyone working from home can actually work. They're already kid friendly. There's a park on the roof! Foxes! Paint splatters!

• @sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x

  What are the chances that every job that gets converted to a remote job will eventually be taken up by an individual outside the country/state/city of the original job? What if the new remote job world just means competitive outsourcing, but at an individual scale?

• @jowyang Jeremiah Owyang on x

  Facebook to enable remote work. They have paid $15k cost of living stipend for those near HQ, I highly doubt they will pay remote workers that stipend. Again, the logic is, total comp is going to reduce for many roles where location doesn't matter. https://www.google.com/...

• @sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x

  How many of these jobs are now game for engineers in developed countries whose visas have been rejected or never had the opportunity to apply in the first place? https://twitter.com/...

• @sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x

  Extremely looking forward to personal essays of how SV tech employees who were treated like kings & queens in the all-inclusive luxurious offices are now being forced to do the basic things on their own like rest of the world has always done

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  OK, Facebook is now the 3rd domino in remote work. At this point, the trend is unstoppable.

• @hughhowey Hugh Howey on x

  Tech companies have built massive campuses and architect-praised mega-buildings that were never necessary. https://twitter.com/...

• @flyosity Mike Rundle on x

  Large tech companies opening their eyes to the benefits of remote work is one of the few silver linings from the pandemic. https://twitter.com/...

• @qwongsj Queenie Wong on x

  Zuckerberg said it's opening up remote hiring for experienced employees especially engineers, starting in the US and Canada; company isn't going to hire remotely for new grads and less experienced hires.

• @jolingkent Jo Ling Kent on x

  Zuckerberg says more remote working = “very positive” for Facebook's recruiting beyond cities.. “creating more broad-based economic prosperity.” But beyond FB, does it *also* create a bigger economic divide btwn those who can WFH and those who can't? https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @scottmaustin Scott Austin on x

  Of the FB employees who say they'd move elsewhere in the U.S., 38% said they'd move to another big city. This is from Zuckerberg's live FB town hall: https://www.facebook.com/...

• @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x

  On the heels of announcements of Coinbase, Shopify & Twitter becoming remote friendly, Facebook told WSJ that new employees will have a choice to WFH & current employees with high performance reviews can apply to do so. Expects to be 50% WFH in 10 years. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x

  The stream is becoming a river. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @kimmaicutler Kim-Mai Cutler on x

  The other shoe. It just dropped. https://twitter.com/...

• @kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x

  Facebook hates it when Twitter beats them to the punch https://twitter.com/...

• @tonyromm Tony Romm on x

  we're about to have a big ol' conversation about housing costs huh https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  A monumental shift for Facebook. https://twitter.com/...

• @josheidelson Josh Eidelson on x

  “We'll localize everybody's comp on January 1” Mark Zuckerberg tells @KurtWagner8. “They can do whatever they want through the rest of the year, but by the end of the year they should either come back to the Bay Area or they need to tell us where they are” https://www.bloomberg.c…

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  I spoke with Mark Zuckerberg about how he decided to take Facebook remote, the tools he wants to build, and how his own thoughts around working remotely have changed due to the pandemic. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @jonerlichman Jon Erlichman on x

  Number of Facebook employees: 2020: 48,268 2019: 39,651 2018: 35,587 2017: 25,105 2016: 17,048 2015: 12,691 2014: 9,199 2013: 6,337 2012: 4,619 2011: 3,200 2010: 2,127 2009: 1,218 2008: 850 2007: 450 2006: 150 2005: 15 2004: 7 https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @chrismessina Chris Messina on x

  Why is Zuck's making Facebook a WFH company? To accelerate the development of AR/VR products. This is a strategic, bet-the-company decision, same as when he cut off desktop access to https://facebook.com/ by employees to defeat Google+ for mobile. https://www.theverge.com/... htt…

• @sdmcmaster Scott McMaster on x

  @antoniogm Pay localization is only the first step. The real fun starts when employers see the new arbitrage opportunities that get opened up. It'll be like early '00's offshoring on steroids.

• @austin_walker Austin Walker on x

  Get ready for this to become a common practice. Please, I'm begging you, organize your workplace or get your unions talking about this shit ASAP. You make the company the same amount of money no matter where you do it, and should be paid appropriately. https://twitter.com/...

• @antoniogm @antoniogm on x

  It's odd to see Valley types, in light of the FB WFH news, debating whether comp should follow a ‘cost plus’ or ‘fraction of value added’ model. In my experience it's always followed the Goldman Sachs bonus algorithm: Exactly $1 more than your walkaway price as an employee.

• @justglew Geoff Lewis on x

  wfh is a platform shift like mobile was a decade ago . great for the tech industry writ large . not great for bay area engineers . really bad for lots of other industries. <— don't shoot the messenger.

• @fabrantes Fili-Perf on x

  This is big coming from Facebook, it has never been a remote friendly company. I'm loving this trend of increased decentralization. https://twitter.com/...

• @sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x

  “Localize” is a great word for “pay you less if you don't live in the Bay Area” Those folks planning to leave now have a hint that their salaries might not leave with them, at least after Jan 1. https://twitter.com/...

• @gem_ray Cemre Gngr on x

  Apparently this is happening! Curious how PM's feel about being mostly remote? After 2 months of WFH, my preference would be 50/50 at most. I miss hanging out with my team 😞 https://www.theverge.com/...

• @alexberenson Alex Berenson on x

  Great story bro. Did you ask him about the First Amendment rights he and his $650 billion company are squelching in the next 5-10 minutes? Or did that not come up? https://twitter.com/...

• @nitashatiku Nitasha Tiku on x

  her story always stuck with me because tech parental benefits are far superior and yet hearing how moms have to navigate before leave, while they're out, and once they get back...sounds like every other industry

• @nitashatiku Nitasha Tiku on x

  remember the Facebook data scientist who had to quit to take care of her kid because FB wouldn't let her wfh https://www.wired.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @samir_madani Sam on x

  Yeah and he's probably going to track every single phone to see where people live. https://twitter.com/...

• @megancgraham Meg Graham on x

  Zuckerberg predicts 50% of FB employees could be WFH full time in the next 5-10 years. Employees will have to notify the company if they move to a different location by 1/1/21 & may have their compensations adjusted based on their new locations, he said https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x

  It's an interesting contradiction that states are pushing to reopen and the most successful tech companies in the world are like “we're never going to the office again”

• @joannastern Joanna Stern on x

  Facebook shifting permanently towards more remote work even after Coronavirus says a lot to me about the company's confidence in building even better communication tools, ESPECIALLY in AR and VR https://www.wsj.com/...

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  The push happening around remote work is as game-changing for the future of tech as the launch of the iPhone was in 2007. This is not about real estate; it will change how products will be designed, how teams collaborate, and how companies will be run going forward.

• @wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x

  I remember asking whether Facebook does remote working two years ago, they said nobody works remotely To go from all-centralized to allowing remote working, this is bold and such a drastic change! https://twitter.com/...

• @mynbc15 @mynbc15 on x

  Following Twitter's strong lead, Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will start allowing many of its 50,000 employees to work from home on a permanent basis, adding to the companies that have embraced decentralized work during the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @burgessdryan Ryan Burgess on x

  The remote saga continues. Half of Facebook may move to working remotely https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @tate28 Steve Tate on x

  Commercial Real Estate is gonna be an interesting sector to watch over the next 5 years. https://twitter.com/...

• @laurengoode Lauren Goode on x

  “Within the next five to 10 years, Zuckerberg anticipates that about 50 percent of Facebook's workforce will work remotely.” https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x

  Like open offices, working from home is sold as being about employee wellbeing but will lead to massive cost savings & require employees to come up with new tools to make up for what they've lost. Investors will now look to every tech company to reduce costs this way. Guaranteed

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  Here's a story with a lot of details about FB's remote work strategy, including good quotes from Zuck like this: “I'd rather have our employees teleporting to work with VR or video chat than sitting in a commute and kind of poisoning the atmosphere.” https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @jyarow Jay Yarow on x

  Why did we need a pandemic to create this cultural shift. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @lizzadwoskin Elizabeth Dwoskin on x

  My takeaway from Zuck jumping on the wfh 4ever bandwagon: Just like buying IG or WhatsApp or diving into cryptocurrency, he's incredibly shrewd about seizing what's hot in the moment and then using FB's natural advantage of scale to try and dominate it. Thoughts @profgalloway?

• @scottmaustin Scott Austin on x

  Facebook worker poll, according to Zuckerberg: -40% are somewhat or very interested in remote work -50% want to return to the office as fast as possible -Of those who want to WFH, 45% are confident they'd move to another city; 30% said they might move -60% want hybrid office/WFH

• @dhh @dhh on x

  This is like a game of musical chairs. By the end of the week, we'll see what big-tech laggards are still standing. I'm putting good money on Apple, but I'd be surprised if the likes of Google and Salesforce don't feel the squeeze here. https://twitter.com/...

• @caro Caroline McCarthy on x

  We're reaching a point in the tech industry where companies that *don't* do this with jobs that could be remote are going to be putting themselves at risk of litigation if employees get sick. https://twitter.com/...

• @byjacobward Jacob Ward on x

  That's nearly 25,000 people free to live almost anywhere they like. https://www.nbcnews.com/... via @dylanbyer @nbcnews

• @garretthaake Garrett Haake on x

  Offices and cities are going to be very, very different places. https://twitter.com/...

• @kerrymflynn @kerrymflynn on x

  Ok but like Mark, Jack said it first https://twitter.com/...

• @sal19 Sal Rodriguez on x

  Zuck today said FB employees who relocate due to permanent remote work may have their compensations adjusted. So who does that impact? Let's take a look https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @ravi_mohan Ravi Mohan on x

  “Zuckerberg says employees moving out of Silicon Valley may face pay cuts” Heh. Never waste a crisis. CEO 101. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @korihandy Kori Handy on x

  @Hunckler Bad idea all around, pay people according to the value they bring to the company, and not by location, especially if you're saving money on offices by embracing remote workers otherwise it feels like a punishment to your employees.

• @tomcoates Tom Coates on x

  This is less crazy than it sounds. Lots of companies have teams of engineers in other cities precisely because they're cheaper. Be a bit weird to pay newly distant employees much more than the people who have lived there already. https://twitter.com/...

• @ericstromberg Eric Stromberg on x

  Good luck telling the engineer moving from CA to Florida that you are issuing a downward salary adjustment — at the precise moment a global supply of remote jobs is coming online.

• @pinkpaisley3 @pinkpaisley3 on x

  Lol. This makes no sense. If they're going to be working remotely why does the company care where they live? https://twitter.com/...

• @carribugbee Carri Bugbee on x

  Zuck says #Facebook will reduce pay of remote workers who move to more affordable locations. Seems like quite a STICKY WICKET. Will people get a pay boost if they move later to someplace more costly? I doubt it. https://ow.ly/...

• @dadaben_ Benjamin Dada on x

  “Additionally, this decision will allow Facebook to improve the diversity of its workforce and spread economic opportunity across more places.” https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @aarieff Allison Arieff on x

  FB will begin allowing certain employees to work remotely full time; if they move, they may have their compensations adjusted based on their new locations. Zuckerberg: “There'll be severe ramifications for people who are not honest about this.” https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @nongaap Mike on x

  Incidentally, Zuck is offering raises to those who decide to relocate to key swing states. 😜 https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @therealyoon Jae on x

  Zuck is ruthless. He's also on his way to 🐐 status. Always attacking. Pure winner https://twitter.com/...

• @eladgil Elad Gil on x

  People who move will face pay cuts to reflect lower cost of living. https://www.cnbc.com/...

• @chrisjf @chrisjf on x

  How many of you lapped up this marketing as: “I guess that's fair since the cost of living is lower”? This is a double cost-savings win for Facebook. Not only does FB pay less if the employee moves away, but FB also doesn't pay for SF office space (& perks) for that employee. htt…

• @hunckler Matt Hunckler on x

  I understand where Zuck is coming from, but don't think this is a good idea. https://twitter.com/...

• @idothethinking Darrell Owens on x

  I recall getting pushback for saying this earlier but this confirms, at least from Facebook, my point which is that Software Engineering jobs in the Bay Area pay $120k-140k starting not because they're worth that much but because companies are compensating high cost of living htt…

• @ldignan Larry Dignan on x

  Facebook's move to enable half the workforce to go remote has a name predating COVID-19 new normal: Near shoring. https://www.techmeme.com/...

• @slobotski @slobotski on x

  Not a good idea... https://twitter.com/...

• @mattdpearce @mattdpearce on x

  You could say that moving factories to the South or to other countries to get the same work for cheaper is also done for “accounting reasons.” https://twitter.com/...

• @bbelding Brett Belding on x

  Most companies will take this approach. You shouldn't get San Francisco pay if you move to a lower-cost area (for example). https://twitter.com/...

• @stevekovach Steve Kovach on x

  There's the catch. https://twitter.com/...

• @martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x

  This is perfectly understandable given the crazy cost of living in that part of the world. It's sensible for employers to vary salaries for the same role by location. As long as the quality of life it supports is comparable, it's fine. https://twitter.com/...