FT Weekend Magazine - 10.19.2019

ILLUSTRATIONBY PÂTÉ

8 FT.COM/MAGAZINEOCTOBER19/

T

heconundrumofworking

inSanFranciscoishow

quicklythecity’sinsanely

highcostoflivingcaneatup

eventhemostoutsizedincomesin

thetechindustry. Whenrentinga

one-bedroomflatcosts$4,000a

month,youcanseewhysoftware

engineersonsix-figuresalariesare

stilllivinginhouseshares.

Theansweristogetajobinthe

SanFranciscoBayAreaandthen

move away.AmongmyUSfriends

whoworkintech,fullyremote

workisahighlysought-outsolution

tothepricesqueeze.Sinceliving

here,IfeelasifIhave hadthe

followingconversationonrepeat:

Friend:“I’ve appliedfora

newjob.IfIgetit,I’llbeleaving

SanFrancisco.”

Me:“I’llmissyou!Where’s

thecompany?”

Friend:“Well,it’shere.But

I’llbeinVirginia/MexicoCity/

Missoula/Chicago.”

Iknowworkingfromhomeis

commonplaceinlotsofjobsbut,

assomeonewhohasspentmostof

mycareeratanewsorganisation,

Ithoughtyouneededanoffice

togotoatleastsomeofthetime.

YethereontheWestCoast,where

spaceistightandstart-upsleapat

thechancetosave cashonrent,jobs

thatare100percentremoteare

fairly common.

Glassdoor,theemployee

reviewsite,publishedanarticle

titled“100%Remote!13Cool

CompaniestoApplytoToday”.

GitHub,awebsitewheredevelopers

collaborateoncode,hasalistof

largelyorfullyremotecompanies

operatinginfieldssuchas

softwaredevelopment,blockchain

andanalytics.Mostjobsare,

unsurprisingly, computer-based.It

ishardtobeadoctor,bankmanager

orchefwhoworksremotely. But

giveitafewyearsandmaybevideo

conferencing,3Dprintingand

roboticswillchangeeventhat.

Anecosystemofcompanies

alreadyexiststomakeiteasier

foremployeestocommunicate

withoutbeinginthesameplace.

Videoconferencingcompany

Zoomhadtheverygoodideaof

allowingparticipantstouseadigital

backgroundsonooneneedknow

theywereintheirkitchen,ora

supermarketcarpark,whileona

workcall.Itsshareslistedat$

earlierthisyearandhavemore

thandoubledto$74.

Fullyremoteworktendsto

betargetedatmillennials,which

makessensewhenyouthinkabout

thesizeoftheirstudentloansand

thecostofrentincitieswithbigjob

marketssuchasLondon,NewYork

andSanFrancisco.Whywouldn’t

theywanttolivesomewhereelse

andcutoutlongcommutingtimes

whilestillearningagoodsalary?

Workingfromhomecanalso

easesomeoftheimpracticalitiesof

urbanlife.InAugust,adesignerat

West Coastworkers

seekremotecontrol

thepaymentssoftwarecompany

Stripereceived94,000likesfor

histweet:“Stillhavenoidea

howpeoplecanworkafull-time

job,cookdinneroften,exercise

regularly, enjoyweekends,keep

theapartmentclean.Seemsbasic

butIcan’t consistently doit.” Amid

ahealthysmatteringofsnark,

therepliesweremostly helpful.

Trymealprep;laundryservices;

Roombaroboticvacuumcleaners.

Butoneofthemostpopular

involvedrethinkingthetraditional

set-upofofficework.

“Currentfull-time(40hr/wk)

jobsaren’t designedforsingle

peopletodothis;they’repostwar

relics&dependontheunpaidlabor

ofaspouseforcooking,cleaning,

shoppingetc”wroteone.“Basically,

youdon’t gettobeHomerdrinking

beeratMoe’s onTuesdaywithout

Margehandlingthehome.”

Remoteworkingpromisestobe

apartialcorrective.Theproblem

isthatthefocusisoftenfromthe

pointofviewofemployersand

howtheycanbesureemployees

areactuallyworking.Socialmedia

managementstart-upBuffer,which

hasafullyremoteteamafterclosing

itsSanFranciscooffice,wrote

asmuchwhenitcalledworking

remotely“ahugeprivilege”forits

staff.Yetmanyjobsthatinvolve

remoteworkareproject-oriented,

meaningthatitisobviouswhether

ornotworkhasbeendone.

Therealquestionishowgood

thisisforemployees.Ononehand,

theycanmove tomoreaffordable

locations.Ontheother,there

istheproblemofisolationand

increasinglyblurredboundaries

betweenhomeandworkthatcan

feelunhealthy.Asonefriendwith

afullyremotejobputitwhen

describingthebenefits:“Weekends

usedtobethebesttimeforme

togetworkdoneuninterrupted.

Now Igettoworkeverydaylikeit’s

aweekend.”

TECH WORLD

NOTESFROMADIGITAL BUNKER

BY ELAINEMOOREIN SANFRANCISCO

Whynot live elsewhere

andloselongcommuting

timeswhilestillearning

agoodsalary?

ElaineMooreistheFT’sdeputy

LexeditorinSanFrancisco