The Vancouver Business Thread

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by whatnext

How does one Work From Home in vehicle maintenance?

That said, notwithstanding Musk's typically douchey behaviour (is he in the office every day?) doesn't mean a lot of employees couldn't continue to WFH. And with high gas prices many employers might want to consider future wage demands from those forced to commute everyday. I expect we'll see employers hold out WFH in lieu of giving big wage increases.

Tesla Service Advisors do a lot of phone/email work so that seems like that kind of role was WFH.

He sleeps at the factory

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/elon...save-time.html

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I always saw it as out of touch with reality.
Yes there is and will always be people whose offices are their spare room or the car but this idea that covid introduced a revolutionary new way for businesses to allow their staff to work remotely and the office model had its days numbered makes no sense. It was a concession to allow businesses to continue operating when distancing and capacity restrictions were enforced and always had major drawbacks for the employer long-term:

-Your immediate building asset(s) sit unused but you can't downsize your footprint in case you CAN'T have everyone working remotely
-Your employer has no control over enforcing your work hours, break periods or productivity. You can lie, but you best not get caught.
-Your employer cannot audit your work hour activities to check for moonlighting
-Your employer has to either trust proprietary data leaving the office isn't going to be misplaced or invest heavily in reliable and secure WAN solutions
-Impact on role professionalism/dress code.

Personally I've had to deal with WFH'ers at my work where the last two years has been a combination of seeing them on Monday's for about 20 minutes in the morning and total communication breakdowns because they are a component of the team and you need them to *see* something and you can't just drag them out of their office to see the problem. It's a chain of emails and phonecalls/zoom meetings.

My impression on the people I know who DID enjoy working from home were middle management whose roles were redundant and struggled to appear as if their role was still needed, people who couldn't remain focused on work because they were already on the fence about remaining with the company and lazy sacks of s**t. The excuse that is saves people gas money or commuting time is a really weak justification.

I disagree. Even though I was always in the office there are plenty of jobs that never needed to be. If you have a secure network and something like Microsoft Teams or Google Meet there shouldn't be any problem getting a hold of a colleague. If there is then there needs to be more investigation by the employer. It doesn't have to be middle management. Why does any call centre agent need to be warehoused in a big office somewhere? If they're trained well and can access a superior they can do it from their couch.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by s211

Yup. One of the other WTF comments from the WFM crowd was that it is easier to change jobs if working at home. Talk about endearing yourself with your current employer.

There are good reasons against WFH -- This is probably the worst. Just like capital ought to be free flowing, labour ought to be free flowing. One should not have arbitrary restrictions on them finding a better job.

[logan5]

Not sure if they are consolidating their current offices or adding onto. Oh wait. The story sez "expanded presence", so I guess adding.

Microsoft to open new 20-storey office hub in downtown Vancouver.

Sources tell Daily Hive Urbanized the office location will be by far Microsoft’s largest office location in Vancouver. The office will be located at the future B6 (Bentall 6) office tower at 1090 West Pender Street — the southeast corner of the intersection of Thurlow Street and West Pender Street, near SkyTrain Burrard Station.

Microsoft will occupy approximately 400,000 sq ft across about 20 floors of this 403-ft-tall, 33-storey office tower with 562,000 sq ft of premium AAA-class office space. There will be enough office space for potentially thousands of Microsoft employees.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/micr...nsion-location

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by chowhou

There are good reasons against WFH -- This is probably the worst. Just like capital ought to be free flowing, labour ought to be free flowing. One should not have arbitrary restrictions on them finding a better job.

Arbitrary restriction?? What a sense of entitlement. You're in a pretty lousy job as-is if it rails you for trying to find work elsewhere.
You are a disposable component of your your employer. (this scales both directions. Even the higher-ups are not immune to trivial dismissals) If the end of a temporary workflow change is what makes you decide that enough is enough, go work somewhere else because I'm sure that's the end of your promotion path. There's someone else MORE than willing to do your job properly and within policy.

I damn well know that if I said to my boss that I don't want to drive into work every morning and to keep working from the house I'd be cashed out and told to return my badge.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Arbitrary restriction?? What a sense of entitlement. You're in a pretty lousy job as-is if it rails you for trying to find work elsewhere.

I don't know what to tell you if you've never been in a labour competitive industry before, if you're in an industry where companies traditionally have a lengthy interview process, you're SOL if you've already taken a couple weeks off this year for on-site interviews. Better sit your ass down, you're not getting any more days off prole!

You are a disposable component of your your employer.

I damn well know that if I said to my boss that I don't want to drive into work every morning and to keep working from the house I'd be cashed out and told to return my badge.

And your employer should be disposable component of you. I'm sorry for you if you feel indebted to your boss for some reason. Maybe you haven't been following the economic trends, but we're at record low levels of unemployment in the province, now's the time to move up given the chance man, I know you can do it!

[MIPS]

I try to stay committed to any one job for a period of time because otherwise (and I've been grilled about this in an interview before) it looks really bad on a resume when you can't stay at any one place for more than one to two years.

Originally Posted by Previous job, twice now that I think about it

Why should I hire you if you might not remain committed after six months?

I've been at the current job for seven years now. Nobody likes a flake.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I try to stay committed to any one job for a period of time because otherwise (and I've been grilled about this in an interview before) it looks really bad on a resume when you can't stay at any one place for more than one to two years.

I've been at the current job for seven years now. Nobody likes a flake.

I know I can't convince you out of this mentality, and I don't know your industry, but in the tech world it's industry standard to move every 2-4 years. Nobody bats an eye if the new hire just passed their 6 month probation and is already leaving for Amazon. I highly doubt your current employer is increasing your compensation anywhere beyond inflation every year; If you're consistently getting 4+% raises YoY and you got 10+% this year, I'll bite my tongue, but otherwise you're getting used man.

[MIPS]

2%, but thank you very much for understanding that my opinion conflict isn't resolvable.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by MIPS

2%, but thank you very much for understanding that my opinion conflict isn't resolvable.

I hope you bring up with your boss that inflation was closer to 4% last year. Don't let yourself get used.

[SpongeG]

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/86-1...ncouver-amazon

Amazon buys former Walmart Marine Drive site in South Vancouver for $150 million
Kenneth Chan | Jun 7 2022

[Klazu]

What a history that site has! I wonder if this would be a planned Braid fulfillment center replacement as otherwise one has to wonder how many fulfillment centers can Vancouver support?

[s211]

Originally Posted by Klazu

What a history that site has! I wonder if this would be a planned Braid fulfillment center replacement as otherwise one has to wonder how many fulfillment centers can Vancouver support?

Well, if the US is any indication, Amazon overshot its requirements and put over 10M sf on the sublease market. That's probably a drop in the bucket for them, but is very interesting nonetheless.

[WarrenC12]

Isn't this old news?

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Isn't this old news?

It is. The (unconfirmed) price was mentioned in a market report - and on the basis of that The Hive spun a re-cap story. Click bait.

[hollywoodnorth]

that Costco didnt pick up this site burns my ass beyond belief. Costco treats the Metro Vancouver market like a toilet. The amount of locations per capita in Ontario or Alberta is sickening compared to here. 2 x as many locations in Alberta as here.

even more so the site could easily fit everyone. Costco on the bottom 3 floors. store plus 2 floors parking. Amazon on the top 2 or 3 floors. Easy as pie.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

that Costco didnt pick up this site burns my ass beyond belief. Costco treats the Metro Vancouver market like a toilet. The amount of locations per capita in Ontario or Alberta is sickening compared to here. 2 x as many locations in Alberta as here.

even more so the site could easily fit everyone. Costco on the bottom 3 floors. store plus 2 floors parking. Amazon on the top 2 or 3 floors. Easy as pie.

No need for another store in Vancouver when there are stores closeby just outside.

[s211]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

that Costco didnt pick up this site burns my ass beyond belief. Costco treats the Metro Vancouver market like a toilet. The amount of locations per capita in Ontario or Alberta is sickening compared to here. 2 x as many locations in Alberta as here.

even more so the site could easily fit everyone. Costco on the bottom 3 floors. store plus 2 floors parking. Amazon on the top 2 or 3 floors. Easy as pie.

I'm sure the City has as much a hate-on for Costco as it most famously does for Walmart.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by s211

I'm sure the City has as much a hate-on for Costco as it most famously does for Walmart.

The City doesn't have a hate-on for either company. A former Council nearly 20 years ago were opposed to Walmart because of the company's anti-union stance. They appeared to have no problem approving the Costco underneath Spectrum, which opened in 2006.

Walmart never tested the new Council once the 2005 COPE dominated Council members were no longer in a majority. They leased the old Costco near Grandview and opened there. It's quite possible Vision would have been OK to see a Walmart, or the current Council, but Walmart seem OK with the store they have.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by officedweller

No need for another store in Vancouver when there are stores closeby just outside.

not true. from my COSTCO thread >>

-Calgary has 7 (including Ottoks) at 1.55 million people metro

-Edmonton has 8 (1 is a Business Center) at 1.45 million people metro

-Ottawa has 6 (including a new Business Center) at 1.45 million people metro

-Metro Vancouver has .... 9 .... at 3 million+ people if you include Abbotsford\Mission\Chilliwack.
... NINE ........ we are massively under served.

per capita

Calgary 1 Costco per 221,000 people
Edmonton 1 Costco per 181,000 people
Ottawa 1 Costco per 241,000 people
Vancouver 1 Costco per 333,000 people

Edmonton has 84% more Costco's per capita than us ..... at Edmonton numbers we are looking at 16-17 Costco locations in Metro + the valley.....as I said we have 9 now. that is a very crazy disparity.

I will run the Seattle numbers now >>

Seattle-Tacoma, WA Combined Statistical Area area >> 4,953,42 (this is similar to Metro Vancouver + The Valley

I count 22 open now (including a Business center) ... and they have 2 new locations under way. 1 in Lake Stevens and 1 in North Seattle

so thats

Seattle has 1 Costco per 225,000 people now and soon 206,000 (as in later this year when the 2 new locations open)