Current Events > Billionaire Marc Andreessen warns remote work is 'not a good life' for young ppl

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Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen warns remote work is 'not a good life' for young workers

Marc Andreessen said remote work has "detonated" the role of office relationships in people's lives.
The billionaire said during a summit that young remote workers are "cut off from everything."
Andreessen used the discussion to promote Adam Neumann's new housing startup, Flow.

Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen says remote work is "not a good life" for young workers.
"This sort of model an entire generation grew up with has all of the sudden been detonated," Andreessen said of the era when workers went into the office every day and companies built elaborate campus communities like at Google, Apple, or Facebook.

The billionaire made the comments during the "American Dynamism Summit" in Washington, D.C. that was hosted by his investment firm, Andreessen Horowitz, in November. The comments were shared via an Andreessen Horowitz podcast last week and first reported by Fortune.

Andreessen called offices a "continuation of a college campus experience" and said that the pandemic has robbed young workers of work relationships and opportunities from frequent outings and water-cooler chats with coworkers to inner-office dating.

"All of the sudden it's like 'Nope, you don't get that.' What you get is to sit in your studio apartment in front of your laptop," he said, adding that younger workers are now "cut off from everything" and their lives revolve around Tinder and Doordash.

The billionaire said that while some companies are trying to bring people back into the office for a few days a week, he believes "Elvis has left the building" when it comes to developing connections at work. A shift he says has made a worker's living environment their primary source of social interaction.

"Are you literally by yourself?" Andreessen said of workers' remote offices. "Do you have any sense of connection whatsoever? Do you know who your neighbors are? Historically, living in apartments, I don't think they generally would even know who their neighbors are," he added, saying the cultural shift "opens the door for reinvention."

The discussion, which was called "Disrupting the World's Largest Asset Class," featured WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann, who discussed his new startup Flow, a rental housing company that aims to create living communities. Insider previously reported that the WeWork cofounder had said the startup would make renters feel so much ownership that they'll plunge their own toilets. Andreessen's venture capital firm has invested $350 million in the startup, according to the podcast, a move that some have criticized as a "do-over" and evidence of the privilege many white male cofounders enjoy.

It's not the first time Andreessen has addressed the rise of remote work. Last year, he said remote work could cause an "earthquake" in how we live. In 2021, he said in a blog post that remote work was "a consequence of the internet that's maybe even more important than the internet."

He is absolutely right, it is impossible to socialize outside of an office. There is no place to do it

Marc Andreessen said remote work has "detonated" the role of office relationships in people's lives.

This.

His words have a lot of truth. Work is where you can network. Its hard to do that if youre just another name in a virtual chat box.

He is absolutely right, it is impossible to socialize outside of an office. There is no place to do it

think the guy you replied to was being sarcastic lol

He's not wrong about the missed opportunities part, though.

Sarcasm or not, I agree.

I cant connect with people virtually. Im not saying its impossible, but being in person is so much more effective at building up relationships imo.

Too bad for you, remote work should still stay a thing.

Being behind a computer screen all day talking and working with people you haven't met in person sounds like it would suck >_> I need face to face to synergize with people

Being behind a computer screen all day talking and working with people you haven't met in person sounds like it would suck >_> I need face to face to synergize with people

"Andreessen called offices a "continuation of a college campus experience"

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/5/AAfNgnAAEL6z.jpg

Well if a privileged billionaire says it, then it must be true.

You don't need face to face to excel. You can excel just find with a remote job.

The discussion, which was called "Disrupting the World's Largest Asset Class," featured WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann, who discussed his new startup Flow, a rental housing company that aims to create living communities. Insider previously reported that the WeWork cofounder had said the startup would make renters feel so much ownership that they'll plunge their own toilets. Andreessen's venture capital firm has invested $350 million in the startup, according to the podcast, a move that some have criticized as a "do-over" and evidence of the privilege many white male cofounders enjoy.

Andreessen said of the era when workers went into the office every day and companies built elaborate campus communities like at Google, Apple, or Facebook.

"Please go back to the office so I can stop holding these commercial real estate bags"

Is that what that is? Or is it like trying to make a remote work community which is not asking people to go back to office but live in his stupid community.

This dude is so rich the entire day at the office is basically the equivalent of recess for him

Obviously.

What do you think the dude in the OP is saying? Hes not saying to get rid of it.

Sarcasm or not, I agree.

I cant connect with people virtually. Im not saying its impossible, but being in person is so much more effective at building up relationships imo.

Is he saying that outright? No, but it's what he means.

That's a personal problem, not a remote work problem.

yeah the world needs more awkward urinal conversations with your boss

This logic is abhorrent.

I'd be so distracted if I worked from home lol

This.

His words have a lot of truth. Work is where you can network. Its hard to do that if youre just another name in a virtual chat box.

Every time the discussion of remote work comes along I think about top level leadership of companies and what they'll look like in a few years.

Will CEOs and other C-level executives at companies consist of virtual workers who rose up the ranks, or will there still be a bias towards in-person workers to get to that level? Remote work is changing the culture of what a good employee means, but I wonder if the culture will change enough where it would be common for someone who worked their entire career remotely would achieve the VP or President level at their company.

work in general is not good for young people

the only real thing that people have is time, and its shameful that so many are forced to give so much of it away just to survive

This logic is abhorrent.

This.

His words have a lot of truth. Work is where you can network. Its hard to do that if youre just another name in a virtual chat box.

You mean the logic where we infer that he's implying the same thing that other CEOs and executive types are saying when they trash remote work?