GitHub to lay off 10% of workforce, sparks remote work debate

Remote workers at risk?

The GitHub layoffs sparked a debate about what the future holds for remote tech workers -- not just those making the switch at GitHub. In a Hacker News post about the layoffs, some commenters said they prefer enterprises with a remote-first business model, while others voiced concern that such enterprises might target remote workers in future layoffs. The post, published Feb. 9, has garnered more than 800 comments.

"Five years from now, I think we will not see remote only for a large company and think, 'Ooh, they value their employees I guess,' but rather, 'Uh-oh, they like to think of their employees as being like virtual servers, easy to spin up and easy to shut down the moment you don't need to pay for that capacity,'" said Ross Hartshorn, a freelance software engineer based in Austin, Texas, on the Hacker News thread under the moniker "rossdavidh."

Later, in an interview with TechTarget Editorial, Hartshorn added that remote work makes it technically and emotionally easier to lay off employees. If enterprises think they will need to make extra cuts in the near future, keeping everyone working remote looks like a better option, because it makes that process easier to enact, he said.

"If you know that you will have to meet someone in person, eye-to-eye, and tell them that they're being laid off, this puts something on the scales in one direction," Hartshorn said.

Change fuels rise in disposable remote workers

The viewpoint that remote workers are disposable stems from the fact that some enterprises view remote workers as less valuable than their in-office peers, said Brad Hill, division president of digital at SkillGigs Inc., an online tech recruiting marketplace in Houston.

For example, while some executives, including GitHub's Dohmke, are embracing a remote-first workplace, others, including Twitter's Elon Musk view the trend as a subpar option. Musk ended remote work at Twitter last June, opining that remote workers only pretended to work. He later softened his stance after too many staff members quit.

Hill said the information age is redefining how and where work can get done to produce needed outputs.

"The notion that anyone or any type of worker can be easily disposed of is a gross misstatement to someone's ability," Hill said. "The only fair sentiment is the cost savings of the actual physical space is less in a remote setting."

Instead of battling the tide, managers and leaders should embrace the idea of remote work, he said. "Criticizing the move to hybrid and remote work environments is holding onto a draconian idea of the past or the status quo bias," he said.

To have a competitive advantage in the future, enterprises must evolve and recognize that remote workers should be treated as equals in the workplace, he said.

Stephanie Glen is a writer, software developer and YouTuber based in Jacksonville, Fla. She can be reached at [email protected] or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-glen/.