Hawaii's Remote Workers Discover Challenges and Rewards (wsj.com) 48
For many professionals, Hawaii seems a dream spot for remote work. But pulling off remote work in the Aloha state takes more than a plane ticket and a laptop. From a report: The pandemic devastated the state's economy. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, visitor arrivals fell 97.6% between August 2019 and August the following year. Employment in the state's leisure and hospitality sector, which accounts for nearly one in five jobs, fell 53% between February and August 2020, according to the Pew Center. Thanks in part to state initiatives -- including pre-arrival coronavirus testing for visitors and marketing campaigns wooing remote workers -- tourism is on the rebound. In April, visitors reached nearly 500,000, compared with roughly 4,500 in April 2020. One program, called Movers and Shakas (named after the friendly Y-shaped hand gesture with extended thumb and pinkie that means "hang loose"), was launched in December with local business leaders. It offers free airfare to remote workers who commit to staying at least a month and participate in volunteer activities. The program's 50 spots attracted 90,000 applications. Applications for the second round will open this month.
As it is elsewhere, reliable Wi-Fi is the litmus test for many. Some areas of the Hawaiian islands, especially rural regions, lack robust broadband or cellular infrastructure. Tomasz Janczuk, a 45-year-old based in the Seattle area who owns and operates a software-development firm, chose the three Big Island hotels that he and his family lived in for a month based on Wi-Fi strength. During an off-road excursion, Mr. Janczuk got a call from an employee about a service outage at his company. He pulled over and had to climb on top of his Jeep for sufficient reception to help troubleshoot the problem. "If there's no Wi-Fi, you have to fall back on cellphones, and that is quite spotty out there," said Mr. Janczuk, who also carried a hot spot. Some workers find that Hawaii's spectacular surroundings -- which drew them in the first place -- can be a distraction. Jasmyn Franks, a social-media strategist for an advertising agency in Kansas City, Mo., began working in mid-May from the palm-tree-filled backyard of her aunt's house in Mililani, a mountainous city on Oahu. Ms. Franks, 30, said initially, the first five to 10 minutes of every conference call were taken up with colleagues admiring her background. "So, there was a point where I was just like, 'OK, let's just take this to the corner or something where it kind of looks like I'm at the house.'"
As it is elsewhere, reliable Wi-Fi is the litmus test for many. Some areas of the Hawaiian islands, especially rural regions, lack robust broadband or cellular infrastructure. Tomasz Janczuk, a 45-year-old based in the Seattle area who owns and operates a software-development firm, chose the three Big Island hotels that he and his family lived in for a month based on Wi-Fi strength. During an off-road excursion, Mr. Janczuk got a call from an employee about a service outage at his company. He pulled over and had to climb on top of his Jeep for sufficient reception to help troubleshoot the problem. "If there's no Wi-Fi, you have to fall back on cellphones, and that is quite spotty out there," said Mr. Janczuk, who also carried a hot spot. Some workers find that Hawaii's spectacular surroundings -- which drew them in the first place -- can be a distraction. Jasmyn Franks, a social-media strategist for an advertising agency in Kansas City, Mo., began working in mid-May from the palm-tree-filled backyard of her aunt's house in Mililani, a mountainous city on Oahu. Ms. Franks, 30, said initially, the first five to 10 minutes of every conference call were taken up with colleagues admiring her background. "So, there was a point where I was just like, 'OK, let's just take this to the corner or something where it kind of looks like I'm at the house.'"
Not remote working (Score:4, Insightful)
If you have to pull your Jeep over to answer a call, you're not working remotely. You are on vacation and taking calls. This is why we can't have nice things.
Re:Not remote working (Score:5, Informative)
You're assuming the call was during working hours. On-call people need to answer the phone 24x7, yet still have a personal life.
I've been there, done that for many years. The work phone rings, you answer it. Doesn't matter where you are - and you can't be trapped at home because the phone might ring.
One of my boss's boss routinely enters video chats from his boat.
Another spent a week "working" from a camping site and an RV trailer.
Remote work just means getting your work done, but not warming an office chair.
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Sure, on-call is just that, and some people (including myself) have responsibilities that require it, but then there are the folks that aren't on-call, or on vacation, or taking comp time who think "working from phone" is a thing. For them, warming a phone or a chair = work. The more sophisticated ones have special rules or ringers for anyone who is a factor in their performance reviews.
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You're assuming the call was during working hours. On-call people need to answer the phone 24x7, yet still have a personal life.
I've been there, done that for many years. The work phone rings, you answer it. Doesn't matter where you are - and you can't be trapped at home because the phone might ring.
One of my boss's boss routinely enters video chats from his boat. Another spent a week "working" from a camping site and an RV trailer. Remote work just means getting your work done, but not warming an office chair.
I've worked on-call 24/7 jobs and remote jobs (and both) but this is not how it works. There are still limits to what we do when we are on-call and remote. Going on a trip ain't one of them. There are also rotation schedules to ensure people can truly take time off.
Working remote is also the same. It simply means not being in the office, not "lemme fly to Machu Picchu and handle the calls from there."
I work remote, and I had to make clear that I was going to be out of town (to ensure people knew I wasn'
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If you have to climb on top of your Jeep to get sufficient reception to troubleshoot issues, you aren't hitting your five 9's SLA.
This. Thank you.
Time zone is the real challenge (Score:3)
Re:Time zone is the real challenge (Score:4, Insightful)
But the most popular type of remote workers are like 8.5 to 11.5 hours out of sync, so this doesn't seem so bad.
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But the most popular type of remote workers are like 8.5 to 11.5 hours out of sync, so this doesn't seem so bad.
If that category of remote workers was deemed acceptable for a particular position, the job would have already been offshored.
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I think that would be a whoosh, you missed it.
I don't think so, because the GP appeared to me to be half-joking that if companies are okay with offshoring to India then they should be okay with their current workers being in a time zone only 6 hours off. I was pointing that this is almost certainly not the case, because many of the reasons they haven't already chosen to offshore their teams to India will be similar to why they don't want to offshore their teams to Hawaii.
Then again there still could be some joke I'm not seeing here.
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Re: Time zone is the real challenge (Score:1)
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Re: Time zone is the real challenge (Score:1)
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If that category of remote workers was deemed acceptable for a particular position, the job would have already been offshored.
While it might be hard to believe:
a) offshore workers do not necessarily have the expertise, see c)
b) handling them is more costly than handling a remote worker who comes from your society, especially if your "offshore worker" is handled by a boss in his country
c) depending from where they are from, let's pick India as it is a famous example: they don't have the experience, e.g. a So
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I had a vendor from Hawaii once. Setting up meetings was just as bad as setting up a meeting in the UK. With the only exception we needed to say late and the Vendor needed to start early. While working with the UK, We needed to start early and they needed to stay late.
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Ouch!
It can also be a benefit... (Score:2)
I am on the US east coast, and use software supported by a group in Australia.
It's actually great - I can email a question at the end of the business day, and get a reply first thing the next morning.
WFH challenges (Score:3)
I've technically been able to WFH or anywhere else even before the pandemic but, besides some legal issues, good working space and internet reliability is a major concern. You can't just show up somewhere and hope that everything works, "sorry my ISP/WiFi/VPN is down" is an excuse you can bust out a few times before it starts to become an issue. And if at some exotic location, I kind of hate the idea of paying luxury hotel prices to sit in front of my computer all day.
Well that and time zones are another issue. I once worked from a place 7 hours ahead of my normal location without telling anyone, and pulled it off basically because I was lucky not to have any meetings in the middle of the night, but long term I'm kind of confined to +/- 3 hours from GMT or so.
Somewhat ironic (Score:2)
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ALOHAnet is great. However it's not going to scale well. Just like ethernet, you can't just shove more and more people onto a single cable and assume it will manage the load. You need head nodes with really good broadband speeds scatter around, and the backbone needs to keep improving when you get more nodes and users. A growing population is going to be a headache for Hawaii, and not just for internet.
Also, the story about zoom was odd. Do people actually use video chats for work that often? Seriousl
Cry me a river (Score:2)
I like the idea that there might be a *few* places on the earth which don't have reliable high-speed internet and cellular service available. The fact that some clown (who claims to be "running his business" from a Hawaiian hotel) might not be able to yammer incessantly on the phone wherever he wants is appealing.
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I like the idea that there might be a *few* places on the earth which don't have reliable high-speed internet and cellular service available.
A good portion of the northwest of California has no cell service or reliable high-speed internet, so that should make you happy.
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I'm still waiting to hear from the guy who complains he can't get anything faster than 28.8K in downtown Seattle.
Up to the local township (Score:4, Insightful)
Really, it just take a local township being aware of the issues. Last year, we moved to a town boasting a whopping 400 residents. The town invested in fiber-to-the-home, which is one of the reasons we picked it.
If towns care about enticing people to move their, they can do this. If they don't care, or if they are just incompetent, it's simple: vote with your feet. Go somewhere else.
I know, in some cases entire states make municipal broadband impossible. Stupid states, the same applies: vote with your feet. Go somewhere else.
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Yep, move to Bradley13's state. Turn it into another California. Watch Bradley13 move somewhere else (I hear Texas is nice). Lather, rinse, repeat. People might as well as invest in an RV if fixing problems involves running away from them.
Rich people problems (Score:1)
Non-wealthy people don't WFH from Hawaii. Those with that kind of fun money can well afford to solve their own problems.
https://www.groundcontrol.com/... [groundcontrol.com]
The mention of Hawaii was of course clickbait. In other news why should anyone who doesn't live in the Hamptons care about living conditions there?
Vacation Hawaii vs Military Hawaii vs Life Hawaii (Score:5, Informative)
Vacation Hawaii, this is the Hawaii most of us see. We have concentrated a couple of months salary for a week of comfort and luxury.
Military Hawaii, for most of our Service Men and Women, Being posted in Hawaii isn't a bad thing, the military does cover their basic living requirements and much of there salaries will go towards extras.
However for the civilians living in Hawaii it is a Small state, that is isolated from the rest of the world, and primarily isolated from its main government. They don't have much options for easy interstate trade, and everything will need to be shipped or flown in. This makes many of our staples very expensive in Hawaii, as well a large portion of the land needs to be reserved for economically beneficial activities, mostly Vacations (Big money income) and Farming best exports. While they are some other industries out there many are in support of these two major economic drivers. So the locals have a high cost of living, and are often being paid just enough to survive.
When you are in those conditions a lot of extra are very optional. So while you may live in a nice temperature, it is far from a vacation paradise if you need to struggle to stay afloat.
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I am not following you on your logic.
We don't need income inequality, at least to a point where the employees need to struggle so the customers can live a week in Luxury. Ideally for most jobs, you should be paid enough to be a customer of your employer. I am not saying the Staff should live a Hawaiian vacation 24/7/365 however they should be able to live a comfortable middle class life, and be able to afford such a vacation at least every few years.
Also most people are naturally friendly, however usuall
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Also most people are naturally friendly
I see you've never been to Hawaii, and if so, have not strayed far from the tourist traps; Hawaiian locals hate mainlanders with the passion of a thousand luau fires.
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Just like most places, don’t mess with the locals or look down on them. A shaka goes a long way to diffusing issues.
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I live in Leaf Peeper area, yes I get annoyed when my commute is bogged down by people stopping on the side of the road to take a picture of the Fall Foliage I don't hate the people who are doing this, however while they are on vacation having fun, I have my work and routine that needs to get done. And if these people are getting in my way, I will not be happy with them.
I think the Native Hawaiian do not actually have a major issue with the mainlanders, but if you on vacation there don't expect every per
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I live in Hawaii and work remotely; working for local wages is rough as stated, but remote work just means I end up working from ~4AM-Noon, and enjoying the rest of the day. Where I live there isn’t much more than watching the chickens and cats after 8PM anyway, so not a big loss.
Hawaii is screwed up by legacy property issues, especially Bishop and Dole. Politics is broken— the ineffective “not invented here” mentality screws up a lot of things.
For aspiring shorter-term remote work
we're all tech heads.. (Score:4, Insightful)
...I get it, but is it really society's responsibility to deliver high speed wifi/broadband to everyone regardless of where they live?
I mean, by that same token you have California millionaires building remote retreats in western Montana - should society be paying to plant a daisy-chain of broadband towers around their 1200 acres so that they can have full coverage? Are we required to pay for their road to get snowplowed because they chose to live 60 miles from any town?
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"Everywhere we live" doesn't have a dependency on tourism for their economic survival. We just gloom onto "rich" because that's the perception that's the only kind of people who could live in Hawaii. In this story it's remote workers. You know? The people we all most want to be like, be it at home or in vans.
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But you're essentially demanding that SOCIETY is responsible for cost that are externalities.
If you live in a remote place, LOGICALLY there are costs and consequences to living there...one of them being fewer public services.
People demanding this be universal seem to be wanting the rest of us to fund what amounts to a negation of BASIC GEOGRAPHY. Live far away, things are further away for you too.
In the same sense we can't run a bus down every dirt road just so some poor bum can sleep on the beach, it's no
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"is it really society's responsibility"
Why not?
If these areas have broadband and plowed roads then more than just millionaires can live there and you can expand your tax base so the individual burden is lowered and you have local people who can maintain the broadband and roads, i.e. a society.
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So your logic is that I can go build a shack in the High Sierras or Pitcairn Island and it's society's OBLIGATION to deliver to my choice of that remote dwelling power, phone, water, sewer, broadband? Seriously?
What world do you live in that resources are infinite, and that spending doesn't imply opportunity costs elsewhere?
Hawaii Tourism (Score:2)
Tried to go for a one-week vacation to Hawaii at the beginning of June as the prices were attractive.
You need a non-insurance covered Covid-19 test done 72-48 hours before your flight. At a specific short list of small clinics open 9-5 during the work week only. This would have required one extra day of vacation to get to one of those clinics and back and about $500 for the tests. We are vaccinated but the state of Hawaii does not recognize any out-of-state vaccination records. Then they complain the touris