Working from home
- Thread starter spitfire
- Start date
Oh that’s interesting. Who do you work for?
I see the market in garden offices has gone ballistic.
PJH
Striker
An area/zone doesn't sound like a room/home office.
It's a bit crap.
What's strange though is my wife changed job recently, and in her previous job she was still needed to be in an office during the pandemic and she was glad as she hated the idea of working from home. Now she's doing it in her new job, she's found she likes it enough to be willing to do it part time in the long run. But we live in a one bedroom flat so working at the kitchen table is the only viable place for her to work.
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The culture is set by those at the very top, my wife (no) worked for a Japanese company and at the Christmas do I asked the big cheese what de did (I genuinely didn't know who he was) he told me he was the permissions manager, when I asked what that was he said "I give permission to my staff to do put their ideas into practice and to go home, by leaving at a reasonable time myself". His pa told me he did more hours at home than he did in the office but he didn't want to pressure others to follow his example.
I know I always bang on about it but didn't realise they'd named the law after me.
I know this is a financial regulations thing but I think other places would benefit from adopting it. Not just for the benefit of the person on holiday but it would highlight all sorts of stuff that's been hidden.
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monkeytassle
Striker
I actually disagree. I am obliged to take a fortnight off using my own leave. What if I want to take a week then do another week another time of the year. Employers shouldn't dictate your contractual leave. Especially now forensics in the industry are so tight.I know I always bang on about it but didn't realise they'd named the law after me.
I know this is a financial regulations thing but I think other places would benefit from adopting it. Not just for the benefit of the person on holiday but it would highlight all sorts of stuff that's been hidden.
gasman
Central Defender
I’m off this week and I’ve just replied to a few and arranged jobs etc. I had 45 minutes spare and it’s saved me the Sunday night dread wondering what I’m coming back too and a bit less work for Monday morning. Totally for my benefit.
DaveH
Striker
When people say stuff like “can’t be away for more than 2 weeks, or can’t disconnect”, I always ask how would they cope if that person went on long term sick or wanted a long holiday, using all their annual leave in one go. A work place hires someones time for a set number of hours per week. That does not give them the right to intrude on personal time and space. The last place I worked liked people to fill in forms to say how they could be contactable by work when away etc.
I did a two week holiday, one in a small South African coastal village where I was diving for the week. I put the location there as “in a boat or under the sea, no phone or internet connections”. That was followed by a week camping and on safari in Kruger Park (these were good pre-children holidays back then), I put that down as “no expected electricity, leave message at travel company reception, I will aim to respond in a maximum of 6 days”. They didn’t like it, said it was inappropriate but when pushed if they were really going to dictate where I could go on holiday, they backed down. It didn’t say in my contract, must always have a phone and internet connection. Time zone can play a part too.
The European Working Time Directive lists time away from work as an uninterrupted rest period. If people are being interrupted, they are not getting that. I’m not sure if we are protected by that since Brexit, but it was always a good phrase. I refuse to put work apps on my personal mobile because of notifications and have separate work laptop, work phone etc. I’m currently in charge of IT security and have said that we have all these measures to secure our data (emails may contain personal data) on work devices then encourage people to use their own devices that are also being used in non-corporate ways, may be given to kids to play with etc. All sorts of intrusive apps may be installed. It is a security nightmare to stop data from mails and Teams leaking so I refuse to do it. They have my personal mobile number for real emergencies, but beyond that I turn my work kit off.
I tell my team that if the bank falls over while they’re on holiday or uncontactable then they don’t get paid enough.
The easiest way to do it though is to lead by example.
Fair point.
Kent_Mackem
Striker
I've worked from home for the past 10 years with the odd visits to client sites. This year was only different in that there were no client visits and everything was done remotely.
Obviously people are different, but for me I think it is important to have some sort of life / work boundary. II deliberately have not added work email accounts to my phone. I restrict myself to office hours only on my work laptops. Once those hours have ended it gets switched to Sleep mode until the next day.
The exception is when I am developing solutions as business development, that I hope to sell next year for example. Then that is extra time that I find in the evenings and weekends.
Unless on a rare occasion where overtime has been agreed in advance, a client or employer is not going to pay you any extra for choosing to transfer sand from your "Life" hourglass into your "Work" hourglass. For me the "Life" sand is far more precious and I use it for my family and me. Anybody who is still not convinced maybe get one of those Collins wall planner posters up and shade in (be honest) on each day the additional time spent on the "Work" account in red. Then look at it over a year. Then bear in mind that every adult will only have between 0 and (say) a max of 80 of those posters left.... .and then that's it.
I'm 48 so I have anywhere between 0 and 32 of them left to fill in each January. So bollocks to wasting the sand on work outside of what I am paid to do.
For me it's more important to get busy living. We get a piss poor allocation of Life sand. Don't piss it away.
Obviously people are different, but for me I think it is important to have some sort of life / work boundary. II deliberately have not added work email accounts to my phone. I restrict myself to office hours only on my work laptops. Once those hours have ended it gets switched to Sleep mode until the next day.
The exception is when I am developing solutions as business development, that I hope to sell next year for example. Then that is extra time that I find in the evenings and weekends.
Unless on a rare occasion where overtime has been agreed in advance, a client or employer is not going to pay you any extra for choosing to transfer sand from your "Life" hourglass into your "Work" hourglass. For me the "Life" sand is far more precious and I use it for my family and me. Anybody who is still not convinced maybe get one of those Collins wall planner posters up and shade in (be honest) on each day the additional time spent on the "Work" account in red. Then look at it over a year. Then bear in mind that every adult will only have between 0 and (say) a max of 80 of those posters left.... .and then that's it.
I'm 48 so I have anywhere between 0 and 32 of them left to fill in each January. So bollocks to wasting the sand on work outside of what I am paid to do.
For me it's more important to get busy living. We get a piss poor allocation of Life sand. Don't piss it away.
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I know people who were on minimum wage and expected to be available via WhatsApp 24/7, had to attend unpaid training on their days off and were expected to participate in a weekly WhatsApp work quiz in their own time.
Blatantly illegal but people get away with it.
Pnematic
Midfield
On the smaller units it’s not possible to fit a study / office ( without screwing up the other rooms ). Zones are better than nothing at all ( or the dining table) - on larger units there’s a closed area , sometimes on the first floor....on the big types there’s a dedicated study / office.
These spaces are used for homework as well for the kids.
PTR
Striker
Just been out for my 2nd covid jab, and Radio 2 had a small business owner on to discuss this thing.The tears are starting. Get your arses back in the office then, or just switch off
Working from home: Call to ban out-of-hours emails from bosses
The UK government is urged to bring in a French-style law giving workers "the right to disconnect".www.bbc.co.uk
Started by saying the entire thing is blow out of all proportion and that it (late night calls, emails etc) hardly ever happens.
Then went on to talk about how important it is for businesses to be able to work at all hours and that those who don't respond outside of office hours will get passed over for promotion, and even worse, indicated that they are the reason why buisnesses might fail.
You can't trust business owners to look after the best interests of employees.
Some employers do - I’m thinking enforced
Holidays at Xmas for instance.
PTR
Striker
That's one I have to do - I need to know nothing went wrong since I logged out, because if so I need to get straight to work to get myself up to speed before the 9am customer meetings start.
As workers, we all focus on the time and costs we save in commuting.
But nobody ever thinks about how these companies are saving a huge amount from being able to shut down entire offices.
I remember being told our desks were cross-charged to our team at about $1000/month.
Yet it took a year of pressure for them to even allow people to collect their chair so that they didn't have to sit on a dining chair / end of their bed to work. There'll be loads of back problems reported over the next 10 years because of unsuitable workstations over this last 18 months.
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Cappuccino Kid
Striker
If I was so busy that was having to send e-mails at 9 or 10pm, i'd be looking for a new job tbh. I noticed one in my inbox this morning that was sent close to 11pm!
I get the flexibility point, but even if that's genuinely the case just put a timer on the e-mail so it automatically sends first thing the next day. Same with people who send e-mails on Saturdays and Sundays etc.
I get the flexibility point, but even if that's genuinely the case just put a timer on the e-mail so it automatically sends first thing the next day. Same with people who send e-mails on Saturdays and Sundays etc.
Loads of people do mind.
There’s a bloke called Bruce Daisley who has an excellent podcast and weekly newsletter on workplace culture and even before lockdown was a huge supporter of flexible work cultures. His newsletter pulls together a load of articles from around the world about what companies are doing and how the property sectors across the world are in for a correction because of wfh in the long run.
Dirty bassa
