Employee Benefits WFH

We're working out where to work from at the moment. Granted, we're not rushing to ruin under Boris, but it's a nice problem to have. Common thinking amongst my team is 1 day in, 4 days at home, check temperature, and repeat.
 
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Im not complaining about my commute am I? I took the job and bought the house with full disclosure. I didn't take the job to do it from home, its a fundamental shift in conditions. If they want me to work from home - and save money as a result, then they have to provide me with the equipment to do it. I shouldn't be sitting in my own chair, at my own desk using my own computer and personal mobile phone. Thats fine in the middle of a pandemic where we have to be flexible but it not right as a long term solution. They should either provide me with these tools or pay me to get them myself. Thats not unreasonable.

The point you are missing is the change in circumstances not of your choosing. If you take a job that involves working from home at the outset then obviously thats on you. When you have it effectively forced up you that is different.
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I have to ask, how are you using your own computer?

What are you doing and how are you accessing your company network? Is it via Citrix etc?
 
teaboy5 said:
I have to ask, how are you using your own computer?

What are you doing and how are you accessing your company network? Is it via Citrix etc?
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I work as a strategic procurement specialist for my local authority.

My work computer remains sitting on my desk at work and I am remoting into it from home using Forticlient and Microsoft Remote Desktop. I can then access my server through the Office Computer. However it can sometimes be a little unstable so I end up emailing contract docs to myself and have them sitting on my own desktop. I used the kitchen table for the first couple of months but when lockdown eased a little we managed to finish out house renovation so I am now in a separate area. We have access to Teams for communication but we are all using our own mobile phones as well.

I was asked if I needed anything to aid working from home in the short term. I asked for a copy of Office for my home machine and a RAM upgrade for my office desktop as its quite slow. Neither has been done.
 
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nightwish said:
Seems to me you're trying to pick a fight. But I'm really not interested, just trying to look at it from the point of view of most (not all, you might be lucky) employers.

compensate
verb
1. give (someone) something, typically money, in recognition of loss, suffering, or injury incurred; recompense.
2. reduce or counteract (something unwelcome or unpleasant) by exerting an opposite force or effect.

Pretty sure that's the right word in this situation.

Answer to your question? Yes. In fact, I am right now. (Software developer, FWIW). I don't have a problem with it personally.

A VPN sorts out many of the security issues. My company's checks whether you have updates and a virus checker before it'll let you sign on.

Not sure what health and safety reponsibilities the employer would have if you're using your own gear. If they're providing it then of course they have a responsibility to make sure it's up to the job. If not, maybe they don't, not sure.
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Im not trying to pick fight with anyone, just putting the other side of the story thats all.

Im not after a pay rise and short term Ive been happy to do this but it is not right if we are moving from an office based job to a job based at home that we are not given the tools to do the job. Being grateful to have a job should not be an excuse for employers to ignore their responsibilities. If my employer has me working from home the onus is on them to make sure I am in a position to do it in the first place. Once again, I didn't sign up for this its been foisted on me. Giving me the tools to do the job and putting me in an environment to make that possible is not compensating me its enabling me.
 
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Would you take a job where you were using all your own IT gear, mobile phone, desk, chair etc etc?
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Absolutely.

In fact I'm currently sitting in a comfortable chair at my nice big real wood desk which is exactly the right height with mechanical keyboard, laser mouse, 3440x1440 35" UW monitor etc.

Sure beats squinting at the pair of 24" 1080p monitors in the office on a (relatively) cramped desk with the cheapest possible chair, mouse & keyboard that work would provide.

Obviously if you don't have your own PC at home then it's a different situation, but for me this is ideal :)

There's also the fact that there's no queue for the microwave at lunch time (in fact I can actually cook proper food!) and if I want a coffee, I can pop downstairs and make a nice freshly ground one rather than having to suffer the "coffee" flavoured gravy granules at the office.
 
Haggisman said:
Absolutely.

In fact I'm currently sitting in a comfortable chair at my nice big real wood desk which is exactly the right height with mechanical keyboard, laser mouse, 3440x1440 35" UW monitor etc.

Sure beats squinting at the pair of 24" 1080p monitors in the office on a (relatively) cramped desk with the cheapest possible chair, mouse & keyboard that work would provide.

Obviously if you don't have your own PC at home then it's a different situation, but for me this is ideal :)

There's also the fact that there's no queue for the microwave at lunch time (in fact I can actually cook proper food!) and if I want a coffee, I can pop downstairs and make a nice freshly ground one rather than having to suffer the "coffee" flavoured gravy granules at the office.
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And thats great for you so its a good option. Its not for everyone though for any number of reasons not least that it wasn't the job they took in the first place!
 
Working from home is a benefit in itself. I can have a lie in, go for a nice walk in the park before I start. No commuting and associated costs. Not having to get on a busy tube which screehes its way through the tunnels while I inhale metallic particles is fantastic.

A bit gross but my snot used to be blackened when i used the tube every day, its now returned to a normal colour now that i don't have to breathe that nasty air in.
 
Agreed WFH is enough of a benefit

my gas/electric bill has gone up about a tenner a month but im saving 50 quid a month in fuel. I'm saving commute time and lunch breaks can be productive. Ive also got a 11 week old at home and sneaking 5 min cuddles while making a coffee is priceless and some of that gas/elec bill can be tied into her, more washing, wife being off anyway etc etc

Company doesnt pay my bb, but then they didnt before, they didnt buy my pc, but I already had it. I;ve bought a new chair yes fair enough, but it didnt have to be a secret labs titan and my previous chair was 15 years old and well past over due being replaced anyway.

I've got a job my bills are being paid, saving time on commute, I get to spend a little extra time each day with my family and not exposing myself to other colds, flus, and germs, I do miss aircon though
 
WFH is great but it's not for everyone. like said some people are only a few mins from the office
some don't have large rooms to make a work area, it will be expensive in the winter
no social interaction with people
i personally would like to go back to working from the office 3 days and at home 2 days, was best of both for me

i don't expect any extra benefit as WFH during covid as it's a benefit for me mostly anyway.
rumours of closing offices are a different matter
if they closed the office it would have to be a consultation with the employees, then i would expect extra money for heating and electricity
the company would be saving thousands. they would have to supply a desk and chair to make the work area safe / ergonomic
 
I'm expecting my company to go to 3 days in, 2 days out. But they think we're all idiots who can't manage our workloads so I bet it will be Monday and Friday, and then a random middle day, in the office just to make sure you can't sneak off half an hour early. They typically trust us, but they are obsessed with making sure we're working constantly.
 
randomshenans said:
Public sector, ok makes sense you're upset.
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Im fine I just don't think its right to mistake being flexible due to extreme circumstance with an assumption that it can be done long term. Im also not just talking about me, I am luckier than most but there are various people in various different circumstances than need to be taken into account. If its a long term thing then protocols need to be put in place and I would have a huge concern for the mental health of people who are suddenly spending all their time work and leisure in the same four walls. Im seeing it taking toll on colleagues and funnily enough more so as lockdown begins to ease, when we all had to stay indoors anyway it wasn't so much of an issue.
 
randomshenans said:
I don't know many companies that don't provide machines for employees... what on earth do you do and who do you work for where you don't have a work computer?
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My company doesn't (yet) provide machines for home working as a matter of course (not a huge company, but was in the FTSE100 until recently), I have a company provided Macbook that I got so I could work on the train etc but I hardly ever use it when working from home, as it's worse than just using my PC.

I think the key question is how long will organisation be able to get away with 'temporary' measures they had to rush in because of lockdown before they put in place a proper strategy for longer term remote working (desk assessments, provision of kit, consistent policy for what can be expensed, InfoSec stuff etc etc).
 
My company was already moving towards becoming fully cloud, Microsoft, Azure, Office 365, Sharepoint, Teams etc means that no one has to be on a corporate network to access anything (except Sage - but a VPN solves that) and so for us the transition to working from home was to purchase a few laptops for those users who didn't have a home computer/didn't want to use their home computer (I have a nice i7 laptop through work, but have chosen to use my desktop when working). The laptops were to allow people to work from home if necessary, single 13/15" screen not the best but would suffice for the odd day, the when the lockdown was announced we immediately started boxing up for couriers/taking home monitors (24" 1920x1200 Dells) so people could have decent screens. We could if we wanted also take a work chair home, so I did, which means I went from having an old rubbish 19" monitor for emergencies to dual 24" monitors and a new keyboard and my works mouse. We already had licences for softphones off our corporate phone system for a lot of users, so some more were assigned, some other users took physical phones home and some installed the mobile softphone on their phones instead. This means all users were contactable on their extensions straight away.

We have 3 offices (London, Bristol, Salisbury). The leases for London and Salisbury end this year and are not being renewed, Bristol has longer to run on lease so will be staying for now. No plans to go back into the office before September and even then its likely to be no more than 1 day a week until the new year.

Thankfully working in the telecoms/IT industry has meant we have still been busy (about 40% down on income, with about 35% staff furloughed) as we try and get our customers into positions to allow them to work from home.
 
placeholder said:
I work as a strategic procurement specialist for my local authority.

My work computer remains sitting on my desk at work and I am remoting into it from home using Forticlient and Microsoft Remote Desktop. I can then access my server through the Office Computer. However it can sometimes be a little unstable so I end up emailing contract docs to myself and have them sitting on my own desktop. I used the kitchen table for the first couple of months but when lockdown eased a little we managed to finish out house renovation so I am now in a separate area. We have access to Teams for communication but we are all using our own mobile phones as well.

I was asked if I needed anything to aid working from home in the short term. I asked for a copy of Office for my home machine and a RAM upgrade for my office desktop as its quite slow. Neither has been done.
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So you are vpning a personal machine into the network? Thats the first mistake your IT are making!
 
I have more corporate devices than I know what to do with half the time, or I can use a Windows 10 VM joined to Azure AD on my Mac, or if I am feeling particularly fancy I can jump onto Windows Virtual Desktop (I don't as we don't have end point optimisations in place for other OSs other than windows).

I am seeing various different approaches within my customer set with the best example being a tiered approach depending on need - O365 web apps / teams on web utilising conditional access and some elements of Microsoft Security for users confident in that realm, while offing a full desktop experience via WVD on web browser or end point applications for those that must work within a corporate environment.
 
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