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The policy is you can only work from home when it benefits the company, not you.
I’m learning that the hard way. Started working for this company 2 hours from home,because I could WFH 3 days a week. Now they want me to come in 4 days a week. So I’m looking for a new job now. Which is a shame, because I do like the job.
What does your contract say? With this back to work bullshit I made sure my contract explicitly said I was remote.
Doesn’t mean they won’t change their mind but maybe I’ll get severance instead of fired for cause of they have a back to the office push.
Good tip, I’ll double check that
keep me updated!
Keep us updated!
We need the update more than a windows user need a rollback.
That’s an exaggeration…
And my axe!
most hires don’t get contracts
edit: in USA. we get offer letters, take it or leave it. your job duties can change on the fly, no “contract” to abide by. do the job or leave/get fired. there is some negotiating room, but not a lot
Huh? All jobs come with an employment contract.
You must not be in america. We’re lucky if we get breaks.
Land of the free and all that. Free from paid healthcare, a decent public education, a strong voice in government, an impartial justice system, employee rights… With all this freedom, it’s hard to imagine wanting to be anywhere else.
Freedom to treat your employees however you want!
So if the employer suddenly decides to e.g. start paying you less, how do you prove how much your pay should be?
Previous pay stubs I suppose. Depending on the employer you may have something in writing. This typically wouldn’t be contract if you’re an employee without a union.
Someone does some digging and figures it out, and maybe five or so years later you get a check in the mail for an amount the lawyers agreed was correct.
There is nearly always a contract and the business will submit tax paperwork with your compensation to the IRS.
Under the table workers are illegal and on their own
I’m an American and I’ve always had a contract. Even in retail. Of course the contracts are all bullshit and just a waiver of my rights.
an employment offer letter is not a contract.
That’s cute you believe that
My dude, we’re talking about remote work office jobs. Not some random under the table shit.
My dude, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. That’s me in fact.
Even if I had a contract it wouldn’t matter as I live in a right to work state, they can fire me at any point without warning or cause.
Having any real employment contract is NOT the norm here.
Non office jobs are more likely to be unionized and this have a contract than office jobs.
That’s the type of thing non W2 self employed contractors or union members might have to lean back on, not rank and file full time office employees.
The term of art in employment law is “constructive dismissal”
Remote rocket ship and hiring dot cafe
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Removed by mod
I always refused to put work apps on my personal phone because they would make you agree to some bullshit where they could remote access your phone or potentially wipe it. So I would refuse and say they needed to provide a company phone for me if it was that important. Most companies are either ok with this or provide a phone, except for one company. This was a software company, and literally everything else about this company was a unicorn of a job. But for some reason they wanted me to have slack on my phone and also wouldn’t give me a company phone. So I dug up an old phone, reset it to factory settings, and added slack to that so I could say I did it. Then I put the phone away and they never asked about it again. So I really don’t know what the point of that was 🤷
It’s less cognitively taxing for me if you just comply with whatever I’ve decided
Amazing
I love this.
Zeitgeist material
We did it, classic
I don’t like the font.
Would be less cognitively taxing for them if you did.
I really don’t mind these days as long as they have a MDM so I can have it on a separate profile, but without that I’m totally with you.
What’s MDM?
Mobile device management. Basically software to manage mobile devices owned by a company.
Or work profiles on BYODs
Thank you
Thank you
How does the separate profile keep the company from factory resetting the whole device?
Because they can only see, install, or wipe things inside the work profile. It’s all sandboxed.
Quick edit: This is for Android. I have no idea about iPhones.
I don’t believe iPhone allows this, or at least the customers at my work don’t enable it for iOS.
I hadn’t had to set it up myself though so I wasnt sure. I would rather avoid the MDM altogether if possible.
I get it, and I don’t blame anyone for that choice. I made mine based on utility, convenience, and knowledge of the tool for me. I don’t care how convenient it makes things for work. They’ll give me a phone if it’s that convenient for them. But I’m not qualified to make that decision for anyone else.
I shot a message to a colleague who is still in IT (I’m into other shit these days) and he says you’re correct. IOS doesn’t allow for this. The IT department running Mobile Device Management would have to set up Mobile App Management (MAM) on their side. So it’s possible that they only get access to those apps without giving them access to the whole device but a lot of lazy departments won’t do it.
Well that explains why one of the other teams clients revolted against intune and switched to just using MFA for o365.
Its funny, they are so jaded by the MDM they keep grilling people about the MFA and if it gives access to their phones, etc.
I also think some people are starting to catch on to Microsoft’s apps collecting too much data, including MFA. Theres a big banner when you first set it up asking for permission.
My current pet peeve is Email servers (MS Office) configured to only allow connections from outlook. I’d be happy to add an account to Aquamail but they won’t let me. So no work emails on my phone or personal laptop.
Ditto, but this is actually a bonus for me.
“Didn’t you see my email and message last evening?”
“Not until I got in today, because it came after I had logged off and I can’t see that stuff on my personal phone because, you know, IT policy.”
It’s a trade off because it’s handy when you’re at an appointment.
for some reason they wanted me to have slack
I get similar requirements from school and kindergarten nowadays. They want me to install weird apps for communications. Last school had an online portal on the web and mail. That was a no brainer but these apps?
Hello Waydroid.
Not gonna taint my own phone with this stuff. That includes WhatsApp.
Same as. Certain family members expect everyone to be on Facebook and also drink all of Zucks Kool-Aid.
I just don’t go to those family events, unless I’m personally invited. If an event only exists of Facebook, it does not exist to me.
I have 2FA apps on my phone for work. I also have the horrendous HR app for applying for Annual Leave. If they insist that I need more work-related apps on my personal phone, I will be getting a second phone and using that exclusively for work. It will be turned off when I walk out the door at the end of the day and kept in my office drawer.
While I agree with you and understand that perfectly, slack doesn’t have that remote management thing, so far I’ve only seen that Microsoft apps.
Its a feature of mobile device management software. Intune for microsoft is one but theres also intelligent hub/airwatch, citrix, manageengine, etc.
As a middle manager in a corporate hellscape, one of my few joys in life is setting logic traps for HR and making them choose between admitting company policy is bullshit or directly instructing me to violate labor laws.
Doing the Lord’s work there, Sonny!
if it’s the latter, just get it in writing.
That’s the goal.
Theres something enormously satisfying about asking the question “And are you willing to give me that in writing?”
Then watching them squirm as something in their brain goes full Ackbar “ITS A TRAP!”
I would love an example, but can accept you can’t produce one without compromising yourself.
The current argument I’m involved in is about an online platform that people can use to give recognition to each other. HR is telling me to give my team negative performance reviews for not using it regularly.
They love to remind me that there’s an app that everyone can install on their phone. The thing is, my team aren’t allowed to use their phones at work. So, the goal is to get them to tell me in writing that using this online platform is mandatory and that my hourly staff has to do it off the clock or face repercussions which is illegal.
Oh I like this one a lot.
Oh that scratches the itch.
God among men
I wouldn’t go that far. There are people on here that would call me a monster for just being middle management.
Yet you continue the struggle against the chaos of bureaucracy protecting your team. That’s a hero st the very least.
Thanks for that.
Lots of people talk crap about middle management but the Job is to protect the working class from the madness of system as best you can. That makes a good leader. I had the pleasure of working with really great managers.
I’m not allowed to work from home and it seriously pisses me off. Whenever I complain about this to my boss, she always gives me shit like “you’re a school bus driver”.
I am in a weird position, as a software developer, I work for a tiny company and they’re against work from home, but they’re absolutely amazing and accommodating in all other areas and I have no complaints.
So I had car issues and was able to work from home 3 days a week, but it still pisses me off that I have to go in those two days. They say it’s so we can communicate and ask for help, but mostly it’s a silent office and we can’t even wear headphones. Often I can go in and if I’m in a mood there is no communication all day long (I am the chatty one and will engage in debates a lot). Yet I’ve had to take a 3 hours public transport route to work (car issues) just to sit there and not talk.
I’m torn because they’re amazing in every other aspect and super understanding about my mental health issues and leaving early and making up time etc. we don’t have targets and are just trusted we will work hard, I struggle as I overthink and put a lot more pressure on myself than my employer does, but I can’t change the way my mind work.
People will look at one aspect and say that the job sucks. Truth is, there is no perfect job and only you can tell that it balances out. The way you talk about it really feels like a nice place to work, with the exception of the headphones thing, that is weird. And if you like to chat with coworkers a full remote Job may be kinda hell, it is really easy to feel isolated and not connect with people because it takes more effort like going to audio or video calls to hangout or having to chat over text more
Exactly. I feel like a couple of the comments have come across as just leave if it isn’t 100% perfect, where I agree that no job is 100% ideal and it’s about trade offs.
As much I have lamented going to the office two days I week, I do notice on the weeks where I don’t go at all (feeling a little down or under the weather I can stay home more) that my mood dips and as much as I am introverted and love alone time, I have years of experience of being a faux extrovert and I actually need to converse with people to be happy. The worst thing for me is to be depressed and then isolate myself which makes me worse. Luckily Minecraft is a marker for me. If I find myself wanting to play Minecraft I am probably not doing well and just want to shut off and mindlessly play solo 😂
AJAB
Why no headphones? Is management a bunch of Nazis?
I’ve once visited an office that was like this. Was a publisher with a big IT department. Large office room, perhaps 40-50 desks. No headphones allowed. I don’t remember the reason. I would go crazy, it was not a quiet office.
I have no idea tbh, on the headphones side; they’re not Nazis (I don’t think).
What if you just…wore headphones? Will security escort you put with a baton?
No but I’m sure the bosses would ask me not to do that.
You won’t be able to hear them! Problem solved.
😂 touché
By spreading such usage of the word Nazis you’re numbing down the average person’s response to someone being called a Nazi, as it becomes a normal thing.
Save the term for people who deserve it
Like Trump
Yes
accommodating in all other areas
have to be completely silent at work
can’t wear headphones
they don’t get mad when I’m sick
no communication all day long
don’t have targets
are you sure?
Absolutely. As I said when I had car issues, which are ongoing for almost a year now, I was able to work from home.
If I’m not in a good head space I can just log off and make up the time whenever I want. I get as much support as I ask for.
With the no targets (even if my brain doesn’t do well with that) it means I just work and never get questioned about how long something is taking.
My boss will take my neurotic nature into account when doing things. So when he took me out of the office to give me my raise after a year he messaged first to say can you come outside with me, don’t worry it’s not for anything bad.
I am being mentored and when I ask for help he will break things don’t and tell me why he made certain choices when engineering a solution.
Edit: Naturally this is my first role in this industry so I have no frame of reference.
I mean I don’t know your life, but “no targets” doesn’t read “good work environment” to me, it reads “no work/life balance”
I have no other job in this industry for reference, but I will say the work life balance is I work 08:30 - 17:00 with an hour break and as many smoke (vape) breaks as I want.
Outside of those hours I am not to do anything. I’ve been told this when I’ve done bits on a Saturday because I wanted to finish something, that I should bot do that and to just do the hours I am paid for. We are encouraged to take our breaks and holidays and not work ourselves to death.
My employer is very chill and always says the client and the work is second to us as our lives matter and the work can always be done later.
Which is cool as we have some global clients that are big names. They work with us as we are chill, my boss is a genius, and we are fair. If we quote for a project we will often spend months changing that software to fit their changing needs and will not quote for more money as the way he sees it is, we get more repeat business because we are fair. If the client is taking the piss then obviously we will cut it off and re-quote, else we will just do what they want.
As a developer for 15 years: there’s no reason to put up with any bullshit in this field. They need us more than we need them. This field is mercenary as fuck.
I’ve switched jobs on average every 2 years, except for one that I went back to for a second stint and one that was just a great place to work (remote). My salary has quadrupled in those years and I’ve learned never to stick around out of fear that there isn’t something better: there always is, and if the next job isn’t the one, get another one after that (and probably another raise).
If your boss is great than you scored big. It is hard to find an understanding boss. Especially if he takes the time to mentor you. Most ppl do not have time to teach their juniors. See this as an investment for the future you. I think it sounds stupid to quit because of one reason if everything else is great. But if working from home weights more than anything else then yes you should switch.
We got the “order” to work at least at the office 2 days a week two weeks ago because the community we had has been lost. But so far have I only seen the same ppl who was at work before the “order” (I have been at work twice a week because of a project so I can tell if there is any difference) so yeah, I think most just yearn for how it was. And in the big schema of things will this only be x years or even only months of your 80-90 year old life.
I assume most are angry because they don’t get a good logical reason to why, because there are none, it is all about feelings, like community, showing customers their employees, or feeling in control because you can see and talk to ppl about what they do and if they need help. It can also be less pleasant reasons that most have already stated.
You are the only one who can make a decision for yourself. Remember that you can switch if need be.
