Working From Home Megathread

Esse85

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Meanwhile, someone in the UK has a novel approach to WFH.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-57105066

That just looks and sounds horrendous.

a_squirrelman

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Pretty much anywhere in Ireland, a courier can reach you with a replacement laptop overnight.

There's a cost for companies though, in carrying ready-to-go spares just in case of a breakdown.

I live abroad, so while my manager knows and is cool with me coming home to Ireland and working from here (even pre-covid this was normal), if my laptop breaks I would know it's my problem to get back for a new one.

Now there is a chance he would be cool with me taking some annual leave days in the meantime and he might be nice enough to get it couriered out to me but that isn't policy.

Patsy167

It seems that a lot of the Financial Services Firms are pushing for full return to normal office routines. I've heard several anecdotal stories in the past week of Firms making it clear that employees are expected in the office

dkav9

Patsy167 wrote: »

It seems that a lot of the Financial Services Firms are pushing for full return to normal office routines. I've heard several anecdotal stories in the past week of Firms making it clear that employees are expected in the office

I haven't heard anything specific (fs worker) but I am thinking that if they haven't said anything at this stage they will be leaning that way...

That said I will be requesting justification for me giving up another 800€+ of my wage to live in Dublin for work when I can do it where I am

Patsy167

dkav9 wrote: »

I haven't heard anything specific (fs worker) but I am thinking that if they haven't said anything at this stage they will be leaning that way...

That said I will be requesting justification for me giving up another 800€+ of my wage to live in Dublin for work when I can do it where I am

It seems to be a case of follow the leaders. A lot of places were waiting to see how the big firms approach it and now that Goldman and Morgan Stanley have shown their hand in declaring that they more or less want a full return to office, many others are following.

FlubberJones

wes wrote: »

One of the lads moved to Spain, and didn't tell anyone, and his laptop broke, and wasn't able to go into the office and get a new one. He has definitely pissed off management with that one, as he wasn't able to work for a few days, as it took time to arrange shipping out a new machine to Spain (no offices in that country). I guess it also causes some issues with tax potentially as well.

That kind of carry on, will ruin it for the rest of us, if too many people don't inform management if they are leaving the country.

If this person was in my team I would have a serious issue with this, the whole team would like to work from another country but realise they can't, company policy etc.
If one did it and ended up in the above scenario... well they may well be preparing their C.V.

wes

FlubberJones wrote: »

If one did it and ended up in the above scenario... well they may well be preparing their C.V.

That may still happen to them. My manager is really chill about things, first time I have actually seen them annoyed.

Honestly, its bad form, as our team is very flexible for most of these things, and if they decided to go to a country that had a company office, and ask before, they probably would have been ok with that.

I know some guys from the Australian office, came to visit family in Ireland and worked from our Dublin office (before we had WFH) for a few weeks and then took their holiday and then went back.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Pretty much anywhere in Ireland, a courier can reach you with a replacement laptop overnight.

There's a cost for companies though, in carrying ready-to-go spares just in case of a breakdown.

not a WFH issue

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

not a WFH issue

It probably is if you have a desktop at work and have been given a laptop, temporarily, for WFH. Most of us, at least for large companies, have a laptop as our office computer, docked to a screen.

So yes in those instances the only WFH impact is the cost of a courier.....no extra laptop inventory being maintained

Mrs OBumble

[Deleted User] wrote: »

not a WFH issue

It is.

With WFO, there will always be someone out sick or on leave, and a personp with a broken machine can use theirs as an interim work around until the issue is fixed.

With everyone taking My Own Laptop home, you lose that capacity.

With any fleet of computers, there will always be some with hardware issues.

moycullen14

namloc1980 wrote: »

Massive issues with that from a tax and employee rights perspective. Our place has a specific section in the HR policy that says working outside the ROI is strictly prohibited under all circumstances unless it is for specific business travel purposes - but setting up shop and WFH abroad is out of the question. Anyone who breaches that is subject to serious disciplinary procedures including being fired.

If you want to work abroad then you can't be an employee. Set yourself up as a contractor through a limited company and then tax/liability become the 'employee's' issue. I've heard of that being done in the past.

Ms. Newbie18

The impression I got from my company was that as we didn't have WFH policy in place before Covid. When we were ordered to WFH it was up to us what home(country) to choose from. Now that is just the current situation in my place. I know of other larger companies which had pre-Covid WFH policy and anyone that left the country without permission was ordered home.

There are tax implications when working outside Ireland. I am sure that if you wanted to move aboard and had permission there is a form on revenue that your employer can sign to exempt you/them form paying tax in Ireland. You would then need to organise your tax in the country you are living/working from.

Mrs OBumble

Sigh, ok, I'll lay it out real simple for you as you seem to have trouble with even your own posts

You stated

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Pretty much anywhere in Ireland, a courier can reach you with a replacement laptop overnight.

There's a cost for companies though, in carrying ready-to-go spares just in case of a breakdown.

I bolded "There's a cost for companies though, in carrying ready-to-go spares just in case of a breakdown" and stated

Deleted User wrote: »

not a WFH issue

Whether or not a company holds spares or not has nothing to do with where I work.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

It is.

With WFO, there will always be someone out sick or on leave, and a personp with a broken machine can use theirs as an interim work around until the issue is fixed.

With everyone taking My Own Laptop home, you lose that capacity.

With any fleet of computers, there will always be some with hardware issues.

If a workplace has 50 employees and all use laptops, whether they are all WFH, or 50% WFH or 0% WFH has no bearing on whether that business has spares.

If a business requires everyone to use a laptop to make it money and carry out its business, then its going to have spares. If it doesn't, as you pointed out, it doesn't take that long to get one. As for the impact to the business, think of it like a travelling salesman who has a tip with the car that will take a day or two to fix.

As for sharing desktops, I haven't seen a desktop in the office in the last 5-6 years, but sure, go over and sit on Mary's PC, just be sure to sterilize it first

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

It is.

With WFO, there will always be someone out sick or on leave, and a personp with a broken machine can use theirs as an interim work around until the issue is fixed.

With everyone taking My Own Laptop home, you lose that capacity.

With any fleet of computers, there will always be some with hardware issues.

Hotdesking, which most companies will be on now if they weren’t before, works best around personal laptops plugged into a docking station. So everyone carries around their own laptop. Whether at home or in the office becomes an irrelevance other than for courier costs

Hotdesking with fixed PCs? Jesus. No thanks! That’d be disgusting....crumbs in the keyboard and all

zebastein

If my laptop breaks down and I am in the office, there is no point giving me the laptop of someone that is in leave. An empty laptop is useless to me.

I need 10 tools installed and configured to work. So that is the same issue being in the office or not, companies need to have spares and the change needs to be permanent. If you give someone a temporart laptop for 2days and then give them a permanent one, that is 3days being lost anyway.

AlmightyCushion

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

It is.

With WFO, there will always be someone out sick or on leave, and a personp with a broken machine can use theirs as an interim work around until the issue is fixed.

With everyone taking My Own Laptop home, you lose that capacity.

With any fleet of computers, there will always be some with hardware issues.

That isn't how a lot of companies work even before covid. Most people I know had their own laptop or computer and you couldn't just use someone elses. I could actually see that being a very bad thing especially when it comes to that user's files and saved log ins.

Frank Bullitt

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

It is.

With WFO, there will always be someone out sick or on leave, and a personp with a broken machine can use theirs as an interim work around until the issue is fixed.

With everyone taking My Own Laptop home, you lose that capacity.

With any fleet of computers, there will always be some with hardware issues.

Christ almighty, it is not a WFH issue.

If a person is WFH then can equally use their own personal laptop as an interim solution. That would be more useful than using someone elses.

The whole point of a laptop is that you can take it with you, you don't lose capacity you GAIN capacity for the employee as they can work FROM ANYWHERE!!!!! How can you not get your head around this?

Hardware issues will always exist, the trick is to have the processes in place to deal with them when they arise.

dkav9

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hotdesking with fixed PCs? Jesus. No thanks! That’d be disgusting....crumbs in the keyboard and all

Wouldn't crumbs in the keyboard be apparent anyways? I imagine each "hot desk" would have keyboard/mouse/monitor at each one?

Mr.S

Mr.S wrote: »

Most Dublin salaries are inflated due to cost of living, what happens if staff don't actually live or have to commute to Dublin?

Not an issue in the civil service / public sector. We get paid according to a scale whether we're living in Sligo or Dublin or anywhere in between.

dkav9

dkav9 wrote: »

Wouldn't crumbs in the keyboard be apparent anyways? I imagine each "hot desk" would have keyboard/mouse/monitor at each one?

BYOK&M maybe, I know I'd certainly be looking at something like this for hot desking

dkav9

dkav9 wrote: »

Wouldn't crumbs in the keyboard be apparent anyways? I imagine each "hot desk" would have keyboard/mouse/monitor at each one?

Our desks and offices just have a docking station and 2/3 screens.....you plug in your own laptop. And if you want your own personal mouse or bluetooth keyboard then they can be ordered. So nice clear desks for hotdesking

That’s how hotdesking works best....not with fixed PCs and keyboards etc

And easy to WFH because you just take your laptop wherever you are going

limnam

dkav9 wrote: »

Wouldn't crumbs in the keyboard be apparent anyways? I imagine each "hot desk" would have keyboard/mouse/monitor at each one?

why would you want to be using a keyboard/mouse someone else has been scratching their dandruff all over and filthy hands on?


It's moving away from this sorta craic we want to be doing. Not encouraging more of it.

boccy23

limnam wrote: »

why would you want to be using a keyboard/mouse someone else has been scratching their dandruff all over and filthy hands on?


It's moving away from this sorta craic we want to be doing. Not encouraging more of it.

Christ, it's not that difficult to have a wireless mouse and keyboard for each person these days. There are solutions to all of this.

ILikeBoats

Don't most hot desking office (pre-covid anyway) supply lockers? So you don't have to be carrying your laptop/keyboard etc in and out from home if you don't want to. Lock them away at the end of the day, get them again in the morning.

plodder

ILikeBoats wrote: »

Don't most hot desking office (pre-covid anyway) supply lockers? So you don't have to be carrying your laptop/keyboard etc in and out from home if you don't want to. Lock them away at the end of the day, get them again in the morning.

I doubt it. The idea of hot-desking is that you take the laptop home with you when you're not in the office. If you are just coming in every day then you might as well have a permanently assigned space. A fixed monitor and phone is what I'd expect. Though do many people still use desk phones? If you make a lot of calls, you'd have a personal headset I imagine.

Years ago we used to use docking stations but not in a hot desking situation because they are too specific to the laptop model and now post covid, people won't want to be using other people's keyboards.

Antares35

Eamon Ryan wading in now with his tuppence worth on the ransomware attack, saying it was caused in part by WFH. Can't believe I ever voted for that tool

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/newsireland/eamon-ryan-remote-working-may-have-made-hses-it-system-vulnerable-to-cyber-attack/ar-BB1gTGya?li=BBr5KbJ

Quin_Dub

Antares35 wrote: »

Eamon Ryan wading in now with his tuppence worth on the ransomware attack, saying it was caused in part by WFH. Can't believe I ever voted for that tool

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/newsireland/eamon-ryan-remote-working-may-have-made-hses-it-system-vulnerable-to-cyber-attack/ar-BB1gTGya?li=BBr5KbJ

He may not have been wrong technically, but it's more weak security protocols than WFH per se.

Hearing suggestions that the hack access point was from some older systems that were brought (back) online over the last year to facilitate WFH but that were not appropriately updated with the required security protocols etc.

Not sure if that's true , but it's plausible - Lots of companies/organisations were grabbing laptops out of cupboards and store rooms etc. and giving them out this time last year as they tried to get to grips with WFH.

ILikeBoats

ILikeBoats wrote: »

Don't most hot desking office (pre-covid anyway) supply lockers? So you don't have to be carrying your laptop/keyboard etc in and out from home if you don't want to. Lock them away at the end of the day, get them again in the morning.

Yes, we all have pretty generous cabinets to leave clothes and laptops and other stuff. But even if I was certain I’d be in the office the next day id almost always take the laptop home because I might decide at the last minute to WFH

limnam

boccy23 wrote: »

Christ, it's not that difficult to have a wireless mouse and keyboard for each person these days. There are solutions to all of this.

I'm referring to the comment of having keyboards at the hot desks.

average_runner

dkav9 wrote: »

Wouldn't crumbs in the keyboard be apparent anyways? I imagine each "hot desk" would have keyboard/mouse/monitor at each one?

Hot desk should only have monitors connected to a docking station. Nothing else.