Working From Home Megathread

limnam

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

One thing I don't have is data about actual WFH productivity vs self-perception of productivity and career impact. I've a hunch that there are some interesting trends in that area, but am not naming them yet. (One poster put up observations from his/her team earlier in the thread.)

If this makes me a "Karen". then I'll wear that badge (stroppy woman who says what she thinks) with pride.

You can be all stroppy saying what you think based on your "hunches"



when it's not fact based but nonsensical tripe which makes you sound more unhappy with your little kitchen table than WFH itself expect to be called out on it.

Backstreet Moyes

I really can't see how its more difficult for managers, for my team anyway its made things a lot easier

In the office you go walking to someone's desk and then to another desk in another part of the building and messages can get mixed up

Then add in the probability you will get caught for small talk on the way to the person and then the small talk with the person you are looking for then you are wasting a few minutes

With work from home the manager just sets up a group chat with everyone who is working on something and everyone is clear on the messages and time is not wasted on small talk

I actually can't see how managers could be finding it more difficult to communicate to the team

recyclops

I will say this the term "Dial it in" didnt just spring in overnight and it wont disappear overnight either and anyone who says they didn't dialled it in the old fashioned way some days during the glorious summer last year is a robot.

limnam

Nuts102 wrote: »

I really can't see how its more difficult for managers, for my team anyway its made things a lot easier

For strong competent managers there's little change I'd say.

Brian CivilEng

Your kilometrage may vary, and I am writing this through the lens of someone for whom working from home doesn't suit, but a few observations I have on the challenges of working from home.

As an introverted person, if left to my own devices I could easily spend days without talking to another human being. I miss being forced to by needing to leave the house and going to the office every day, because it is always more rewarding.

I miss the times where I have my head down working, and just can't remember a word, or the name of a product etc. and I just ask a question out loud to nobody in particular, and someone in earshot answers it.

I miss bouncing ideas off colleagues just because they are there. IM or Teams calls just seems so formal, simply stopping someone walking past your desk and showing them something on your screen for a quick opinion is much easier.

I miss building relationships in the breakroom, so that when you later have to work with that person you already have built some understanding. Around 30% of my colleagues started since we all began wfh. They are nothing more than a name or a face in a box that discusses work to me.

I miss the unexpected collaborations, when you overhear someone discuss a problem that you worked on 15 years ago, when you realise someone is on the phone to a supplier you have a personal relationship with so can give them a hand, when you overhear someone describe a product you didn't know existed that could be very useful to your project.

I miss seeing other people struggle to complete their tasks too, to remind me that it's not only me who finds this difficult and those perfect rounded solutions you saw colleagues present at a meeting also went through weeks of failures and redesign. When working from home I get so much inside my own head I've almost convinced myself that I can't do my job anymore.

I miss being able to just keep going for another 20mins at 5pm to get something finished, and not have to clear away as the table is needed for dinner and my daughter wants to tell me about her day at the créche.

I miss plotting drawings at A1 size for review.

I miss being able to "corner" a director to chase them up for a signature etc. In the office you can spot when their door is open and stick your head in asking for a second. When you are right there it's hard for them to say no. When wfh you see the red dot beside their name all day, and your email goes unanswered. You don't know if they are extremely busy, or if they finished up a meeting early and are just sitting there carrying out non-essential tasks.

Lots of other things that are difficult to explain too. There a much better "feel" for what is going on in office from overhearing what other colleagues are discussing in the break room rather than the one all staff Teams update every month.

I'm sure I could put a lot of effort at this and maybe make working from home tolerable if I am forced to. But I don't want to. I want to go back to the office.

krissovo

Nuts102 wrote: »

I really can't see how its more difficult for managers, for my team anyway its made things a lot easier

I actually can't see how managers could be finding it more difficult to communicate to the team

We did a 360 appraisal back in February, approx 15% of the managers were identified as struggling with the hybrid working change were then provided with the right training through the following syllabus:

How can we socialize and maintain relationships with our colleagues?
How do we stay visible when working remotely?
How should we communicate and manage our virtual meetings?
How should we organize our hybrid teams to get the best of both worlds?
How can we exercise control and mange performance in this more distributed environment?
What is the best way to organize our collaboration?
How can we improve diversity and inclusion when working remotely?
How can we maintain our wellbeing when working from home?
How do we stay creativity virtually?

krissovo

Incidentally for the employees who were struggling there was also a syllabus for them:

getting set up – knowing what advantages and challenges to expect
connecting to your WFH community, preventing social isolation
balancing productivity with resilience – sustainable working from home
managing work and home boundaries and routines
applying the principles and practices of great remote collaboration
managing too many virtual meetings and a lack of online engagement
maintaining your personal effectiveness
maintaining trust and team spirit when we may not be able to meet
staying visible when working remotely
finding the right balance of trust and control

Antares35

Had annual review with my manager in the last few days. Overall they are very happy with my performance and agree with the objectives I've identified for the year ahead. Promotion has been approved too so I'm delighted with that. And there's a training budget which will allow me to do the improvement course I've looked into. I had a good feeling tbh, notwithstanding the lockdown, because my manager has never been the micro managing type, and we've managed quite well in terms of keeping each other up to speed and meeting deadlines, keeping productivity where it should be etc.

At the end there was space for any other queries so I bit the bullet and asked about the roadmap in terms of the working model when restrictions lift. Basically, we will be allowed to choose anything from 0-5 days office based and obviously there is an expectation that we will manage this ourselves in the context of strategic planning so e.g. if I'm going to do one day in on a certain week it will be when we have meetings with external stakeholders etc., or if there is a project requiring team work, that we would arrange ourselves to be in for say three days to get the collaborative side done. A common sense approach basically.

average_runner

Brian CivilEng wrote: »

Your kilometrage may vary, and I am writing this through the lens of someone for whom working from home doesn't suit, but a few observations I have on the challenges of working from home.

As an introverted person, if left to my own devices I could easily spend days without talking to another human being. I miss being forced to by needing to leave the house and going to the office every day, because it is always more rewarding.

I miss the times where I have my head down working, and just can't remember a word, or the name of a product etc. and I just ask a question out loud to nobody in particular, and someone in earshot answers it.

I miss bouncing ideas off colleagues just because they are there. IM or Teams calls just seems so formal, simply stopping someone walking past your desk and showing them something on your screen for a quick opinion is much easier.

I miss building relationships in the breakroom, so that when you later have to work with that person you already have built some understanding. Around 30% of my colleagues started since we all began wfh. They are nothing more than a name or a face in a box that discusses work to me.

I miss the unexpected collaborations, when you overhear someone discuss a problem that you worked on 15 years ago, when you realise someone is on the phone to a supplier you have a personal relationship with so can give them a hand, when you overhear someone describe a product you didn't know existed that could be very useful to your project.

I miss seeing other people struggle to complete their tasks too, to remind me that it's not only me who finds this difficult and those perfect rounded solutions you saw colleagues present at a meeting also went through weeks of failures and redesign. When working from home I get so much inside my own head I've almost convinced myself that I can't do my job anymore.

I miss being able to just keep going for another 20mins at 5pm to get something finished, and not have to clear away as the table is needed for dinner and my daughter wants to tell me about her day at the créche.

I miss plotting drawings at A1 size for review.

I miss being able to "corner" a director to chase them up for a signature etc. In the office you can spot when their door is open and stick your head in asking for a second. When you are right there it's hard for them to say no. When wfh you see the red dot beside their name all day, and your email goes unanswered. You don't know if they are extremely busy, or if they finished up a meeting early and are just sitting there carrying out non-essential tasks.

Lots of other things that are difficult to explain too. There a much better "feel" for what is going on in office from overhearing what other colleagues are discussing in the break room rather than the one all staff Teams update every month.

I'm sure I could put a lot of effort at this and maybe make working from home tolerable if I am forced to. But I don't want to. I want to go back to the office.

That is ok and companies will cater for you. If current company doesnt, look for one that will.

Ps once your kids hits 6-10 age and sports at 6pm during the weeks, you will.see working from home differently.

Can u get a desk for your bedroom instead of downstairs?

Naos

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There are a whole lot of factors which kept people working in employer-controlled-premises before Covid-19, even though the technology existed to allow work-from-anywhere a long time ago. Those factors palled into insignificance beside Covid-19. But they haven't gone away, and will become more important as we return to "normal".

Like what exactly? It's been almost a year & a half. The wheels in companies are still turning, staff are being hired & trained, in a lot of sectors productivity is up.

Personally, as long as I can be back in the office at least 3 days/week, then I don't care where other people are. I don't want to be there for the social contact, I'm just sick of having 3 square inches of space to move my mouse on the kitchen table.

If this is your main gripe then clear your table? It's a kitchen table - do you have plates on it permanenty or something?

But I'm already seeing young employees who aren't getting the feedback / development they deserve. I'm hearing them say they want social contact. I'm listening to a friend who's forced to WFH and lives with his mother with dementia. I'm seeing operational issues develop that would have been fixed so quickly with a quick chat with a colleague (the chat never happened with WFH because the initial person didn't realise they were wrong about something, so didn't ask). I've observed high staff turnover in WFH hires, and a surprising willingness on the company's part to fail someone's probation.

I suspect that the WFH advocates deny all these factors because they're desperate to be allowed to continue WFH. I also suspect that this is a poor strategy: they'd do better to acknowledge the issues, and be part of mitigating the.

- Missing social contact? Fair point, you feel free to go work in the office.
- Mother with dementia? Fair point, you feel free to go work in the office.
- Op issue and person didnt realise they were wrong? How or why would they have a quick chat with a collegue about it if they didn't know they were wrong? Nothing to do with WFH.
- High staff turnover? I won't get too into it but from what you described, you/your company has not exactly responded quickly and efficiently to the WFH change.

One thing I don't have is data about actual WFH productivity vs self-perception of productivity and career impact. I've a hunch that there are some interesting trends in that area, but am not naming them yet. (One poster put up observations from his/her team earlier in the thread.)

If this makes me a "Karen". then I'll wear that badge (stroppy woman who says what she thinks) with pride.

Have you missed all the articles in this thread linking to higher producitiviy in those who WFH?

Naos

I'll respond in bold as a person who is suited to WFH - firstly I do appreciate the long thought out post, fair play.

Brian CivilEng wrote: »

Your kilometrage may vary, and I am writing this through the lens of someone for whom working from home doesn't suit, but a few observations I have on the challenges of working from home.

As an introverted person, if left to my own devices I could easily spend days without talking to another human being. I miss being forced to by needing to leave the house and going to the office every day, because it is always more rewarding. True introverts have their energy drained from them in social interactions. It's not a great thing. Based on that, I wouldnt suspect you're an introvert as who would want to be feeling lethargic on purpose?

I miss the times where I have my head down working, and just can't remember a word, or the name of a product etc. and I just ask a question out loud to nobody in particular, and someone in earshot answers it. Fair enough but can you not just set up a team chat? The opposite of that coin is having people just shouting random things while you're trying to work.

I miss bouncing ideas off colleagues just because they are there. IM or Teams calls just seems so formal, simply stopping someone walking past your desk and showing them something on your screen for a quick opinion is much easier. As above, messenger chats work absolutely fine for most but maybe your company is different, I don't know.

I miss building relationships in the breakroom, so that when you later have to work with that person you already have built some understanding. Around 30% of my colleagues started since we all began wfh. They are nothing more than a name or a face in a box that discusses work to me. I have been loving going for a walk and not thinking about working during my breaktime

I miss the unexpected collaborations, when you overhear someone discuss a problem that you worked on 15 years ago, when you realise someone is on the phone to a supplier you have a personal relationship with so can give them a hand, when you overhear someone describe a product you didn't know existed that could be very useful to your project. Fair point, I'll give you that.

I miss seeing other people struggle to complete their tasks too, to remind me that it's not only me who finds this difficult and those perfect rounded solutions you saw colleagues present at a meeting also went through weeks of failures and redesign. When working from home I get so much inside my own head I've almost convinced myself that I can't do my job anymore. I sort of see where you're coming from but it's quite a negative stance. Chat to your teammates, tell them you're struggling. Same thing.

I miss being able to just keep going for another 20mins at 5pm to get something finished, and not have to clear away as the table is needed for dinner and my daughter wants to tell me about her day at the créche. I don't want to get into this one.. I just hope you don't look back at this statement with regret in a few years .

I miss plotting drawings at A1 size for review. Maybe your job is just not suited to WFH?

I miss being able to "corner" a director to chase them up for a signature etc. In the office you can spot when their door is open and stick your head in asking for a second. When you are right there it's hard for them to say no. When wfh you see the red dot beside their name all day, and your email goes unanswered. You don't know if they are extremely busy, or if they finished up a meeting early and are just sitting there carrying out non-essential tasks. Kind of on your Directors - do they not like money? But I understand.

Lots of other things that are difficult to explain too. There a much better "feel" for what is going on in office from overhearing what other colleagues are discussing in the break room rather than the one all staff Teams update every month. Again, going from the work desk to a breakroom and chatting about work is just... it's not for me.

I'm sure I could put a lot of effort at this and maybe make working from home tolerable if I am forced to. But I don't want to. I want to go back to the office. Fair enough - as a WFH advocate I say go for it. Just don't drag thse who want to WFH which seems to be the biggest issues with the Office crowd.

Christy42

Brian CivilEng wrote: »

Your kilometrage may vary, and I am writing this through the lens of someone for whom working from home doesn't suit, but a few observations I have on the challenges of working from home.

As an introverted person, if left to my own devices I could easily spend days without talking to another human being. I miss being forced to by needing to leave the house and going to the office every day, because it is always more rewarding.

I miss the times where I have my head down working, and just can't remember a word, or the name of a product etc. and I just ask a question out loud to nobody in particular, and someone in earshot answers it.

I miss bouncing ideas off colleagues just because they are there. IM or Teams calls just seems so formal, simply stopping someone walking past your desk and showing them something on your screen for a quick opinion is much easier.

I miss building relationships in the breakroom, so that when you later have to work with that person you already have built some understanding. Around 30% of my colleagues started since we all began wfh. They are nothing more than a name or a face in a box that discusses work to me.

I miss the unexpected collaborations, when you overhear someone discuss a problem that you worked on 15 years ago, when you realise someone is on the phone to a supplier you have a personal relationship with so can give them a hand, when you overhear someone describe a product you didn't know existed that could be very useful to your project.

I miss seeing other people struggle to complete their tasks too, to remind me that it's not only me who finds this difficult and those perfect rounded solutions you saw colleagues present at a meeting also went through weeks of failures and redesign. When working from home I get so much inside my own head I've almost convinced myself that I can't do my job anymore.

I miss being able to just keep going for another 20mins at 5pm to get something finished, and not have to clear away as the table is needed for dinner and my daughter wants to tell me about her day at the créche.

I miss plotting drawings at A1 size for review.

I miss being able to "corner" a director to chase them up for a signature etc. In the office you can spot when their door is open and stick your head in asking for a second. When you are right there it's hard for them to say no. When wfh you see the red dot beside their name all day, and your email goes unanswered. You don't know if they are extremely busy, or if they finished up a meeting early and are just sitting there carrying out non-essential tasks.

Lots of other things that are difficult to explain too. There a much better "feel" for what is going on in office from overhearing what other colleagues are discussing in the break room rather than the one all staff Teams update every month.

I'm sure I could put a lot of effort at this and maybe make working from home tolerable if I am forced to. But I don't want to. I want to go back to the office.

A lot of value there but it seems like a lot is not relevant if you don't do much wfh in the future.

Though I am the opposite with regards to the overtime. With the express bus service I will get annoyed at doing a bit extra that could cost me an hour in terms of the time I get home. Now 20 minutes costs me 20 minutes. Obviously different people are going to have different experiences (my dinner is normally later and don't have children). Heck I have even had code running while other tasks are attended to in the evening while in the office I would have to sit and do nothing while staying late waiting for the code.

However this difference between us seems to highlight the benefits of employers remaining flexible with wfh. You should be let into the office. I am sure plenty will even help you along with their office allowance so they can stay at home more.

Certainly I have not seeing many in the thread against other people going back into the office. Some employers may have issue with it but can't help you there unfortunately.

Mrs OBumble

Naos wrote: »

If this is your main gripe then clear your table? It's a kitchen table - do you have plates on it permanenty or something?

What should I clear off it - the laptop, the monitor or the docking station? Or perhaps the 1/3 of it that I've kindly left for my semi-retired partner to use? You do know that some people live in small apartments, right?

Naos wrote: »

- Op issue and person didnt realise they were wrong? How or why would they have a quick chat with a collegue about it if they didn't know they were wrong? Nothing to do with WFH.

In the office, a colleague would have heard the early part of the conversation and said "hang on isn't it XYY not XYZ?" With WFH, there's no overhearing unless your manager is listening in to a call, and mostly they aren't. So absolutely the problem grew legs due to WFH.

Naos wrote: »

Have you missed all the articles in this thread linking to higher producitiviy in those who WFH?

Self-praise is no praise. Just because people perceive that they have higher productivity, doesn't mean they do, or that the company agrees - or that they are doing what the company needs them to be doing. There's also the reality that it was during a pandemic: people had nowhere else to go.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Random complaints about WFH.

Same as everyone, you have options

1. Improve your home setup
2. Work from a hub/offsite hot desk
3. Go to the office and work there
4. Move jobs

From what you've said you've had a lot of jobs in the last few years, so #4 might be the best option for you.

Its been stated ad nauseum in this and other WFH threads you are in that yes, WFH doesn't work for everyone, in which case, the options above are open to all. Not every option will be open to every person, but there will be more than 1 for everyone.....unless you manage to think of some random edge case again

Antares35

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Self-praise is no praise. Just because people perceive that they have higher productivity, doesn't mean they do, or that the company agrees - or that they are doing what the company needs them to be doing.

That's a good point. I had to wait for my promotion and 18% payrise to be confirmed before I could be absolutely sure my boss was happy with my WFH output

Frank Bullitt

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Self-praise is no praise. Just because people perceive that they have higher productivity, doesn't mean they do, or that the company agrees - or that they are doing what the company needs them to be doing. There's also the reality that it was during a pandemic: people had nowhere else to go.

Another good chuckle out of this one.

You claim the office is more productive, yet a number of studies (that I have linked throughout this thread) point otherwise.

How exactly then would you measure productivity? With asses in seats? Number speak for themselves, just look at the profits of tech/digital first companies and their profits. More data for you.

In the office, a colleague would have heard the early part of the conversation and said "hang on isn't it XYY not XYZ?" With WFH, there's no overhearing unless your manager is listening in to a call, and mostly they aren't. So absolutely the problem grew legs due to WFH.

This is one of the shortfalls of an office, WFH can easily solve this with agendas and set meetings. Hold people accountable to deadlines and agendas, none of the information that gets lost in the wind or sofa chat in an office. That is not inclusive or productive in the long run, it is also not a scalable way of working at all.

One big thing in WFHs favour that I have found, is set agendas. Make a plan, stick to it, regular check-ins, tools to help track progress, easy.

Hoping or relying on hearing something in an office in the off chance is a poor, poor way of running a team.

limnam

Frank Bullitt wrote: »

How exactly then would you measure productivity?.

Hunches seems to be her gauge

Christy42

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

What should I clear off it - the laptop, the monitor or the docking station? Or perhaps the 1/3 of it that I've kindly left for my semi-retired partner to use? You do know that some people live in small apartments, right?




In the office, a colleague would have heard the early part of the conversation and said "hang on isn't it XYY not XYZ?" With WFH, there's no overhearing unless your manager is listening in to a call, and mostly they aren't. So absolutely the problem grew legs due to WFH.




Self-praise is no praise. Just because people perceive that they have higher productivity, doesn't mean they do, or that the company agrees - or that they are doing what the company needs them to be doing. There's also the reality that it was during a pandemic: people had nowhere else to go.

Do people listen in on that many conversations in work? Mostly my managers were off at meetings and unlikely to overhear anything they were not specifically involved in. Other colleagues nearby would likely hear about it in our scheduled catch ups in WFH. No one else was likely to be near. A company is not paying rent for the sake of that rare scenario.

Equally because people perceive they have a higher productivity in the office does not mean they do. Or that the company has actually noticed a difference.

JDD

This isn't a black or white issue lads.

Right now, if I were to choose going back to the office full time, or WFH full time, I would choose WFH. But that's not to say that I don't identify with a lot of Brian's post. Unlike Brian, I am an out and out extrovert and found it very difficult WFH at the start. I even missed my commute in some ways because while it was an hour each way I nearly always got a seat and had time to myself to watch a series on Netflix or read a book.

And I kind of see what Brian is saying on the 5pm cut off too. I'm not much of a morning person, my productivity comes mostly after lunch and come 4.30pm I'm trucking out the work. Even though it would have made my life much easier and less stressful if I had the discipline to just say "5pm, going home time" when I was in the office, I would often stay a bit later to get a particular piece of work done. And I would have had my commute home to decompress and convert from "Work Me" to "Home Me". Since WFH we make sure that the kids are home on the dot of 5pm and I'm not saying i want to change that, but I do find the conversion from "Work Me" to "Home Me" very jolting and, I'll admit, sometimes frustrating when I want to get something finished.

I mean, it's definitely better for the kids to be at home earlier, us all having dinner together, rather than the mad sprint to the childminder at 6.29pm and only spending a short amount of time with them. So I'll keep it like this. I just don't think I'll ever get used to that sharp transition from Professional Serious Work Me to Chief Entertainer/Referee in the space of two minutes.

And I very much miss the chats about what's going on cases outside of my own portfolio of stuff. You learn so much from those conversations. And there's something very different in saying "oh hey Stephen, now that I see you, could I run something past you?" as opposed to "Hey Stephen. I wonder if I could give you a call on something. Would you be free for five minutes?", "Sorry Susan, I'm just going on a call now. I could call you at 11?", "Great thanks Stephen", "Sorry Susan, that meeting overran, are you free now?"......*Susan away from the laptop for 10 mins, and sees that Stephen is on another call when she gets back*...."Actually Stephen, don't worry about it, I figured it out" - because either you have figured it out or it's been built up so much that Susan feels it isn't worth a call now.

This is why, for me, a hybrid is the ideal. But that doesn't mean I'd impose a hybrid on everyone.

Brian CivilEng

Just to clarify one thing, lest anyone gets the wrong idea. If my daughter wants to talk to me, I will 100% drop everything and give her my attention. No job is worth sacrificing that. It's just that usually means I need to go back to finish something off for an hour after she goes to bed that would have taken 20mins if I just kept going.

If I'm in the office she doesn't even think of talking to me as I am not home. However when I'm working in the kitchen (or even in the bedroom) talking to me is an option. Hell, even if I'm busy I'll still stop what I'm doing to give her a hug as soon as she gets home around 5pm.

I also appreciate that leaving the office at 5:20 can mean it's almost 7 when I get home, whereas leaving at 5 meant I'll be home by six. I suffered on the bus for years. Working in the office wasn't perfect, and I envied my wife who worked from home three days a week. I no longer envy her.

Brian CivilEng

Naos wrote: »

True introverts have their energy drained from them in social interactions. It's not a great thing. Based on that, I wouldn't suspect you're an introvert as who would want to be feeling lethargic on purpose?

I'll clarify, after a day in the office I would come home absolutely drained. I've come home after a successful day of presenting on a proposed project which gained me congratulations from the higher ups and just collapsed in tears on the couch as I had zero energy left. But at the end of the week I felt better, like I had achieved something.

Right now I feel like everything is grand as it is happening, a little meh but not challenging. But there is no sense of achievement. There have been a few weeks where I realised I didn't speak to a single person outside of my own household in the entire week. There are no lows but no corresponding highs.

Mrs OBumble

Here ya go - one for those of you who laughed at GDPR, and told me that using Citrix from a home network was fine:

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/117291818

(This is more extreme 'cos the employee was using their personal laptop. But devious minds can see how similar things could be installed to other devices on a home network. )

And it's a classic case of why you should never use your personal PC for work.

Antares35

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Here ya go - one for those of you who laughed at GDPR, and told me that using Citrix from a home network was fine:

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/117291818

(This is more extreme 'cos the employee was using their personal laptop. But devious minds can see how similar things could be installed to other devices on a home network. )

And it's a classic case of why you should never use your personal PC for work.

I saw that and the first thought I had was wondering how long it would take you to find it

People get scammed every day on all sorts of devices. Should we go back to dially up phones and typewriters? Also, advocating WFH doesn't mean you're advocating for use of your own stuff. Really people should be a bit more assertive about refusing to use their own devices. That's a confidence, not a WFH issue.

limnam

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Here ya go - one for those of you who laughed at GDPR, and told me that using Citrix from a home network was fine:

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/117291818

(This is more extreme 'cos the employee was using their personal laptop. But devious minds can see how similar things could be installed to other devices on a home network. )

And it's a classic case of why you should never use your personal PC for work.

huh


What's this got to do with GDPR?


This is a failing on the company to provide staff with with pc/laptop to be used for WFH.



There's no way for me to connect to work from home unless it's from a work provided laptop.


This is not a GDPR issue it's a "classic" failing of the company and IT teams to provide a worker with the correct resources for WFH.


If you do things badly WFH won't make much of a difference.


Don't worry. I'm still laughing.

Helpneeded86

Any talk in the new guidelines of what they plan to do with the work situation?

Sconsey

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Here ya go - one for those of you who laughed at GDPR, and told me that using Citrix from a home network was fine:

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/117291818

(This is more extreme 'cos the employee was using their personal laptop. But devious minds can see how similar things could be installed to other devices on a home network. )

And it's a classic case of why you should never use your personal PC for work.

Never say never! In fairness some IT departments are very old fashioned in their operations so it may be true for some. But modern device management leans heavily towards accessing your data from anywhere on any device. There are plenty of tools available to enable this. I see enterprises moving in this direction very rapidly, all industries. Simply put, it is very possible to safely enable employees access work from multiple devices, either corporate owned or user owned.

Mrs OBumble

Sconsey wrote: »

Simply put, it is very possible to safely enable employees access work from multiple devices, either corporate owned or user owned.

Please do tell us what tools could protect from hacker-installed screen-image capture on a personal PC.

I'm all ears.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Please do tell us what tools could protect from hacker-installed screen-image capture on a personal PC.

I'm all ears.

Education

krissovo

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Please do tell us what tools could protect from hacker-installed screen-image capture on a personal PC.

I'm all ears.

Here is one https://www.vmware.com/products/workspace-one.html

I believe the majority of banks & the US military use this

Naos

Brian CivilEng wrote: »

Just to clarify one thing, lest anyone gets the wrong idea. If my daughter wants to talk to me, I will 100% drop everything and give her my attention. No job is worth sacrificing that. It's just that usually means I need to go back to finish something off for an hour after she goes to bed that would have taken 20mins if I just kept going.

If I'm in the office she doesn't even think of talking to me as I am not home. However when I'm working in the kitchen (or even in the bedroom) talking to me is an option. Hell, even if I'm busy I'll still stop what I'm doing to give her a hug as soon as she gets home around 5pm.

I also appreciate that leaving the office at 5:20 can mean it's almost 7 when I get home, whereas leaving at 5 meant I'll be home by six. I suffered on the bus for years. Working in the office wasn't perfect, and I envied my wife who worked from home three days a week. I no longer envy her.

Apologies if my response to you on this part came across overly negative or condemning - not intended, you sound like a great father.