Teleworking

No, it doesn't. What you say is that you had technical problems due to poor bandwidth in your area.

I almost wish I was back at work, R1.

At first, it was fun being home and not having to go to work.

But now, it's becoming a chore having to "prove" that I'm working from home.

I'm running out of ideas, and I don't think the "bandwith" excuse if going to cut it.

I've been doing it since 2007. I'm guessing it depends on what you're doing. (I'm a software developer.). In my previous life, I'd go to the office, sit at my desk eight hours and do what I do at home now. What's changed? No commute (which usually results in extra hours of work.)

The current situation is a game-changer. People who don't need to commute to an office just don't need to do sol. It was all a matter of tradition. My company, we maybe had two percent telecommuters. Now we're at 100 per cent. We can pretty much stop renting our office space.

Op, I spent all last week drinking during the day...I’m meant to upload a report at 9:00am tomorrow and I haven’t done shit!

We could help you more if we knew what kind of work you're supposed to be doing...

My job is completely hands-on, R3.

I don't want to get into details, but not a lot can be done from home.

So we were tasked with reading through policies, watching online video seminars, and coming up with strategic plans.

It's such a waste of time. I'd much rather be at work.

I teach online now, was in person. So yes, I’m held totally accountable.

Same here, R4.

About the drinking part.. lol. And watching tv. And visiting Datalounge.

Unfortunately, there's only so much of that you can do all day.

I really need to get back to work. I'm so fucking bored.

Well, you can press play on those online video seminars and then do something else while it plays in the background.

Easy: watch a a few minutes of a video seminar, and read a few random policies -The use what you saw to create several "questions that arose while you were working." As for plans, come up with one, and then make several variations based on different likely dates for people heading back to work in person. Then, once you've satisfied the boss, go back and actually do the fucking things you were supposed to do...

Then you can watch porn and jack off to your heart's content.

I have a friend who's a corporate executive, and even she doesn't know what to do with herself.

Thus far, she's been posting motivational messages on her Facebook page every day, to look busy.

"Stay safe, everyone. And remember, we'll get through this together."

Blarf.

Lol R10.

The reality is, that most of us can't work from home.

We really have to be interacting live with other people, despite all of society's technological advances.

Again, the U.S. economy is a service economy, and much of that depends on interacting in-person with other people.

R6--that's another story. I understand. My job is completely contained in my laptop. I realize I'm lucky. Sadly, sounds like you are not so much so. I can only hope that a) things get easier for you to be able to do your job and b) you get through this all okay. I honestly send you my best wishes (realizing that we're all on the same boat.)

Thanks, R3/R13!

OP I’ve been telecommuting for years, off and on.

I’m finding this a challenge because so many people are working from home for the first time, and don’t really “get” it. I am drowning in unnecessary emails, text messages, phone calls and Skype sessions.

This thread is a learning experience to me. Having telecommuted so long I never understood why is wasn't just the standard. Of course, there are jobs that absolutely can't be done from home it didn't occur to me that there are jobs that don't necessarily require interaction with the public that require interaction with co-workers. Plus, there's the innate need for interaction;; over the years, I have felt compelled to travel to the home office and spend a few days every couple of months with my co-workersl

But I do believe that in a lot of situations, like my own, we're going to see companies give up the model of people gathering in the office every day.

Doing Skype and Facetime with my co-workers has availed me of what absolute shit taste in home decor some of them have.

I bought four bottles of my favorite single malts--and one of Australian whiskey(!)--on my way home the night it was announced we'd be teleworking for two weeks (now changed to eight).

I knew there would be so many Zoom calls, Skype sessions, Microsoft Teams meetings and inane chats, WhatsApp chains, random text messages, and cell-phone calls that this would be the only way to survive.

Every day at noon I fill a big (opaque) glass with ice and soda, splash several inches of scotch in, and sip on it through out the rest of the day. Some days they are so cray I have to have a second.

I have never been more productive.

Haha, that sounds heavenly, R18.

Good for you!

R18--exactly!

Teleworking? Y'all must be Eldergays. It's called work from home. WFH for short.

R21, unless you work for the government (or a government contractor). Then it's called "teleworking", no matter what your age.

I see RIF in r21's future.

Lol, R23.

Let's hope! *crossing fingers*

He/she is an arrogant fucking twat.

R21 - I know you can't understand this, but you post screams "ignorant asshole." I',m not disparaging you. You're like a 55 year old Donald Trump. You might be president some day.

Nothing much has changed. I’ve been teleworking for almost 20 years. I like working from home. I like being my own boss.

Just the occasional meeting and people unused to this who don’t work. I start and drive my own projects and pretty much work round the clock at all hours as I work globally. I nap, fap, and eat whenever I feel like.

I don’t care for too many people so I’m cool that I don’t have to meet them or respond to invitations. And no, I’m not a shut in basement dweller, unpopular or introvert.

If anything positive comes out of this Covid19 horror, it will be that the new policies favoring telecommuting will totally change traffic congestion and pollution - plus save money by not requiring decent clothing and lunch expenses or after work happy hours.

I am applying for teleworking writing, graphic design and video-making gigs for the first time.

Some places pay by the hour, some places offer flat fees for a project.How do freelance writers report their hours? How do employers know if the hours were truly worked? If I offer a project-hour estimate before the employer agrees to pay for it, and my project takes longer than expected to finish, what do we do?

[quote] I’m finding this a challenge because so many people are working from home for the first time, and don’t really “get” it. I am drowning in unnecessary emails, text messages, phone calls and Skype sessions.

I was already doing a lot of work from home. An elder friend, who just started working from home, told me she started using "ear plugs." I said, what? She meant ear phones. Like using ear phones (for talking on phone) was some type of new, challenging, work-from-home technology.

Lol R29.

That's cute.

Yes! Look at us collaborating! I'm going to take a screenshot and post it to our corporate blog to show it's business as usual! Our influencers are also singing songs on Instagram about how our brand cares! And we separated the close element of our logo, isn't that fucking clever!

Thanks for the Dilbert-esque laffs. Back when I was an independent contractor it felt pretty isolating. I much prefer working closely with a team.

What happened to "telecommuting?" Isn't that the same as "teleworking?"

On my drove home a few minutes ago, I saw a lot of people working from the park.

There was a story about local ad agency said how they are doing. Two of the agency owners said video meetings are more efficient. Why? Because during a usual meeting there are lots of sidebar chats going on. Hard to do in a video conference.

Like others have alluded to. The future of offices is here. Working from home keeps cars off the street. It reduces the need for more office space. Office building owners do not want to hear that.

Me,I run equipment for a commercial printer. I can't take these big machines home at night.

OP and everyone - your work should have provided some sort of "work tracking" frame.

If they did not - well that's good and bad.

But, to protect yourself - come up with an excel sheet and keep it simple. Account for the necessary hours each day and put a very brief description of the tasks you do.

Also, in your email - use folders. Put all your incoming and out coming emails into folders according to project/task. That would help you document that you did work.

The quantity of my emails and messages went up - both in number, and time in my day I must spend on this shitty task. It's just the way it is.

R35 is right.

As someone who bills their time, welcome to our world. I'm fairly discipline about this process so I do it daily usually, weekly at worst. Sometimes things are quite crazy and hectic that weeks go by and it is quite difficult as the days blend together. Don't know how some of my colleagues who are procrastinators do it monthly or even quarterly (and yes they hear from the top about it).

One trick: go over your sent emails. Look for projects/tasks that you've responded to recently (even if not last week). It will give you an idea of recent tasks/projects you've been working on and then go over to your Inbox to fil in holes. Don't start at your Inbox because you will have a bunch of admin/irrelevant emails and you will not form a clear starting point.

Then going forward come up with an action plan at the end of the week for the next week, but this week start now. You'll thank yourself for it when you have to report next week.

R35 is right.

As someone who bills their time, welcome to our world. I'm fairly discipline about this process so I do it daily usually, weekly at worst. Sometimes things are quite crazy and hectic that weeks go by and it is quite difficult as the days blend together. Don't know how some of my colleagues who are procrastinators do it monthly or even quarterly (and yes they hear from the top about it).

One trick: go over your sent emails. Look for projects/tasks that you've responded to recently (even if not last week). It will give you an idea of recent tasks/projects you've been working on and then go over to your Inbox to fil in holes. Don't start at your Inbox because you will have a bunch of admin/irrelevant emails and you will not form a clear starting point.

Then going forward come up with an action plan at the end of the week for the next week, but this week start now. You'll thank yourself for it when you have to report next week.

My work can see that we’re online and we have to be available at our computers.

R38

"My work"

That's actually a good thing, R38.

It's sort of a motivator to do something productive.

Working from home sucks.

I want to go back to the office.

I was seconded to the HR Call Center for a couple of weeks as we are offering leaves of absence and early outs, and the bosses were concerned about a surge in call volume.

I’m trackable by calls answered and help tickets responded to. What joy.

[quote]Doing Skype and Facetime with my co-workers has availed me of what absolute shit taste in home decor some of them have.

Oh honey! You should hear what we say about YOUR decor behind your back!🤢

[quote]But I do believe that in a lot of situations, like my own, we're going to see companies give up the model of people gathering in the office every day.

I agree. Companies aren’t going to have many excuses of why we shouldn’t be able to work from home more often when we are proving we are getting just as much done at home as we do in the office - if not more. Also, we are saving time and gas money on commute times.

Have to agree R21. No one calls it "teleworking" anymore. WFH is the standard acronym (and I am 46). No one (including my Fortune 5 company in their corporate e-mails) calls it "teleworking".

I'm a teacher and it's fun. It's a novelty for the students, at least right now, and they are doing the work I give them. Expectations are low on all sides.

[quote] Doing Skype and Facetime with my co-workers has availed me of what absolute shit taste in home decor some of them have

Haha, that doesn't only apply to the work place.

All of these cable news people who have been Skyping in, as well as talk shows who have guests video call them, likewise have some of the most horrible work spaces for doing so.

I'm shocked that these news show guests, as well as many celebrities, are video calling from rooms that look like absolute CRAP!

Dirty clothes everywhere, horrible decor, terrible lighting, some of them with pets in the background, bad sound on their computers, and on, and on, and on.

People should have a dedicated space for telecommunication.

A single desk with the computer camera facing a white wall, or have some sort of solid colored background behind them (curtain or butcher paper), so as to make it look more professional.

Make sure to mute your sound when you're not talking, so that your background noise doesn't disrupt the conversation.

And DO NOT use plugged in headphones, because it really degrades the sound quality of your computer. Just use the built-in speaker, and again, MUTE when you're not speaking.

I'm using that system of tubes to do my work, too. From my den! Now, isn't that something! There's even a thingamajig that beams faces to other home computers.

Jeanine Pirro (the TV "judge"), I think, was broadcasting from home. Dressed up but disheveled and, allegedly, drunk. Flag in the background of wherever she was.

Yes, the celebrities too! With all their money, some of their rooms look like they were furnished from Wal Mart.

I have WFH for 3+ years. We are the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of prestige in the office. Until now. All of a sudden my ability to provide a seamless response for customers is basically half of the business. My last performance evaluation noted I was not nice every time when I complained about my computer. Otherwise, I was professional and well-liked. I basically forced them to give me a new computer 6 months ago. Now I am laughing my ass off.

I've been working from home for several years. While I miss the interaction, at this particular job, I kind of hate most of my co-workers. They're an annoyance.

Have to admit, when I go into the office, I'm pretty much more productive by the hour, because I'm absorbed in my work to ignore what's going on around me. On the other hand, I get out of there asap, while, at home, I might work 12-hour days just because it's something to do.

R52 So basically you make no sense and don’t know what you want.

[quote]Expectations are low on all sides.

This, I have found, is the key to workplace happiness.

Unless you work in an ER or something, it's all bullshit . . .

OP make sure you show as "available " on Skype. Answer your phone ALWAYS while teleworking.

I could have written r36 myself.

Don't worry about proving anything OP. If your work requires computer use, and your employer is keeping up at all, there will be a program on your computer, installed transparently or surreptitiously, that tracks your busy time vs non-busy. Our program is called PACE, and it works with your DM platform. In our case, a green status means you're at your computer working. But no activity for 5 minutes and you go to a yellow status. This is Skype, but all other including WebEx are similar. The reports can be very eye-opening!

I do payroll, pay bills and do deposits mostly so it becomes apparent pretty quickly if I am not getting my work done. it has become more flex time than the 9 to 5 I do in office. I am available all day but I may have to do actual work Saturday or Sunday instead because I am condensed timewise on some things.

I like it. if I weren't worried about dying or losing my job I would be pretty happy overall.

I am on my personal equipment and mostly use online programs, I only need the remote access for the server documents and quickbooks. no real tracking issues and I am pretty sure everyone is flex timing a bit.

The most challenging thing for me when I first started working remotely was dealing with different parts of our company that spanned across various states throughout the US. Our internal marketing team had employees from California, Illinois and Florida, and me in Ohio. My boss lived in Cali, and it was not uncommon for him to shoot me an email at 5:30 pm his time, then bitch me out for not replying to him until noon, his time, the following day, which would be 8 am my time.

R53 I know what I want. I prefer less aggravation to being more productive by the minute. I get more done at home. It's not really that complicated, but I keep forgetting that there are some simple minds here.

[quote]OP make sure you show as "available " on Skype. Answer your phone ALWAYS while teleworking.

I don’t know about OP’s workplace, but my company has our Skype and Outlook accounts set up so that if you have not moved your mouse or typed anything within a five minute period, it automatically switches your Skype to show “Inactive” so then your supervisor and coworkers will see. I actually think it’s a good idea so that way even if someone is being lazy, they have to at least pay attention to that.

R59 OMG you contradicted yourself AGAIN compared to what you said before.

You need to call it a day and get some sleep. You’re so confused you’re becoming incoherent.

Damn, R60. I wouldn't want to work for that company.

Too strict.

I agree teleworking is a silly term. I prefer to call it working remotely, though in the current climate it is by default work from home.

So far my job has remained decently busy, so it hasn't changed much since I stopped going into the office.

This is now the time when you find out how many people really don't do jack squat at work. Especially managers.

Your job might not openly advertise it to you, but there is probably some tracking of your KPI's happening in the background r62. I am friendly my manager and I am aware of how the company keeps track of how many emails you send, how many calls you take and all kinds of other metrics.

Is your work getting done? If so you have nothing to prove. It should be up to your manager to set markers for how you prove you are working. I work from home full time. My boss never asks me what I am working on or if I can prove anything. My work is done, early or on time and never late. I am responsive to emails and always available. I used to have a manager who was very old fashioned. If he could not see you, you were not working. He would IM me several times a day and gauge how fast I replied. He would call me 10 times a day and if he left a voice mail, knew to the second how long it took me to reply. Finally I told him one day,, I can't take this, either you trust I am working or I will have to quit. I ended up quitting.

[quote]Does watching porn, count?

Not as much after 60.

Start your day as if you were going to an office: breakfast, shower, dress in something other than pajamas. Schedule your day. Set short-term goals and use a timer if you have to. Get an app that temporarily blacklists and blocks websites that might vie for your attention during the workday (those can also be set on timers). If you allow your work/life boundaries to get fuzzy, both your work and your home life will suffer. Better to develop some discipline—it's rewarding and you'll stay productive.

Buy a ring light.

You can find one for under $50 on Amazon

They're what Insta-Hos use to make sure they're well lit for their videos and selfies.

You'll look a lot better on your Zoom calls.

I have been working from home for four years. It is awesome. I am so much more productive at home, without co workers popping their heads into my office all day. I hope more WFH jobs become available as time goes on. If my partner could also wfh we could basically live anywhere, which would be great.

R62 Are you that damn lazy that you can’t even move your mouse every 5 minutes???

Like I said, I am actually glad it’s setup that way so that it helps identify the lazy asses who do nothing while the rest of us do all the work.

I respectfully disagree that you should be always available by phone & responsive to all emails (when working from home). If you were working out of an office building, you would not necessarily be available by phone at all times. (So, why should you have more availability just b/c you are working from home?)

I've been working from home before Corona virus. There are some emails that simply don't require a response. Some people simply call too often and don't require a call-back for every single phone call. That was a long, hard lesson to learn, but I'm glad I learned it.

[quote] Start your day as if you were going to an office: breakfast, shower, dress in something other than pajamas.... If you allow your work/life boundaries to get fuzzy, both your work and your home life will suffer.

This is what I always heard and thought before I actually started working from home (way before Corona virus). I actually start at different times, wear whatever the hell I want, and do mix work/personal stuff. It's a trade-off, IMO. I do personal stuff during "work" hours. But I do sometimes have to interrupt something personal to deal with a work matter. Works out easier for me.

I call it "Whirlybirding From Home."

R73 Of course, many of us are fine to do personal tasks during work hours and still get our work done. But people struggling with discipline (like OP), need structure to make it work. Working from home isn't for everyone.

I love rolling out of bed 10 minutes before work starts instead of an hour and a half before wasting time getting ready and commuting. All of my coworkers AND managers say the same thing.

R61 I apologize to you for not giving you a quarter on the subway the other day.

A lot of the "rules" depend on (a) your personality and (b) your actual job.

If you are someone who needs lots of structure to get work done then yes, shower, shave, put on your Dockers and polo shirt and all that.

Similarly, if your job consists of a number of long-term projects then it's up to you to structure your time, but there's nothing wrong with sleeping in on Tuesday and going for a long run, then working some that evening if you're not due to share what you're working on with anyone till Friday.

Make sure you close Datalounge and the big dick porn before you need to screen share. And remove your dildos if you need to video chat!

Any other recommendations from seasoned WFH'ers? What to do? What to avoid?

[quote]it's becoming a chore having to "prove" that I'm working from home.

Don't you have something/s that you are supposed to accomplish in a week, two-weeks, a month, a quarter? Something, anything? Just look at what is expected of you in your position and report on what you did or on progress toward some goal.

How did your employer figure out that you did anything useful when you reported to work? Did they just assume that because you were in the building you were doing something?

My two tips are simple:

*Keep normal hours, if not exactly the hours you kept before some reasonable period of substantial overlap with them; if everyone else starts their day at 8 but you at 10, fine, just let them know. Let your boss know your schedule and tell him if you plan to deviate by more than a couple hours from "I worked late on Tuesday so Wednesday if you don't mind I'll leave off at 4 for a personal appointment.". The discipline of keeping regular hours is useful and reflects well on you.

*Respond to any email or communication you get from work immediately, if only to say "I'm in the middle of a project at the moment but will respond to your question about the report later today." Regular hours and ease of being reached inspire confidence from your employer.

R80 , can you be more specific about what you want to know? What kind of work do you do, if that's not too personal?

Are you on the phone a lot (for work)? If yes, then I would suggest getting some AirPod-type equipment. I actually have 2 pairs because the charge does run out. Plus, I use them for background entertainment as well.

I'm having a cocktail while attending a webinar.

Jealous, bitches?

I've done it for 6+ years. Couple of things R80:

Keep a routine as R81 says. If you normally started at 8, keep starting at 8:00.

Take a lunch if you normally take a lunch. This is something I'm bad about. When I worked in the office, we (the team I was on) would typically all go eat lunch together. I know typically eat lunch at my desk which is a bad habit.

Make it CRYSTAL CLEAR to any people who live with you that you are at work. You cannot run out for coffee or groceries. You cannot help re-tile the bathroom or dust.

If you spend time on conference calls keep the TV and radio off, and kids out of the room.

Keep in mind that your employer may want to use video conferencing at some point and dress (at least from the waist up) accordingly. My company thankfully does not ask us to do this as it was very unpopular.

Yes, I've had a drink at 4:00, but I wouldn't encourage it. You just never know if you are going to have to get on the phone.

Check if your ISP has data caps. I've accidentally blown through mine transferring huge files.

If you are on a laptop, I'd spring for a cheap keyboard and mouse. It is hard to work with a trackpad all the time,

[quote] If you are on a laptop, I'd spring for a cheap keyboard and mouse. It is hard to work with a trackpad all the time,

+ monitor

You can get a 20 inch monitor for under $100

There are ways/programs around that R62 & R71. Ask people you work with.

Every job has downtime, so I don't think it is a big deal if you don't move your mouse for 5 minutes normally, but if you WFH they watch that shit like a hawk (and some companies will record keystrokes) so it is best to appear "on" all the time.

Even if you appear "on" it won't auto answer an IM or e-mail if you are gone for an extended period of time.

R58 needs a webinar on US Time Zones.

I wouldn't say that R87. I've privately imagined the horrible, painful deaths of several fellow employees (usually project mangers) who schedule meetings when they see fit. It never occurs to them that it may be 6:00 A.M. my time. It is bullshit and they should know better.

I am telecommuting every day. I'm fortunate that I am working. I don't like to work from home because I'm less productive, but I make certain to schedule at least two conference calls or meetings a day to keep my mind active and sharp (and also to make certain people know I'm working and valuable). I also schedule bi-weekly check-ins with my supervisor to discuss my projects.

One unexpected benefit is that I don't spend an hour commuting in the morning or the evening AND I'm saving money on commuting costs. No going out to eat at restaurants for lunch and no take out lunches. I'm making breakfast and lunch at home every day.

So speak up R88

Nothing wrong with "Hi, not sure if you realize that's 6AM where I am and you'll probably want me more awake for the meeting. Can we please reschedule?"

You are right R90. I'm just spineless sometimes. My reasoning (though I have to admit I have never checked) is that the time works for everyone else. It could be that there are other people on the call in my same time zone who are just as pissed.

I'll bring it up next time.

People who don't speak up for themselves get nowhere in life r91. Don't keep making the same mistake!

Teleworking for three weeks now. Going stir crazy. I never thought I’d look forward to going to the office.

Work is so concerned about whether we have enough work that the management has scheduled useless meeting after useless meeting.

[quote]Teleworking for three weeks now. Going stir crazy.

Oh, get over it you whiny bitch!

R81, R82, R84, R85, R89 Thanks for the tips. Very helpful.

R82 I'm on the phone a lot and in meetings.

I'm on my third week of working from home. We use Vonage so I just took my desk phone home with me and plugged it into my router and I get all of my calls. I have found that, without a hard stop at 5:00, I have been working later.

I do estate planning. For some odd reason, all of a sudden, everybody wants to do Wills and Health Care Proxies. Can't imagine why...

For those of you who are partnered but not married, please consider doing your estate documents. I have seen families come in and just take everything - even community property. I have seen people get thrown out of the homes in which they have lived for years because their names aren't on the lease or Deed. So much of this ends up in Court costing precious money and time.

Also, remember that the taxes are much higher if you leave your estate to someone to whom you are not legally bound. Don't give this fuck-up of a government more than they deserve.

[quote]Also, remember that the taxes are much higher if you leave your estate to someone to whom you are not legally bound

Why is this R96? If I leave all my money (all $200 of it) to a stranger they pay higher taxes than a spouse/child would?

Probably pretty common, but our internal Zoom meetings (six people) quickly devolve into general hangouts where people are sharing recipes and showing off home gym equipment, etc.

Good for mental health and we all more or less like each other, so it's okay.

[quote]Does watching porn count?

No. That's telejerking.

1 to 2 Zoom meetings per day. Checkin with my boss for target projects for the day. Work on issues/tickets assigned to me. It is pretty much the same thing I do when I am in the office without the commute, constant chit chat etc. I like it, but look forward to going back to the office. Hopefully, by June...

R97, You only have to worry about state inheritance taxes in a few states (Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania). There isn't any federal inheritance tax unless you realize a capital gain or have an estate greater than $11,400,000. Unfortunately, the state inheritance tax can run as high as 16%. Class A beneficiaries are spouses, children and often parents and siblings. Class B beneficiaries are non-immediate family members. Class C beneficiaries are non-family members.

yeah maybe this will break our stupid corporate culture of the assumption that everyone working 8 hours a day is absolutely vital. Most "work" is nonsense and looking busy. Maybe we can break out of that brain-dead culture, but I suspect we won't.

I forgot to add R80, and this may sound silly but ....

SHOWER. At least every other day.

I know people will say, "who doesn't shower every day?". You work from home long enough, there will be a point at which you are like ... meh, maybe tomorrow. Then tomorrow you are like, meh, why bother? Then a week goes by, you actually have to leave the house, and when you strip off your clothes you can really ... tell.

Most people will be teleworking until May 1, at the earliest.

Fasten your seatbelts, because it's going to be a bumpy month!

[quote] You work from home long enough, there will be a point at which you are like ... meh, maybe tomorrow. Then tomorrow you are like, meh, why bother? Then a week goes by, you actually have to leave the house, and when you strip off your clothes you can really ... tell.

Ew.

My edging techniques have SIGNIFICANTLY improved

My sister says she's been more productive at home, even with all her Twitter breaks, than she ever was at work with the constant interruptions from her dimwit boss. She's going to push for a partial work from home option after we all finally go back to our worksites.

I have worked at home for two years; I like it, and I am more productive at home. I am self-motivating, and I understand that, even now, teleworkers have to constantly prove themselves. There are still too many supervisors that want or need to count noses. Very aggravating.

I am very self-motivated, and I thrive on minimal supervision, so I am an ideal teleworker, in my opinion. I don't need a lot of interaction with my boss to get things done, and he prefers minimal supervision of his employees, so win-win.

I think it is important to gauge what your boss needs for communication, and provide at least that. I always send my "4:30" email to let my supervisor and other members of my team know what I am doing. Im sure im boring the hell out of them, but I don't care. I want them to know I'm working. And, if anyone ever claims teleworking doesn't work, I have a whole raft of emails telling they are wrong.

Best if luck, everyone. Stay healthy.

[quote]My sister says she's been more productive at home, even with all her Twitter breaks, than she ever was at work with the constant interruptions from her dimwit boss.

R106 My boss is a needy pain-in-the-ass and drama queen, too. I've actually been getting more done at home, even with more breaks which is kind of eye-opening. I did not expect this.

** R80

I knew someone who home-schooled her children. She said that, by lunchtime, the school lessons were done. After lunch, they did stuff like go to the park. She said that school teachers spend a lot of classroom time on discipline. Meaning that, when you home-school (or are more one-on-one), less time is spent disciplining classmates and you can get through your lessons much more quickly.

I would believe that a lot of office time is spent on something similiar. The workers who are able to work without supervision are herded together with those who need a lot of supervision. Thus, wasting time.

ITA R110! My 11 year old is done all her school work between 10 and noon every day. WTF are those other 4 hours for?

I admit--I don't think it will end by May 1. But, in any case, as someone who has worked from home for several years, I think the cat is out of the bag. People are going to learn that, in many jobs, particularly those that are allowing people to work from home at this time, there is really no reason for people to have to go into the office at all. This situation is a game-changer.

Words of wisdom from R81.

I’ve been as busy, if not busier, WFH as I’ve been in the office. The primary difference is that I can get a shit-ton more work done without constant in-person interruptions.

Nope I agree R112. My only "concern" would be training. I've worked from home for 6+ years but I was in the office, doing the same job, for 3 years before that. I just don't know if you can adequately train on some things via webinars.

I think moving to a model of 6 months in the office to start and then you are eligible (and encouraged) to work from home if you can.

Even with working from home for the last 3 weeks, I still have that Sunday night dread.

WISH i could fine a teleworking working from home job that 1) pays well and not 10 dollars a hour 2) isn't a scam 3) working for company that will let you work from home AFTER you have worked for them for over 10 years plus! 4) isn't either customer service call center or data entry.

I don’t know about anyone else but for me, this has proven my job doesn’t need to be 40 hours. A lot of office time is socializing BS, food, and ridiculous meetings.

At home, a few days I needed to put in 9-10 hours. Mostly though, I can work 3-4 hours over the course of the day and not miss a beat.

It’s easier at the office to get through a full day because of all that BS. I am finding it very hard to pretend to be busy for 40 hours at home. No distractions from the office stuff means I have nothing to do half the day.

[quote] Does watching porn, count?

No, but proper grammar does.

r119 just fucking relax.

R116 Are you the "Sunday night dread" thread guy? Sounds like a stressful job. Is anything better about WFH for you?

Stay pressed, r120!

Stay persnickety r122.

Persnickety =/= functioning literacy

R58 and R88, just a suggestion. I had a semi related experience where I work. When I first started my current position I noticed that some hyper over enthused colleagues would schedule meetings for first thing in the morning (8:00 a.m.) or at 5:00 p.m. when people are ready to head home. That started again when we've been forced to telecommute because of the virus.

What I started doing in the office (and now during this period of telecommuting) was to muscle my way in and take the lead on scheduling meetings and drafting agendas. When we decide a ZOOM meeting or a conference call or some other meeting is warranted, I will take the lead to setting the meeting up. After I check MY calendar, I'll e-mail three or four suggested meeting dates / times that are convenient for ME. No more Monday morning meetings or early evening discussions. I'll suggest 9:30 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. and e-mail the invitees.

Initially I thought I was being too pushy or selfish for suggesting dates and for tailoring meeting agendas the way I want to, but my colleagues now actually compliment / thank me. They respond back to me directly the dates most convenient for them. My supervisor and our clients thank me for being so pro-active and considerate. They seem to like that I offer them three or four dates / times and that I circulate draft agendas for their input.

So maybe you might consider taking charge of coordinating and scheduling the meetings so they're more convenient for you. Another note, when I draft the agendas I will often assign topics to my colleagues / attendees so that I'm never called on unexpectedly since I'm the one calling / leading the meetings.

[quote]WISH i could fine a teleworking working from home job that 1) pays well and not 10 dollars a hour 2) isn't a scam 3) working for company that will let you work from home AFTER you have worked for them for over 10 years plus! 4) isn't either customer service call center or data entry.

R117: I work entirely from home and have done for many years, but most of the other people I know who do this have some fairly specialized skills that lend themselves to working from home. These are jobs that don't need endless meetings and in office interaction and which are often somewhat solitary and self-directed pursuits. In addition, many or even most of the people I know who do this began by working in office and moved to full time work from home; not infrequently they negotiated a switch to full-time work from home when the moved outside the range of commuting to an office.

To my knowledge there are not a lot of large firms that hire large numbers of people to work from home for jobs that pay well and that meet your other requirements. Other people I know have jobs that are more often associated with in-office work, but through tenure and trust in their positions (and usually some incremental experience working from home) they make the switch. Anything I've ever seen where working from home was mentioned at the heading of a job listing, it wasn't much or a job.

As an employer, I would be more wary of broadly granting one-day a week at home "privileges" than I would of granting full-time work from home status. In the latter, you can exert some controls and some ways to measure work, whereas the one-day a week at home thing seems like laundry and cleaning and errands day with a bit of checking email thrown in. I'd expect you could achieve more in a four-day week (of 8 or 9 hours days) than four days in office and one from home.

How is everyone holding up? I'm losing my patience with fucking Zoom meetings.

I get way more done.

The teleworking part is easy (and productive.)

Unrelated to the work aspect, I find that the business of being housebound for a month except to walk the dog or buy groceries has worn thin.

I have no restrictions on drinking and smoking and it's great!

What's easier/harder? Working from home? Or homing from work?

Someone I know intimately is making low 6 figures working for an international all telecommuting company.

Its way more common in high level jobs with trustworthy personnel in tech oriented businesses.

I would hate to work full time from home. It sounds good but gets old in time. My business is essential so we meet at the office each day, only 4 of us and work with the door locked but handling business as normal. In the insurance business.

I just want to know when these bitches expect us to start coming into the office 40 hours a week again.

I have been working 2-3 days a week at home, and it has been fabulous. I cannot go back to dealing with these fuckers more than that.

For me teleworking is stressful because we have corporate Skype on our computers which shows if you’re on the computer or not. If you move away from your computer, it goes to sleep and tells everyone you’re away from your computer.

People can call you on video chat any time.

Plus because management doesn’t trust us to be doing work, they have an incessant number of staff meetings throughout the day. I had 3 today. We talk about nothing.

Today I had the revelation that I get paid loads of money to do a whole bunch of nothing so I should stop complaining. I felt much better.

[quote]For me teleworking is stressful because we have corporate Skype on our computers which shows if you’re on the computer or not. If you move away from your computer, it goes to sleep and tells everyone you’re away from your computer.

You do know that you can change the settings to not show you as inactive until a certain amount of time, right?

R135 - set it up on your phone and make it show you as active but be aware that you should update as away if you are at lunch or when you are off the clock.

I’ve been working a lot harder since the remote move. I am COO for a small organization and have had to oversee the logistics of the transition and evaluate the financial impact of the change. Spend 16 hours working on April 3 to complete and submit the Small Business Administration loan application. Now focused on trying to do fiscal forecasts for end for fiscal year (6/30) and budget for next fiscal year. I long for a less stressful time

Echo all the sentiments above. My job has been more demanding at home than ever before. Days start earlier and end later. I barely get time to stuff some food in my face. I've lost 12lbs and haven't even been exercising.

The problem with Skype on the phone is that it says “available—mobile “

I work in publishing. We share manuscripts, press releases, book covers, critiques, etc. on Google Docs, emails, and the occasional text.

We've cut staff in half, so I'm doing two jobs (yay?). As other have shared, some folks were proven to be less needed, and no, we don't need to work 40 hours a week.

Someone suggested doing Zoom for weekly editorial meetings, but I shut that down, thankfully, after sending a volley of links proving Zoom to be malware/spyware. We just do group phone calls. One coworker joked, "So, I don't have to get out of my PJs!"

I do miss those mid-town lunches.

While WFH I’ve realized just how desperate for attention people are. During our video meetings, multiple people have grabbed their kids and/or pets and put them on video to say hi and be cutesi so that everyone can go “awww!” and tell them how great they are.🙄 And it’s not just fraus - plenty of men too.

It’s like they aren’t even trying not to be subtle.

With a likely return to some sort of normalcy looming, we are starting to look at what we are going to do. I overheard the ED today discussing perhaps staggering the people in office with anyone who can doing 3 days WFH and 2 in office. god I hope so, I like my job - don't get me wrong but I LOVE working from home and not commuting, dealing with weather etc.

R143 They were talking the same shit at my place today and all I could think is what is the goddamn rush? Everything has been working out just fine while WFH, so why risk people getting sick by forcing them to go back into some shitty building with recycled air? And there’s no way we will be able to keep 6 feet apart in my office. So how the hell do they think thats going to work? I’m doing just fine at home thank you very much.

Almost everyone here (my work) has their own office in most departments r144. they are thinking more of people traffic in the hallways etc I think. if they ask for volunteers I will do my best Katniss Everdeen (?) impression

R145 Lucky you. Where I work, we have cube farms and an open office floor plan. I’d like to know how they think that’s going to be healthy.

I don't envy you r146, I fucking hate open concept work spaces. even more now

R147 Tell me about it. At least if you do have to go back to the building you can close your door to tune out all the annoying idiots.

I've been teleworking for almost two months!

I can't believe it, really.

It's going to be hard to get back in the office, after all this time at home.

We are gearing up plans to come out of all of this (in the next few months, not right away). Rumor is, all common areas are shut down, no more than 5 employees per floor allowed to work in the building at a time (there's anywhere from 10-15 per floor normally). so, unless we need to be in the office we work from home going forward. that means likely 1-2 days in office for me- whether full for both of them i don't know but at least one full day.

Wow, that sounds ideal R150.

It's a good mix between full time in the office, and full time at home.

I'd love that setup.

I am literally so excited. you have no idea!

The other day, my bf was blowing me when I was on a conference call. It felt great!

Lol R153!

You're a sicko.

It felt SO naughty r154! And that made it so hot! He was a little loud when he swallowed my load, hope nobody heard that.

I'm currently on a Zoom meeting and I have a shirt and tie on, with nothing on below that!

I can't be bothered.

yeah, as I've long suspected most "work" is completely unnecessary. It's mainly about looking busy and pretending to give a shit about things that no sane person actually cares about.

You'll really learn how to multi-task. I can cook, wash dish, or take a dump while attending an audio only meeting.

maybe this will put a big dent in the braindead corporate structure we've created. Hope so.