the only actual "problem" with WFH (actually a management problem, as with everything) is that people no longer have any concept of "business hours". just because people have access to their "office" all the time doesn't mean they have to work outside their 40 hours!!
if you email someone at 4:47 on Friday and then send another angry email at 8:13 on Monday you have not been waiting three days, you have been waiting 26 minutes
lol i had this guy i worked for in law school that thought he fucking owned me because i was working on a side project for him. i went on a vacation and he fired me while i was on vacation because i wasnt at his beck and call. at no point did he set these expectations and honest i was happy to not
Or, if you're 9-5 like I am, I wont even get your angry screed for another 47 minutes, at which time you will have been waiting 13 minutes for a reply.
I close my laptop at 5 and it doesn't reopen until 9. I don't even know you're yelling until I'm back at my desk.
We have that capability, but I refuse to install the app. Esp as my company doesn't reimburse me for my phone, and the app allows them remote wipe capability. Nope nope nope. Will not be participating.
See I was going to say 'dual SIM?' but what's remote wipe? The capacity to wipe the entire phone? 😱
I guess if you thought it was a good enough job you could get a base level phone just for that but that kind of policy would put me off an employer tbh!
I mean, I just don't access my email outside of my work hours and that works fine. Even for a "good enough" job I'm not an on call worker. I don't need to be reachable at all hours.
Esp. bad with people who think that the WFH is yr 2nd job that you do on weekends. I have a colleague for whom this is true. She ONLY responds on Sat-Sun, and then gets mad when I don't respond til Monday, because she's "at work." Babe, me too.
I called in sick all last week because of COVID, when I got back to my emails yesterday I had one from Wednesday asking me to send a file right away so someone else can work on it.
Do they really not understand that calling in sick means I'm not checking emails?
grateful my work is very stern about 'if you aren't working DO NOT WORK'
I responded to a quick message to my boss on a personal day, took me like 15 seconds, and he sent back that I'd taken a personal day and shouldn't have responded to him until I was next in.
"why haven't these people been checking their emails regularly during their evenings and weekends: I do!"
[is quietly pushed off a cliff by persons anonymous]
also i'm not logging on for another 47 minutes and i will not be dealing with your email first thing, so don't hold your breath. or do hold your breath and see how much that will improve the situation. actually i really think you should hold your breath for the next 47 minutes.
We have a service standard which requires us to respond to emails within two WORKING days. Some don't seem to understand that this means that if they email me even just a few minutes after 5.00 on a Friday morning, I'm not obliged to reply until the following Wednesday.
I don't even work Fridays. It says so in my mail signature, and it's blocked out on my calendar. I leave at 5 on Thursday and start at 9 on Monday. If you email me like that you've been waiting entirely on your own time, not mine.
I would turn the “out of office” options on automatically if the state employees started doing this to us at work (state contractor).
Though we definitely had a Karen inquiry yesterday morning that the civil answer was “try refreshing your database, the payment went out at 8:01 this morning”.
Some suit at work sent me an email once. That was a bit pointless because it’s my Hotmail address that I haven’t used in ten years, and I’ll be damned if they’re getting my current one.
As the head of a remote department in my company (that was 100% in office 6 years ago), I have been working very hard to prove this point. Also, that for many roles, the 40 hours is far less important than "is the work done?'
I despise when people try to look busy as an end to itself. If one of my direct reports gets their work done well and it only takes them 20 hours - have two options as a leader:
1: look the other way and let them do them
2: find them more opportunities to stretch their skills and earn a promotion
Some weeks I have a bit more and work a bit more than 40 hours, other weeks I finish everything by 4 or 4:30. Easy to finish early when you are not chatting with co-workers all day.
Lots of us freelancers felt everyone's wfh growing pains speedrun when the pandemic hit. It's a whole new field of self management that hasnt really been there until it plops in your lap and you get overwhelmed by all the new rules and all the more vulnerable ways you can be taken advantage of.
It's why I have maybe 3 to 5 more years left in me. The 40 hour work week has become 65 to 70 very slowly. I'm just trying to get enough money to open my ski lodge and get the fuck out
I've never had a job that could ever be remote but I've always felt like forcing jobs that are goal oriented to conform to a 40 hour schedule is complete nonsense
As a freelancer, I often write emails in the evening but usually leave them in the outbox and send the following morning because (a) I don't want the recipient to feel hassled by them and (b) I don't want to create the expectation I'm available to answer emails in the evening
I work from home. Sometimes I'll catch up work on a Saturday if I was fucking around on Friday. I hate sending an email on the weekend because I'm worried that someone will think they owe me a response. Sometimes I'll even just say "this can wait!"
On the rare occasions I have no choice but to work on the weekend I’ll schedule emails to go out at 8 AM Monday. First because I don’t want to ruin someone else’s day off, and second I don’t want to give the idea I’m available on weekends
I have started putting delay send on emails when I’m working at odd hours.
If I don’t need an answer until Monday, they don’t need to get the question until Monday
I work for a nonprofit that has 24/7 open hours. Part of my email signature is "My schedule may be different from your schedule. Please do not feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work hours."
As a work from home boy, I often feel like I’m on call at any hours of the day. I can’t go anywhere without my laptop just in case a last minute quick turnaround project comes up while I’m out
