Remote Work - Long Term or Not

[SoCalDukeFan]

I have learned a lot from these comments. Not sure how to do multiple quotes however.

That said, there are absolutely people not putting in the time (and posting about it on social media, no less). I hate those people, because they're going to ruin it for the rest. I can also completely understand that some people are the opposite and can't be effective at home, and prefer to work in person (for a number of potential reasons).

I think that this is what my exec friend feels is happening at his company, or at least too much of it. However it seems to me that better management is a better solution than doing away with remote work for the entire company.

There are jobs that work better without requiring going to a central office and I would imagine those that require considerable team collaboration or other factors are better done in an office.

When I think back to my career going to an office for a major company if we could have eliminated unnecessary meetings productivity would have increased greatly. The ease in calling the meetings probably added to their frequency. I do think my friend is cognizant of that and keeps meetings to a minimum.

I am glad I am not in the downtown office rental business.

SoCal

[bundabergdevil]

I have learned a lot from these comments. Not sure how to do multiple quotes however.



I think that this is what my exec friend feels is happening at his company, or at least too much of it. However it seems to me that better management is a better solution than doing away with remote work for the entire company.

There are jobs that work better without requiring going to a central office and I would imagine those that require considerable team collaboration or other factors are better done in an office.

When I think back to my career going to an office for a major company if we could have eliminated unnecessary meetings productivity would have increased greatly. The ease in calling the meetings probably added to their frequency. I do think my friend is cognizant of that and keeps meetings to a minimum.

I am glad I am not in the downtown office rental business.

SoCal

There’s an assumption that present workers are more productive workers. I can only speak to a large corporate office environment but there is sooooo much putzing around in offices, among the rank and file. The average worker only puts in something like 3 honest to goodness working hours a day. The rest is filled with internet and coffee breaks and socializing and pretending to go to the bathroom.

[aimo]

I have learned a lot from these comments. Not sure how to do multiple quotes however.

SoCal

To the right of Reply with Quote, there is a multi-quote option. Click on that for ALL BUT the last one you want to quote - the last one you have to click on Reply with Quote.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

To the right of Reply with Quote, there is a multi-quote option. Click on that for ALL BUT the last one you want to quote - the last one you have to click on Reply with Quote.

All of these things are more difficult on mobile.

[Acymetric]

All of these things are more difficult on mobile.

On mobile I long press the "quote" button and select "open in new tab" for each message I want to quote. Then select all and "cut/paste" each of the quote blocks into one post. Depending on how much I want to write I might write my responses first and then cut/paste the quote and my response together.

Definitely still a bit of a pain, but that's the best way I've found to do it.

[Bluedog]

On mobile I long press the "quote" button and select "open in new tab" for each message I want to quote. Then select all and "cut/paste" each of the quote blocks into one post. Depending on how much I want to write I might write my responses first and then cut/paste the quote and my response together.

Definitely still a bit of a pain, but that's the best way I've found to do it.

On mobile, I change the style to "Blue" in the drop-down on the bottom when I want to do a multi quote select. Your method would work too but seems like a bit more work.

[Acymetric]

On mobile, I change the style to "Blue" in the drop-down on the bottom when I want to do a multi quote select. Your method would work too but seems like a bit more work.

Of course different processes work better or worse for different people, good to have options! For me, having to keep track of where all the quotes were while I scroll down, change the theme, and reload the page with the new theme is too much. With my method I can "select" each post I want to quote as I'm reading and then go through the new tabs I opened to put together my responses.

[duke2x]

It's not a problem I have, but remote works if you want it to work. It's more advantageous to climate change, good workers who take their responsibilities seriously, etc.

There is software that reports you if you try to get paid when you go to the bathroom and tapes your computer use into 10 minutes segments. You can audit the latter to make sure you are working.

[bundabergdevil]

It's not a problem I have, but remote works if you want it to work. It's more advantageous to climate change, good workers who take their responsibilities seriously, etc.

There is software that reports you if you try to get paid when you go to the bathroom and tapes your computer use into 10 minutes segments. You can audit the latter to make sure you are working.

Wait, what...

[Acymetric]

It's not a problem I have, but remote works if you want it to work. It's more advantageous to climate change, good workers who take their responsibilities seriously, etc.

There is software that reports you if you try to get paid when you go to the bathroom and tapes your computer use into 10 minutes segments. You can audit the latter to make sure you are working.

I will not be working anywhere that wants to run that software on my work from home setup, I can assure you. Pass on the spyware, thanks.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

It's not a problem I have, but remote works if you want it to work. It's more advantageous to climate change, good workers who take their responsibilities seriously, etc.

There is software that reports you if you try to get paid when you go to the bathroom and tapes your computer use into 10 minutes segments. You can audit the latter to make sure you are working.

Not exactly the same thing but we have the function where next to your name is a circle that is green if you are working, yellow if you haven’t moved your mouse in about 5 minutes, red if you are in a meeting (it coordinates with your calendar). I’m sure there are ways they can use it to track you though they have no idea if the meeting on your calendar is a work meeting or an “outdoor meeting” on the golf course.

I don’t think we are being tracked not I am nuts so usually move my mouse a second before I am stepping away to minimize my time on yellow. It is actually somewhat helpful because if I am waiting for a response from someone and they have been yellow for a while, I know they probably aren’t responding soon.

[LasVegas]

Not exactly the same thing but we have the function where next to your name is a circle that is green if you are working, yellow if you haven’t moved your mouse in about 5 minutes, red if you are in a meeting (it coordinates with your calendar). I’m sure there are ways they can use it to track you though they have no idea if the meeting on your calendar is a work meeting or an “outdoor meeting” on the golf course.

I don’t think we are being tracked not I am nuts so usually move my mouse a second before I am stepping away to minimize my time on yellow. It is actually somewhat helpful because if I am waiting for a response from someone and they have been yellow for a while, I know they probably aren’t responding soon.

Skype? I think that’s what ours did before we moved to webex messenger which is light years better.

In regards to the tracking posts, I don’t like it. I am lucky enough to work for a company that looks at productivity and not how much time your spend working. If my coworker takes 8 hours in his day to finish a project but I take 6, why should I be penalized for being more efficient? As long as I am productive and meeting deadlines, that’s all that should really matter.

[Acymetric]

Not exactly the same thing but we have the function where next to your name is a circle that is green if you are working, yellow if you haven’t moved your mouse in about 5 minutes, red if you are in a meeting (it coordinates with your calendar). I’m sure there are ways they can use it to track you though they have no idea if the meeting on your calendar is a work meeting or an “outdoor meeting” on the golf course.

I don’t think we are being tracked not I am nuts so usually move my mouse a second before I am stepping away to minimize my time on yellow. It is actually somewhat helpful because if I am waiting for a response from someone and they have been yellow for a while, I know they probably aren’t responding soon.

For what it's worth, I have found that the Teams status indicator will sometimes go yellow while you are working unless you bring the Teams window into focus.

[Acymetric]

Skype? I think that’s what ours did before we moved to webex messenger which is light years better.

In regards to the tracking posts, I don’t like it. I am lucky enough to work for a company that looks at productivity and not how much time your spend working. If my coworker takes 8 hours in his day to finish a project but I take 6, why should I be penalized for being more efficient? As long as I am productive and meeting deadlines, that’s all that should really matter.

To put it succinctly, if your only (or even just primary) KPI is "minutes at desk with mouse moving" you have a management problem not an employee problem and that would be a huge red flag for any quality, in-demand prospective hire.

[bundabergdevil]

Not exactly the same thing but we have the function where next to your name is a circle that is green if you are working, yellow if you haven’t moved your mouse in about 5 minutes, red if you are in a meeting (it coordinates with your calendar). I’m sure there are ways they can use it to track you though they have no idea if the meeting on your calendar is a work meeting or an “outdoor meeting” on the golf course.

I don’t think we are being tracked not I am nuts so usually move my mouse a second before I am stepping away to minimize my time on yellow. It is actually somewhat helpful because if I am waiting for a response from someone and they have been yellow for a while, I know they probably aren’t responding soon.

This sounds like Teams, which is what we use. You can also 'set' your indicator to whatever you want so if I don't want to be disturbed, I'll just put I'm not online or in a presentation.

Honestly though, unless my manager is telling me that I am somehow not delivering, then I'm not going to worry about activity logs. That would be an absurd task to monitor for thousands of employees because it doesn't make a difference if they are home or not. People on site dick around on their computers and phones and aren't at their desks getting coffees or long lunches sometimes. So, what the heck is the difference?

[CrazyNotCrazie]

This sounds like Teams, which is what we use. You can also 'set' your indicator to whatever you want so if I don't want to be disturbed, I'll just put I'm not online or in a presentation.

Honestly though, unless my manager is telling me that I am somehow not delivering, then I'm not going to worry about activity logs. That would be an absurd task to monitor for thousands of employees because it doesn't make a difference if they are home or not. People on site dick around on their computers and phones and aren't at their desks getting coffees or long lunches sometimes. So, what the heck is the difference?

I get some requests for work that need immediate responses so if we are stepping away for more than a few minutes we are supposed to let our team know so someone can cover. But that is a pretty small part of our job. Sometimes people say what they are doing (picking up kids, doctor, etc), other times they don’t. I stepped away a bit more than usual in June due to end of school activities and doctors appointments.

At my recent mid year review my awful boss kicked it off by saying that I was stepping away too much for events with my kids. I told him that I was working nights and weekends to keep up and everything was getting done and that June had been busy due to end of school (I shouldn’t have said where I was going).

He said he was worried that someone would see all of my emails and it would reflect poorly on him. I got very angry and said that our organization is constantly being scolded by government regulators for much bigger issues so this would hopefully be the least of anyones concerns. I also said that some of these were for medical issues so I was happy to take it up with HR. Meanwhile no thank you for all of the hard work I am doing since we are short staffed because someone quit in response to his horrible attitude.

Talk about a complete like of emotional intelligence and leadership.

Vent over…

[bundabergdevil]

I get some requests for work that need immediate responses so if we are stepping away for more than a few minutes we are supposed to let our team know so someone can cover. But that is a pretty small part of our job. Sometimes people say what they are doing (picking up kids, doctor, etc), other times they don’t. I stepped away a bit more than usual in June due to end of school activities and doctors appointments.

At my recent mid year review my awful boss kicked it off by saying that I was stepping away too much for events with my kids. I told him that I was working nights and weekends to keep up and everything was getting done and that June had been busy due to end of school (I shouldn’t have said where I was going).

He said he was worried that someone would see all of my emails and it would reflect poorly on him. I got very angry and said that our organization is constantly being scolded by government regulators for much bigger issues so this would hopefully be the least of anyones concerns. I also said that some of these were for medical issues so I was happy to take it up with HR. Meanwhile no thank you for all of the hard work I am doing since we are short staffed because someone quit in response to his horrible attitude.

Talk about a complete like of emotional intelligence and leadership.

Vent over…

Yeah. That’s a crappy boss. I’ve a low tolerance for putting up with crap so I’d be moving on quick in that scenario.

[aimo]

For what it's worth, I have found that the Teams status indicator will sometimes go yellow while you are working unless you bring the Teams window into focus.

Yes! We use Teams, and I have often found myself working away on one screen only to see that my dot turned yellow. Weird! We just mark ourselves as busy when we don't want to be bothered (doesn't work) or when we need to step away and feel no one else needs to know about it. When I put in extended time and work through lunch, I should not have to worry about making a quick trip down the road for whatever reason.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Yeah. That’s a crappy boss. I’ve a low tolerance for putting up with crap so I’d be moving on quick in that scenario.

Yup. The next part of our conversation was discussing how our team was likely splitting in two and him asking if I had a preference which half I wanted to be on. I asked which one he would be managing and asked for the other one. Of course, the devil you know…

We recently switched to Teams and I have also noticed that I go yellow even if I am working. Must be some kind of a glitch.

[-jk]

On mobile, I change the style to "Blue" in the drop-down on the bottom when I want to do a multi quote select. Your method would work too but seems like a bit more work.

The mobile skin is minimally functional, and very data light. It can work better both in the hinterlands with very weak signals and in arenas with overly congested ones.

The board is set to default to mobile if your device sends a flag that it’s a mobile device. If you change skins, that setting should persist until you change it back.

Use whichever you find more convenient. Of course, DBR Chat only works in the blue skin.

I use mobile on my phone except when I want an extra feature, and I use a different browser that’s always in blue for chat.

-jk