Principal Financial-Remote work

[Cloned4Life]

Remote work has failed this country.

Boomer

There is absolutely nothing dumber - and more of a “failure” - than making people go into an office to talk on the phone all day to people in other countries and time zones. Most calls of which are not video calls, nor do most even need to be (as many video calls are ridiculously stupid - in what “in-person” environment is your f***ing face visible/watchable every millisecond of an entire meeting, plastered front and center along with everyone else’s face...)

You’re goddamn right commute matters. Getting ready matters. All that sh*t matters.

If an employer forces one to go into an office - say f***ing bye bye to those 5:00AM calls with the India Team, 6:30AM calls with the Spain Team (nice little gap then to bring kids to daycare), late night Teams meetings/chats with a wonderful group colleagues in Australia, etc. And somehow working way less and not meeting w/ colleagues (because of the camaraderie or whatever bullsh*t that comes w/ sitting in a gray-ass cubicle, on the phone, with a modest amount of white noise to half-ass cover the sound of one’s voice) would make one more promotable!? Can’t make this sh*t up.

 

[NATEizKING]

That just sounds like the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. Get paid for commuting? Unless they moved offices on you after you got hired, that's your decision on where to live and/or work.

Sounds like the people who wanted to get compensated for having to get higher internet speeds or increased power usage since they were now WFH.

I still think the dumbest WFH story I heard was an hourly employee who wanted to be paid OT since they were doing there work early in the morning and later at night outside of normal business hours while their kids were out of school over the summer.

A bit different if you hire people on at full remote as many have been since 2020 then later force them back to the office. Would certainly upend my life.

 

[cowgirl836]

A bit different if you hire people on at full remote as many have been since 2020 then later force them back to the office. Would certainly upend my life.

Or people who moved further out, sold cars explicitly on the stated promise of their employer being "committed to remote work"

 

[ISU_Guy]

There is absolutely nothing dumber - and more of a “failure” - than making people go into an office to talk on the phone all day to people in other countries and time zones. Most calls of which are not video calls, nor do most even need to be (as many video calls are ridiculously stupid - in what “in-person” environment is your f***ing face visible/watchable every millisecond of an entire meeting, plastered front and center along with everyone else’s face...)

You’re goddamn right commute matters. Getting ready matters. All that sh*t matters.

If an employer forces one to go into an office - say f***ing bye bye to those 5:00AM calls with the India Team, 6:30AM calls with the Spain Team (nice little gap then to bring kids to daycare), late night Teams meetings/chats with a wonderful group colleagues in Australia, etc. And somehow working way less and not meeting w/ colleagues (because of the camaraderie or whatever bullsh*t that comes w/ sitting in a gray-ass cubicle, on the phone, with a modest amount of white noise to half-ass cover the sound of one’s voice) would make one more promotable!? Can’t make this sh*t up.

Great Post here. I don't understand this either, other than it's a checkbox leadership is handing down along with pressures from communities, etc.

Video calls.....I can not stand when management or the owner of a meeting requires everyone on camera. its stupid. if the owner of the meeting and the person either presenting or talking wants to on camera than fine. That works, but sitting there watching peoples faces all meeting is distracting.
Most of my meetings have transitioned to turning on the camera just when speaking/presenting

I have already told my leadership if Remote work gets turned into hybrid or taken away all together, be prepared for me to be 8-4 only. and I will probably be taking my lunches. (yes I know its a requirement, but i will be blocking out my lunch)

There is nothing like traveling in 30-40 minutes to sit there by yourself after getting "work ready" just to make a team call with someone in Guam or Hawaii from Central Iowa, and in my case, I have no team in my location anyway.

I think these places just need to have flexibility and understand each job is different....and adjust accordingly instead of this blanket BS.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Great Post here. I don't understand this either, other than it's a checkbox leadership is handing down along with pressures from communities, etc.

Video calls.....I can not stand when management or the owner of a meeting requires everyone on camera. its stupid. if the owner of the meeting and the person either presenting or talking wants to on camera than fine. That works, but sitting there watching peoples faces all meeting is distracting.
Most of my meetings have transitioned to turning on the camera just when speaking/presenting

I have already told my leadership if Remote work gets turned into hybrid or taken away all together, be prepared for me to be 8-4 only. and I will probably be taking my lunches. (yes I know its a requirement, but i will be blocking out my lunch)

There is nothing like traveling in 30-40 minutes to sit there by yourself after getting "work ready" just to make a team call with someone in Guam or Hawaii from Central Iowa, and in my case, I have no team in my location anyway.

I think these places just need to have flexibility and understand each job is different....and adjust accordingly instead of this blanket BS.

I just don’t know what kind of meeting people are having where a screen isn’t being shared the entire time?

 

[cowgirl836]

I just don’t know what kind of meeting people are having where a screen isn’t being shared the entire time?

Lot of stand ups and discussion calls I'm on have no screen. Or maybe it's up for a couple minutes here or there.

 

[BCClone]

I just don’t know what kind of meeting people are having where a screen isn’t being shared the entire time?

I have several where we give updates/critique/discuss the project that we are on. When you are tearing apart a new platform and talking about issues and improving it, screen sharing is not helpful or feasible. The video is helpful because you can see if people are understanding it, confused and other body language things.

 

[ISU_Guy]

I just don’t know what kind of meeting people are having where a screen isn’t being shared the entire time?

lots of project meetings where people are giving status updates w/o slides or sharing screens.
when someone does shares their then it becomes less important to be on video, and that does happen although some people still want to be on video and have their face be shown in a tiny video box, etc.

I think it just depends on your line of work and type of meetings maybe..

 

[cstrunk]

Video cameras on for virtual meetings/calls is important. Increases personal connection with seeing the person you are talking to - relationships are important. Visual cues, as noted above, to see if someone is confused or nodding their head in agreement- or disagreement. It also increases accountability that the person on the meeting is there and paying attention and not multitasking.

Communication is vital. If you can't be together to communicate, you need to do everything you can to keep from losing out of those benefits.

 

[Clonehomer]

Video cameras on for virtual meetings/calls is important. Increases personal connection with seeing the person you are talking to - relationships are important. Visual cues, as noted above, to see if someone is confused or nodding their head in agreement- or disagreement. It also increases accountability that the person on the meeting is there and paying attention and not multitasking.

Communication is vital. If you can't be together to communicate, you need to do everything you can to keep from losing out of those benefits.

Isn’t this also the argument for back to office?

Ducks head

 

[Bigman38]

I was 100% remote, now 2 days remote.

When I was 100% remote
Wake up at 5, go downstairs and watch TV for an hour and have some coffee.
At 6am, go upstairs brush my teeth and start work
11am lunch
1pm workout
2pm shower
Work for a couple more hours
Non workout days. I'd probably shower 1/2 the days

Now when I go to work
Wake up at 4:30 and shower
Leave for work at 5:30
Take 30 minute lunch
Leave work around 3

In the office, my day is a lot more structured but I don't spend one extra minute at work.

That's pretty much what I do to. If I'm WFH I'm way more flexible on my hours, and I start a lot earlier. If I'm in office the computer doesn't turn on until I get there and it stays off when I leave.

 

[CascadeClone]

Great Post here. I don't understand this either, other than it's a checkbox leadership is handing down along with pressures from communities, etc.

Video calls.....I can not stand when management or the owner of a meeting requires everyone on camera. its stupid. if the owner of the meeting and the person either presenting or talking wants to on camera than fine. That works, but sitting there watching peoples faces all meeting is distracting.
Most of my meetings have transitioned to turning on the camera just when speaking/presenting

I have already told my leadership if Remote work gets turned into hybrid or taken away all together, be prepared for me to be 8-4 only. and I will probably be taking my lunches. (yes I know its a requirement, but i will be blocking out my lunch)

There is nothing like traveling in 30-40 minutes to sit there by yourself after getting "work ready" just to make a team call with someone in Guam or Hawaii from Central Iowa, and in my case, I have no team in my location anyway.

I think these places just need to have flexibility and understand each job is different....and adjust accordingly instead of this blanket BS.

Having people on video is mostly about making sure they are paying attention. How many times have you been on a call and someone blamed the mute button for when they were CLEARLY not paying any attention? This is especially true in larger groups where only 1 or 2 people are really doing the talking. Now, there's an argument to be made for "this meeting could have been an email" or "manage your people better if they are checked out", to be sure. But that's why its done, anyway.

I do feel for you having to go in office to meet with people in other countries. That's super dumb, very Cockwell Rollins.

Your last sentence is absolutely the fundamental truth of this whole discussion, and that's why there's no single best answer - every situation is different. It should be left to individual managers to make policy for their teams, based on the nature of the work, the individuals involved, etc. But then you have people complaining about unfair treatment between departments, and probably most of your managers are lousy anyway.

 

[Beerbrat]

Having people on video is mostly about making sure they are paying attention. How many times have you been on a call and someone blamed the mute button for when they were CLEARLY not paying any attention? This is especially true in larger groups where only 1 or 2 people are really doing the talking. Now, there's an argument to be made for "this meeting could have been an email" or "manage your people better if they are checked out", to be sure. But that's why its done, anyway.

I do feel for you having to go in office to meet with people in other countries. That's super dumb, very Cockwell Rollins.

Your last sentence is absolutely the fundamental truth of this whole discussion, and that's why there's no single best answer - every situation is different. It should be left to individual managers to make policy for their teams, based on the nature of the work, the individuals involved, etc. But then you have people complaining about unfair treatment between departments, and probably most of your managers are lousy anyway.

 

[wxman1]

Found out this week I will likely be able to move to a 9/80 schedule soon. Considering I already work 9ish hours a day to begin with it will be great to get every other Friday off. Had it at a previous employer and it was great to get an extra day so to speak to get things done around home, run errands, have appointments etc. that don't impact work or the rest of life.

 

[cowgirl836]

Found out this week I will likely be able to move to a 9/80 schedule soon. Considering I already work 9ish hours a day to begin with it will be great to get every other Friday off. Had it at a previous employer and it was great to get an extra day so to speak to get things done around home, run errands, have appointments etc. that don't impact work or the rest of life.

Spouse's company recently took it away but unofficially still there. They did 37.5 hour weeks. The friday off is so nice

 

[Cloned4Life]

Having people on video is mostly about making sure they are paying attention. How many times have you been on a call and someone blamed the mute button for when they were CLEARLY not paying any attention? This is especially true in larger groups where only 1 or 2 people are really doing the talking. Now, there's an argument to be made for "this meeting could have been an email" or "manage your people better if they are checked out", to be sure. But that's why its done, anyway.

I do feel for you having to go in office to meet with people in other countries. That's super dumb, very Cockwell Rollins.

Your last sentence is absolutely the fundamental truth of this whole discussion, and that's why there's no single best answer - every situation is different. It should be left to individual managers to make policy for their teams, based on the nature of the work, the individuals involved, etc. But then you have people complaining about unfair treatment between departments, and probably most of your managers are lousy anyway.

I think it’s a fair point being raised that everyone’s situation is different. There’s a million miles of nuance here.

For my work situation, my team, and extended teams, my function, the way we work with consultants - the amount of meetings where content is being shared on the screen - it just doesn’t do much of anything having people on video. Not paying attention? Really no different than people looking at their phone during an actual in-person meeting. Those situations are embarrassing for the person getting caught, so never an issue here. It’s so odd and disconcerting to have little faces above the presentation - [collective] you really do not need to see everyone’s facial reaction to everything; you would not see it during an in-person meeting anyway, because again, in no human setting can you have access to 15 faces simultaneously. In my opinion, in my situation, it doesn’t foster better communication or better relationships having video on in most situations. When content is NOT being shared, and it’s just a 1:1 with a boss or a colleague or a quick meeting or an informal discussion or whatever - sure, video on is fine, and yeah it never hurts to see a smile. And no, I don’t care if you’ve showered or not.

 

[qwerty]

From office furniture industry newsletter (MMQB).

A third of millennials and Gen Z-ers would take a pay cut for more time with their pets

Americans say their pets play a major role in their financial planning

qz.com

 

[Messi]

“if you typically wfh, stay home cuz we might fire you that day”

 

[dmclone]

Wow, are people really going to pay a premium for Deere now? A have a lot of friends at the waterloo facility. At their age (50's), they will be in trouble.

 

[cowgirl836]

“if you typically wfh, stay home cuz we might fire you that day”

interesting strategy, probably better than one I know of that made everyone come in for a certain day because they were doing all their layoffs in person. Throughout the day. The whole day. People had to sit and wait for 3pm meetings to be fired. And look at me, I'm shocked Deere just ramped up on RTO and then immediatelely announces more layoffs. Shocked, I tell you.