[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Look at the article recommendation I got today These People Who Work From Home Have a Secret: They Have Two Jobs
More than my employer keeping an eye on me, I am worried about random companies tracking and learning about me. And they are doing it much better than my employer could ever do.
.

My laptop is a surveillance engine at the moment and a open one at that. In the name of data protection, my employer monitors my each and every key stroke including the one i am typing here

Got to know this when i just copied my mark sheets to my another laptop on home network and security chaps started running circles around my manager , asking why i copied that PDF. My work hours are calculated via remote tools, anything less than 6 hours and each one gets a mail "explain the shortfall" but no one cares if you exceed those 8 hours. I work for one of those so called highest "ethical standards" .

WFH must end for larger good. High time that i get my time back after slogging 9 hours for the day. Anyways, I don,t get compensated for using my home facilities for employer benefit.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

WFH must end for larger good. High time that i get my time back after slogging 9 hours for the day. Anyways, I don,t get compensated for using my home facilities for employer benefit.

For me WFH benefits far, FAR outweigh benefits (if any) of working from office. Yes I am paying electricity bills for my laptops but I do get reimbursed for highspeed internet and I don't spend time in traffic, money on house rent, fuel or outside food etc. Not to mention blood boiling moments of frustration because of idiots in Pune traffic.

After working from home for a long time now, I see no argument in my current firm that will convince me to come to office everyday and I am ready to die on that hill.

Things would have been different if I was a young chap a fresher in my company wanting to meet new people, make acquaintances, just hang out with colleagues but I have passed that stage. I don't long for fancy office, beautiful big screens, super comfy chairs, HVAC, facilities, humongous meeting rooms anymore.
Yes, they don't pay me overages if I do overtime but I used to do overtime even in office - at least now I am home, able to go out for cycling or any exercise as soon as there is free time.

Besides there are many occasions where I work late. I despise working alone in a cold dead places like offshore development centers late night and then go home.
Like I said, nothing in the office outstrips WFH for me.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

My laptop is a surveillance engine at the moment and a open one at that...

Off Topic:
It didn't start now. Once they started networking computers, managers had tools that could show them your desktop, snooping tools are a lot more sophisticated now. If you had read the agreements you signed when you joined the company, you'd have realized that "your data" on their infrastructure belongs to them.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Sample this internal note he sent to employees -

Calling one of the smartest animals out there as dumbs...I wonder who is the real dumb-a here.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

My laptop is a surveillance engine at the moment and a open one at that. In the name of data protection, my employer monitors my each and every key stroke including the one i am typing here .... copied my mark sheets to my another laptop on home network .

Off topic. Using work equipment for any kind of personal data is a big risk. As you mentioned, all keystorkes are logged. In addition, all web traffic is logged; employer can se everything including netbanking password (since they can see https traffic) ; mic + camera can be turned on anytime.

In summary; use only personal laptop / phone /tablet for anything non-work.

[Gokuljayaraj]

On the topic of WFH, we had a call today to discuss our work options for Q4 2021. Funnily enough, certain members had to drop off mid fall due to network issues. We had a good laugh about it but it sums up the WFH experience so far. Those who live in metros and even large towns are best placed to work remotely due to mostly uninterrupted power and network supply. Those from small towns and rural areas, not so much. Dropped calls, unavailability due to power cuts or network cuts are major issues when the workforce is spread across various parts of India. Other complains also include long turnaround times for asset repairs in places other than cities. While my company’s Indian division will continue to WFH through march, I don’t think it will remain that way for long. Discussion is to offer a nice pay hike and invite people back to office gradually to prevent attrition. No idea how it will pan out. I personally hope that it remains an option at-least, based on circumstances.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

...High time that I get my time back after slogging 9 hours for the day.

One doesn't get compensated for commute hours either - which could add up to several hours a day in some of our metros - so the 'getting back' component can be a net negative, on top of slogging the required and extra hours in office (you said yourself your employer don't care if you work 'extra'), unless you want to claim stretch hours magically came into existence with WFH.

Not everyone can or wants to live next door to their workplace to minimize commutes, not to mention what would follow if you told your employer you live next door.

I don't get compensated for using my home facilities for employer benefit.

This is highly employer dependent. Lots of employers paid one-time stipends for home office equipment purchases, and some cover utility payments like broadband bills too.

...My work hours are calculated via remote tools, anything less than 6 hours and each one gets a mail "explain the shortfall" but no one cares if you exceed those 8 hours. I work for one of those so called highest "ethical standards"

This just seems like an overly controlling employer who counts productivity by timecards instead of quality and timeliness of output, and your location of work is unlikely to make a material difference to the situation except maybe a sense of defiance about 'taking back' something.

Nobody's arguing WFH is a one-size-fits-all solution, but that argument cuts both ways.

[anandhsub]

I remember reading somewhere about 90% of car owners wanted public transport to improve, not because they would shift to it but because they believed traffic would reduce for their own commute.

Similar to that I, for one, hope WFH becomes the new normal for all the IT folks so that we non IT guys who were not as comfortable with WFH last 1.5 years can enjoy a peaceful commute.

The work that I have seen my wife do at home, I see no reason at all why it has to be done from office. 99% of the calls are with clients outside India and it cannot be done without a Teams or Webex in any case. Atleast at home I guess it is free of the background noise that one usually encounters at Work.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

One doesn't get compensated for commute hours either - which could add up to several hours a day in some of our metros - so the 'getting back' component can be a net negative

Right but there are ways and means to make that commute more productive for one;s own benefit. you still get to control your time with shrewd time management.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Nobody's arguing WFH is a one-size-fits-all solution, but that argument cuts both ways.

Right, argument cuts both ways. My point is pretty simple, Work from home or office both have positive & Negative side. It depends on which side of fence one is. There no holy cows per se in this world

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

Right but there are ways and means to make that commute more productive for one's own benefit. you still get to control your time with shrewd time management.

Why limit oneself to managing a chunk of time with attached limitations, when one can have full control of it instead?

If you're driving, can you read, sleep, cook, play with your child, walk/jog or watch a movie in that time, just to quote a few obvious examples?

...Work from home or office both have positive & Negative side.

This little quote of yours below doesn't seem to agree with you.

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

...WFH must end for larger good.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

Right, argument cuts both ways. My point is pretty simple, Work from home or office both have positive & Negative side. It depends on which side of fence one is. There no holy cows per se in this world

I always wonder why is there a debate. If work from home does not work, don't work from home, go to office instead.

The problem happens when people try to influence others choice and control it. Because X cannot work from home effectively, should not allow X to prevent Y to work from home and vice a versa

In a team setting, teams can decide together. There should be no reason for a team in Bulgaria dictate what a team working on a different project in USA should be doing with WFH.

So rather than +/- its more about team to team or person to person. For some people it will not be a good fit, for some it will.


The problem is with one size fits all approach

[am1m]

Bit of an old guy rant, but I wonder why our habit of coming in late for meetings in the office now extends to logging in to virtual meetings as well! Is it just me or do others also get irritated when waiting for someone to join a meeting? Especially when the other person has asked for the meeting and selected the time slot! I've found that I'm usually waiting anywhere between 5-10 minutes for most of my Indian colleagues to join, while my US colleagues are always on time, no matter how senior. Surely this is something we can change. How is the scene at other offices? Note: I'm not stating this as a negative of the WFH concept, as I mentioned, people used to walk in to meeting rooms at the office late for meetings as well! Just wondering if it's just the orgs I've worked at and perhaps other orgs do a better job of getting to meetings on time. Or am I just an old guy and being exactly on time really doesn't matter anymore?!

[Akshay6988]

Originally Posted by am1m

Or am I just an old guy and being exactly on time really doesn't matter anymore?!

I have experienced this same behavior from my desi colleagues, always late to the meetings, not responding to skype/,mails on time. On the other hand, top executives working on site are always available to the meeting in time, no such waiting for them thing. One more idiotic thing desi colleagues are doing is messaging/emailing after 7 PM (yes people work till 11 Pm ) and obviously if I'm offline in work network, they whatsapp me or call me ! How stupid is that? Why do I have to work late if you can't do your work on time Last year I used to quickly respond to these guys, not anymore. Turns out they don't care how much work I've done, they'll always ask why didn't I finish the x + n tasks.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by am1m

Bit of an old guy rant, but I wonder why our habit of coming in late for meetings in the office now extends to logging in to virtual meetings as well! Is it just me or do others also get irritated when waiting for someone to join a meeting? Especially when the other person has asked for the meeting and selected the time slot! I've found that I'm usually waiting anywhere between 5-10 minutes for most of my Indian colleagues to join, while my US colleagues are always on time, no matter how senior. Surely this is something we can change. How is the scene at other offices? Note: I'm not stating this as a negative of the WFH concept, as I mentioned, people used to walk in to meeting rooms at the office late for meetings as well! Just wondering if it's just the orgs I've worked at and perhaps other orgs do a better job of getting to meetings on time. Or am I just an old guy and being exactly on time really doesn't matter anymore?!

It's not an old guy rant. You are stating facts. Desi's are the toughest guys to work with from my personal experience compared to a caucasian/westerner.

It's unfortunate but, quite true that desi's are unprofessional both with respect to managing time, totally casual in nature and have no respect for other's time. Another bad habits of Indians is neither accepting or declining an invite. We will be left wondering if the person will actually show up on a call.

For some desi it extends a lot further- they are micro managers, show arrogance and make others life miserable just to satisfy their egos.

While Indians have the blessings of crazy multi-tasking and putting in long hours ability but, we also have several work ethics which almost borders to unprofessionalism that shows poorly on our nation.

Coming to WFH topic, My role (Sales) has been such that I have to meet people only to build relationships. My nature of work is such is I just need a laptop and I can work from anywhere-home, office, airport or even the loo.

Jokes aside, this debates of WFH vs. Office is getting interesting and in my opinion pandemic has completely changed the equation. Hybrid model (2 Days-Office, 3 Days-Home) will be the way to go forward for 7/10 roles.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Gokuljayaraj

Funnily enough, certain members had to drop off mid fall due to network issues. We had a good laugh about it but it sums up the WFH experience so far. Those who live in metros and even large towns are best placed to work remotely due to mostly uninterrupted power and network supply.

Yeah this is an unfortunate but undeniable phenomenon. At my previous org we'd always have a couple of people drop off several times in between calls. And this was when they were based out of big cities, not small towns or villages. Finally asked why and apparently while they did have the option to get broadband connections, they chose not to because "mobile data is fast enough most of the time!" And that org had very generous reimbursement policies in place for employees to recover the cost of installing a good broadband connection and a UPS! Can't do much about such unprofessional behavior, but unfortunately it will be blamed on the WFH concept and employees who are behaving professionally will also have that benefit taken away.