Telework abuse - would you report?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here with a minor update: my coworker talked to admin who has been having similar frustrations. She dug out one of those boards with magnets where you can indicate your schedule and sent out an email to everybody.

Y’all are some gossipy ass bitches. Why haven’t you talked to the alleged offender yet?!? Instead, y’all are chattering like a bunch of mean girls then sending this passive aggressive ass calendar which is wasting everyone’s time. I can’t stand shit like this. Grow a pair and address the issue head on!

Sometimes head on is not the right approach. Sometimes passive aggressive is not the right approach. I'm glad you're happy blasting through life like a wrecking ball, but that doesn't work for every person in ever work environment. For at least three of my coworkers, directly asking them to be more prompt on Fridays or more responsive when they telework would result in THEM being passive aggressive, sniping every chance they get, and resistance at every step. My boss now asks that all complaints and criticisms between coworkers go through him because it keeps everyone civil (at least on the surface). They are very good at their specialties, so I guess he figures it's worth the headaches.

OP - glad something is being done, and at least it's been acknowledged that there is an issue. Come back and update us in a few months!

[Anonymous]

Stay out of it. MYOB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only teleworker who has to email my boss when I start work and when I finish, and send a note outlining what I did each day? I can "flex out" during the day, so as long as I work within certain hours, I might be at Costco or a doctor's appointment during the day, but not be on work time then. Again, I have to email my boss when I come and go.

You're not the only one, but unless your manager is requiring this same accountability for people in the office each day, I think it's unreasonable to ask teleworkers to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here with a minor update: my coworker talked to admin who has been having similar frustrations. She dug out one of those boards with magnets where you can indicate your schedule and sent out an email to everybody.

Y’all are some gossipy ass bitches. Why haven’t you talked to the alleged offender yet?!? Instead, y’all are chattering like a bunch of mean girls then sending this passive aggressive ass calendar which is wasting everyone’s time. I can’t stand shit like this. Grow a pair and address the issue head on!

Sometimes head on is not the right approach. Sometimes passive aggressive is not the right approach. I'm glad you're happy blasting through life like a wrecking ball, but that doesn't work for every person in ever work environment. For at least three of my coworkers, directly asking them to be more prompt on Fridays or more responsive when they telework would result in THEM being passive aggressive, sniping every chance they get, and resistance at every step. My boss now asks that all complaints and criticisms between coworkers go through him because it keeps everyone civil (at least on the surface). They are very good at their specialties, so I guess he figures it's worth the headaches.

OP - glad something is being done, and at least it's been acknowledged that there is an issue. Come back and update us in a few months!

It’s not blasting through life like a wrecking ball (cute description though). It’s having conversations like an adult. Have some tact and professionalism and have a discussion with your colleague if this is truly messing up your workflow.

OP are you gossiping about this during work hours? Sounds like you’re being just as nonproductive as your offending coworker.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't tell on her, but I would schedule meetings at the best times for the rest of the group and let her pipe in and keep saying "oh remember, I'm never available after 3:00!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only teleworker who has to email my boss when I start work and when I finish, and send a note outlining what I did each day? I can "flex out" during the day, so as long as I work within certain hours, I might be at Costco or a doctor's appointment during the day, but not be on work time then. Again, I have to email my boss when I come and go.

I don't have to email when I start/finish but I am expected to be on skype for business whenever I'm working and my boss monitors whether I'm at my computer or not via that. If she skypes me and I don't answer right away, it's a problem so I always need to be right at my computer and answer all IMs immediately when I'm on the clock. Similar responsiveness to email is expected as well. She also monitors our output and processing speed in the systems we use (how many widget reviewed, how many gadgets processed, etc).

[Anonymous]

My DH teleworks 3x per week, and does make himself unavailable for certain hours. He works 6:30-7:30 then is off from 7:30 - 8:30 to do drop off at daycare. He picks up the kids from 4-5 then he works from 7:30-9:30. It has never been an issue because he won't schedule meetings for those time and his work gets done.

[Anonymous]

I feel like telecommuting benefits and is geared to women as it provides extra hours to eat things done that, yes men should be doing too butnoften dont.

The thing is that the entire workplace is geared towards men and now changes are happening since women have more power than they used to and more women work outside of the home and in management positions. Women tend to be more efficient and multi-taskers. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it's dumb to spend three hours a day on commuting and getting dressed up for work when there have been technological advances that allow for working from home.

In the past, being at an office 9-5 or whatever your hours were benefited men since they often had a wife at home handling deliveries, laundry, etc. Many of these same men would argue that telecommuters aren't working even though half of the time they are at the office they are just shooting the sh*t. However, conservative men seem to only be able to view things through one lens. The same men often don't support maternity leave since they don't have children. They don't realize that the retirement age is pretty much driven by MEN and their shorter life expectancy. I would bet that most women would prefer to have more time off for children and simply retire later since we do live longer than men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only teleworker who has to email my boss when I start work and when I finish, and send a note outlining what I did each day? I can "flex out" during the day, so as long as I work within certain hours, I might be at Costco or a doctor's appointment during the day, but not be on work time then. Again, I have to email my boss when I come and go.

You're not the only one, but unless your manager is requiring this same accountability for people in the office each day, I think it's unreasonable to ask teleworkers to do this.

It's an agency requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Report it. These abusers are not doing anything to help the system and the honor system almost never works in holding people accountable.

+1

[Anonymous]

If I were going to do this, I would bring my phone with me everywhere and answer emails so I wouldn't get caught. Why is this woman so bad at playing hooky, I'd like to know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were going to do this, I would bring my phone with me everywhere and answer emails so I wouldn't get caught. Why is this woman so bad at playing hooky, I'd like to know?

Some agencies don't allow you to check work email on personal devices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have not read all 8 pages of this thread, but I don't think OP should say anything.

I WFH 1-2 times per week and always put in extra hours those days. One coworker uses her Friday WFH day to extend her weekend and go on trips. I know it and it irks me, but I don't manage her. What bothers me is when I get 'sent from iphone' requests from her on Fridays to do what should be her job. Sorry lady, those requests are going straight to trash.

OP here: In my case, she is not requesting us to do anything or doing anything herself. Basically it is radio silence on these days and they coupled with reports that she is out and about is problematic.

If she is working some weird schedule then she should let us know that on Friday she works 4-12 and on Mondays from 12-8 (again unlikely but possible) and won't be available between Friday 12 to Monday 12. She is aware that we need her input.

A recent example: : I am charge of putting together a report for a funding agency. We collect input from everybody by Thursday afternoon, put together a report and run it by our supervisor who gives me feedback by Friday morning. I work back and forth with with everybody to get the revised report by Fridayafternoon but I am still waiting for Jane's changes who drops off by 2 pm. So at this point, I have to interrupt my forward momentum and restart the whole process on Monday morning to get it sent out. Ideally I would like to get this done and go home happy on Friday.

You said earlier it was OK to work 7-3. It is you own problem if you want to get something out the door and you wait until the last minute for changes. You are a poor planner. Nobody has time for for your day-of back and forth at the last second. Set earlier deadlines for changes that you know fits everyone's schedules.

Seriously. OP, you are terrible. I think expecting immediate response to email is only okay if that's the primary job function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were going to do this, I would bring my phone with me everywhere and answer emails so I wouldn't get caught. Why is this woman so bad at playing hooky, I'd like to know?

Some agencies don't allow you to check work email on personal devices.

I found a workaround for this with my company (logging in through the web using LastPass). They tried to tell us we all had to download some sketchy software. No way in hell do they need to know who I call and text outside of work hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were going to do this, I would bring my phone with me everywhere and answer emails so I wouldn't get caught. Why is this woman so bad at playing hooky, I'd like to know?

Some agencies don't allow you to check work email on personal devices.

I found a workaround for this with my company (logging in through the web using LastPass). They tried to tell us we all had to download some sketchy software. No way in hell do they need to know who I call and text outside of work hours.

Ugh, my company uses something similar but thankfully, they give us cell phones so it is only downloaded to the work cell, not my personal cell. My boss keeps telling me I should get rid of my personal cell and just use the corporate one. Except the software on it tracks everything (my location, calls, texts, emails, contacts, keystrokes, passwords) and stores it on the company servers and can be remotely accessed or wiped at any time. Why would I want to use that phone for any of my personal stuff?