Telework Protocols?

[Anonymous]

My boss just implemented a *new* telework protocol. It seems a bit extreme and is rubbing me the wrong way.

Here are the highlights:

- Focused, noise free environment
- Professional background for video calls
- Ensure face is not in shadow during video calls
- Presentable dress and hair to accept video calls at any time
- Skype status set to go idle after 5 minutes
- Skype status to "I am remote today, Please contact me at 555-555-5555"
- Outlook hours set from 8-6pm
- Ensure no pets or children are in the background

Is this normal? I only work 1 day per week from home as negotiated during my offer.

[Anonymous]

That's pretty much our policy, except for:

-Ensure face is not in shadow during video calls (this one is weird to me)
-Skype status set to go idle after 5 minutes (we're not allowed to let Skype go idle without putting a message up)
-Skype status to "I am remote today, Please contact me at 555-555-5555" (We're required to forward our phones to either our home phone or cell)

We're supposed to keep up the appearance that we're actually in the office for any video calls with outside clients. We're not allowed to work remotely from coffee shops and the like. The hardest to maintain is keeping the dog quiet.

[Anonymous]

Does your job require a lot of video calls? One of the benefits of teleworking for me is not having to wear work clothes/makeup, but my role is not forward facing.

If video calls are a key function of your job, then yes, this sounds reasonable. (Assuming your regular work hours include 8-6.)

[Anonymous]

This all seems reasonable to me, assuming 8-6 are your regular work hours. Honestly it all seems obvious if you are a professional and doing video calls is a regular part of your work. You don't want to hear someone's dog, kids, coffeeshop whatever in the background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boss just implemented a *new* telework protocol. It seems a bit extreme and is rubbing me the wrong way.

Here are the highlights:

- Focused, noise free environment
- Professional background for video calls
- Ensure face is not in shadow during video calls
- Presentable dress and hair to accept video calls at any time
- Skype status set to go idle after 5 minutes
- Skype status to "I am remote today, Please contact me at 555-555-5555"
- Outlook hours set from 8-6pm
- Ensure no pets or children are in the background

Is this normal? I only work 1 day per week from home as negotiated during my offer.

That's extreme. Is s/he watching if you're online the entire time? What about in the office? I feel that I'm away from my desk more at the office than I am at home.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's extreme. Your boss is trying to manage telework ass backwards.

[Anonymous]

OP here. To clarify, I have not had any video conf calls in my 9 months at this job. I asked my boss about it this morning and she said our client is going to start doing random video calls on telework days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I have not had any video conf calls in my 9 months at this job. I asked my boss about it this morning and she said our client is going to start doing random video calls on telework days.

Ok, so it sounds like your boss is just responding to the client demands, which might be stupid, but are still client demands.

[Anonymous]

This seems pretty reasonable to me. I get why it might seem like overstepping, but a lot of it seems like making sure the production value, if you will, of a video conference is professional.

[Anonymous]

I think this is reasonable if this is at the client's request. The client will likely do some random check for a few weeks and then it will all die down. I have a client who was obsessive about teleworking when we first started working with them. The management team could not grasp how my team was able to get work done if we were not in each others faces all day every day. They wanted to be able to come into our offices and monitor work status and join in on meetings, etc. They were referred from another client and when I explained 90% of our staff worked from home I thought I was going to lose the contact. Turned out they were just skittish and once they saw the quality of the work provided they were fine. I think for some people they just need to see proof of productivity.

[Anonymous]

Eh - I think it is reasonable but I would also check out completely at 6 pm and not work in the evenings or weekends. I telework and find I work a lot more than the average office staff at my company because I do work random hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh - I think it is reasonable but I would also check out completely at 6 pm and not work in the evenings or weekends. I telework and find I work a lot more than the average office staff at my company because I do work random hours.

Another teleworker here and I have my computer set to start up and shut down automatically, and I wrote a script that keeps my computer from ever going to sleep so I never have to worry about being away for too long. I have a "professional background" for video, as there is only bookcases behind my desk. Nothing about the requests seem that odd.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anything you listed is totally unreasonable, but some of it is verging on it. I get a kick out of managers who think it's their job to watch Skype all day and monitor how long a person is listed as "away." A manager should have far more important things to do with their day than watching for screen icons going from green to yellow. Plus, ever heard of printing documents and reading them? My Skype says I'm away all the time because I'm sitting at my desk reading hard-copies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anything you listed is totally unreasonable, but some of it is verging on it. I get a kick out of managers who think it's their job to watch Skype all day and monitor how long a person is listed as "away." A manager should have far more important things to do with their day than watching for screen icons going from green to yellow. Plus, ever heard of printing documents and reading them? My Skype says I'm away all the time because I'm sitting at my desk reading hard-copies.

Yes- I don't understand the Skype thing. Do they want you to be moving your mouse to make look like you're on your computer when you're reading or on a call? That's ridiculous. I pace around while I'm on the phone because I get distracted by my computer. Do they call you out when you go idle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anything you listed is totally unreasonable, but some of it is verging on it. I get a kick out of managers who think it's their job to watch Skype all day and monitor how long a person is listed as "away." A manager should have far more important things to do with their day than watching for screen icons going from green to yellow. Plus, ever heard of printing documents and reading them? My Skype says I'm away all the time because I'm sitting at my desk reading hard-copies.

Yes- I don't understand the Skype thing. Do they want you to be moving your mouse to make look like you're on your computer when you're reading or on a call? That's ridiculous. I pace around while I'm on the phone because I get distracted by my computer. Do they call you out when you go idle?

Actually, yes! I typically get to the office by 8 and one morning I got coffee upstairs and ran into a co worker at the cafe. This turned into a 30 minute conversation (about work) and I got back to my desk around 8:45. I heard later that day that my client told my boss that I was 'unavailable' as I'd been idle for almost an hour. I've now started brining my laptop with me so that I can appear 'available' even if I'm not at my desk. It's ridiculous!