Remote working - the future?

A single one off test doesn't mean your broadband is good, for sure.

But in our senior managers eyes, a single bad measurement means "yours isn't good enough please work from the office".

I've been told that when the day comes, I'm expected to be pretty brutal about reporting failed transactions: people might get away with a one off failure once, but after that it's "please come in ".

There's a few fights coming, but permanent jobs are hard enough to get.

You have hit on an important point that a lot of people i talk to seem to miss. Supply and demand dictates the market.

It also doesn't include weekends, annual leave etc., so if your heating bill is 1,000 per year - the amount you can claim tax relief on is approx 1000*.1*(230/365)=63 - so at 20% tax relief you would get back €12.60 for the year. Not exactly great.

But most employers are not looking at a full remote solution but rather a hybrid model. We are currently rolling out a solution which entails a high end laptop, docking stations, a pair or screens, keyboard, mouse and TP link for home use. This will be replicated in the office (excluding the laptop obviously). Multiplied by 350 - this is a major investment! And that is before possibly having to spend a further €1000 on a chair and desk. We have also been advised that we need to have an ergonomic assessment carried out for each employee that will be working from home even on a hybrid basis!

And issues like ergonomic safety, confidentiality in shared accommodation, costs of heating, lighting broadband.

IT support costs won't change significantly - maybe some minor extra costs for remote access infrastructure and courier costs.

Office space costs dwarf all the other costs, with direct space costs in the region of €2k-€3k per employee per annum. So if the employer can halve their space requirements, there are very substantial savings to be made there. Employees should be making sure they get the fair slice of those savings.

Why should there be any dent in that saving though? Why should you pay for light, heating and broadband when your employer is making savings on office costs?

That's a bit like your doctor putting you on blood pressure medication because they got one bad BP reading. There's a reason why docs do a 24 hour BP monitor before making any big decisions.

No he isn’t ‘saving’ anyone hours or a commute. The no commuting is simply a byproduct of wfh. It’s not done with the view of saving people time and petrol money. You’d be deluded to believe it was.

im glad you feel like you can speak for the entirety of the private sector.

i wouldn’t attempt to but every colleague I had on leaving the office work mobiles were turned off and if an employer had started calling my home number , which never happened regardless but it would have ended up with a little more formal feedback / action then... “I’d rather you didn’t”.

in your own power ? what kind of mental gymnastics is that ? If your employer has your home phone number / personal mobile, you are contactable... the only means of becoming non contactable is to turn both phones off which isn’t practical... they would be both required here and indeed by everyone for family and friends, family life and enjoyment of personal / social life.

its good for employers, bad for employees... my phone rings I answer it, I don’t want to of an evening have to start screening calls and looking at caller ID.

if you WFH those lines are blurred, your employer has an ‘in’ to your home life as it now doubles as a workplace. You’ve knocked down the wall...almost literally.

you step out to do some shopping, is your boss expecting your OH or kids to take a message? :)

It’s not a ‘me’ problem whatever mental gymnastics made you believe that haha.. :) I don’t have the problem now and I’ll ensure that remains the case.. let google be your friend there are multiple conversations out there that people have noted from bosses / employers monitoring time away from PC’s via software, contacting you via home phone and connecting with a family member, the guy in question was on a scheduled work call but the boss forgot... nahhh grim dot com

When you end up having to set boundaries for an employer, nahhhh

Really ? And become uncontactable for your friends, loved ones etc ?yeah not practical in the real world.

hate to ask but why is that only being done now. We have all that since last year - but Im public sector. No need for desk though. Chairs were simply taken from the office if required. Safety assessment done for remote working at home aswell. Only issue we experienced was the delays in getting laptops and IT equipment at the time - hopefully this has improved.

Half that for a couple both WFH.

I will get about €30 back of the taxman myself

I’m not sure I really understand your question! Why did our company take their time when considering a €1m+ plus IT investment?

I’m delighted that the 3rd level sector is so well funded! In the private sector there are very few companies that can spend €1m+ that has not been budgeted! And I can assure you that most companies have got by as best they can for the last 18 months!

There are plenty of poor employers in the country.

There are also vastly different types if workplaces and jobs: some workers can be very independent and work on assigned tasks at hours which suit them. While others need to do serious amounts of collaboration, serve customers who need them to be available at fixed times, and have managers who got their personal phone numbers during the hiring process and are happy to use them.