Managers working from home in bad weather

nearlyrich

I can't see the point of driving 300 miles to the office in this bad weather it's so much better to just walk up to my home office and do my job, especially as my customers are mainly not available due to the weather. I just hope the snow goes soon we have had no let up since before Christmas and we are sick of it now.

BrownGirl

Some managers/more senior employees in our dept have been working from home due to bad weather - even though they are only supposed to do this on agreed days.

I can see its sensible for those who live a distance away to be able to do this - but it should be available for ALL staff (assuming the job would allow it). I could quite easily work from home (admin stuff) but as I've not previously applied to do this I'm not entitled.

Jealous, yes, but then we have just gone through 'single status' which is supposed to make things fair for all - and this should include working from home in bad weather.

dipsy

after reading this I realise how lucky I am to work for the company I do.

I work in an office journey time normally 10 mins, took just over the hour last Tuesday and then same home again, worked from home for rest of day and same Wed/thu and no problem with this as we are all geared up for working remotely should the need arise.


I don't see the point in anyone being made to go into work in the bad weather we have had, if they can do their job effectivley from home, surely employers have a duty of care to minimise risks to staff - regardless of their postition.

I guess the only exception is if you work in a shop or have to deal with customers face to face.

then again some businesses might have a trust issue, will the employee actually do any work etc?

Lets hope the snow goes soon and we can all get back to normal.

Taiko

Forced to come in to the office today, despite it being a long trek to a train station, then a fair distance the other side, all on untreated roads. I know there's no work in the office that I cannot do from home, and it took two hours to make a normally 50min trip due to train cancellations and ice.

Phoned my boss and was told I couldn't work from home as "it's unfair on those who haave came in". They all live within 10mins of the office, and don't need the transport. I've had to make that trip, and in the process caused a reoccurance of a knee problem that I had been having physio for up until a few months ago.

Now I'm here, there's only the work I could've done at home to do, as no post. Great...

perplexed.com

Working in the health service, I have made it faithfully into work every day only to find that half my patients haven't turned up/ have cancelled/ fallen and broken a rib/ had to stay off to fix a broken pipe/ couldn't find childcare cause the school was closed...etc etc. sigh........

robocop79

I work from home a few days a week (regardless of the weather!). I get more done, don't have to pay for travel, and quite enjoy it.

On the other hand, my boss actually prefers coming into the office because he can escape his wife and kids distracting him!

So if you can work from home without your productivity being affected what's the problem?

CWCDiver

I'm working from home (not mine, someone else's) today due to an injury. And you know what? If my staff don't like it then they can get lost. But oddly my staff don't seem to complain as much as some people on here.

As an aside, I would ban my staff from posting on here.

Raksha

CWCDiver wrote: »

I'm working from home (not mine, someone else's) today due to an injury. And you know what? If my staff don't like it then they can get lost. But oddly my staff don't seem to complain as much as some people on here.

As an aside, I would ban my staff from posting on here.

During work hours and using work PC's you can do what you like, but outside of work hours and on my own PC, I can post where I like

fluffnutter

Working from home or 'WFH' (always abbreviated and with the quotes round it in our office!) is a right-old bone of contention isn't it?! Forget the bad weather, traffic problems, waiting for a delivery, I'm less distracted at home arguments, the question always boils down to 'is it a skive or not?'. Like most things in life, both sides can be argued and I'm personally ambivalent about it. I work for a very large IT company (which shall remain nameless!) and the WFH argument is a constant source of office frustration (and amusement). There are those that argue that the lack of interruption enables a full day's work. Moreover there are other benefits such as cost savings for the company (the fewer people always on site the fewer desks and other services, e.g. heating, lighting, cleaning etc. that need providing) plus benefits for society generally, e.g. fewer cars on the road, less stressed people because they don't have a miserable commute each day. All valid arguments I guess.

On the other hand, there are those for whom work is not necessarily only about completing a task; other factors such as company, routine and structure are equally important and are best provided by a workplace environment. There are, of course, some jobs that must be done in the workplace and for which WFH is not an option; I'm talking only about office-type jobs that can be conducted with pretty much just a laptop, internet connection and a phone-line.

As someone who can find it difficult to switch off at the end of the day, I'm personally reluctant to conduct any of my work from home because I find it important to make a distinction between work and non-work. I worry that this important distinction, which enables me to achieve perspective after a stressful day, will be blurred if I see my landline as just another office number, and my laptop (which I use for fun like this!) as an extension of my work PC. I can't help but think that this is the root of much of the contention around WFH - if people are honest, perhaps they're viewing going to work as 'bad' and being at home as 'good' regardless of what tasks they're actually completing or whether they're actually having a nice day? If this is the case, then inevitably those that don't have the opportunity to WFH are going to feel a little bit jealous of those that do. It wouldn't work for me but I do believe that it may work for some.

To try to reduce any feelings of resentment, I think managers need to be absolutely scrupulous about how WFH is conducted. Anyone who wishes to WFH should be able to provide a reason for why being at home is better than being in the office. They should also agree with their manager beforehand what they're going to be working on and how they're going to demonstrate that the tasks have been completed (I personally don't believe that merely leaving your mobile on is enough - the last time I called someone who was 'WFH' I could hear the elephants in the distance; they admitted sheepishly (excuse the pun) that they'd taken the kids to the zoo). I appreciate that it's sometimes difficult to know that you're not going to be in the office (the recent weather being a good example) but I'm very much talking about best practices and WFH in general. Ultimately, regardless of what the issue is, a certain amount of trust is needed, and managers tend to know which of their staff are on the blag and which are genuinely putting a full day's graft in. If managers manage well - whatever the issue - then bad feeling and resentment are much reduced. And people won't spend their WFH day taking the kids to the zoo.

woody01

This post, and the OP indicates precisely why the OP is a 'gopher' and NOT a manger.