Questions tagged [telecommute]
Questions about telecommuting - a work arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, but often work from home instead.
275
questions
356
votes
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answers
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How to convince HR to let my star employee work from home?
We recently got a new CEO and he took away everyone's ability to work remotely, including that of my most productive team member. As you can guess, everyone's productivity has dropped considerably, ...
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171
votes
12
answers
30k
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Can I get in trouble for smoking on a video call while working from home?
Everybody in our office is still working at home due to COVID.
The other day, I had a Zoom call with several people in the organization. Not thinking about it, I was smoking a cigarette while my ...
- 1,969
161
votes
21
answers
64k
views
Top developer doing more home office than allowed
I'm a release manager of a well-known software development company. In the project we work in, we have 1 developer.
Every worker in the project including me (around 20 people, mostly managers) has 2 ...
- 1,369
141
votes
12
answers
22k
views
How do I get my family to respect my home office?
I got my current job a few years ago when the company had a second office near my hometown. A few months later they closed that office and offered me the opportunity to work from home instead. I ...
- 1,399
120
votes
13
answers
16k
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I am becoming very unproductive because of working from home
I am becoming very unproductive because of working from home.
It always used to be the opposite when I had an office job before the Covid. I used to request home office often so I can work quietly ...
- 1,085
110
votes
9
answers
20k
views
Is it appropriate to breastfeed my baby during a conference call (voice only), and how do I mention her noises?
I have a 3 month old daughter and have just started working again for my employer full-time from home after maternity leave. She is quite a needy baby and will sometimes cry if I'm not holding her.
I'...
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103
votes
13
answers
17k
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How can I know if a 100% working-from-home job is for me?
I have a job at the moment that is paying fairly well (Engineering); however, I'm not finding the work very stimulating, so I have been looking for other opportunities. I have applied for a job that ...
- 4,954
102
votes
8
answers
19k
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Quarantine allegedly ends in a month, how to ask for permanent 40% remote work accommodations?
I work in a startup as a developer. Quarantine had us all work from home (WFH) full time and it's really working for me. I don't have the 1.5 hours of daily traffic jam anymore and being at home ...
- 2,266
99
votes
10
answers
14k
views
When working remote due to COVID-19, should we communicate in writing or using video?
Like many companies, we find ourselves suddenly working fully remotely. I have found some of the guidance we've received seems to differ from articles I've read from people in my profession (software ...
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95
votes
11
answers
37k
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Remote Work: I moved, my employer wants to reduce my pay
I have been working for the same employer for just over five years in a senior-level position. I was hired on at their headquarters in City A, where I was living at the time, and worked as a ...
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93
votes
17
answers
174k
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How to proceed when remote boss doesn't answer emails?
My boss and I sit in different remote sites, several thousands of miles apart. We don't see each other often.
On several occasions in the last few months, I have sent him emails asking him for ...
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91
votes
11
answers
18k
views
As a remote employee, how do I get coworkers to give me information I need to do my job?
I am a technical writer who works in the office 1 day per week. The job I have does not require a lot of teamwork because I am the sole writer, but I do need to get information from developers. The ...
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83
votes
4
answers
20k
views
Why do remote US companies require working in the US?
Many of the high-tech opportunities for remote work require that you are working in the US. Why?
I am a US citizen, and I lived in the US until I graduated university. I am now living abroad. I have ...
- 741
83
votes
7
answers
19k
views
Manager asks if a coworker can stay at my house
I work remotely. An annual conference relevant to my work is going to happen in my town. My manager has said that we can go, but only if my coworker can stay with me at my house (i.e., only if there ...
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76
votes
7
answers
12k
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Remote worker, minimal feedback, how to avoid fearing for my job every day?
I am an application specialist working for a small startup from the West Coast in the US. I am working remotely from the UK.
In my team we all code and work with customers, and I think I was hired ...
- 1,481
63
votes
5
answers
15k
views
How to tell company that you will be leaving after one day of joining a remote unpaid internship
I started working as a remote(work-from-home) intern at a very young startup. The internship is for 3 months and I just learned I will have to attend a 3-hour meeting every night. For every meeting ...
63
votes
6
answers
6k
views
How do you separate or integrate your work and home life when telecommuting?
I recently started a job where I can telecommute 1 day a week, and the hours are fairly flexible as long as you are being productive and getting your time in.
I find I'm as productive if not more so ...
- 1,884
58
votes
8
answers
13k
views
Am I being unreasonable with my company which is trying to change my commuting shortly after hiring me?
I was just hired for my first full-time position since graduating from University. The location is 15 minutes away from my parent’s house, and I just moved back in with them from college to accept/...
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57
votes
11
answers
12k
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What motivates software companies to hire locally?
As a US citizen myself, I've been wondering this for years: What motivates software companies to hire locally? More specifically, what motivates Silicon Valley companies to hire talent locally, ...
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55
votes
7
answers
13k
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How can I maintain cooperation while declining meetings scheduled past my local bed time?
The project manager has asked me to have an every-other-week, one-on-one check-in with an international colleague in another time zone. The meeting time has been slotted for 9:45PM-11PM my time.
My ...
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46
votes
11
answers
27k
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Co-Worker Overreacts to Request for Clarification
I received an email from a business user requesting an update of national identifiers for 1150 employees. Being the fairly new guy (I've been with the company for only a year), I looped in the other ...
user62478
46
votes
6
answers
11k
views
Boss often wants me to screen share (and record) from my personal computer
To make a long story short, I work from home using my personal computer. I was supposed to be supplied with one from the company but it keeps getting delayed (apparently it's coming from HQ which is ...
43
votes
3
answers
10k
views
Can my employer legally monitor my personal network activity when I'm working from home?
I work from home most of the time. I use my corporate laptop for work, and I keep my personal laptop open as a second monitor, for internet research.
Whenever I open Google Translate or Linguee on my ...
- 517
42
votes
14
answers
19k
views
How can I make sure my remote workers are not slacking off?
I have a company (about 6 programmers, and 14 workers in total). As I am going to expand my company, I am thinking about hiring remote workers for programming jobs and get them to be involved in the ...
40
votes
6
answers
7k
views
What are the disadvantages [to the employer] of working from home? [closed]
I'm 41 years old. I'm an Australian, and I like things where I am. At 15, I took to software development (computer programming as I knew it then, and as it probably still is now) because it promised ...
anon
39
votes
8
answers
6k
views
How can we increase spontaneous conversations when working from home and using instant messaging?
Given the current state of working from home for many companies, instant messaging is the go-to communication method.
After a few weeks of using instant messaging, however, I noticed the distinct lack ...
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38
votes
9
answers
23k
views
Is it necessary to work 8 hours a day if I work from home? [closed]
I was previously working in an office from 9-6 but my boss decided for us to work remotely due to various reasons.
When I was in an office setting, I had no choice but to stay in the office from 9-6 ...
- 1,243
37
votes
11
answers
17k
views
Invited to give talk, but want to refuse
I'm currently WFH and I feel a bit embarrassed about how tentative I have been about returning to normal life (which is largely due to my elderly father and girlfriend, whom I both live with, being ...
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37
votes
7
answers
14k
views
How can I ask/negotiate to work permanently out of state in a way that both conveys urgency and preserves my option to stay if they say no?
Summary: I am a hard-to-replace employee who has been highly productive working remotely and would like to ask to be allowed to relocate to another state permanently (with ~6 visits a year to the ...
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36
votes
5
answers
16k
views
Meeting people (a friend) during remote work day
I'm a software developer working remotely at a lab here in the US. I recently finished college, and I've started working here after past internships at this lab (and at another different lab before). ...
35
votes
9
answers
11k
views
Do long commutes count against personal or work hours? [closed]
My employer (science) has several sites. One is in Cambridge MA, where some colleagues tell me their one-way commute is in excess of an hour. I've even heard that a few colleagues commute up to 2 hrs ...
35
votes
8
answers
4k
views
How can we promote informal "water cooler moments" in a remote-only organization?
One of our recent hires gave me an interesting feedback during our last team retro: we lack water cooler moments. For context we're a 100% remote company - the largest based outside the US as I write ...
- 3,607
34
votes
0
answers
5k
views
Manager does not respond to my emails [duplicate]
I am a software engineer from the Ukraine working in a multinational company. My manager is located in the USA. I have a communication problem with my manager that I will explain with an example.
I ...
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28
votes
5
answers
3k
views
How should I bring up working from home?
Working from home is becoming more and more common. If my work lends itself to remoteness, what's a good way to ask management to work from home from time to time?
Or is this not a reasonable thing ...
- 1,648
26
votes
5
answers
5k
views
What time counts when it comes to remote work?
I'm getting back into the world of work after being disabled for 10 years and got a job as a software developer. Because of a disability I work from home.
I'm starting again at a junior developer ...
- 1,205
22
votes
6
answers
70k
views
Working for two companies at the same time [closed]
Are there any concerns with working two remote full time tech jobs in the US (one in networking and one in photo sharing)? I understand there might be health concerns, but assuming you are able to ...
- 907
21
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What data supports the benefits of telecommuting/working from home?
There are a lot of discussions with regards to Telecommuting and Work from Home at various places I worked. In most cases a company allowed people to work remotely but there are some that don't.
My ...
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20
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What can I do to prepare for working remotely?
Background info:
I currently work on site (database developer) but will be moving to another state in a month. My boss has given me the okay to work remotely. I'll be the first remote worker in my ...
- 3,652
20
votes
2
answers
782
views
What can I do, as a remote manager, to smoothly onboard new employees
Background info: I am the only remote worker in my organization and live out of state from my main office. I have remotely mentored interns previously. These will be my first direct reports.
I have ...
- 3,652
19
votes
5
answers
51k
views
How to deal with "unresponsive" colleagues?
I routinely have to deal with a situation when some of my colleagues do not reply to my chat messages or emails. I can't just ignore them, because I get tasks from them and occasionally need to ...
- 332
17
votes
4
answers
3k
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How to handle conference calls when you can't hear well
I recently just started working full time at a large company after graduating college. At my company, we have hubs in two locations so it's not uncommon that whenever we have meetings, there's a ...
- 179
16
votes
7
answers
7k
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How do you deal with co-workers who respond to your emails without reading the whole thing, or don't read them at all?
I'm a web developer (who writes code -- not css/designer). I work in an office, but many managers work remotely, hence the heavy reliance on email/IM.
I am starting to notice a trend where people ...
- 161
16
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Telecommute being revoked [closed]
I (along with everyone in my office) went to Telecommute in March 2020.
Our team was as productive as in office (if not more so).
In March 2022, we were advised that because our company had built a ...
- 179
16
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Most effective way to do daily standup meeting when a few people are remote
I am a software developer in a small team of seven. We are not an Agile (with a big 'A') team but are experimenting with some aspects of agile. One of these is the daily "standup" meeting. The ...
- 237
15
votes
8
answers
6k
views
Is it unprofessional to leave meetings that run over work hours as a remote employee? [duplicate]
I currently work as a remote employee , and we have a few weekly meetings that start at ~5:30PM EST and run normally for 1.5-2 hours.
Would it be unprofessional/not-advised to leave the meeting at ...
15
votes
6
answers
9k
views
I just got a job that I can't afford to go to, how to resolve? [closed]
I'm going to sum up my situation fast:
I just got an initial offer for a job
To put it in perspective, the initial offer was in the$60-80k a year range
I currently live with my parents
I have 15 ...
- 179
15
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How can full-time telecommuters overcome feelings of isolation?
I've been working 18 months in a telecommute position. We moved to a new part of the US that is lacking any after work activities and I left all my friends 1,500 miles away.
Any ideas out there for ...
- 253
14
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Regretting two week notice [closed]
I recently put in my two week notice at a company I've worked at for the better part of nine years as a digital marketer. The company has treated me well and provided learning opportunities. The work ...
- 197
14
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Telecommuting: how should I ask to successfully achieve it? [duplicate]
I've been working on a company for half a year, as a web developer but also offering consultancy in Android to my colleagues (about 1-2 hours per full-time working day). However, I'm planning to move ...
- 1,880
13
votes
11
answers
11k
views
Make it mandatory to turn camera on in video meetings at work?
I am between junior and mid level in my team and new to my company. Everyone works from home all the time and our meetings are on video chat due to the covid pandemic. I often feel that some teammates ...
- 314