…to the point Dropbox spent $79 million to terminate a lease for 165,244 sq ft of office space in San Francisco, adapting to remote work norms.

https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-spends-79-million-shrinking-sf-office-space-remote-work-2023-10

I work in Tech and have been WFH ever since the pandemic started. It's a fairly HCOL city, so I have 2 other roommates.

The main challenge I have is that I don't actually enjoy working from home? My bedroom doesn't get the much natural light and I tend to get seasonal depression from it alongside staring at my computer for hours. I try to take breaks but it's not easy.

I'm not quite sure how to overcome this, all my options options seem nuclear/suboptimal.

1. Work from Coffee Shop or Library (I take a lot of random meetings, it would be rude to others)
2. Coworking Space (An additional $200-300 a month)
3. Work in Living Room (unergonomic - no space for a desk)
4. Move to a studio (An additional $200-300 a month and I actually like my Roomates)
5. Move into a 1BD with my GF and save $300-400 a month for a better space (I actually like my roommates, and its too soon in the relationship). Setup desks in the living space.
6. Find a new 3 Bedroom Apt where everyone gets equal natural lighting (Those apts are way too expensive/out of budget)
7. Change jobs / Make more money (I actually like my job)
8. Move to a different town (Eventually wanna do this, but seems nuclear right now)

​

I've attempted WeWork in the past, but it's really the commute that kills it. I was essentially "paying to commute" since the nearest co-working space took me about 20 minutes to get.

​

I really like working from coffee shops. But I do hop into many calls that aren't planned ahead of time.

Honestly I just need to figure out how to create a working environment and not sure where to go from here.

When you are "nesting" you get these practice training calls that help you go over things you learned in training. It is quite typical in most call center training if you've been through these before.

Once out of training and are taking "real" calls from live people I have noticed these training calls still happen, every so often. But these individuals are not real people, they work for your company, and they basically troll you.

Sometimes it starts like a typical call you would take but then there is something extra and they start explaining a crazy story to you, the call starts getting really long. They have a special situation that can't be answered like a normal call and need management or a Team Lead.

I've noticed an uptick of these calls, I refer to them as " impossible calls". People call in and you can immediately recognize their voice even though they might try and hide it with static in the background and a different name but you know you have spoken to this person before many, many times. Same cadence and accent etc... Anyway, the point I'm trying to make are these calls make your life miserable because it's always something that falls in-between the cracks of your typical call. Something that you didn't go over in training.

It seems large companies use these tactics more and more to get you to quit or really start feeling large amounts of stress to take time off for mental health. Let me tell you, these calls make you hate your job with a passion. If you bring it up to a manager they will deny it and say they are real people. And because they won't be upfront about these "calls" they are basically harassing you by giving you these crazy made up calls that intentionally bring your call time up and make you miss your call agent bonus or raise oriented goals... It makes it insane to stay in your job for any length of time. Have any of you experienced this and how do you deal with it?

I am looking for a comfortable folding chair to use when working remotely. Computer work and paperwork. I am looking for a chair that I can fold up and stow on my bike trailer and take to remote places in county parks.

This chair will be paired with the 'Camp Chef Mesa Aluminum Camp Table' which has adjustable height from 27" to 39".

Thanks in advance. :)

Was great for decades for some positions

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/att-return-office-mandate-creates-job-uncertainty-60k-workers

I've been with my current unit teleworking for 6 months and I'm pretty much feeling like an independent contractor who works on my own. My "team" doesn't emai or Teams chat back and forth so it's been difficult to establish good working relationships with my colleagues. We go into the office once a month and it's just so awkward seeing my coworkers and being in the physical workplace. There are some amazing benefits to teleworking but it's rather tricky when you are new to a position and need to establish yourself with a new group of people.

What should my manager be doing to encourage team cohesion for new hires in a teleworking office? What are some things I could do to build rapport in a teleworking position?

Thanks...

I've been telecommuting for around 12 years now. One thing I've noticed lately is that I've become addicted to reaction videos. I'm realizing that without much time to pursue a social life and no face-to-face socializing at work, I'm feeling really isolated and I'm unconsciously watching videos to fill that hole. It got me thinking that maybe there's somewhere online where you can meet with small groups of strangers or friends with common interests. I've found meetups where there are waaay too many people on to interact meaningfully and then there's sites like Omegle where it's just 1 random other person who you likely have nothing in common with. Does anyone know of any place one can start or join a small group video chat based on common interests?

This may have been answered before, but I'm wondering about the best way to switch between machines. My personal computer is a tower with a 27" monitor. My new job is giving me a laptop with some sort of hub, but not sure what kind yet, and also monitors. I'd like to avoid having a shit ton of equipment on my desk, but would also like to keep my personal/work machines separate.

What's the best way to do this? I could connect the work hub to my monitor, and just switch inputs. I guess a KVM is another option. Also, maybe I could remote into the laptop from my personal PC. Any other suggestions? I might be able to keep using the 27", but I might need a second screen hooked up.

I sometimes use RDP on my private computer for work. If a session is open, can my employer monitor my personal desktop even if I minimize the RDP session? Let's say for example private discussions?

I log into work via the Remote Desktop app from my personal PC for our VDI environment - "Microsoft Remote Desktop" in the Microsoft Store. What I just realized, is when I'm logged into my work environment, I can see my entire PC's folder system in Windows Explorer under "This PC" as "redirected drives and folders."

Fortunately I don't have anything dark or dirty saved on my personal desktop, but would like to have peace of mind that they aren't trying to see what games I'm downloading or something.

How can I remove that connection so there is no visibility from my employer?

Thanks in advance.

I've been out of a job since March. Without going into specifics, I had a remote job that I loved but got let go along with a huge amount of the workforce due to non-performance-based reasons. Not sure honestly how much I can talk about it, even this far away from the event and no longer working for the company.

I have applied...literally everywhere I can think of. Ideally, I would love to have another remote job, one that pays in the $18-$20 range like I was making before, but I haven't been picky. I've applied for in-person jobs, for considerably less money, and I can't even get a job as a pizza delivery guy. I don't know what to do at this point. I have bills to pay.

Does anyone have any leads, or ideas, etc.? I have been all over, and have literal months of job applications that never went anywhere. I know it's kind of bad all over right now, but I'm pretty desperate at this point. Any help would be appreciated.

iam looking for any remote work even if the money isn't much, i just want to work because life without work is very boring

So I have AnyDesk and TeamViewer both on my remote desktop in case one crashes I have a backup.

The stupid laptop sometimes auto updates. And there is no easy or real way to shut that off.

I want to buy a Smart Outlet and shut off the computer with it remotely. And once I do that I want the computer to restart and open up AnyDesk.

How do I do that or other options? Without me or someone physically there to turn it off and on with the button.

Hello All

I am traveling international and need to take my cisco desk phone. My employer knows i'm traveling but doesn't know it's international. Does anyone know if the phone will work international ( i connect via wifi) also will they be able to track that if i use hidemyass server?

thanks in advance

Hello, I work remotely and would love to connect with others but I don't necessarily know anyone else working from home that I can start my own group with. My friends and I use Discord and we set up a few servers and channels, but i feel that discord is more gaming focused. I would like something more professional and make work connections. Could you please share your experience on how to network remotely ?

I'm a mobile developer. I see a lot of remote jobs posted from the US and EU scaled around 60-120k/year. I feel I'm confident to hold these jobs but when I apply for these jobs maximum time it says candidates must be in US or EU regions. But for some unavoidable issues, I can't leave my country but my current job's salary scale is too low to maintain a healthy and smooth lifestyle. I feel if I can manage a remote job which a scale just like US or EU then it will be possible for me to maintain a sound lifestyle in my own country by spending some extra money. Some of my questions are -

​

• How to and from where can I be able to get a remote job offer without regional barriers?
• Which common skills are required most to overcome this barrier?

Currently I’m an assistant manager/coach at Walmart but looking to go remote with another company. I want to put myself in position to where I can travel and live in another country for 2-3 months at a time and take my job with me. Any ideas on the best place to look or best businesses to start looking at is appreciated

Hey Folks,

I've got to WFH in a Latin country for a month (family lives there), and because my office is covering their butts from an IT perspective, I have to use my work-comp. I've been recommended:

VPN-enabled Server (e.g. Raspberry Pi + PiVPN + OpenVPN or WireGuard) stays at my U.S. Residence > I Take a VPN-Enabled Travel Router (Client) w/ Me (E.G. GLiNet Beryl) > Connects to Latin-Country's Wi-fi.

As I understand, my work comp would then be able to connect to wi-fi via the travel router (or connect to the router via ethernet cable).

My biggest concerns are these:

1. Should I buy a static IP address from the VPN service, or just assume that my travel router can connect to the same IP as my Raspberry Pi back at my residence?
2. Do I need a kill switch on the server and client or just the server?
3. Am I ok having the travel router connect to Mexico's wi-fi or should it be connected by ethernet, as well?
4. What services can I use to keep my job from hearing the Mexican phone connection on the off-chance that they call me?

Thank you so much!

Or something to that effect?

Let's say for example your WFH setup requires a VPN and you had a Nord...

Say...if you wanted to keep your work computer in the States and work on your personal computer (which you've been using to access your work Gmail/Zoom the whole time) from...say...Mexico?

1 - it’s super noisy. People are now having meetings at their desk and open spaces suck… I can’t get stuff done and I need to go home to work. What is the need for me to be forced to stay in a place just to hear others speaking loudly , and at times, somewhat aggressively in their meetings?

Basically the world is flipped now upside down compared to pre-covid times. I can mainly ONLY work from home.

2 - At the moment not many interactions anyway happen on the workplace. The goal in the end of the day is to do work! So, I’m not sure of the plus.

What do you think?

My friends, please help, How can an employer know the exact location of a remote employee if/when Wi-Fi on the employee’s laptop is turned off and internet is accessed via LAN cable connected to a VPN flashed router with VPN set to employer’s preferred location? Employee can’t install or change anything on the laptop and admins have full control.

Hi Friends, im puzzled me for a really long time now and I decided to bring it here for your input . Here’s the situation >>> As you know, since Covid lots of things changed and many middle & some big companies allow their employees to work remotely. Some allow only from US and some allow work from everywhere. My friend work for one of those that only allow work from the US. Her dad who lives in INDIA THANKFULLY and slightly survived COVID and she requested a 3 month unpaid family leave during that time.Now due the post-Covid complications she wants to go to care for her dad but she also wants to continue working from India. The puzzle is - is there any way that she can do her work for a few weeks from India without her location identified by her employer ? Or even better - can she work from India but her location showing as if she’s in USA ? I will add she can’t download any application on her laptop.

Does anyone have experience with Kode Health? I am going through there assessments and do very well until I get to the coding from the chart part. I bomb it everytime ! I am not sure what am doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated. I have a medical billing and coding certificate and CPC-A so I have some medical chart experience but I am not sure I grasping what they want. I don't usually have such a hard time coding. Is anyone else find their assessments tough?