If this breaks rule 9, my apologies please do delete. I am after advice more than anything. Context here is cut down as much as a I possibly can.

I have been working for a company since 2021 and have been WFH the entire time. Company is based in Australia, with offices in my own country, however, the team I work with are all located in Australia, I have little to no interaction with anyone in my own nation. I started as a contractor and was employed officially by the company Sep of last year.

When I was employed it was quite a complex process and I had to be employed through my home nations office, but I was assured my work would not be changing nor would the team I would be working with. So far this is true, however, during the process of getting employed it casually came up that I would start going into office. This made little sense to me as my team all work in a foreign nation, what would even be the point? My hours don't even line up to my nations time they line up to very early AUS time. Nothing actually came of this and I was left to it for well... nearly 6 months now.

Out of the blue I've been emailed I will start going into office 50% of the time, and I will have a meeting about it sometime this week. I'm left even more flabbergasted that I have been left to do my job effectively and well, with the peer reviews to show it, for damn near half a year, not including the years before that, and suddenly for seemingly no reason I'm being demanded to spend 50% of my worktime in a place with no one I work with, have meetings with, or well will do anything with.

Had a look at my company's policy around there reasoning for coming into office and there were 3 outlined reasons. Learning through osmosis, networking, and social activities. Now the first and third point there I would shutdown completely as like I said I don't work with anyone in my own country so who exactly am I learning anything off of? The third one... is just silly. I need to go into office... to make friends? I have a social network, I don't need work for that? I've also seen their social activities and they are, most of the time, laughable. I can at least kind of see the benefit of the networking, but I will say I link with everyone I speak to over teams anyway, networking is already happened or happening.

Does anyone here have a similar story to mine, were you able to argue your way out of it? What steps did you take to do so? I think I'll have to steer clear of saying why it would be inconvenient to me, and perhaps stick to why this would be a waste of time for the company. I would appreciate any or all advice for getting out of this bothersome situation, so much time and effort will go down the drain to fulfill a quota that I honestly struggle to see who exactly is benefitting?

First of all, I absolutely love WFH and have an a amazing home office setup. I got laid off in November and was having a hard time getting fully remote interviews. Because of this, I took a job that was in-office 4 days a week.

Here’s the bad part: the drive is an hour each way and sometimes more if there’s accidents. I am on some days the only person on my wing in the office. My boss is in Washington DC and I’m in Texas, the company only requires most corporate staff to be there 2 days a week but I am there 4 in case anything happens.

I am going to quit this job and have wondered if anyone has done the same/similar and have any idea on how to tell the company.

I should start by saying I'm not fully WFH but rather "hybrid" in the sense that, in my line of work, I'm mostly in the office (which is in my house) and occasionally have to go to some properties to inspect work done on pulled permits. The vast majority of our meetings are done on Teams, and there's a good sense of camaraderie among us so we all have our cameras on and participate as if we're all in the same room. Whenever I go off-site, I drive my own car because my employer prefers to reimburse mileage instead of supply me with a vehicle. And I prefer to use my own vehicle instead of some run-down death-trap on four wheels.

I was recently voluntold to attend a week of training, apparently to maintain my continuing education hours. I say "apparently" due to the fact that my current CEH count is DOUBLE what is required for me to maintain my certification, but whatever. I expressed my dispreference to this particular training, not just because it wasn't very relevant to my work, but also because it was in-person in a small hotel conference room when covid numbers were spiking in my part of the world. (I had expressed my desire to attend five different, one-day-each, online courses that were about $150 a pop, but my manager decided a bunch of us should attend this $1,300 in-person five-day training instead.) So when I completed the training, I made sure to mention in the instructor feedback that there was absolutely no point in time during this week-long training when it would've been beneficial or even necessary to do this class in-person instead of just hosting it online. I had to get up earlier than normal, commute 30 minutes both ways (which my employer pays me to do since my official post of duty is my home office) while being reimbursed for mileage just so I can sit in a crowded, stuffy hotel conference room with a KN95 mask on the entire time while multiple people around me sniffle, sneeze, and cough. And what's even more rich, is the fact that there were people that flew in from all over the country... Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Tampa, Manhattan (both New York and Kansas)... all so they can sit in the same class. They had to detach themselves from their families and other obligations, fly to and from this training in a plane, and stay in a hotel for a week, just to attend a class that the organizers refuse to do online instead. It's absolutely baffling.

Anyways, I just had to share how utterly wasteful some of the anti-WFH efforts are out there. It's truly insane. We need to keep pushing back from stupidity like this.

I just don't move enough during the day so I bought an elliptical. I like it, but I have to change chairs to use it, and that's difficult and a space waste. I need the tall back of a gaming chair due to lower and upper back injuries. The chair I use it with it just a regular no wheel office chair and I can't shift between my three required screens very well or use it for long enough to really matter as it has a short back. A wheeled chair with at least 19 inches, 20 would be better, between the legs would make my life so much easier. For the life of me I can't find a chair like that. Why are there no four legged gaming chairs? Thanks I'm advance.

I work remotely and the flexibility is awesome and I'll honestly not change it for anything but on days where I don't have plans with friends (most days), I'm just laying in bed working and barely moving.
The concept is simple: daily 5-minute fun workouts delivered straight to your inbox. The aim isn't to turn you into a bodybuilder but to get you moving, stretching, and more active between those endless Zoom calls and emails.

I know it sounds almost too easy, but that's the beauty of it. No equipment is needed, just a small commitment of time. Think of it as your daily movement nudge, a way to break the sedentary cycle without the pressure of fitting in a full workout session.

An example exercise would be:

5 minutes of chair squats, Seated Leg Lifts, and chair tap dancing
An in-house color scavenger hunt, our goal is to find items in your house that have these predominantly these 5 colors and stack them on top of each other within 5 mins
A dance challenge to a song.
Just simple, fun stuff to get you moving, boost your energy and productivity

Please give me your honest feedback, thanks

https://getactive.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I work for a pharmacy remotely and have been here for almost 2 years. Brought in on mass hiring and most of the HR team isn't the people is different (last year was so bad they were behind on evaluations& pay raises for months). I knew the company was going through transitions and changes beforehand. We're having several technical glitches and issues. I'm behind partly due to taking a day off, and things that were refill too soon are here but we don't service those products anymore. Course I'm contacted by people via cell saying someone is looking for me. They want to know why stuff is not getting done. My computer has been slow and people in the chat have also mentioned slowness but according to them only one order was done. They wanted queue cleared by end of shift. I stayed & even worked off the clock to get things cleared. Worked with IT but even when I gave the heads up about computer lagging which I thought were company issues I get a message from my supervisor that I need to let them know that I need to make sure I communicate so I have myself covered because I only I can cover for me. To clarify a lot of people hired with and after me were not the best workers or even working & were fired. Plus a lot of products cut were because we were losing money and it mostly affects me. I haven't been trained on other stuff because my section is where I thrive. But two months ago we were told that we are over staffed but the programs cut will be replaced in several months and we will be slammed. My guess is that the person looking for me (whom there was no record of on my end) wanted end of month(and quarter) cleared. My boss comes back Monday I'm scared especially since I'm disabled so active roles can't do plus I rarely call out & wfh is harder to find. I've had a lot in my personal life and a vacation set in 20 days. Never thought in healthcare I'd be scared of losing my job. I'm planning on going back to school to at least finish my associates but we can't afford to be a one income household (also my job is located in Miami but I'm based north of Tampa) Any advice?

Anybody have experience with cheaper shotgun mic that can make a recommendation?

Wife needs an update, she has been using on board camera and mic. She will not want to use a dynamic desk mic that would be on camera. She would also not want to wear one. So I was thinking a shotgun mic in a boom set up. Off camera, ~2 feet in front of her.

All recommendations I have seen on YouTube etc are for professional streamers and podcasters and they say “inexpensive”, but looking up the model, they’re discussing $300-$500 mics.

Are there any decent ones around $100 or even less? We’re just looking for an upgrade from the laptop mic that doesn’t have that low quality phone call sound to it.

I love talking to people on the phone all day. Really it’s a good fit for me.

Traditional call centers (I worked in college) were a huge struggle though because of the sitting. I’m really fidgety I did my college reading on the recumbent bike in my school’s gym.

But now I’m back because of WFH so I won’t look so weird ditching a chair.

What works better? standing desk, A little treadmill (these are new to me), exercise ball chair (my old stand by), under the desk exercise bike, or something else?

It’s going to be something I use a lot.

Hey everyone, been trying to get some steps in daily but once I start the day, its tough to take breaks. I need to get into the habit of walking atleast 8-10k steps a day like I used to in my office job. Can you please share some tricks, tips you have been using to stay in shape while working from home? I have an adjustable desk, walking pad & treadmill but the day goes by so fast that I can hardly use them. Evenings are busy with family. I am waking up early to get 30min of walking on treadmill but need to get atleast 4times that. What is your daily schedule like where you get enough steps in the day to stay healthy?

I've created a small site where I tried to collect as many advantages for working from home as possible. I figured this could be helpful to nudge some people to be a but more positive about WFH.

https://kryptortio.github.io/Work-From-Home-Advantages

It's a very simple site but I just wanted a little bit more than just a text list. It has search and some filtering options to help find the most relevant ones.

You are welcome to provide more advantages, other feedback or translations etc if you wish in the GitHub repository here:

https://github.com/Kryptortio/Work-From-Home-Advantages

Just had my car break down on me and guess what, i dont have to miss work tomorrow because i cant get there! Yay for wfh! Not one negative for me with wfh.

I am an ADHD diagnosed office worker who works for a Fortune 50 with a 3/2 hybrid schedule. Was WFH 100% from 2018-2022. In 2022 they sent everyone back to the office and I reported downtown to an office that was quiet and clean and mostly empty, so it wasn't that bad for my ADHD. Then they moved me to an office closer to my house that was even quieter so again, not too bad. Then they closed that office and sent me back downtown and the office is very busy now, lots of chatter, laughter, etc that I find extremely distracting and exhausting. Affects my work greatly. Also we have hotdesking so having to set up my whole desk anew each day is another hardship for me.

I got fed up and submitted an accommodation request at the encouragement of my coworker who is allowed to WFH 100%. He said that they basically dont deny or push back so long as you can get your doctor note and etc in order.

Fast forward to today. I meet with an accommodation specialist and she explains the process. Apparently they "used to approve everything" but now they don't and I'll likely have to work at least some days in the office, even if a reduced number.

Any advice? I feel like this sounds legally funny, can they just decide that they don't want to approve certain accommodations anymore? There's no real undue burden on them, I already WFH two days a week and I don't need to work with anyone in person, no one from my team is at this office. In fact I perform much better at home so the business need isn't really an argument for them.

And my doctor referred me to a psych for (which I now have an appointment for, but it's a month out.

The HR rep also suggested that I tell my manager (she has no idea) before they make the determination so that she's not "blindsided." I don't feel comfortable with this yet but if it'll help my case I'll do it.

I am also willing to get a lawyer if need be. Working in this office has the potential to derail my career, I've been fired for performance before.

“I can’t take it anymore” and “I’ve gone crazy just being stuck at home” Please go back into office nothing wrong with that, leave the WFH jobs for the rest of us.

I recently started WFH’ing full time in January. My company desk just arrived from the local furniture store and I’m really enjoying my first standing desk. In talking to a few friends, it seems that alot of jobs don’t nt provide desks for their work from home folks, which definitely seems shitty.

When it comes to Forbes and WSJ, corporate businesses pay for accounts for the C-level staff. Usually the President, CEO, CFO, or some other top position at your company will have a “Thought Leadership” account where they pay a yearly cost, but can submit articles they write directly to Forbes and be all but guaranteed it will eventually be published.

Why does this matter? Well, when corporate employers want you to return to the office what do they do? They put out information that benefits them from “reputable” sources that seems to be coming from a separate place they can point to. Meanwhile, they paid for it and have an entire Communications department that make sure this stuff goes out on a quarterly basis.

It’s not a secret in the comms or marketing departments in the corporate world. The business has an agenda, and this is just one of the ways that the narrative is shaped and the conversations are curved. People know something shady is up with these articles, but I’m telling you that companies pay for accounts with these publications so they are beholden to publish their content. It’s how 90% of magazine or newspaper advertising works as well once you get past the display ads. All of it works under the premise of “If you buy ads, you will receive these articles”.

What seems to work for you when trying to maintain your sanity in a WFH/Call Center position? I know it can be hard work and even harder for those of us who are neurodivergent. I have auDHD, I prefer to work from home due to sensory sensitives in the work place. Things like lighting, smells, temperature and sounds can sometimes trigger me. Its better for me to be home. My work space has plenty plants, sunlight and even a fish tank in it for meditation. What are some things that help you to stay ahead or treat burnout?

Seriously, true story lol. I go on site one day a week and for whatever reason I always have the worst stomach ache. Maybe I just miss being 100% remote but for some reason those days my stomach feels all messed up and makes weird noises, I find it hard to go to the bathroom even if it's gas or #2 because people are always in and out... During a meeting, I swear everyone could hear my stomach and it was embarrassing and I thought I was going to fart... Ugh. If it were virtual, I could mute or even do a silent one and no one would ever know.

Even as a woman, during that time of month all kinds of issues period related.

It sucks because job market looks horrible and I don't see anything at all. I did have two interviews for remote work, one seemed terrible and ghosted me but I dodged a bullet. The other would've been great but it was a damn hard interview with tricky questions.

Is remote work dead or here to stay? I analyzed 1M remote job openings in the past year to find out. Here's what I learned..

1. Remote jobs are making a comeback

The % of new jobs that were listed as remote is up 10% year over year, and 31% from a year ago. After a decline for more than a year, remote jobs have been on an uptrend.

2. Senior level jobs are more likely to be remote than mid-level and entry-level jobs

5.35% of senior-level jobs were remote in the past year, compared to 4.9% for mid-level and 2.48% for entry level.

Remote work is a privilege that must be earned and companies seem to trust experienced professionals more with that privilege

3. Director and VP jobs were more likely to be remote than individual contributor jobs

This one surprised me a bit as we've heard the stories on how senior executives want employees back in the office.

But the data tells a different story. Companies are more likely to hire VP and Directors remotely than lower level workers. This was true even in the tech sector, among both big companies and startups.

4. Preferences for remote work differ drastically by profession and industry

Engineers and tech workers vastly prefer working remotely. In fact, the large majority prefer 5 days a week of remote work.

When I polled my Twitter followers (who primarily work in the financial industry), they all preferred a hybrid environment, and a fair share even preferred working 1-2 days at home a week.

5. Salaries for remote jobs are essentially the same as non-remote jobs

I compared the average salary of jobs that were remote to those that were non-remote for the same job title. There was essentially no difference between the two.

6. Remote jobs from US-based companies have stayed mostly within the US.

Whether it's because of legal or logistical reasons, most remote jobs from US-based companies have remained in the US, and that trend has been fairly consistent the past 4-5 years.

I also analyzed which countries have the highest % of remote jobs, which job titles are most likely to be remote, and whether there’s a correlation between remote work and work satisfaction.

You can read more here about my analysis and methodology here: https://bloomberry.com/the-state-of-remote-work/

My wife and I both WFH, so we decided to sell our 2nd car (luxury sedan) a few weeks ago. We originally planned to then buy an older, cheap pickup truck for its functionality as homeowners and because we live deep in the suburbs where it’s mostly car dependent. However, now that a few weeks have passed, we’ve realized how little we use our one car, not to mention our car insurance payment is negligible now.

I love saving money and neither of us are “car people” per se, so I’m wondering if we should even buy a cheap truck like we had planned. Our one car is a 2018 mid-size SUV so it’s not like it’s super old or that we can’t haul things in it. Was curious to see how other folks have navigated this situation?

HAD TO UPDATE MY OP BECAUSE ALOT OF PEOPLE ARE GETTING CONFUSED, PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY! I AM NOT SAYING THAT WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO CLOCK OUT WHILE CALLS ARE STILL HOLDING/WAITING. That is NOT the case here.

My boss told us that even after our shift is over we have to stay logged in until ALL calls are finished meaning we have to sit and wait for the last representative to finish their call even if the call queue is closed and there are no more calls waiting. Is that legal? I’ve worked at this particular company for two years and have never heard that before. If the calls are being handled by reps then why do we have to stay if the call center is closed at a certain time? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

I hate that I've been more tired & if I think about it oh I would normally have woken up before my alarms. But now it is a struggle especially since my meds make me tired but by the time they kick in it's almost too late because then I'm up late. But you can't work outside the schedule & work has been busy and I feel like I can't catch up. I go back to school soon this year but will be online. Anyone else having an adjustment.

I’m so embarrassed but I’m also curious if anyone else has ever done this.

I had an hour long meeting today that I didn’t need to participate in but I was expected to attend. After the first 5 mins of the meeting, it normally doesn’t cover anything in my job but I’m supposed to be there for the whole thing. So today I decided to take the meeting on my phone, camera off, mic off, and sit on the couch.

Suddenly I wake up and I’m the only one in the meeting and it’s been over for 40 minutes!!

Luckily I don’t think anyone noticed, but it’s still mortifying.

Afternoon everyone,

I’ve been working in this field for years and currently have a pretty great WFH setup. E.g. 3 monitors, KVM switch for multiple laptops, printer, etc. That said, I was recently pulled into a new project where I now have 3 laptops on my desk.

I’m looking for suggestions from you guys for laptop docking stations. Preferably ones that sit under your laptop and have the ports in the back to hang cables over the edge of the desk.

Also, bonus points driverless dock suggestions!

Do your magic!

So, after a year in the job search I finally got my dream role as a Data Analyst and the cherry on top is that it is fully remote. I got the job offer about 2 weeks ago and start next Monday. My husband and I were living in an apartment with great internet until we got offered to stay in one of his parents properties near them in a small home in a rural area. It's temporary, a great home, but there's NO Wi-Fi. We are currently using a Verizon jetpack but it isn't reliable. We moved into this house in January of this year. Our address is part of Spectrum's rural expansion plan and our street is already starting construction (not sure what phase this is referring to) and we should be getting Spectrum soon. Now, based on my research and countless phone conversations with Spectrum service reps, "Soon" can mean within the next 2 weeks or 6 months. There is no specific date or timeline. But I will not have Wi-Fi at the house when I'm supposed to start my WFH job.

I currently work at my father in law's company doing miscellaneous data work, etc. (My last day is actually tomorrow). There are a few open offices not being used and luckily enough he offered me one of the office's where I can work for my new job until I get Wi-Fi at the house whenever that should be.

My question is, is it okay to work at a different location than your physical address for a WFH job and is this a situation my employer needs to know about? I live about 15 minutes from his office so it's not like the job is only remote in NC and I'm working out of like SC for example. I just want to know if me working at an office is something I need to let them know about for security reasons I guess? They are also sending me 2 computer monitors for equipment.

I've been WFH since 2015. Every single day of that, until yesterday, I had my sweet dog Emma by my side. She passed over the weekend. Yesterday was the first day I worked where she wasn't there. It was an incredibly difficult day. If you WFH with pets, please cherish them and the extra time you get with them. While I'm sad for my loss, I'm grateful for all that time I got with her thanks to WFH.

Don't get me wrong. I love my job. I feel and know that I am super lucky to be at home, avoid the commute and avoid the bullshit fake office culture.

That being said I can't help but feel extremely lonely and isolated.

I have a job that doesn't allow me to just bring a laptop to say Starbucks to be around others. So I work out of my home office.

This feeling of loneliness and isolation has started to slowly creep into me about 3 years of being in 100% remote jobs now. I now am like an excited dog when my wife comes home from her job. I can't wait to hang out with her and talk about stuff when shes just ready to come home and relax.

Anyone else feel like this? It's not like it's a huge feeling but I can't believe I'm actually feeling it. If you asked me a few months ago was there anything wrong with working from home. I would tell you 100% no it's perfect. Now I'm surprised that I would say 90% benefits 10% sucks being lonely.

Maybe I just need to get out and walk outside every break or something. I guess maybe my lifestyle of always being inside is starting to get to me.

I was told to cc someone so they could be informed on what I do day in and day out. But what ended up happening is the dude started responding to every email to the person I'm emailing which then infuriated the other person and confused them, then the person started going to their directors to get my manager in trouble for trying to tell them what to do and causing me twice as much work.

If I need your response, you will be in the receiver part of the email. If you are cc'd, you are to watch and listen. Or did I miss this part of college and cc doesn't mean anything.

I applied to a job because it's about 50% more money than I'm making now and I'm very qualified for it.

I love working remotely but for that much of a pay increase I feel going to the office once a week would be reasonable for me personally. My boyfriend's job had similar phrasing on the job posting but it was just to weed out people who can't reasonably commute to the office because there's a very slight chance of them going back.

Unfortunately it was posted by the organization and not a recruiter so I couldn't message them directly to ask. At this point it's all hypothetical because I haven't even spoken to anyone about it.

I live nearby so the commute wouldn't be terrible.

Hey everyone. I've been remote since August last year and currently have no plans to return to the office. I'm wondering how you all look after your mental health in this space? I'm naturally quite an anxious person and right before I switched to remote work I developed panic disorder which has caused me so much mental anguish over the past 12 months and partly contributed to my decision to go remote. Currently I'm in an okay place, but I'm mindful that I need to continue to work at my mental health and not get complacent. Being remote is great but it does make it easy to feed into that anxious "avoidant" behaviour, how do you all cope?

I’m getting ready to move into a new home. It’s 4 bed/2.5 bath with a den. I work fully remote and am single. I’ve considered renting out a room or two for the extra income, but I’m somewhat uncomfortable with having strangers living there.

What I’d be more comfortable with is renting out 1 or 2 of the bedrooms for a couple hundred dollars per month as office space from like 8am-5pm or something to that effect. I’ll be there all day anyways.

Anyone ever done that before as either the landlord or renter?