First week in new WFH job has been weird
Discussion
Hey,
I just started as a Senior Security Consultant, specialising in cyber incident response + forensics. I joined this new company just a week ago, it is a fully WFH position, with a global company with around 2000 employees.
It's very early days obviously but just wanted to share a few odd things:
1) I emailed my boss (to her non-work email account which was the point of contact) a day before I was due to start just saying that I had not yet received my laptop but it was due on the Monday. She replied saying she no longer works there but to contact XYZ person. She had been there 2.5 years and interviewed me on both occasions.
2) The onboarding process has been abysmal. I'm doing some stupid online video courses which are extremely repetitive. There is no "onboard buddy" which it did mention in the emails a few weeks ago would be sorted.
3) I am now the only UK based person on my team. They are recruiting for my manager's job but for now it is just me. There are 3 colleagues in the US who I am teamed with... and several across Australia, Philipines and Singapore too. It's likely that this manager - whoever they pick - won't join until May/June as they're still interviewing.
4) I had thought with it being a remote company, there would be a real emphasis on engagement, communication, online chat. But there is nothing. Well, there are teams groups for "Share your pet pictures" and "Exercise" and "wellbeing" but many haven't been used since 2021.
As I said, very early days and I'm not unhappy or concerned... more just a bit bemused by it.
Has anyone else encountered something like this? Maybe it is just standard in this kind of setup, or maybe my expectations were just a bit off?
I just started as a Senior Security Consultant, specialising in cyber incident response + forensics. I joined this new company just a week ago, it is a fully WFH position, with a global company with around 2000 employees.
It's very early days obviously but just wanted to share a few odd things:
1) I emailed my boss (to her non-work email account which was the point of contact) a day before I was due to start just saying that I had not yet received my laptop but it was due on the Monday. She replied saying she no longer works there but to contact XYZ person. She had been there 2.5 years and interviewed me on both occasions.
2) The onboarding process has been abysmal. I'm doing some stupid online video courses which are extremely repetitive. There is no "onboard buddy" which it did mention in the emails a few weeks ago would be sorted.
3) I am now the only UK based person on my team. They are recruiting for my manager's job but for now it is just me. There are 3 colleagues in the US who I am teamed with... and several across Australia, Philipines and Singapore too. It's likely that this manager - whoever they pick - won't join until May/June as they're still interviewing.
4) I had thought with it being a remote company, there would be a real emphasis on engagement, communication, online chat. But there is nothing. Well, there are teams groups for "Share your pet pictures" and "Exercise" and "wellbeing" but many haven't been used since 2021.
As I said, very early days and I'm not unhappy or concerned... more just a bit bemused by it.
Has anyone else encountered something like this? Maybe it is just standard in this kind of setup, or maybe my expectations were just a bit off?
Thanks everyone, some useful replies and I have bookmarked "the forgotten employee" to read later.
It's not been all bad. There was a HR call on the first day to show me and one other some systems. I also had a teams message + call from the head of another department who is UK based to say hello and we had a nice chat.
What has been odd is because it's a fully remote company, I have no real grasp on individuals. For example, in an office you'd see a part of the floor for Sales, or a part of the floor for Finance.
I'm enjoying the first parts of the day as the US don't come online till about 2pm so most of the time I am left undisturbed.
Will see how week 2/3 goes
It's not been all bad. There was a HR call on the first day to show me and one other some systems. I also had a teams message + call from the head of another department who is UK based to say hello and we had a nice chat.
What has been odd is because it's a fully remote company, I have no real grasp on individuals. For example, in an office you'd see a part of the floor for Sales, or a part of the floor for Finance.
I'm enjoying the first parts of the day as the US don't come online till about 2pm so most of the time I am left undisturbed.
Will see how week 2/3 goes
CoolHands said:
Play your cards right you’ll be the manager of the uk division in no time. Your future earning potential is going to skyrocket!
Thanks m8. I did hint about the manager job but they want someone with more private sector experience. Thankfully my industry is very busy at the moment so there are lots of options if I wanted to move on or up 
t (I know there are two final male candidates). Thanks all
I did ask about the managers role but they wanted someone with specific experience which I lack. They had two final candidates but one pulled out as they had another offer. So it looks like this final person is the one.
Had a couple more calls which were good. Spoke with a colleague in Singapore who is actually Australian. Spent a good hour or more going over lots of little things which I was confused about
I don't think there is huge cause for concern. Please note that I moved from a public sector role into a completely alien private sector consultant role. So for me it's extremely different.
EDIT: oh and I also get to choose my own technical laptop (as in for hands on work). The suggested item is a Dell Inspiron with an Intel i9 with 64gb ram
I did ask about the managers role but they wanted someone with specific experience which I lack. They had two final candidates but one pulled out as they had another offer. So it looks like this final person is the one.
Had a couple more calls which were good. Spoke with a colleague in Singapore who is actually Australian. Spent a good hour or more going over lots of little things which I was confused about
I don't think there is huge cause for concern. Please note that I moved from a public sector role into a completely alien private sector consultant role. So for me it's extremely different.
EDIT: oh and I also get to choose my own technical laptop (as in for hands on work). The suggested item is a Dell Inspiron with an Intel i9 with 64gb ram
Interesting to hear your experiences and it's good you're starting to find your feet. As you say, in an office you build all these relationships quicker - even just by seeing people day-to-day.
It's been good overall. I teams messaged someone in Australia yesterday who is a part of my team and had the ability to give me access to something. He replied and like everyone else was very welcoming - "hello mate, great to hear from you and welcome... " etc.
My senior boss (as my manager position is vacant) is also good. He's American so sometimes hard to read but he is relaxed and I am getting more used ot it.
End of Week 2 today
Put in some annual leave requests which have all been approved. Boss also said they're really flexible with oncall weekends (this is only during 9-5 hours). You also get £175 for each oncall day worked which is pretty good
Company is about 2000 people across the globe
It's been good overall. I teams messaged someone in Australia yesterday who is a part of my team and had the ability to give me access to something. He replied and like everyone else was very welcoming - "hello mate, great to hear from you and welcome... " etc.
My senior boss (as my manager position is vacant) is also good. He's American so sometimes hard to read but he is relaxed and I am getting more used ot it.
End of Week 2 today
Put in some annual leave requests which have all been approved. Boss also said they're really flexible with oncall weekends (this is only during 9-5 hours). You also get £175 for each oncall day worked which is pretty good
Company is about 2000 people across the globe
Thanks for the advice, it's been a difficult week and quite frustrating.
I've now got client work but not the equipment to complete it as it's still in the ordering process.
Two clients had to send me some physical items and as there is no UK based office, I had to give them my own home address which I feel a bit weird about. I think they do too as they asked me for assurance it would be kept secure (shrug?!). I did look online at delivery options to shops/depots/post offices but it was unclear and I was on a short timeframe but I do need to look into this.
Similarly, I don't have a work phone. This is difficult as soon I will be on-call, and expected to make international calls. When I raised it someone said "You can claim the expenses back" - but that then involves going through by bill identifying the calls. On the same note one of the clients I mentioned before asked me for a number (just for the delivery process of the items) and I had no option but to give them my personal number.
..
I don't think the company are being deliberately poor, I just think it's due to a lack of UK manager, so it's just me working UK hours and the only other UK people are sales/advisory people/other teams. I'm starting to cross paths with them now but it's still weird and I feel a bit isolated by it all.
Not unhappy just a bit frustrated and unsettled about things that went on this week
I've now got client work but not the equipment to complete it as it's still in the ordering process.
Two clients had to send me some physical items and as there is no UK based office, I had to give them my own home address which I feel a bit weird about. I think they do too as they asked me for assurance it would be kept secure (shrug?!). I did look online at delivery options to shops/depots/post offices but it was unclear and I was on a short timeframe but I do need to look into this.
Similarly, I don't have a work phone. This is difficult as soon I will be on-call, and expected to make international calls. When I raised it someone said "You can claim the expenses back" - but that then involves going through by bill identifying the calls. On the same note one of the clients I mentioned before asked me for a number (just for the delivery process of the items) and I had no option but to give them my personal number.
..
I don't think the company are being deliberately poor, I just think it's due to a lack of UK manager, so it's just me working UK hours and the only other UK people are sales/advisory people/other teams. I'm starting to cross paths with them now but it's still weird and I feel a bit isolated by it all.
Not unhappy just a bit frustrated and unsettled about things that went on this week
Countdown said:
Doesn't everybody use Teams to make calls, especially when WFH? It just follows you around so wherever you log in from all your calls are diverted direct to you. It means that IT dont have to provide anybody with landlines or even mobile phones if they're not genuinely "mobile".
In this case it is for clients who want to text an encryption key, or something similar like that. Also with on-call, I will need to make international calls. I don't think you can do that through Teams.
Actually you may be able to but I don't think we have that option set up according to something I read on one chat the other day
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