Company wants ideas on how to implement Flexi Working

[richatnort]

Just thought i'd get some thoughts from people about ideas I could put forward to a working group looking at what flexible working should look like post Covid. Some context being it's a big tech company based in West Yorkshire who have a new office that doesn't house everyone if say everyone came into the office at once. We have been working remotely for a year now (happy anniversary I guess) and they want some ideas on what they could do to help implement a flexible working policy & ways of working. The idea being that I would only have to go into the office (mandatory) 1-2 days a month. My ideas are:

Contributions towards gas, electric, broadband no matter your salary
web cams for everyone so they can be on camera in meetings (found I get a lot more engagement from my team when we do this)
managers able to expense travel to cafe's half way between manager people reporting into them to not have to go into the office for 121s
Interactive whiteboards at work to help with meetings and drawing stuff
New starters to spend a week minimum in the office to get to know everyone
X amount of money towards equipment for home working.

Would you add anything to this that you've experienced from working remotely all year too?

[Carbon Sasquatch]

When everyone is at home, it's a leveller - the challenge will be when most of the team are in the office & just a few at home. I'd suggest anything that can prevent exclusion of those at home. All meetings via video etc.

[richatnort]

Carbon Sasquatch said:

When everyone is at home, it's a leveller - the challenge will be when most of the team are in the office & just a few at home. I'd suggest anything that can prevent exclusion of those at home. All meetings via video etc.

Yes not a bad shout to be fair! I am very lucky / unlucky in my team that I have people based in London, Birmingham, Newcastle & Leeds so everything has to be done by video call anyone.

[SimpleSimonSays]

Perhaps try and arrange so the ‘mandatory’ days in the office mean that particular teams or groups of people across teams who work together are in at the same time?

For example, where I work, there’s a team of 5 of us doing the embedded development on certain products, and a big QA team who then test / sign off on the end result, so we’d try and get our team and the particular testers who work on our stuff in at the same time.

[bennno]

richatnort said:

Just thought i'd get some thoughts from people about ideas I could put forward to a working group looking at what flexible working should look like post Covid. Some context being it's a big tech company based in West Yorkshire who have a new office that doesn't house everyone if say everyone came into the office at once. We have been working remotely for a year now (happy anniversary I guess) and they want some ideas on what they could do to help implement a flexible working policy & ways of working. The idea being that I would only have to go into the office (mandatory) 1-2 days a month. My ideas are:

Contributions towards gas, electric, broadband no matter your salary
web cams for everyone so they can be on camera in meetings (found I get a lot more engagement from my team when we do this)
managers able to expense travel to cafe's half way between manager people reporting into them to not have to go into the office for 121s
Interactive whiteboards at work to help with meetings and drawing stuff
New starters to spend a week minimum in the office to get to know everyone
X amount of money towards equipment for home working.

Would you add anything to this that you've experienced from working remotely all year too?

On wrong tracks, they might as well propose a salary reduction as you aren’t travelling in, or only going half way.

Id suggest electronic desk reservations with single user per day.

Decent vc in meeting rooms to ensure those joining remotely are able to participate effectively.

Guidance on meeting protocols to ensure safety, spaced out to meet sd requirements

Testing / heat checks on arrival

Policy for those required to socially distance

[dibblecorse]

Here is how we manage remote workers and what we offer:

Laptop - All are provisioned with cams so no need for 3rd party kit.
Laptop Bag.

Optionally they can request (not everyone wants / needs these pieces hence being optional):

Additional Monitor - Company supplies
Laptop Riser - Company Supplies
Trackpad / Mouse and Keyboard - Company Supplies
Bluetooth or wired headphone - Company Supplies
Proper Office Chair - We have 3 Approved Chairs, purchased via Amazon and reclaimed via Expenses.

Regards expenses mileage is paid to any business meetings with internal staff or external suppliers / customers.

regards expenses for gas, electric etc, thats a no no, no one is paying for their commute any longer and that will be a cost that would have far exceeded any increase in utilities.

[Mr Pointy]

richatnort said:

Would you add anything to this that you've experienced from working remotely all year too?

Reimbursement for a proper desk & chair - not everyone has these & the dining table & chair is not a good substitute. Good chairs aren't cheap.

[CheesecakeRunner]

Don't mandate cameras being on. Whilst I agree it helps engagement, not everyone is happy for their home to be displayed to everyone, nor is in a position to make their home environment look like a bland office.

My employer (global IT SI), officially leaves the choice of camera on/off to us.

[richatnort]

Thanks for suggestions so far, thankfully desks and chairs are sent out to people who start too.

As for web cams yes I don't think i'd say you have to have it on but the zoom backgrounds help to filter out peoples backgrounds well.

Whats good to see is what's been suggested so far is what we're looking at implementing so that's good!

[klan8456]

richatnort said:

Just thought i'd get some thoughts from people about ideas I could put forward to a working group looking at what flexible working should look like post Covid. Some context being it's a big tech company based in West Yorkshire who have a new office that doesn't house everyone if say everyone came into the office at once. We have been working remotely for a year now (happy anniversary I guess) and they want some ideas on what they could do to help implement a flexible working policy & ways of working. The idea being that I would only have to go into the office (mandatory) 1-2 days a month. My ideas are:

Contributions towards gas, electric, broadband no matter your salary
web cams for everyone so they can be on camera in meetings (found I get a lot more engagement from my team when we do this)
managers able to expense travel to cafe's half way between manager people reporting into them to not have to go into the office for 121s
Interactive whiteboards at work to help with meetings and drawing stuff
New starters to spend a week minimum in the office to get to know everyone
X amount of money towards equipment for home working.

Would you add anything to this that you've experienced from working remotely all year too?

This sounds like a wish list.

I’d expect in reality:

• salary cut if you live in a lower cost location
• no contribution towards expenses
• you’re lucky to have a job at all, so don’t complain about the above

Why only 1 day a month in the office though instead of a 50/50 type rotation?

Broadband - its 2021 and you already have it anyway
Gas - put warmer clothes on. Cold air is dense and better for cognitive function
Electricity - I can understand this, but the admin cost is likely higher than any benefit you’d get

Edited by klan8456 on Friday 5th March 20:31

[richatnort]

klan8456 said:

This sounds like a wish list.

I’d expect in reality:

• salary cut if you live in a lower cost location
• no contribution towards expenses
• you’re lucky to have a job at all, so don’t complain about the above

Why only 1 day a month in the office though instead of a 50/50 type rotation?

Broadband - its 2021 and you already have it anyway
Gas - put warmer clothes on. Cold air is dense and better for cognitive function
Electricity - I can understand this, but the admin cost is likely higher than any benefit you’d get

Edited by klan8456 on Friday 5th March 20:31

Jesus Christ lad where have you even come from? The caves?

Maybe you need to find a new profession as everything mentioned is very easy to achieve.

[airsafari87]

richatnort said:

Jesus Christ lad where have you even come from? The caves?

Maybe you need to find a new profession as everything mentioned is very easy to achieve.

Sounds like he works at the same place as me to be honest.

Threads like this and seeing how the other half live, really reinforces how much I need to move on.

Some of the ideas put forward so far on here sound great.

[Countdown]

richatnort said:

klan8456 said:

This sounds like a wish list.

I’d expect in reality:

• salary cut if you live in a lower cost location
• no contribution towards expenses
• you’re lucky to have a job at all, so don’t complain about the above

Why only 1 day a month in the office though instead of a 50/50 type rotation?

Broadband - its 2021 and you already have it anyway
Gas - put warmer clothes on. Cold air is dense and better for cognitive function
Electricity - I can understand this, but the admin cost is likely higher than any benefit you’d get

Edited by klan8456 on Friday 5th March 20:31

Jesus Christ lad where have you even come from? The caves?

Maybe you need to find a new profession as everything mentioned is very easy to achieve.

There won't be salary "cuts" as such IMO. What will happen is that any upwards pressure on salaries will disappear if Firms can hire equivalent people on a lower salary. If somebody in Cumbria can do the same job as somebody in London but only have 25% of the living costs they might be prepared to do it for a lower salary.

In terms of broadband/gas/electricity firms should already be paying the £26pcm allowance, but I think for most people the savings from commuting costs more than outweigh any additional home working costs.

[anxious_ant]

Countdown said:

If somebody in Cumbria can do the same job as somebody in London but only have 25% of the living costs they might be prepared to do it for a lower salary.

Why stop at Cumbria? Hiring somebody in India could be even cheaper.

[Countdown]

anxious_ant said:

Countdown said:

If somebody in Cumbria can do the same job as somebody in London but only have 25% of the living costs they might be prepared to do it for a lower salary.

Why stop at Cumbria? Hiring somebody in India could be even cheaper.

Very true. On a separate thread there was a discussion about Architectural Visualisers and somebody mentioned they outsourced to the Far East because the labour rates were so much lower. i can see that happening for quite a lot of professional services. I'm an accountant and there's little or no reason why I couldn't do my job from Bali. Ergo my company could potentially employ somebody from there on 1/10th of what they pay me.

[Ruskie]

airsafari87 said:

richatnort said:

Jesus Christ lad where have you even come from? The caves?

Maybe you need to find a new profession as everything mentioned is very easy to achieve.

Sounds like he works at the same place as me to be honest.

Threads like this and seeing how the other half live, really reinforces how much I need to move on.

Some of the ideas put forward so far on here sound great.

I suggest you read up on your entitlements if requested to work from home. It's not as easy as telling you to do it. The employers duty of care isnt excused.

[BlackStang5point0]

anxious_ant said:

Countdown said:

If somebody in Cumbria can do the same job as somebody in London but only have 25% of the living costs they might be prepared to do it for a lower salary.

Why stop at Cumbria? Hiring somebody in India could be even cheaper.

We are very proactively doing just that.

Like a poster said above some of those suggestions seem a bit wishy washy if I'm honest.

However, our company will provide all the necessary IT hardware apart from printing. Everything else we are expected to provide e.g. desk, chair etc. To be honest seems fair to me.

[anxious_ant]

BlackStang5point0 said:

anxious_ant said:

Countdown said:

If somebody in Cumbria can do the same job as somebody in London but only have 25% of the living costs they might be prepared to do it for a lower salary.

Why stop at Cumbria? Hiring somebody in India could be even cheaper.

We are very proactively doing just that.

Like a poster said above some of those suggestions seem a bit wishy washy if I'm honest.

However, our company will provide all the necessary IT hardware apart from printing. Everything else we are expected to provide e.g. desk, chair etc. To be honest seems fair to me.

Agreed. It's fair enough providing essential equipment for work. However expecting the company to subsidise utility bills doesn't make sense to me.
What's next, subsidise coffee/tea?
Those working in fully remote roles must also realise that it's a bit risky.

Edited by anxious_ant on Saturday 6th March 12:06

[robbieduncan]

I joined a new employer in January. North Yorkshire technology company. All remote right now. They sent a laptop (MacBook Pro: company has standardised on Macs), a stand for the laptop, an Apple Keyboard and mouse and a headset. This appears to be standard kit across the company so everyone has a webcam and a decent headset for zoom. They also offered a small amount of money to be spent as I wanted on making my home office setup better/more suitable for day-to-day work. If I didn’t have an external monitor they would have shipped me one. I would expect this to the the norm/minimum!

We are starting to look at what a return to the office might look like. At the moment, based on a poll this last week) > 95% of staff would prefer a hybrid approach with some time at home, some in the office. I expect this is what we will do.

There is absolutely no chance of the company paying heating/electricity expenses! Offset that against your travel costs.

[klan8456]

Ruskie said:

I suggest you read up on your entitlements if requested to work from home. It's not as easy as telling you to do it. The employers duty of care isnt excused.

I think in many instances this is being ignored, and I mean within very, very big companies which make tens of billions of dollars profit a year.

If someone lives in a flat share and doesn’t physically have room for a desk and chair, what can the employer do? This is quite common with younger staff in London.

Edited by klan8456 on Sunday 7th March 08:40