SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
An Anonymous Coward has submitted the following:
A December update to Microsoft Teams that will be disabled by default will reportedly track user location and report it if the feature is enabled. This will allow bosses to tell if an employee is in the office or working from home and set their status accordingly. It will also be able to tell if the user is not at their normal home logon location and provide evidence to employers showing the user's location. Workers who have been taking mini holidays while claiming to be working from home may be affected by this new feature.
The idea of the new feature is to eliminate confusion for bosses about where a worker is within the building and to see if they are working remotely.
But those who work from home argue it is an invasion of privacy.
"Micro management at peak? All online work doesn't need you to be in the office, we can do it from home," one X user said.
"Why is this needed?" another added.
Almost half of Gen Z workers surveyed (44 per cent) revealed last year that they took a secret trip, with most giving their workplace the impression they were working normal hours and using a virtual background in meetings to trick their employer.
Ella Maree, 26, started hush-tripping after Covid when her corporate workplace adopted a 3:2 work week, which meant she could work from home on Mondays and Fridays.
"Since travel options were limited, hush trips became my go-to choice," she said.
"I flew out Thursday evening and worked by the hotel pool, restaurant and room on Friday. I maintained the same level of productivity as if I were physically in the office or working from home, so really, a win-win situation.
"Most of my office work from home Friday, so really, I'm just making the most of our remote work flexibility."
Ms Maree insisted her boss "wouldn't mind" given workplaces are mostly connected online and that she was always getting her work done.
How many Soylentils still have the ability to WFH, either full-time or part-time? I thought one of the attractions of WFH is the ability to work when the hours suit you and not the standard 9-5 (for non-Usians). Would you consider working from a different location a breach of your contract?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday October 27, @06:55PM (1 child)
Or: Start a dinner with a short prep step and then "let simmer for 2 hours" or "let the dough rise" kind of steps.
Or: Take delivery of something bigger than a standard "drop package on the porch" sort.
Or: Supervise work being done on your house by contractors.
Or: Be at home while the kids are there in case of emergency. Or in the case of very young kids, alternating stuff like breastfeeding with work.
Or: If you have live-in aging relatives, be available to do CPR or 911 if needed.
Or at the very least: There's 1-3 more hours in my day not spent sitting in rush hour traffic.
And of course the bigger deal is that if you're working from home, you don't necessarily have to live in an expensive location to work somewhere in an expensive location. As in, somebody with decently good Internet in rural West Virginia could work for a firm in New York City that pays a lot better than what they can find in rural West Virginia. Or somebody with a good job in New York City might move out to rural West Virginia for whatever personal reason they like.
The freedoms are significant and important.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 27, @09:59PM
> .. somebody with a good job in New York City might move out to rural West Virginia for whatever personal reason they like.
If they have kids in grade school, they may not be very impressed by the West Virginia schools. Or the southern Virginia schools either. An engineering test lab I know was located there by the state to bring some jobs to a depressed area. The lab sucks--they can't keep a stable staff--only one of the engineering positions has been filled by the same person for more than a year or two.