Work From Home (WFH) Thread

[Speedy]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Ugh, I hate accounting.

I also work in FP&A, which is the irony. I enjoy the analysis and reporting side. [emoji4]

[LowerWolf]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

It’s also the reason a lot of places are going to unlimited PTO. There’s no accrual the company needs to account for with unlimited PTO.

[KSUowls]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Ugh, I hate accounting.

I also work in FP&A, which is the irony. I enjoy the analysis and reporting side. [emoji4]

Fellow FP&A here. But I had to break into my career in accounting. Always hated accounting in school, but in practice it made a lot more sense to me lol than it ever did in college. Still prefer the analysis side over T charts though lol.

Absolutely right about unlimited PTO. It's an entire expense that a company can forego with the added benefit of guilting employees to not take PTO.

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[jeebs9]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

I've been lurking in this thread since day one. I'm kind of in a situation I can't talk about right now. Hopefully one day I can share my story here.

[ODogg]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Fellow FP&A here. But I had to break into my career in accounting. Always hated accounting in school, but in practice it made a lot more sense to me lol than it ever did in college. Still prefer the analysis side over T charts though lol.

Absolutely right about unlimited PTO. It's an entire expense that a company can forego with the added benefit of guilting employees to not take PTO.

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Haha, they would not guilt me. I'd still likely take about the same though. I wouldn't want to be one of "those people" who abuse it. Nor would I want to get in trouble for my work not being done.

But I can tell you I sure as heck wouldn't be one of the other people on the other side who take little to no vacation time for impressing, or not upsetting, the boss.

And sadly I think if this were to become more widespread it simply would not work. People are too entitled now and many of them would abuse the crap out of that policy, especially younger folks of a particular "they owe us" mindset.

[SmashMan]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Sure, money doesn't mean you'll instantly be care free/forever happy, but very few of your issues with money will be the same issues you have if you didn't have money.

Right, more money doesn't equal happiness - it equals (in most cases) peace of mind. The peace of mind is what equals happiness.

[Majingir]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Right, more money doesn't equal happiness - it equals (in most cases) peace of mind. The peace of mind is what equals happiness.

It depends on the life you live though.

Without money, you're stressed about paying bills, affording food, possible repairs to cars/house and so many other things.

That's not a concern with money.

But with money, depending on your lifestyle, you could be concerned about someone possibly stealing your expensive car, breaking into your house, trying to rob you, or more stress gets put on personal life since that's a bigger part of your life since you're not working (or not working as much).

If I win the lottery, I'm not wasting it, but I'm sure there will be stressful situations still coming from it. But I'd much rather face those stresses over the "average person" problems.

[slickdtc]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Money problems are relative. Your concerns go from making sure you’re meeting your basic needs when you have a little of it to making sure you’re meeting your obligations when you have a lot of it (larger mortgage/car payments, investments, etc). You can still lose it all in either scenario, but in different ways.

I’d still easily prefer to be worried about frivolous extras then some disaster putting me on the streets, but stressing about money never really goes away. The severity of the situation around it does. You can still get deep in a hole with a lot of money (and usually because you have/had so much).

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

[p_rushing]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Absolutely right about unlimited PTO. It's an entire expense that a company can forego with the added benefit of guilting employees to not take PTO.

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That's why they want to do it. If they cap PTO, then you know it's capped and if you don't take it, you stop earning it. Most people who know this will take days off so they keep earning.

Remove the limit and most people won't remember to take it off since they aren't earning it and having it stockpile to the limit.

My company just gives the days so there is a limit to total days but you don't lose anything by saving them until the end of the year. I could probably get away with somewhat unlimited as long as I met my billable targets.

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[Majingir]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

That's why they want to do it. If they cap PTO, then you know it's capped and if you don't take it, you stop earning it. Most people who know this will take days off so they keep earning.

Remove the limit and most people won't remember to take it off since they aren't earning it and having it stockpile to the limit.

My company just gives the days so there is a limit to total days but you don't lose anything by saving them until the end of the year. I could probably get away with somewhat unlimited as long as I met my billable targets.

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Stocking up on paid time off would be a good bonus too.

Some people might prefer using it all at once after they bank it, some might not care using it and just get it paid out, or maybe you divide it up after a while where you're really just working 4 days a week while getting paid for 5.


There's so many different/innovative things companies can do, but just refuse to because they want to do the bare minimum.

Work/life balance could be improved big time without hurting a companies bottom line. Hopefully we see more and more companies realize that.

[KSUowls]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Not technically WFH, but it kind of fits the theme of the thread.

Some interesting studies on the 4-day work week recently. To everyone's shock and surprise, people like working just 4 days.

I understand employers not wanting to do it because they may feel like they aren't getting what they paid for, but I also think that it is a mindset that is out of touch with reality. A position like mine would have to have some flexibility where certain parts of the month remain full staff for the full week, but outside of those busy times then there really is no reason that we couldn't do a staggered 4 day work week. There are obviously other tasks that are part of our daily routine, but outside of that crunch time we spend a lot of time trying to find things to do. That in itself does hold value, but there are also diminishing returns. It would be a huge boost to work/life balance as suddenly we aren't one birthday party away from wiping out half of our weekend, with the other half running errands.

I can dream, but I doubt that it will be become a reality for any organization that I work for.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/02/21/four-day-work-week-results-uk/

[p_rushing]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Not technically WFH, but it kind of fits the theme of the thread.

Some interesting studies on the 4-day work week recently. To everyone's shock and surprise, people like working just 4 days.

I understand employers not wanting to do it because they may feel like they aren't getting what they paid for, but I also think that it is a mindset that is out of touch with reality. A position like mine would have to have some flexibility where certain parts of the month remain full staff for the full week, but outside of those busy times then there really is no reason that we couldn't do a staggered 4 day work week. There are obviously other tasks that are part of our daily routine, but outside of that crunch time we spend a lot of time trying to find things to do. That in itself does hold value, but there are also diminishing returns. It would be a huge boost to work/life balance as suddenly we aren't one birthday party away from wiping out half of our weekend, with the other half running errands.

I can dream, but I doubt that it will be become a reality for any organization that I work for.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/welln...ek-results-uk/

It's a pain and only works for departments that don't need to work with others or support other departments.

I've been at some companies who had departments split up to different WFH and Friday off schedules. Generally they had to have 2 people that had shared knowledge so schedule A and B wouldn't be screwed if something happened.

It's a pain to try and schedule meetings because people on a short week are working longer hours but the others are leaving early or coming in later. Then you have to remember who is on what schedule.


So if you can do it for the whole department, it may work but that would be rare.

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[Majingir]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

I can dream, but I doubt that it will be become a reality for any organization that I work for.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/welln...ek-results-uk/

That's something I always wonder. People who talk about working for a company with a great union, benefits, 4 day work weeks, work from home. How exactly do you find these companies when looking for other jobs. You don't exactly walk in to an interview like "is this job unionized? Can I choose when I work from home?"

[KSUowls]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

It's a pain and only works for departments that don't need to work with others or support other departments.

I've been at some companies who had departments split up to different WFH and Friday off schedules. Generally they had to have 2 people that had shared knowledge so schedule A and B wouldn't be screwed if something happened.

It's a pain to try and schedule meetings because people on a short week are working longer hours but the others are leaving early or coming in later. Then you have to remember who is on what schedule.


So if you can do it for the whole department, it may work but that would be rare.

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Well, I think that some of the 4 day work week trials were actually 32 hour, not people lengthening the days. I would generally think that this would need to be a uniform schedule, ie: everyone is 9-5 or 9-7 whatever the case. Having people come in early/late does make things difficult, though it is manageable (speaking as someone whose team is split between eastern and central time zones). Generally though, while this is certainly a different branch of the topic, imo the idea of a 40 hour work week is completely antiquated. I'm hired and paid to do a job, not occupy a chair for 40 hours a week Granted part of the job is being available when people need you, but the whole standard should be re-evaluated. Some weeks I put in 60 hours because we have deadlines, projects, or quarterly reports. Other weeks, I'm just watching the clock for half the week, and responding to emails. Now, while it is a particular pet peeve of mine when people do not respond to my e-mails and therefore I am extremely prompt in responding when I receive them, I also recognize that very few of them actually require immediate attention.

It's a fair point about scheduling meetings being more difficult, but I don't think that it as hard as you may think. My company has effectively had a 4 day work week for the last 2 years, specifically pertaining to meetings not actual work week. About 2 years ago our president put out a general directive for "no meetings on Thursdays". Meetings do still occur during those times, but that's mostly out of convenience, because people would rather schedule some time on a Thursday instead of 4pm on a Friday. So, 90% of all meetings are scheduled during the other 4 days of the work week. This would take some discipline from people, so that 4pm on Thursday does not become the new "Friday", but I do think that people would find it more palatable when they have a bit more than a brief 2 day weekend to look forward to.

Also, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who experiences this, but as a manager my life is consumed with meetings. Many of which should really be a 2 minute phone call instead of blocking off half an hour. And going back to timeliness, there have been few meetings throughout my career where a business decision/processes or even individual contributor's routine would be impacted by having a meeting a week later because everyone's calendar this week was full.

One idea that I have heard toyed with was 4 full days and half day on friday (36 hour work week). Which to me is a happy medium. It doesn't require flexing schedules with half the people off Monday or Friday, but it still addresses the issue of there just being a lot of unnecessary time "at the office" in a standard week.

[Majingir]

Re: Work From Home (WFH) Thread

Well, I think that some of the 4 day work week trials were actually 32 hour, not people lengthening the days. I would generally think that this would need to be a uniform schedule, ie: everyone is 9-5 or 9-7 whatever the case. Having people come in early/late does make things difficult, though it is manageable (speaking as someone whose team is split between eastern and central time zones). Generally though, while this is certainly a different branch of the topic, imo the idea of a 40 hour work week is completely antiquated. I'm hired and paid to do a job, not occupy a chair for 40 hours a week Granted part of the job is being available when people need you, but the whole standard should be re-evaluated. Some weeks I put in 60 hours because we have deadlines, projects, or quarterly reports. Other weeks, I'm just watching the clock for half the week, and responding to emails. Now, while it is a particular pet peeve of mine when people do not respond to my e-mails and therefore I am extremely prompt in responding when I receive them, I also recognize that very few of them actually require immediate attention.

It's a fair point about scheduling meetings being more difficult, but I don't think that it as hard as you may think. My company has effectively had a 4 day work week for the last 2 years, specifically pertaining to meetings not actual work week. About 2 years ago our president put out a general directive for "no meetings on Thursdays". Meetings do still occur during those times, but that's mostly out of convenience, because people would rather schedule some time on a Thursday instead of 4pm on a Friday. So, 90% of all meetings are scheduled during the other 4 days of the work week. This would take some discipline from people, so that 4pm on Thursday does not become the new "Friday", but I do think that people would find it more palatable when they have a bit more than a brief 2 day weekend to look forward to.

Also, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who experiences this, but as a manager my life is consumed with meetings. Many of which should really be a 2 minute phone call instead of blocking off half an hour. And going back to timeliness, there have been few meetings throughout my career where a business decision/processes or even individual contributor's routine would be impacted by having a meeting a week later because everyone's calendar this week was full.

One idea that I have heard toyed with was 4 full days and half day on friday (36 hour work week). Which to me is a happy medium. It doesn't require flexing schedules with half the people off Monday or Friday, but it still addresses the issue of there just being a lot of unnecessary time "at the office" in a standard week.

4.5 days would be a fair compromise, as long as those 36 hours pays like 40.

Let's face it, on a regular monday-friday job, how much do people want to do after lunch on a Friday? You're half checked out already just looking ahead to the evening. Same with Monday mornings. You're just spending that morning readjusting back after being off for the weekend.

Maybe to make it easier, everyone just works from home a specific day of the week. Fridays probably make the most sense since it would be stuff discussed during the week/saved up until Friday to be dealt with.

I think we've gone into this talk on OS before, but if it ever becomes 4 day work weeks (not wfh, just 4 days working, regardless if its 8 hours or 10 a day), which one would people most prefer taking off?