Does Your Company Pay For Broadband?

masq57 writes "My fellow administrators and I used to have company provided ISDN lines in our homes so that we could respond quickly to issues after hours. That was changed in the last few years to letting us expense our broadband service. Now our new CIO has elected to stop that benefit using the argument that we should be dedicated staff who desire to be responsive and should do what it takes to make that happen. The rumor now is that we should also pay for blackberries, cell phones and pagers. What sort of experiences do the rest of slashdotters have along these lines?"

necessary expenses

[beni1207]

If it's something you spend any time doing work with, the company should fund that fairly it seems to me. The job market sucks now but asking you to pay for broadband service (or at least the portion you really do use for work) is akin to making you buy your workstation to bring in to work. In the worst-case scenario at least you can deduct it from your taxes though. Your CEO sounds like a real turd for making a comment like that though.

If the company is going to force me to have it..

[stratjakt]

They're going to pay for it.

Of course, if it's their resource, then they can dictate how it's to be used (ie; running Kazaa? Yer fired!)

I had this discussion with my bosses. For me to VPN under Comcasts EULA, I need the commercial edition for twice what I pay. If they want me to have it, I'll wind up with two cablemodems, one mine, one theirs.

They don't pay for the broadband - there's been no need to, but they do pay for the cellphone which I promptly turn off as soon as I leave the office. (Hey, they only had me promise to carry it with me, not answer it)

End of story.

Re:Easy one.

[koa]

I agree with the parent here. If the company you work for doesnt pay for the means for you to be contacted or work outside the confines of the business hours (or business facility) they should not expect you to be on call or do any work under those curcumstances.

Period.

I know from experience that if a company starts looking for ways to shave that extra inch off their expenses in that way; that the company is in deeper trouble than they let on. You'll be looking for work elswhere shortly wether you like it or not. heh.

Re:CIO is a doofus?

[big-giant-head]

Yes if it is an 'unrembursed' business expense broadband, cell phone and pager you can write them off on your taxes.

Just be thankful that you can at least do that.

Work-related only

[Jim Hall]

... staff who desire to be responsive and should do what it takes to make that happen. The rumor now is that we should also pay for blackberries, cell phones and pagers.

Where I work (a university) the attitude is that if it's work related then work should pay for it. That applies immediately to pagers and cell phones that are distributed to staff. If you already have a cell phone and don't want to carry around another phone, the university will pay for any overage charges that are work related (downside: you probably had work calls in there that brought you over the limit, but you still pay for personal calls in your overage - alternative is to carry a second phone that work pays for.)

This was also extended to in-home broadband access to those who could justify it. For example, if you are a systems administrator and you need to be able to respond to down systems during off-hours (i.e. you carry a pager or cell phone) or if you are a DBA who needs to respond to database problems, work will pay for broadband access. People like the financial support staff, most of the developers, and the web designers are not able to justify home internet access, since they don't need to respond to system problems. (Note I said "most of the developers".)

You have to re-apply every year, and your supervisor and the CIO need to sign off on it. You need to submit your bills monthly, and it only covers broadband internet. For example, if you have cable TV + internet, you only get reimbursed for the internet service. It's a fair system.

Expense it yourself...

[cybrthng]

Last time i checked the IRS 1040 forms had a section specifically to un reimbursed work related expenses.

Sure, its only a tax break but what the hey. Electronic leases suck anyway. Sounds like your employeer is a real dweeb anyhow

Re:Easy one.

[vegetablespork]

While that's a nice dig, and I'm not telling you about my work, I'm not paid hourly.

Re:Some yes and some no

[Coldeagle]

Wow, are you a member of management or what? If a Cell Phone/Pager is being used for company communication, then it should be covered by the company. If the internet connection is used for company purposes some of the time, then it should be paid for in part by the company, maybe not all of it, but if you have to use it for more than 5 hours a week for company purposes, then it should at lease be half covered by the company, however those are just me 2 cents.

Re:Easy one.

[Insightfill]

Non-self-employed people in the US can only write off non-reimbursed business expenses to the extent that they exceed 2% of their Adjusted Gross Income.

You'd need to be paid very little (or pay a lot for broadband) to cross that line.

On the flip-side, you can also start a small business on the side (sell Beanie Babies on Ebay, for all it matters) and you can write off the broadband bill and computer stuff, too.*

*(To the extent that your profit from the side job exceeds your costs. You must make a net profit for two out of three years, or the IRS just calls it a "hobby", which has a different classification.)

Kolmogorov complexity of employer-outrage postings

[Anonymous Coward]

Every few weeks, we have a Slashdot article that looks like this:
"My company is saying I have to do something I don't want to do. What do you think -- should I do it?"

One set of indignant respondents says:
"You should slap your employer in the face for even thinking of making such an outrageous suggestion! It's that simple!"

A few timid people respond:
"Well, but you might lose your job."

The information content in these postings is very, very low. I could write a very short program to generate these entire threads -- the original article and the replies -- in a couple of KB. The whole thing is just unbelievably repetitive, not interesting, not informative, not insightful -- just repetitive and stupid. Please stop. Please... it's like reading talk radio. It's just moronic.

Re:Easy one.

[TheGeneration]

You don't work from home, you don't carry a pager, and you don't give them your cell phone number. If they don't want to pay for the means of contacting you, they can try your answering machine and hope for the best.

Next thing's to work on finding an employer that isn't run by such cheap bastards.

The employer might be of the mistaken opinion that the employee is lucky to have a job. What a lot of companies are experiencing as a result of the C*O's (where * = any letter in the alphabet) thinking this is brain drain. A lot of the smart talent saved money during the boom years. Other smart talent don't feel any need at all to stay with a job they don't like. Other people are compeltely opting out of professional work all togethor.

In fact, there was an article recently in the LA Times (I know, I should have a link, but I don't.) regarding a very high percentage of people under the age of 30 aren't employed, aren't looking for jobs, and are completely happy "opting out." That should be a big red flag to the heads of corporations who continue to lower worker rages while greedily squeezing every ounce of life from those same workers.

I suggest the people at this company do exactly as is stated above. Don't give them your cell number, or any other way of contacting you if they aren't going to pay for it. It is as simple as saying, "I have to pay for the minutes you are using to call me. Therefore, you're not calling me."

Re:Cell phone unlisted.

[swillden]

Otherwise they'd be open to a wrongful termination suit.

Keep in mind that this depends on the laws where you live. In many US states, called "at-will employment" states, they don't have to have a reason to can you. The only recourse you'll have is if you can prove that they fired you because you're a member of some legally-protected minority.

IANAL, but I was once canned for a lousy reason, and I talked to a couple of lawyers who told me I didn't have a prayer of getting anything more than the paycheck they owed me, plus any severance they deigned to offer.

Re:As a European...

[Fuzzums]

For what I know Japanese are _really_ good at 'selling their soul' to the company.

Working 10 hours a day is 'normal' (for what i heared).

Re:Easy one.

[4of12]

be tax deductable

Which really means that the actual cost of this professional expense deduction is:

• 2/3 you
• 1/3 govt
• 0/3 your employer

And before you jump to say that the employer is paying taxes that prop up what the government subsidizes, think again [ctj.org].

Re:Easy one.

[Jhon]

Check here. [irs.gov] Not everything is -- some things are. And when you hover around two tax brackets, writting off even a little can save you a lot.

Re:Easy one.

[winwar]

"there's no way I want some judge telling me I have to provide soft toilet paper to my employees because I'm a pain in the ass."

Well, I doubt that is going to happen (the toilet paper part). Of course, if you really are a pain in the ass, you will tend to turn good employees into ones you might not like.

Here's an idea. Treat your employees well. If you compensate them for certain expenses, you shouldn't change that expectation without VERY good reason. And that reason should be explained. Even then, don't expect people to like it. In some states it is a lot harder to fire people (apparently unlike Ohio and Tenn.) even if they don't have a contract.

Oh, and people only tend to unionize when they have gotten screwed over by employers (or believe they have). So if your "future" employees ever unionize, you had better look in the mirror for the reason....

Can you say "at-will employment"?

[winkydink]

I knew you could.

As long as I'm not firing you for issues relating to race, creed, color, sex, place of national origin, or sexual orientation (and, possibly one or two more), you're toast.

Employee business expenses

[kawika]

IANAAccountant, but I do my own taxes and forget it.

Employee business expenses have a 2% AGI floor on Schedule A. What that means is if your income is about $60K a year, you don't get to deduct ANY of those expenses until they are more than $1200. If you have $1500 in expenses you get to deduct $300. (If you make more than $140K it's even further limited.) Whoop de frickin do.

Re:Easy one.

[dasmegabyte]

incorporate yourself...at least you can write off your cell, broadband, etc. at the end of the year as YOUR company expense...

No need for incorporation. If these things are required for your job but your employer won't pay for them, you can already write them off as business expenses. Incorporation is expensive and all it really gains for you is partial indemnification...so that if you screw up and get sued or file for bankrupcy, they can't take your house, just your business assets. Unless they realize you're a one man shop, and sue YOU instead of the corporation. I think there are also credit considerations...such as, I didn't pay a bill last year as my business, because they never delivered the goods (a full T1, I got a slower-than-cable fractional line). I am fairly sure that's a black mark on MY credit record (who cares, I've always paid my mortgage and loan payments on time, and it's worth the the hassle to keep those cheaters from $700). If I were incorporated, it wouldn't be on my credit report at all.

Incidentally, not paying for employee's telecommuting expenses is REALLY cheap. That money decreases the amount of taxes your company pays -- if you're profitable, the company (shareholders) will only see maybe a 30% savings of the total cost of these services. A pretty low margin for a major loss in goodwill. I'm unlikely to want to work after hours anyway. I'm even less likely if I've got to pay for it.

The other side of the coin: imputed income

[Safety Cap]

If the company provides you a benefit (company car, home broadband, computer, blackberry) that you can use for personal use, they are supposed to report that personal use ($/%) to the IRS as imputed income, which Uncle Sugar uses to soak you on 4/15.

Re:BUT.....

[Grishnakh]

This is a pretty strange conclusion you've come up with. The way I would look at this situation is that, if the company is in trouble and might have to force layoffs, then I need to get my ass out of that job and move to a company that knows how to run its business correctly. If providing the tools employees need to do their jobs is too expensive for a company (tools which cost a tiny fraction of the employees' salaries), they have a serious management problem.

However, looking at the situation of the original poster, it seems like it's more of a case of them hiring a new hatchet-man than just simple financial troubles.

Re:Easy one.

[Soruk]

I'm in the UK, and got myself a second phone number for my cellphone from Second Number [matrixnetwork.co.uk]. It sometimes points to my cellphone, it sometimes routes to an answerphone. And it costs me nothing to have or use. :)

Be careful

[lesman24]

I worked for a company for five years. They used us to do onsite work using our cars. I had to leave in the end because I used my car so much in that time (only getting fuel paid for), and now I owe $12000 on a car only worth $4000. Upon my leaving, others hinted they would leave too. They now pay maintenance costs too. You have to be reasonable on costs, but you really need to see how much !everything! costs. Then see. Is Broadband something you may be able to live without being paid for?

Re:Easy one.

[SemperFiDownUnda]

I live in Australia now. I actually like toil. You do have to manage it though and be firm. The problem is that some people, no matter what country they work in, do not stand up for themselves and get walk over. As a senior developer at my last perminate position I often had some manager upset with me because I encouraged developers to come to me with problems and woudl help them work them out. Things like "manager A messed up on the schedule and asks the developers to work but not record their time" I would stress to them that "manager A's bad management skills in scheduling is not your problem" I would support them when there where problems by going to business unit managers if after talking to "manager A" and explaining the real situation "manager A" still instisted that they dodgy practices be done. Some managers respected me some hated me. Funny enough the ones that respected me where never the "manager A" types. New managers where more likely to be "manager A" types until confronted a few times. Its the ones that never learnt from their mistakes that ended up hating me.

These "manager A" types learn who they can walk over and who they can't. Stick together and look out for eachother. That is my advice. With the toil make sure you do the following

• Don't accumulate to much time. I wouldn't suggest accumulating more then 3 days worth in most situations
• Don't constantly try to take off whole days. Taking off a hour or 2 early every once an awhile may have less of an impact.
• If you start putting in lots of overtime organise something outside of toil. Talk to your manager(s) and explain that situation A will require more OT then toil is supposed to deal with and arrange alternate compensation
• Use your toil BEFORE the end of the project you are working on. toil is often costed agianst the project that it was acculminated on and some organisations won't charge it after a project is closed thus you loose it.
• If you are working on a T&M project don't accept toil as there is no reason to. Your employer is getting paid for your work so should you
• hehe obvious one....don't accept toil if you are not paid salary.

Re:Easy one.

[Jhon]

That's true, but for the entire year tax withholding is performed based on the HIGHER rate on a larger part of your income. At the end of the year, when calculating, your 'taxable' income is significantly lower -- well under that higher tax rate. That means the difference in the tax rate is 'refunded' (or corrected at filing time).

Granted, I could file quarterly -- as I did when a contractor -- and do my 'best guess', but I do a fairly decent job of calculating what my withholding should be to maximize my monthly income while minimizing my yearly tax bill (either get a smallish refund or pay out a smallish amount).

CIO chiming in

[kanjiliono]

I think there are two sides to this. The CIO is getting pressure from the CFO/CEO to reduce overhead yet maintain the services that the organization has grown accustom to- Do more with less. The CIO is in the middle and unfortunately, isn't creative enough to develop his internal soluion without shafting his employees nor articulate enough to elicit the resources from the CFO/CEO to support such programs. At some point, management, including the CIO, needs to realize that you are only paid for 40 hours, so anything above and beyond that requires appropriate compensation or benefits - leave early, come in late, comp time, team building, etc. Most importantly, the CIO should not ask his employees to do anything that he isn't willing to do himself. Yes, the duties of my IS department are the responsibiltiy of my team - I take call too.

Re:Actually

[neonsam]

Labor unions are a lot like communism - in theory they're great. In practice they suck. If technology workers, sysadmins, programmers, security analysts, dba's etc. become "unionized", the union - not you - decides how much you should be paid and what you should be paid for. It turns everything in to an us vs. them struggle. Additionally, and my least favorite thing about unions, it completely makes employees (or "labor") a commodity. That means that you are absolutely no better than anybody else, no matter how good you are at your job. No thanks.

Re:Easy one.

[qwasty]

I've worked as a machinist in the past, and you can't get a job as a machinist unless you're willing to pay for the tools you use. Each employee has to have his own unique set of tools, costing thousands upon thousands of dollars. Traditionally, it was only measurement instruments you had to own, which should last a lifetime. The reason you had to have your own instruments is because they're delicate tools being used in a "rough" environment, and they will be best cared for by the person that owns them (company property gets trashed). But lately, the US economy is so bad, that companies are expecting machinists to buy their own CONSUMABLE supplies, like drills and such...These things get used up, and the employee has to keep buying them. For example, if the company is doing well, and has a lot of orders, the employee will be buying more tools to produce more revenue for the company. On top of this, it's not unheard of for an educated and skilled craftsman to make $7/hour doing robotic/automated manufacturing and programming on high tech multi-million dollar machines - You IT people have no idea how bad it can get...

Re:Easy one.

[Syberghost]

The labor lawyer will tell you that as an IT support person, you are exempt from overtime laws, and they don't even have to PAY you for coming in after hours, or working from home, and they absolutely can require you to do so.

Of course, I am not a lawyer.