Does Your Company Pay For Broadband? 1125
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?"
Easy one (Score:5, Interesting)
Aside from that, this might be a good sign that it's time to start looking around for another job. This isn't 2002 anymore -- employers who still think they can get away with this sort of shit are wrong, wrong, wrong.
Yes, and they are quite liberal about it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Who needs all three? (Score:3, Interesting)
Business calls should only be a few minutes a month anyway, nothing you should lose money over. If you're being called regularly on the weekends, then the business has more serious issues about staffing...
A little of this, a little of that (Score:3, Interesting)
Curiously enough, I can remember when companies furnished cell phones to the appropriate personnel and actually picked up the tab. These days, we're expected to have a cell, but we have to pay for it on our own. Go figure. *shrug*
Mine pays for it all (Score:5, Interesting)
My experiences (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it would be reasonable as a cost-cutting measure to provide a monthly internet connection allowance suitable for dial-up (if that's all you really need to be connected), and allow you to apply that to whatever connection you choose.
But if your CIO really thinks you should "do what it takes" to be a good little corporobot, I'd suggest that (s)he is an asshat, and you'd probably do best in the long run finding another place to work.
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
Is there a legal issue? (Score:2, Interesting)
I would think that if something is clearly defined in your job description as a requirement, that it would be your employers responsibility to cover the costs/provide the needed equipment.
Make it happen! (Score:5, Interesting)
When you're at home, your time is your own, unless they're paying you extra. If your job is not like that, it's time to find a new job. "It's your job, suck it up," is not an appropriate response here; you're a human being, not a disposable resource to be used up.
Your CIO needs to show YOU that he's dedicated to having the best possible service available, and that he's willing to dedicate the resources to ensure it. If he wants 24-hour cell phone availability, he better be paying for the phone. If they're going to require you to use your own resources to perform your job, then they should at the VERY least reimburse you on a prorated schedule for the amount of time you spend using your net connection from home. Even if it's only a couple of bucks a month--hell, especially if it's only a couple of bucks a month.
As it is, all he's showing you is that you're not worth a goddamn unless they can squeeze every last drop out of you that they possibly can.
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
I pretty much have that arrangement with my employer. Fortunately, my boss and I have the same opinions about that level of 24x7 support, that if you aren't willing to provide the means to contact the employee and provide them the access to the systems at work from home, then you can't expect them to be on call all the time. Since our IT head won't even allow FTP access to our webservers, I won't be working from home any time soon.
Re:Cell phone unlisted. (Score:3, Interesting)
If your company is subject to such laws, then the only way they can publish an after-hours contact number for you is to be paying for a cell phone that they gave you. Otherwise, your number can only be given out by yourself.
This could be OK (Score:4, Interesting)
Having an on-call pager or cell phone is not an unreasonable way to go. I have used worked that out with my staffs in the past and it works pretty well. If you aren't on-call you never get the call because some manager HAS to use the printer right outside his/her cube, and not the one 10 feet further down the hall.
Ride it out, but make it clear (if this is really the case) that you don't have room in your personal budget for high speed internet access, and that if you get the call it will take you X minutes to get into work.
Personally I don't take work calls on my personal cell (sometimes my wife takes it, or my kids) so it's not a reliable way to contact me. I do have a company provided pager.
YMMV
Re:Here's what you do (Score:3, Interesting)
Business must pay for vital business expenses. (Score:3, Interesting)
You don't get to call my cell phone for regular work-related business unless you pay for it. You don't get to use my car unless you pay for it. You don't get to host dinner parties in my house unless you pay for it. And you don't get to benefit from me having broadband access unless you pay for it.
The only other option is that work documents that they require me to have such-and-such (broadband, cell phone, whatever) and then I write it off on taxes. I will also look at these work expenses I have been asked to pick up, and be thinking of those when salary negotiations come up the following year.
Jim
Liability -- (Score:2, Interesting)
(I.e. if the work involves things like medical or other private information, working on/transmitting those over 'personal' equipment or an ad-hoc telecommuting arrangement may be a legal no-no.)
Re:yech (Score:3, Interesting)
However, if they're calling, I wanna be on the overtime clock. Sure, I'm not gonna bother if all they're asking for is a "Where'd the X wind up? or How do I?..." kind of question, but if things are crashing on the weekend then that's usually there fault for not buying the upgrade that woulda kept the system from doing that. You want to make sure that buying that upgrade is cheaper than ruining your weekends...
Re:Slackers. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
I work for a mid-sized medical lab that STARTED as a very small niche lab.
I bent over backwards to make myself valuable to my employer. That includes web accessable alpha paging (straight to my cell phone) and cell access. PLUS support from home/vacations. This was all at my expense.
The downside: It costs me money every month.
The upside: Tax write-off, greater asset to my employer, was able to jump on any major problems BEFORE they effected employee productivity.
Here I am 5 years later earning 4x my starting wage (which wasn't too bad to start with) and I'm the manager of my dept. Further, I may be on a 'leash', but I have incredible amounts of flexability. Twice a week over summer, I leave for a 2.5 hour lunch and spend it with my son (park, catch, arcade, whatever). Whats that worth to some people? For me it's priceless. (Of course that 7 hour drive up the coast from LA to Oakland xmas-eve sucked -- but I made it back before my kids were woke up xmas morning! (I drove to make SURE I didn't get stuck at the airport)).
It all depends on your 'situation'. Plus, working for a privately owned company vs. a heartless evil corporation is a major asset -- and humans appricate effort more than faceless 'boardrooms'. ymmv.
I respectfully disagree. (Score:2, Interesting)
The degree of "us vs them, screw the greedy bastards at the top" attitude I see here on
Note I do feel that 24/7 oncall duty or any kind of undue access to your time should be accounted for in your pay. If you and bob are paid the same, but you're expected to field 3am phone calls and pages on the weekend, and bob is not, that is a problem. But you should consider this accessibility and all its various costs as accounted for in your salary requirements (just like you pay for gas in your car if you commute) and not insist that it be reimbursed separately.
That may have been rambling and only somewhat coherent, but I'm, ah.. done.
Re:Easy one. (Score:3, Interesting)
1) stop being tight bastards
2) live with it
3) get someone else to do the support
My company treats me well. They don't fund my broadband (can't even GET broadband here yet!) but they pay for my mobile which I can dial up via (GPRS ~34Kbps or data call ~22Kbps). And they don't hassle me about personal calls on my mobile. Therefore I'm not bothered about doing support via my own landline dialup (56Kbps) - nor will I be bothered about it when I do get broadband soon (finally, no thanks at all to British so-called-"Telecom" [long overdue for breaking up, the b'stards]). But they earned that by treating me well so I treat them well in return. It's called give and take.
If they turned round and treated me like shit then
a) they would get no goodwill in return
b) I would get another job
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
Me, too!
What I find offensive is the way the CIO tried to pass it off as though paying for company materials out of your own pocket somehow exemplifies your character and work attitude. That's what makes him a screwheaded dork.
The only good news is that some of these expenses might (repeat, **MIGHT**) be tax deductable, but it's going to depend on *A* *LOT* of factors, including your financial position, other tax deductions, etc. It might not work out, but it may be worth looking into. Maybe someone else here is already doing that or tried and failed?
Re:Easy one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, the latter is should be more expensive in principle (because expenses are tax deductible, whereas your salary gets taxed, so to give you comperable spending power they have to bump up your salary by far more than just the raw cost of the expenses).
However, usually if you give individuals the freedom to make their own choices, and rewards (as in more $'s in their pocket) if they find cheaper ways to do things, you'll discover that maybe most people don't need a two-way pager, cell phone, blackberry, *and* broadband at once. So, if the savings are split evenly, the company gets some savings, and the employees end up with more in their pockets too. Done right, this can also improve employee loyalty.
They pay me to play ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Like alot of IS related companies mine is not doing so hot right now
Re:Easy one. (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, mind you, this varies from state to state, country to country, but in the US there are certain labor laws against this type of abuse.
First and foremost you have to understand what these two terms mean:
Salaried
Exempt
An exempt employee is always salaried.
A salaried employee is not necessarily exempt.
There is a difference. A huge difference. And I'd bet nearly all of you didn't understand the nuance. Guess which one your HR department has you marked down as, and I bet you never throught to even challenge it.
Exempt applies to a certain class of workers. IANAL, but roughly this means that you are (ta da!) exempt from certain labor regulations, such as number of hours worked and whether or not you get any over time. Exempt employees are, by definition, salaried. Believe it or not, most of the tech jobs don't fall under the "professional" exemption. This varies from state to state, states being able to offer stricter regulations than the federal mandates. California tends to favor the employee, not the employer. As a rule of thumb for this group, you can be exempt if you're an executive or have an advanced degree and the degree is required to work in your profession (ie, doctors, etc)
Salaried means you get a fixed pay rate per week. If you show up for 20 minutes a day, or even one day, you are required to get your full weeks salary. You can not be docked for hours missed unless it's for a full day, and there's limits on that too.
Of particular interest is the case of the salaried employee who is non-exempt. A non-exempt, salaried employee can work less than 40 hours a week but still must be paid for 40 hours. However, working more than 40 hours (or by your states laws) you are required, by law, to be paid for working those hours.
I'll bet you haven't been, huh? Keep track of those extra hours, and let your boss know. Should you be discharged, ask for your back pay. If they chuckle at you, contact your local department of labor and say you have an unpaid overtime claim. You're likely legally entitled to it, and the department will investigate and make a determination.
You can also be exempt and loose your exempt status unless the company is mindful of the laws. Are you exempt and you've been asked to take partial days off for vacation or sickness? In your companies eagerness to save itself $100, they likely lost your exempt status and opened themselves up to oweing you tens of thousands of dollars in back pay in overtime.
Now, as for the original question... that's kind of interesting. If you're in California, they may be liable for paying you while you at home. Possibly 24 hours a day.
IMHO, companies that are that f'ing cheap deserve exactly what they get.
Compensation for standby time [ca.gov]
Excessive OT [ca.gov]
Compensatable hours worked [ca.gov]
The use of pagers [ca.gov]
California Labor Code [ca.gov]
Re:It's illegal in some states (Score:3, Interesting)
Before I got moved to development I was a Security Admin for a fortune 500 company, but they still would let me bill for business expenses, like cell phone calls and they provided me with a pager. So I don't think it's a question of working for a privately held company vs. a publicly traded one as some posters said it was.
("you" is in refrence to the submitter)
I think this is a personal dilemma. Here are some points you should consider.
What % of the broadband usage is for business and what % is personal.
How important is this to you, by that I mean are you willing to leave the job over it?
At my job I wouldn't be afraid to tell my manger that an issue might get me to look for a new job if it wasn't changed or a reasonable explanation wasn't given, I wouldn't worry about him letting me go for something trivial. You might not have the relationship with your manager if you don't I would get a job lined up then talk.
Your options may depend on where you live (Score:3, Interesting)
For example, if you live in California, Calif. Labor Code Sec. 2802(a) states:
An employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer, even though unlawful, unless the employee, at the time of obeying the directions, believed them to be unlawful.
Of course, if you don't want to make an issue of it now, just keep track of all your expenses, document why they are necessary, and when you leave the company sue them for the expenses during the statute of limitations period.
---
The preceding is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute any form or offer of representation. You should seek the advice of a compentent legal professional licensed in your jurisdiction prior to taking any action.
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
But then, I don't demand that my sys admins work from home. I expect that they work from the office.
However, keeping the servers up 24/7 is part of the job description. If the servers go down, it's the sysadmin's job to get it back up. If the sys admin tells me he doens't have an internet connection, fine, that doesn't mean he is going to lose his job.
However, our servers being down and the sys admin saying "Well, I am only paid to do this 9-5, call me in the morning" isn't going to cut it. The servers being down will cause the sys admin to lose his job.
Now, all this being said, I am not that cruel. I expect certain things from my sys admins, just as much as I let them get away with certain things (as sys admins should do). I don't complain if I catch them playing a little bit of quake. God forbid one of the sale or support staff is caught, but the sys admin, it's all good.
When they need to leave early, go ahead. A little longer on the lunch, fine.
It's reall a give an take relationship. I respect their freedom, I respect their abilities, and I respect that because at time we need them late at night, if they come in an hour later, so be it.
But that doesn't mean I am going to start paying for their Iternet connection, or computer, or chair, or desk, or electricity. The servers need to stay up. That's basically what I pay them for.
Re:Cell phone unlisted. (Score:4, Interesting)
> take their ass to court and ask for the evidence that you were not performing your job correctly.
The courts wouldn't care, a company can fire you for any reason at all (exceptions: you are not an at-will employee and the action does not go against laws/the Constitution), including what you do with in your private life.
http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/0203/02
http://www.totalbusiness.org.uk/ade
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/emp08.htm
Don't answer the phone (Score:3, Interesting)
I turned it down, so I have the priviledge of turning it off, and ignoring it when it's the boss calling, otherwise I'd probably rack up more than $10 worth of my minutes used by the company.
In the case of the story author, I'd refuse to get a cell phone or broadband for company use. I'd not give them the number if I had a cell phone, and I'd tell them I'd cancelled my broadband that I use for work they now won't pay for, and won't get it back unless they reinstate it. If they want you to work, then you should show up for work and be on the clock.
While it's not 1999 anymore, it's not 2001-2002 either. If you are good, companies that pull that kind of shit won't be able to retain you (or their clients) for long by nickle-and-diming.
A broadband connection costs the company what, $40-50 a month? Which is money IT can write off their taxes.
You pretend to pay me. I'll pretend to work (Score:1, Interesting)
Last friday I checked in with my manager before leaving for the weekend, I gave him one of these little FRS radios and said that i would be available on channel 8 ctcss code 36 if I was needed to, say, keep the company online or something...
he at the radio, looked at me and said "your kidding right?"
I said "yeah, but you started it"
Re:Easy one. (Score:4, Interesting)
Excellent point. Don't ignore the signs! Other signs:
Re:Of course your boss "loves" you. (Score:2, Interesting)
Do you treat your doctor as less of a professional because he will charge you for everything? I bet not.
Being treated like a professional is a matter of respect, not how you choose to be compensated. If anything, I would say that by requiring you to pay to be avaliable when you should not be and then convincing you that it is what you should be doing is anything but treating you like a professional.
Actually (Score:3, Interesting)
We, the technology workers of the country, have let ourselves be screwed over.
How?
As a whole, many of us don't pay attention to politics.
As a whole, many of us have a screwed up idea that says we shouldn't ge orginaized.
So now, according to federal law, we arn't paid overtime if we make more then about 28 bucks an hour. roughly 56K a year. Could you imagine that ever happening if we had a organization to work for us in the government? you know, lobbiests.
State laws have changed radically of the years as to what legally qualifies us for excempt status. Exempt status has always been a lot more narrowly defined then corporations have let on. There still jsut as narrow, but most have exceptions for 'computer professionals'.
We could be the most powerfull union(yes, I said the dirty word) in the world. Large corporations no that, the government knows that.
We are so large, that if we had reasonable solidarity, we could change the laws of the US easily. We could be so large, that we could hire enough lobbiest to change the stupid DMCA laws. We could stop the insane copyright abuse going on.
Think about that next time sone person gets fined there life saving becasue they created a search engine that searchs for a compressed programs that happen to end in
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
At my company I frequently hear comments from management about how working extra hours makes you a more "valuable" employee. Keep in mind that I'm a salaried software engineer and get no compensation for overtime. At a meeting I once pointed out that my salary was based upon a fixed 40-hour week, as agreed upon in my employment contract. I further noted that by working overtime, I was, actually reducing my effective hourly wage, thereby making myself less valuable to the company. This view proved popular among the engineering staff (who began leaving on-time more often than they used to) and rather unpopular among management. I also mentioned that I had spent about fifteen years running my own consulting business full-time before I came to work there, and that I had decided to go full time to get away from crazy hours and having no social life. More blank stares. Oh well.
Re:Easy one. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it is just a shame that companies can get away with stuff like this and still hold a decent standing in the comunity. Maybe the IT staff should quickly form a union and demand the company to pay for the required off site expenses. You will achive more then one goal with a union, mainly If they fire all of you for joining it, you have legal recourse as well as most union shops they do business with will not allow them to continue doing business. you may also get public opinion on your side wich may pressure them into doing somethign about it.
I worked for a company that wouldn't allow a non union contractor on the job site and it was stipulated that way in the union contracts too. Some companies got away from it by unionizing certen branches and only sending them in. I'm usually against unions but in this case it would apear to be neccesary. strangly enough, i always made more money at non union jobs though.
Re:Easy one. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Easy one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Apparently the idea was magically and silently dropped after this observation, and was never suggested again.
Which always makes me smile
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
This is going on in my company. I put in my 50 hours and that's what they get. My department has lost two techs and we've not been allowed to replace them, because the owner doesn't want to spend the money. So when he calls and wants to know why X project is not done, I explain it to him. I even use small words to be sure he understands. So far, no problem.
In a time of limited resources, the management has to set the priorities. Your personal time is not a part of the pay check and is not "Negotiable" no matter what Mr, MBA wants you to think. When they want you to pay out of your pocket, you decide what you are willing to do and then do it. Put in reasonable hours and move on.
Re:Easy one. (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course you should pay for it. (Score:2, Interesting)
1. I don't want my employer's policies applying to my home. Think pr0n and/or p2p.
2. If I'm working on a non-work related project at my house, I want EVERYTHING associated with it to be done on my dime. Don't want them to have any hooks into things done on my time.
a simple rule (Score:3, Interesting)
The only "exception" I make to this simple rule is that of convenience. I bring my laptop to work because when I go on a service call, it's convenient for me to have my laptop as a resource. I could do my job just as efficiently, although more unpleasantly, without my laptop though.
A smart employer will realize it's unwise to pressure employees into using personal assets and resources for company business. One manager I used to have always kept the "what if he gets hit by a bus tomorrow?" concept on his mind. If getting day-to-day business done at work depended on my bringing my laptop, how much forward-thinking does it take to realize this is BAD if you quit, get fired, get injured, etc? If the manager truly cares about the business, they won't try to get employees to donate to the company - in fact, quite the opposite will be true, to prevent the creation of a failure point. At my last job, I actually had to put together a case for why it was useful to the company for me to bring my laptop in for them to allow it.
As for the more specific issue of the company wanting you to spend money for them... well, there are a few professions where this is supported to an extent. Mechanics sometimes are required to provide their own tools, although they often are reimbursed for costs of purchasing replacements, and I think this is partly done because the mechanics are picky about what sort of tools they prefer to use.
Spending cash monthly for your workplace is insane. Never forget that you have a business relationship with the company, nothing more. "Company loyalty" is an illusion created by businesses to increase proffit margins - a place where they try to get something for nothing. This comes in many forms... working OT without clocking it (or pushing hours over to next week etc), being on call (or carrying a pager) without compensation, use of personal equipment (especially transportation) without compensation, these things are all ways for your employer to get something for nothing from you.
In your case, if the company refuses to pay for the line to home, they have no business expecting you to pay for it for them. Also, ask yourself how much of your paycheck is to compensate you for being on-call while at home? If you are an independent contractor, you are paid a flat fee for the expenses you incur, and it's your job to evaluate whether you are being compensated for all your expenses plus your time and effort. As an employee of a company, you should have a clear understanding of what your paycheck is compensating you for. For most people this means the work they do for the company while on the clock, and that's it. Period. If they start asking you for more, then you start asking THEM for more. Nice and simple.
had 56K lease line and company cell, now pay ... (Score:2, Interesting)
I also was 24x7 support girl, so i had a 56k lease line to my house because dialup was not an option (very rural, very bad phone lines). Then, my line went away because our corporate parent didn't see merit in my connectivity. So, now, it takes me 35 minutes at a minimum to get to work and fix things. By the way, that's 35 minutes I never get paid for. Nice, huh?
The interesting thing is that as IT people, we think we're integral to the business, and we think that people will protest when we aren't allowed to do our jobs. We think that our end users will somehow spring to our rescue and upper management will see reason and we will retain our ability to provide good service. The truth is that we all work with sheep and although they'll complain, they won't do anything for anyone but themselves. Over the last 6 years, I've watched our service levels go to Hell because our corporate ueberparent has increasingly dictated our every move. Our users just sit there and take it, whining to each other all the while but doing essentially nothing to change the situation.
If I were you, I would start looking into a new job. Your choices are sit there and take it, or get out. I'm choosing B at the end of this month. Good luck to you.
Re:Easy one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Note that the IRS knows this is an easy way to abuse the system, so expect some scrutiny.
Also note that I'm not an accountant, so this post represents how I think it work, not how it really works. Ask your accountant.
Even big companies cutting back (Score:3, Interesting)
Did I complain at first? Sure, going from paying $0 to paying $80 every month was lame, but I stopped complaining pretty quick when I thought about it rationally. The proportion of minutes that people spent doing work verse the minutes people spent using the phone for personal use definitely showed most people were just using their phone on their own (or minutes were going unused). We also get the corporate rate on our plans, which is cool and adds up fast. I'm sure there are some people that use it solely for work, and I'm sure that the company will work with them appropriately, but for the general employee that isn't the case.
Back when my cell phone was bought & paid for by the company I had no problem with my number being listed in the directory - it wasn't really "my private phone", it was "the company's phone that I could use". I also expected other people to have their cell number in the directory, and when I needed to reach them after hours & it wasn't there I bitched at them.
Now that it is "my phone" and "my phone plan", you know what? It is my personal number and does not need to be listed. The people that need to be able to reach me know how to reach me. Random people that 'think' they need to call me after work... can send me email or leave voice mail on my office line. I don't expect everyone else to have their numbers in the directory anymore either.
That does kinda suck though, when we really need to get ahold of someone but can't...
Is it a cut to my benefits? Sure.
Does it suck that I have to pay for something I didn't used to? Sure.
Does it make sense that if I use my phone for personal use -way- more than business use, that I should be responsible? Sure.
Do I understand how this affects the corporate bottom line? Yep, I'm glad we're doing this too. The less expenses we pay the more money we have for other things (or the more money the company keeps, which plays in to stock prices, budgets, blah blah blah)
Simple truth... (Score:1, Interesting)
ITS A JOB!!!!!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Easy one. (Score:2, Interesting)
I work in BC as a net admin, and up until this job I kept running into companies that did not understand that extraordinarily simple premise. Of course both facts are true. *Most* people who can't get a job are in fact too busy looking for the perfect job.
It's been a source of continuous amazement to me that the Canadian software industry isn't kicking the stuffing out of the US industry since Canadian costs should be lower due to lower pay scales and government provided medical insurance. Yet it's not. Either Canadian corporate taxes are way too high for the industry to compete as well as it could or Canadian companies need to get their heads out of their behinds. (Or both)
Vote with your feet (Score:1, Interesting)
Needless to say, virtually everyone I know is watching and waiting for the economy to turn up and then the floodgates will open with departing employees.
I think the historic 5% voluntary turnover rate will spike real soon.
Bah! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, for the more verbose answer:
Option 1: What's needed here is to play hardball without looking like you're playing hardball. Agree that, as a 'dedicated employee', you'll be available nights and weekends. Agree that you can connect from home to solve problems. Proceed to get the crappiest cell phone in history, with the most restrictive plan, and the least amount of minutes. Then, sign up for AOHell dialup, and be sure to dial the slowest server you can find. Drop your modem speed to 9600 or so. See how much they ask of you when you can only talk in 30-second increments, and it takes you hours to upload a text file.
Option 2: Argue that your company calls you more than they think, and weasel your way into an agreement wherein you contact your boss whenever you have to do work outside of hours. Be sure to put in lots of 3AM coding sessions.
Option 3: Stand up. Be a geek. Point out glaring inconsistancies in logic, including "So, if an employee dedicated to their company puts their own money out to support the company, then what does that make a company that won't put out it's money to support an employee?", and "I'm sorry, I must have missed a meeting. Are you on-call? Because that'll be great for my 11PM brainstorms.". One that's actually worked for me: "You want me to be able to connect from home? Yes. You want me to pay for it myself? Check. You want me to be able to do all my job functions from home? Yep. Alright, I'll do it! And I'll be happy to telecommute wherever possible! How's 3 days a week sound?"
Really, truthfully, this is just some schmuck hoping to squeeze a few more dollars out, and find someone who's too scared to say no. When it boils down to it, you were hired at a rate of pay, and the agreement there was that you'd do some services in exchange for that pay. If they're now changing that agreement, then they need to either revamp your services, or revamp your pay.
What's next? "Yeah, we want you guys to work 10 hour days... to be, yanno, productive, because you love MEGACORP". Or "We've decided that, in order to finance the executive bonus, we'll need to implement 10% pay cuts for everyone".
*sigh* They are right to start or stop services as they see fit. It's their money. They are NOT right to expect you to pick up the slack. Really, previous posts are right... they want YOU to pay for the ability to connect on YOUR TIME to do THEIR WORK. If you aren't receiving other bonuses (bonii?), then it just doesn't even out.
And getting an extra 5 minutes at lunch is NOT a bonus, people! You think that you have "flexible hours" because "no-one checks to see if I'm there"? Try coming in at 10 for a week straight.
Real bonuses? I get a day off every 2 weeks. Free and clear, and it's even my choice of days. As long as I don't skip an appointment, every other week I have real flex time. I need to stay till 8PM to do some after hours work? I come in at noon. I need to leave halfway through the day? I do. I decide to fuck off and take a 3 hour lunch? Done. Server breaks and I'm there an extra 4 hours? I take it off the next day. Need to work a weekend to do something? Scheduled, it's paid OT.
The price I pay for that flexibility is 9 hour days, no lunch (no time!), and unscheduled overtime isn't paid. I don't get much extra $ for travel, and the project I busted my ass on for a year which will save/make the company tens of thousands... I don't get a dime for. When it was review time earlier this year, I got (after tax), a whopping $20 CDN a paycheck. But, my time is more valuable to me than $. $ I can make anywhere. Time is gone as soon as it comes.
Besides, I do some side work that nets me the $ I need.
Cerv
Re:Slackers. (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmmm. I would have mod'd +1 Interesting, but I couldn't restrain myself from posting. But it is interesting, because it shows a different (and, apparently, unpopular) point-of-view.
I am also an employer, and I also do not pay for employee's broadband access. I view this as a personal luxury, not a business requirement. I run an IT services company and have one tech and two engineers on the payroll. I provide each of them with a toolkit, cell phone, a laptop with company-paid dial-up ISP, and a credit-card. Dial-up is sufficient for 90% of the work we are called to do outside of normal business hours. Yes, it might take a bit longer than broadband, but overtime is paid (and billed) based on actual time-on-task. But as I said, 90% of the time the speed of the connection has nothing to do with their ability to solve a problem.I do not require employees to have any Internet access. I do require them to have a POTS line at home so they can dial-up the ISP. There are policies limiting the non-business use of the laptop, credit card and cell. But I would only take action if there was significant abuse (which, thankfully, I've not yet encountered).
The number of times an employee needs to connect remotely from home does not justify the cost and effort of me requiring and paying for broadband Internet. Nevertheless, all three employees have their own broadband Internet accounts, but that is their choice.It is more important for me to provide dial-up than broadband. Dial-up can be used anywhere: a customer site, home, hotel room, etc. SSH, VNC and Windows Remote Desktop are workable over dial-up. I use it enough to know. In fact, I'm using it now from a Holiday Inn Express that doesn't have high-speed Internet.
On the other hand, if I had employees that were regular telecommuters, or lengthy after-hours calls occurred more frequently, I would reconsider this issue. Most probably, I would just give everyone a small raise to cover the average cost of broadband, rather than setting-up company-billed accounts (which, in my area, means paying significantly higher fees for commercial broadband) or having employees go through the trouble of expensing their costs. And I would explain it that way to new hires (i.e., "Your annual salary is X, plus an additional $60/month allowance to offset the cost of broadband Internet).Re:Easy one. (Score:2, Interesting)
You've seem to forget about the problem I have. We can't pay anybody who's qualified. I work for a large organization and we have tons of rules related to hiring and firing. The pay scales change very slowly and the dot com boom ment we had to hire the people who couldn't get jobs. Oh, and we can't fire them when the bust hit. Just remember, not everyone is in your situtation.
Re:Easy one. (Score:3, Interesting)
What if he doesn't? What do you expect him to do then?
If the answer is "He ought to get his ass out of bed at 4am and get down to the datacenter to do his job," then you're a tyrant. A tyrant who is absolutely in the right. You don't expect him to have a connection 24/7, since he's not simply bouncing between home and work. That's fine. If you want him to have that DSL, yes, you should pay for it. If you just want him to do his job, regardless of his own setup, then you accept the risk of extended downtime (due to his commute,) and suck up the loss.
Of course, you arguably accept that no matter what until you pay for a private line to the office in full, since your employees can't be expected to work for you full time and guarantee 100% uptime on their personal DSL.
Phones are certainly a good middle ground. If the sysadmin can't get online, he'd better be able to let someone know so that expectations are kept realistic, and so that the manager can come up with some sort of contingency plan, even if it involves him at a net café, following orders over the phone from the admin.
(I've had to deal with system administration via telephone. Hellish, but it works.)