CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: CatsbyAZ on January 13, 2021, 10:40:00 AM
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Anyone else assigned work phones (as part of your job, obviously)? Three years ago my construction job assigned us all smartphones, which is the first smartphone I’ve had. Suspicious of carrying around internet capability all day, and thus running up the data on their “unlimited” plan, I’ve never liked it. What took me longer to figure out is that by assigning me a phone with applications linked to our email servers, my employer is tricking me into 24/7 email accessibility. “Did you see my email?” My mangers will text me - at 6AM, before asking again at 7AM when I arrive to the office – about an email sent at 8PM, that they wanted answered at 9PM. I’ve tried strategically failing expectations so that hopefully those I answer to will slowly come around to understanding I’ll answer when I’m back on the clock. I’m accustomed to taking calls into the evenings during crunch time, but for email I find it worth spending the time it takes to come up with a thoughtful, properly researched answer that those on the CC line can find helpful as well. (Sending email doesn’t translate as well by phone, especially if attachments with photos need to be created and sent.) But anyway, about 1 to 2 times/year (about a half-dozen total times now) someone higher in management will really lose it when an email goes unanswered long enough during my off hours.
Am I right to see this as a new reality of professional salary job? We’re just all expected to be mindful of work email until bedtime? Shared work phone experiences are appreciated. Really gets me guessing back to the days (the 90s?) when our employers had no way to contact us 9-to-5, non-emergency employees. When there was such a time as “off the clock.”
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Before I started working from home, I was assigned a mobile phone for being on-call (it wasn't mine, it was for any tech who was on-call for the week). I haven't used it since like 2018.
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Anyone else assigned work phones (as part of your job, obviously)? Three years ago my construction job assigned us all smartphones, which is the first smartphone I’ve had. Suspicious of carrying around internet capability all day, and thus running up the data on their “unlimited” plan, I’ve never liked it. What took me longer to figure out is that by assigning me a phone with applications linked to our email servers, my employer is tricking me into 24/7 email accessibility. “Did you see my email?” My mangers will text me - at 6AM, before asking again at 7AM when I arrive to the office – about an email sent at 8PM, that they wanted answered at 9PM. I’ve tried strategically failing expectations so that hopefully those I answer to will slowly come around to understanding I’ll answer when I’m back on the clock. I’m accustomed to taking calls into the evenings during crunch time, but for email I find it worth spending the time it takes to come up with a thoughtful, properly researched answer that those on the CC line can find helpful as well. (Sending email doesn’t translate as well by phone, especially if attachments with photos need to be created and sent.) But anyway, about 1 to 2 times/year (about a half-dozen total times now) someone higher in management will really lose it when an email goes unanswered long enough during my off hours.
Am I right to see this as a new reality of professional salary job? We’re just all expected to be mindful of work email until bedtime? Shared work phone experiences are appreciated. Really gets me guessing back to the days (the 90s?) when our employers had no way to contact us 9-to-5, non-emergency employees. When there was such a time as “off the clock.”
You have to train your employer. They will eventually learn your way of "being" at work and private time
I had to tell my boss that Im not a doctor and unless the FBI is raiding our offices I dont read emails after evening dinner
Hell I used to just keep my wok phone turned off after work. This made my boss so mad he threatened to take my phone away from me but he soon realized I'd love that so he never did
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So... My smartphone has a "Do Not Disturb" you can choose when to turn it on and back off.
I turn my "Do not disturb" on at 8pm and back off at 6:30am. I don't get notified with emails or texts after 8. When the boss asks, I tell them I set the phone that way to spend undisturbed quality time with my family and to rest. If they want me to work on call hours I need to be compensated for on call responsibilities.
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I've had one for work since probably 2010/2011.
And yes, there is no such thing as "off the clock" anymore. It ticks my wife off. We went to the beach this summer. I left my phone in the condo when we were at the beach, but when we'd go up to eat, I had like 2 hours of emails to respond to.
I was technically off the last two weeks of the year, had an out of office response up, and was still getting requests, that were undeterred by my auto-response
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I'm on the clock 24/7/365
there's no "training" my boss differently
my company smart phone is my leash
but,.... that's why I get paid the BIG bucks - hah!
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I'm on the clock 24/7/365
there's no "training" my boss differently
my company smart phone is my leash
but,.... that's why I get paid the BIG bucks - hah!
as my dad used to say everybody makes their own bed
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I've obviously never had a work phone, but I don't do emails off-hours. I only do work at home if I was unable to do it at work in a reasonable amount of time. I do some lesson planning at home, though not often.
I saw "work phone" and the old giant cell phone in a bag popped in my mind. Yeah, I could see how a smart phone from work would be a sonofabitch nowadays.
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as my dad used to say everybody makes their own bed
yup, took this job 23 years ago and haven't found a way out yet
hah, that's how long I've been on these boards with youse folks
my new desktop had a state of the art 56K modem
back when the Huskers were good at football
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I have a work phone. I will check emails in the evening and if I think it can be answered quickly, I might answer it if only to not have it on my agenda in the morning.
However, my company knows and actually encourages when you are off work, you are off work.
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I have a work phone. I will check emails in the evening and if I think it can be answered quickly, I might answer it if only to not have it on my agenda in the morning.
However, my company knows and actually encourages when you are off work, you are off work.
My firm is quite fine with it...clients...
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I can't remember the last time I didn't have a work-issued phone and/or laptop or where I was not expected to work during off-hours. It's been over 20 years, that's for sure.
The flipside of that is that I have plenty of flexibility during my day/week. I haven't actually taken sick time for a Dr. appointment for myself or my kids in years, either.
I tend to work for an hour or so in the evenings, after the kids go to bed. It's really in my best interest, because I can often nip something in the bud at 9 or 10 PM, that if left unmanaged, would balloon into a completely unnecessary headache overnight and make my next morning completely miserable.
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I can't remember the last time I didn't have a work-issued phone and/or laptop or where I was not expected to work during off-hours. It's been over 20 years, that's for sure.
The flipside of that is that I have plenty of flexibility during my day/week. I haven't actually taken sick time for a Dr. appointment for myself or my kids in years, either.
I tend to work for an hour or so in the evenings, after the kids go to bed. It's really in my best interest, because I can often nip something in the bud at 9 or 10 PM, that if left unmanaged, would balloon into a completely unnecessary headache overnight and make my next morning completely miserable.
That's what I explained to my wife. You know how I can also put the kids on the bus in the morning and get into the office a little late, or work from home on days I have a Dr. appt. This is the flip side to that.
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the only time after hours issues really bother me is when I'm on the golf course or during a Husker game
especially if I'm attending a Husker game
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That's what I explained to my wife. You know how I can also put the kids on the bus in the morning and get into the office a little late, or work from home on days I have a Dr. appt. This is the flip side to that.
Yup.
And since my wife is a physical therapist, her hours aren't flexible at all. She can't just ditch out on her patients. So I end up managing pretty much 100% of the kid appointments, soccer practices, etc.
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the only time after hours issues really bother me is when I'm on the golf course or during a Husker game
especially if I'm attending a Husker game
Luckily, although I work pretty much every night and most weekends, I can do it on my own terms. I don't ever have someone bothering me when I'm out on the lake or at a football game or whatever.
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Yup.
And since my wife is a physical therapist, her hours aren't flexible at all. She can't just ditch out on her patients. So I end up managing pretty much 100% of the kid appointments, soccer practices, etc.
Wife is a teacher, so same deal, 9 months a year. Granted that helps with some afternoon stuff for the kids
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My clients and staff are trained to not bug me after hours. They know I won't respond, so they don't bother.
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My clients and staff are trained to not bug me after hours. They know I won't respond, so they don't bother.
see what training does
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Lucky Bastages,wish we'd get the same treatment
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I've had a work phone since probably 2005? Man, I've seen some evolution in the smartphone marked during that time!
For me it's more that the company expects me to travel, and to visit customers, and it's simply impossible to function without a smartphone in the modern era in that environment.
I like that it gives me a lot more flexibility. I'm about to go take my lunch hour at the driving range (which might extend a little beyond an "hour" lol) but I know that if there's something critical I'll know about it. My job isn't really "9 to 5" in the sense that I don't have flexibility.
The downside is that when something comes up that requires after-hours work, I may have to deal with it. Over Thanksgiving weekend we had a critical situation at a customer and while I wasn't working hours upon hours every day, I was responding to phone calls and emails for that issue every single day of the weekend. I had to call my VP and update him on status between the 9th green and 10th tee on Sunday morning that day...
I do my best to balance it. If something comes in after hours but isn't urgent, it waits until the morning. With WFH and a dog that wakes me up early for walks, I start my work day pretty early in the morning anyway, so if I don't get to your email until 7:40 AM PT, you're just going to have to deal with it.
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I've had a work phone since 1992. They were pretty heavy back then.
(https://i.imgur.com/ohwkbcn.png)
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its amazing how unurgent things really are and can wait until morning
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My company does a pretty good job of respecting life/work balance.
I also went to some "time management/efficiency training" that my boss scheduled for me with a specialty consulting firm, and they had some interesting statistics on how damaging responding to emails immediately, can be. It takes you out of your workflow zone, and it can take a significant amount of time to get back into it, sometimes between 1 and 5 minutes. Add that up over the course of a day, and that's some serious damage to productivity.
Their recommended best practice was to turn off all email/text alerts and to only answer emails twice per day, and let your boss and peers know that's your method. I told my boss this, and he was open to it. Since then he's adopted similar practices. But I'm not directly customer-facing so it's a little easier to enable.
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its amazing how unurgent things really are and can wait until morning
even more amazing that some folks that really should the difference between urgent and nonurgent are clueless about this
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I've had a work phone since 1992. They were pretty heavy back then.
(https://i.imgur.com/ohwkbcn.png)
mine was 1997 and came in a bag
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Actual pictures of badge and his mobile phone:
(https://i.imgur.com/rhtSIRV.jpg)
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utee at Disney World
(https://i.imgur.com/OrAGftg.jpg)
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Man I knew that icloud leak would come back to haunt me.
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even more amazing that some folks that really should the difference between urgent and nonurgent are clueless about this
kinda like unsmart and nonsmart
or unfunny or nonfunny
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yup, urgent issues I understand. I signed up for that.
it's the other issues that someone "thinks" are urgent that are obviously NOT urgent that bother me.
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Our greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important - Charles Hummel
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in my world, for something to be urgent, it has to be important
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Most clients define "urgent" differently than I do.
I always say to myself
"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on my part."
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Most clients define "urgent" differently than I do.
I always say to myself
"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on my part."
Yup.
Your poor planning is not my emergency.
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"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on my part."
My old Boss use to have a poster behind his desk that said exactly that
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My old Boss use to have a poster behind his desk that said exactly that
This old boss still does. :)
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But the guys up in Illinois can't see it.......and it comes down when the wife gets home
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I walked into a local auto repair shop the other day and there was a sign on the wall that read
"All I want is less to do
more time to do it in
and more money for not getting it done"
that about sums up a majority of folks out there
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I walked into a local auto repair shop the other day and there was a sign on the wall that read
"All I want is less to do
more time to do it in
and more money for not getting it done"
that about sums up a majority of folks out there
I wouldn't take my car there.
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heh no kidding
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I've had an interesting relationship with this. My first job was somewhat analog, well, less highly connected than it should've been (I still worked a bunch). The next two were far more interconnected, which was the nature of the job. It was never going to fully jive with just being "off."
That led to some work-life balance issues, which was bad, but allowed for a measure of flexibility I kind of enjoyed. Also some not healthy habits. I actually took to it well, even if I wanted some normalcy sometimes.
I recently switched jobs to something that is, in theory, 9-6, but my boss seems very OK with using that "till 6" part of it. I don't like that at all, but I think it's too early to shut the laptop at 5:15. I don't mind doing a little to get ahead later in the evening, but video calls after 5? Or up till 5 with some needed follow up? I DISAPPROVE. I also need to get a handle on the long lunches part. I'm not comfortable enough yet to put that into practice.
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I wouldn't take my car there.
Had to it was the dealership
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Two best things about WFH
1. I can mow the lawn/do a little bit of yard work at some point during the day. No more racing home to get it done before dark ar after dinner.
2. I can handle any repairman appt. Delivery window, you name it.
Since WFH for all my peers, I've never gotten more weekend or all hours email from people. People are working when they can or a lot more than they were. I've been remote for 12+ years.
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But the guys up in Illinois can't see it.......and it comes down when the wife gets home
It shows up in the Zoom camera.
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Two best things about WFH
1. I can mow the lawn/do a little bit of yard work at some point during the day. No more racing home to get it done before dark ar after dinner.
2. I can handle any repairman appt. Delivery window, you name it.
That was a good part of it. One think I liked about the mobility was if my job was going to overflow, I could often run an errand or two and keep a phone or laptop on hand.
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I'm on the clock 24/7/365
there's no "training" my boss differently
my company smart phone is my leash
but,.... that's why I get paid the BIG bucks - hah!
Same here. When we go on vacation, my laptop goes with me. It drives my wife nuts.
As for a work phone, they offered one but I refused it. Instead I use my personal phone for email and work phone. I just don't like the idea of carrying two phones everywhere I go.
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Same here. When we go on vacation, my laptop goes with me. It drives my wife nuts.
As for a work phone, they offered one but I refused it. Instead I use my personal phone for email and work phone. I just don't like the idea of carrying two phones everywhere I go.
Yeah now in the days of smartphones, I just use my personal phone and I have corporate email and IM loaded onto it.
Back in the day I was among the first to have a corporate-issued Blackberry. My friends were jealous but I named it for what it was-- "The Tether."
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But again, the flexibility is helpful. I'll take my corporate laptop on short trips, for the sake of managing the minor flare-ups before they become major ones, and generally making my life easier when I return to work officially, if nothing else.
But if I'm going on a week-long trip to a Caribbean beach, then no, the corporate laptop stays at home and I'm officially out of office and unreachable. That's a double-edged sword. I can completely unplug for that week, but when I return to work it's generally a massive shitshow.
I guess they really can't go on without me... ;)
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Two best things about WFH
1. I can mow the lawn/do a little bit of yard work at some point during the day. No more racing home to get it done before dark ar after dinner.
2. I can handle any repairman appt. Delivery window, you name it.
Since WFH for all my peers, I've never gotten more weekend or all hours email from people. People are working when they can or a lot more than they were. I've been remote for 12+ years.
Agree with this. I too have been working at home for about 10 years and would not trade it for going to the office daily. While I have had a couple of job offers in the past couple of years, non of them gave me the flexibility of my current job.
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But again, the flexibility is helpful. I'll take my corporate laptop on short trips, for the sake of managing the minor flare-ups before they become major ones, and generally making my life easier when I return to work officially, if nothing else.
But if I'm going on a week-long trip to a Caribbean beach, then no, the corporate laptop stays at home and I'm officially out of office and unreachable. That's a double-edged sword. I can completely unplug for that week, but when I return to work it's generally a massive shitshow.
I guess they really can't go on without me... ;)
If I could get away without the laptop, I would. However, I am on call 24/7/365 and that includes vacation. While I do have some backup in the company, there is no one that can fix a problem that may come my way if it becomes too complex. I have tried in the past to help over the phone, but found it is much easier to just take care of it myself.
I did at one time have someone working with me to pick up what I do, but they WFR's him a couple of years ago. I am now trying to cross train others in my group so that hopefully a day will come when I can unplug for a week and not worry about it. The problem there is that they don't have any more spare time than I do.
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If I could get away without the laptop, I would. However, I am on call 24/7/365 and that includes vacation. While I do have some backup in the company, there is no one that can fix a problem that may come my way if it becomes too complex. I have tried in the past to help over the phone, but found it is much easier to just take care of it myself.
I did at one time have someone working with me to pick up what I do, but they WFR's him a couple of years ago. I am now trying to cross train others in my group so that hopefully a day will come when I can unplug for a week and not worry about it. The problem there is that they don't have any more spare time than I do.
It's really in your company's best interest to have someone that can truly back you up. What if you decided to leave the company tomorrow, or were incapacitated in some way?
The very large computer manufacturing company I work for insists on having all business critical processes thoroughly documented and also having a knowledgeable backup identified and in place for all employees with critical roles-- which is pretty much everyone when you staff as lean as we do.
As an engineer, I love the adherence to process, it keeps those unruly sales types in check. :)
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But if I'm going on a week-long trip to a Caribbean beach, then no, the corporate laptop stays at home and I'm officially out of office and unreachable. That's a double-edged sword. I can completely unplug for that week, but when I return to work it's generally a massive shitshow.
I guess they really can't go on without me... ;)
doesn't matter where I go. I took my daughters on a 7-day cruise a few years ago. Told them they had to use airplane mode on their iphones because of the costs.
the boss told me to keep mine on at all times, he'd pay the bill.
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In my case I had three managers/directors reporting to me
Each one was very capable and if needed could make decisions without me
I trained them to come to me with a problem as well as their suggested solution to it
If you dont make your managers stretch they will never grow and you will be chained
to your office
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It's really in your company's best interest to have someone that can truly back you up. What if you decided to leave the company tomorrow, or were incapacitated in some way?
The very large computer manufacturing company I work for insists on having all business critical processes thoroughly documented and also having a knowledgeable backup identified and in place for all employees with critical roles-- which is pretty much everyone when you staff as lean as we do.
As an engineer, I love the adherence to process, it keeps those unruly sales types in check. :)
You're preaching to the choir! :)
It's really only been this way for the last 4 or 5 years when they decided to trim the workforce. Prior to that, I had 2 other's in my group that were capable and we rotated the on call duties. However, one left for a better job and the other was let go in a work force reduction.
About 8 or 9 years ago, I was hospitalized for 2 months and for the first month, on life support. You would think after something like that, they would understand that having so much of their business dependent upon 1 person, that is not a good pathway for success. However, the bean counters are ruling the day.
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Same here. When we go on vacation, my laptop goes with me. It drives my wife nuts.
As for a work phone, they offered one but I refused it. Instead I use my personal phone for email and work phone. I just don't like the idea of carrying two phones everywhere I go.
back when I started the only option was for the company phone, a few years ago they started allowing my staff to keep their personal phone and just get so much towards their phone bill. I don't carry 2 phones, I'm allowed to use my company phone for everything. Well, I try to keep the porn and other politically incorrect stuff off.
Hopefully, if/when I retire I'll be allowed to keep the phone and the number, just move it to my personal wireless plan.
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Always had an iPad and/or laptop. A couple years ago the company I was with issued us work phones after years of just letting us expense our personal cell bills.
I never even took it out of the box. Finally got an email telling me I had to at least turn it on. Lol
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For the first ~20 years of my career I had a job where someone was always there doing my job for me if I wasn’t there. I work for a very large chemical company in a 24-7 facility.
Last year in January I took another job managing projects. I was issued a work phone and suddenly for the first time I had to get my work done even if I’m not there. I voluntarily have email on my phone and I don’t mind replying after hours but fortunately those are few and far between. I really don’t feel tethered to my job yet and most of the off hours email can be dealt with later.
The last job I was at required 12 hour shifts and you could not leave. Talk about tethered !
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Also I got tired of carrying two phones so I bought a new iPhone and had my personal cell and my work cell routed to one device. It gets kinda tricky making sure you call someone from the right number but once you have it setup it’s pretty seamless. Once you call or text somebody it will continue to use the same line unless it can’t get a signal and then it will ask if you want to use the other line.
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With iPhones you can have one physical sum and then several esims. For anybody required to carry two phones it’s a real good option. If you don’t want your work number active you can just turn off that line.