Starting a new job remotely - a few questions

[theofficee]

I'm starting my new office job remotely. I can also go into the office but most of my team work from home so I have decided to also work from home, at least most of the time. It's also my first office-based job.

I just have a few questions.

• Do you just log in at 9am (or whenever you start), check emails, attend any meetings and in between meetings do the tasks?

• Then at 5pm just log off? Or do you say bye to anyone?

• How can work tell that you are actually working and not watching TV or something else? Obviously you would fall behind but are you just left to get on with it? On a related note, do you strictly sit at your desk 9am-5pm aside from breaks? Or do you tend to sneak in a few chores or coffee breaks?

• Are you proactive about catching up with colleagues, like do you arrange extra meetings? There are some other new starters also working remotely. If I was in the office, I would make a point to go over to them and introduce myself and bond over being new! Obviously working remotely that's not really possible.

• How do you find working from home? Do you find it more difficult or lonely?

I know these sound like silly questions but my previous jobs have all been practical rather than office-based.

I log on just before my start time so am ready to go at 8am, and as you say, check emails, attend meetings and get on with tasks. Log off when it is finishing time, no need to say goodbye to anyone. I’m left to get on with my work but don’t have time to fit all of my work in, never mind time to watch tv. I try to factor breaks in but spend far too long at my laptop. If I put the kettle in I might put a load of washing in or hang some out. And if the weathers nice I will sit in the garden or have a walk around the garden if I am taking a non confidential phone call. I always book in a 15min meeting with new starters and if there is someone you get on with there’s no harm in booking in a 10min cup and catch up.
Good luck in your new job!

I think you’ll pick most of this up in your first week or so. With regards to logging in and saying ‘hello’, just ask your line manager what’s the done thing! In my old remote job my team had a dedicated MS Teams chat where everyone would say good morning and goodbye at the end of the day (we all worked slightly different hours).

In my current remote job, there isn’t a team chat at all. I don’t tend to speak at all (not even via messaging or anything) to anyone apart from during meetings. My job has busier days and quieter days - when it’s quiet I often get chores done in between meetings/tasks. I know some people wouldn’t agree with this, but for me it’s one of the best aspects of working remotely. I also move between different rooms of the house sometimes for a change of scenery.

I think it would be a nice idea to set up virtual meetings with some of your new coworkers! It’s also nice to have the occasional social call.

With regards to your manager ‘knowing’ you’re working, most work laptops will have some form of tracking software, key logger etc. But most IT departments wouldn’t specifically check this data unless there was a reason to - such as you weren’t getting anything done!

I wouldn’t worry about being chained to your desk all day long, as long as you’re not pissing off and being unresponsive for half an hour during the middle of the day

I like to login early to catch up with work, then we have a morning meeting, attend all my meetings for the day and planned work and logoff at the end of the day.Act exactly as you would in the office e.g introduce yourself to your team members via Teams.

We have a team meeting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so know everyone is alive and well! We also have a "coffee chat" in the afternoon for anyone to drop by and chat on MS Teams video, only if you want to. We have video catch ups if we haven't spoken to each other for a while, to talk and chit chat. New starters are usually given a 'buddy' to help them.

I don't say bye to anyone unless I'm on a zoom call with them.
My company has as part of thr on boarding reaching out to people for zoom calls, well worth doing even if its not part of yours.
Chores would depend on the culture, I've always worked remote and last company I couldn't sneak off but this one is very pro flexi time/go do something in thehouse rather than just sitting waiting if nothing to do.
Make sure to make time in your lunch hour to get away from your computer, wfh makes it really easy for life and work to creep into one.

I think you are possibly mixing up two things here. One is working remotely and two is working flexibly. I do both. If i need to do errands/chores/school run i just do it and don't ask or explain-as long as i broadly speaking do my hours and get the desired outcomes noone cares. Whereas a friend of mine has to wiggle her mouse constantly as she gets tracked! Madness. If its homeworking without flexible working then take breaks and your lunch.

Different companies have different expectations. Ask some questions but also observe what others are doing.

Tips-get out for a walk every day especially when winter rolls in. Have a good morning routine. Create clear boundaries between work and home. Don't do lots of unpaid overtime because the machine is there. Have good lighting and a good desk and monitor and chair set up. Invest in a good headset-wireless makes a difference as you can move around on non video calls.

And yes we have a mixture of formal and non formal calls. I have been in my job a year and never met anyone f2f. It was weird at first but now i am used to it.

Each work place and job role have their own rules around your questions.

I started a job 2 weeks ago working solely from home. In the 1st meeting with my boss, she explained that she was flexible with start-finish times. For example, if I want to go to lunch for 2hrs or the bank/shopping etc in the day, I can start earlier or finish later. This obviously doesn't work in all roles. Most other companies I've worked from have core hours, so you need to start between 8-10 for example. Other have stricter start/finish times.

I would think that their IT can certainly track your logged in hours, along with website you search. They wouldn't know if you are sitting watching TV though. I have re-set my screens sleep time to longer, because if I need the loo, or to get a drink, I don't want the screen the sleep and look like I'm not there.

I used to manage staff and recall IT had to check log in for staff in another team. It was very crude data though. After investigations, it showed that if someone logged in say facebook/youtube etc once in the morning and sat on it all day, it only logged it as 1 log in. Whereas someone doing work, who then logged into other sites, closed them, logged in again showed multiple log ins within the 1 day.

I personally only do work related google searches on my work laptop, and keep personal things on my own laptop.

My current team is fairly small- ranging from 3-6 working each day. Generally (depends who is working) someone will group chat on skype to say hello in the mornings, and say who is working.

In the afternoons, some say goodbye, others don't.

My team are friendly, and happy to help or do chats, but also majority have 20+ yrs in our profession- only WFH this past year or so, therefore mainly hands on experience beforehand.

If WFH was my 1st job, it would be different though and possibly more difficult. Although, if I was younger, and it was my 1st job, I would likely be FAR more proficient in teams, skype, excel and computers in general!

I expect it varies a lot between and within organisations.

With my team they can work flexibly but I have a pretty good sense of performance/output based on responsiveness, contact levels and client feedback etc. There are a couple of people I think are taking the piss and I will keep a close eye on them. There are others who I know deliver a huge amount and I will be more likely to remind them to ensure they keep a work life balance. As long as we are meeting business needs /available for clients/ delivering as I would expect then I certainly don't police break times or working patterns. But if someone takes advantage they will feel the spotlight on them.

I encourage small group meetings /1:1 chats on a regular basis where we are working remotely. Although at my level and the next tier down it is more about encouraging people to carve out time away from meetings as otherwise they are relentless.

Thank you all! I'm hoping I'll be given more information as it's hard to judge things based on just picking up on things.

Are any of your employer flexible with regards to working from home or working in the office? I've asked during my interview, asked HR and asked my future manager about whether I'll be in the office or at home and they have all said the same - it's flexible. Apparently some people work mainly from the office, some mainly from home. My manager goes in 1-2x per week. I would prefer to be primarily from home, going into the office as little as possible but I have no idea if there is some kind of unspoken expectation to go in regularly (i.e. at least weekly). I would also be going to the smaller office as it's local to me, my manager and most staff go to the Manchester office so I would still be remote to them. I know there will be times when I have to go in for meetings, but for an average working day I have no idea if I can work from home all the time. They also haven't made any reference to COVID, so I think the flexi working has been in place before COVID.

Congratulations on the new job!
I started a new role in lockdown, I’m largely from home. I went into the office for the 1st few days, then was at home for months before going in again.
We have a team WattsApp group and we all say hello and that we’re logged in. If our manager isn’t in then we email another manager to say we’re “in”. If we don’t do this we get a phone call asking if we’re logged in.
We have to send our manager probably more info about what we are planning to do/doing for the week ahead than if we were in the office.
We have A LOT of video calls, meetings, and phone calls. I think if we were hard to get hold of questions would be raised.
We don’t usually say we’re logging off.
We’re expected to take time away from the computer, especially after video meetings as it can be a bit mentally intense. Only 10 mins or so at a time though! But yes, I usually put washing on etc. If I’m going to leave the house I mark it in my online calendar or I mention it in the WattsApp group- eg just popping out as daughter has forgot her lunch etc.