Employer provision if you are working from home

[Pensylvan]

So, like a lot of people I'm guessing - fast tracked working from home. Using my own PC and broadband and home phone line because my mobile does not work in my house.

I do a lot of spreadsheets so am missing big screen *2, proper keyboard and mouse. Plus lack of printer and rather uncomfortable desk. Plus having to make work calls on home phone line.

My employer has nor been forthcoming about funding the cost of these missing items. Despite mentioning the amount we might be saving on commuting costs :(

How is it for you?

Am baffled. Why do 67% think Iabu when I have personally provided every single thing i need to work from home apart from the work interface.

Other peeps are talking about being couriered stuff - there is not chance of that for me. If I had not shelled out £1k plus on IT kit then my work would be paying me to basically do nothing.

I am also pissed off that people expect me to use Zoom and all sorts of other unverified video conf software on my personal PC, which has a lot of personal photos and other info on it.

I've properly raided the office lol, got my monitor and chair. After the other person in my team was furloughed I also nabbed all our reference books. I pop in occasionally to raid the stationary cupboard!

I teach in an FE college. I have a work laptop, by it is ancient and struggling to cope with running programmes it wouldn’t usually - eg, video calls on Teams. I practically have a broken neck from sitting at the kitchen table, and don’t have a printer.

I mentioned I was getting really bad headaches with marking online - I would usually mark hard copy scripts, which are thousands of words per student - and was told to buy some blue filter glasses to wear!

I am not sure what will happen next academic year, but see this as an emergency situation. I think that if people are expected to teach remotely after summer we should be provided with proper equipment to work safely and comfortably. (But am not particularly optimistic!)

Already home based.
Laptop, screen, keyboard, mouse, smartphone, desk, chair, extension leads, filing cabinet, printer and phone all provided. Some use two monitors or standing desks.

I have a work laptop, I sit on a chair at kitchen table to work, it hadnt occurred to me that they should provide anything else

Ha, count yourself lucky - we absolutely can work from home but are being told we must go into the office. Clearly my laptop etc is ok for evening / weekend (unpaid) use, not for mon - fri 9-5 use

Just got laptop from school and had to buy everything else myself such as headset and document camera.

School can’t afford to provide any support other than a laptop. So cannot claim for any broadband upgrade etc

Our position before lockdown was that the only people trusted to do work from home were senior managers - all the non manager would be too unreliable and lazy to do any actual work from home,

On 22 March, day before lock down, I went into office on public transport and it ws just like normal apart from senior managers who were all woking from home (wonder why>???)

Oh but luckily all those minions have stepped up and kept the show on the road and of course saved themselves a whole load of bus fares so they can easily put all this cash towards equipping themselves with laptops, fancy home offieces etc. UNlike the senior managers who sadly had to lug home work equipement ..

WFH and my company said if you need equipment, let Facilities know and claim anything else you need via expenses.

Money is in my bank in 3 days 👍

When CV19 kicked off, booked a pool car for a site visit, car had a flat battery, good old RAC and was told keep it and use for work only ie site visits.

That way, the car is run plus a fuel card for the car. Catching up on work that need site visits as don’t have to wait until a car is free

Company phone and laptop. They are now figuring out how to refund us for extra usage of broadband, admin stuff etc

Company IT had a few wobbles in the early days getting stuff to work from home but the bean counters were told to sign things off and don’t argue and now my bunch are up there with the best of them being able to work from home.

Have to say, our IT people have pulled out all the stops to keep us working

Workload has gone up but so far so good and keeping on top of things

Only down side my tea and biscuit intake has gone up somewhat when I am actually WFH and not out and about 😎

I wfh anyway so have all the kit (laptop, dock, 2 monitors, keyboard, mouse, headset, printer). I bought my desk and chair myself years ago.

Colleagues were told they could take all their peripherals etc from the office before lockdown started and were encouraged to order a decent chair on expenses.

The company used to pay my broadband costs when it was hideously expensive and a rarity; then it became an allowance but now it's just assumed everyone has it like electricity or water. Phone is irrelevant as I'm not 'customer facing' and all calls are via Skype with a headset. I think if I needed to make external calls I could do it via the internet anyway.

We were encouraged to being our PC's home but to access the work drives we need to hardwire to our modems. To do this we were given 10 metre cables and it's been ridiculous because I've had to set the PC up in the same room as the modem or else trail these leads. It's been interesting how little emphasis there's been on health and safety.

My husband went to his office and collected his terminal at 8pm on 31st March and then set it up here. Only thing we needed was a signal booster. He does use his mobile so I guess they technically should pay the bills on that but I don’t think the bills have gone up enough for him to feel like he needs to bother his boss.

To be clear my husband isn’t a senior manager.

Loads of people in my office took their desktops/monitors home with them.

Why do 67% think Iabu

I've not voted, but that may be because you didn't say in your OP what you thought was or wasn't reasonable.
Well, I think your company should have let you tak kit from the office, no point having it sitting collecting dust there.

But maybe not cover broadband, and it's not their fault your mobile doesn't work in your house.

I already had a work laptop so brought that home along with one of my two monitors, and my mouse. A colleague dropped my office chair to me, and I bought a keyboard. I have a footrest at work, am using a couple of books and cushion under the dining table at home. My laptop riser is a pile of books. Most internal calls are on MS Teams, external calls on my own mobile which has recently been set up so I can use it as if I am phoning from my work extension. I can't print. I brought home couple of notebooks for rough notes. The rest of my team has a mix of things they already had at home, things they brought from the office and things they have bought themselves. There has been no mention of my employer paying for heating or electricity or anything else. I work for the NHS.

I only had an iPad. The week before lockdown my employer went out and bought laptops for those who didn’t have them.

I find it harder than using the desktop at work for some stuff, especially entering data into spreadsheets but needs must. I don’t even have a dining table to put it on as we moved house just before lockdown. I literally sit on my bed (Ds is zoom teaching in the living room).

Been wfh since mid-March; on the last day I brought home with me from the office: laptop, chair, headset, large screen, mouse and keyboard. DP helped me to bring an old desk down from the attic. I would have really struggled had I not brought everything home, especially the chair. All calls are made through the laptop.

That's one positive through this for me... I have worked from home on and off for years... Started full time at home last summer. Because it was "a choice" I get no compensation and had to purchase my own computers. Now that everyone is working from home they've decided to provide computers. So... Any issues will now be theirs not mine to solve on my own time!!

Oh as for a desk, chair, and one of my monitors... They upgraded in the office and gave away the old to anyone who wanted... So I have 2 desks and 2 office chairs and a monitor (I already had 2... Use 3 computers to work... Hence the need for a other desk.) I didn't need the second chair... And told them that but asked if I could have another if no one else wanted... And I got one😁

We can have whatever we need from the office and buy anything required.

I bought my assistant a chair, printer, some stationery and monitor stand plus keyboard.

But our organisation is well funded and has no cash flow issues.

I work for a large corporation.

Desk is my responsibility. They will ship monitors, keyboards, etc to people. Apparently they are willing to let some
People take chairs home If they ask.

We are all expected to have good home internet and pay for that ourselves. I imagine that might be different for the support staff, but I haven’t asked if they are getting that subsidized. All work calls already went through the company internet, so we just make calls the same way, but using the vpn. They shipped me a headset to make it easier. Things like printing are a case by case basis. If you are the rare person who must do a lot of printing, they will send you a printer and ink, but most people only need to print occasionally so we just do that out of pocket. Our company followed the news closely and in the weeks proceeding the shut down they massively increased vpn capability so that they very single employee worldwide can be online simultaneously.

In short. If it’s the type of thing like office furniture that rarely gets replaced you are on your own. If it’s standard peripherals that IT or facilities regularly handed out, they will send them to you by mail.

At my work everyone has a work laptop, headset and work phone. But my employer does not provide anything else for wfh. Years ago, if someone had an arrangement to wfh regularly, they used to provide a printer and pay for broadband. But then they changed that policy and now it is assumed that people have broadband anyway.

I'm a teacher so I was already expected to do some work at home (planning etc) and not provided equipment to do so. No equipment has been provided, no reimbursement for internet etc. for delivering online learning. DH gets to bring work laptop home on the days he works from home but has to go in as so much paperwork is required and work would not be funding ink for the printer etc.

Using own laptop and bought a new mouse and second screen myself. Originally borrowed a screen from the office but realised it was broken when I set it up. Using what used to be my dressing table as a desk with a dining chair. Could borrow a chair from the office if I wanted to. Using the home broadband but would be paying for the that anyway.
Personally I don't mind paying for these things as I plan to WFH more even when allowed back in the office.