To WFH while on holiday abroad so I don’t use up holiday entitlement?

[RaspberryFarfait]

We have already have a big holiday booked this year and DH also wants to spend a month in his home country with his parents during the summer holidays.

He doesn’t WFH, so will use all holiday entitlement, but I do. Colleague is also on leave for some of that time so I wouldn’t normally be able to be off as need to cover.

WIBU to not book holiday, travel over there and work as normal, without telling work. I only work part time and it’s certainly doable.

Only problem is will I be able to log in remotely from abroad? Has anyone done this?

Don’t want to ask work yet as they’ll cotton on!

I know lots of people who do this - my team is made up of a lot of expats and they often go home for a month taking a mix of annual leave and working abroad. It's never been an issue (so long as it's all okay from a tax perspective). They always ask though and put it in their calendars so everyone knows if they're in a different time zone.

You should check your company’s policy. This wouldn’t be allowed unless in certain circumstances at my place of work.

Just talk to your employer about it. If they're OK with it, it's fine. If they're not, don't risk it.

You really need to check your organisation's remote working rules. Some places I'm sure would be fine with it. Where I work it would be an absolute no for lots of reasons. We have to be available to attend work in person at short notice, and there would be security issues re taking our laptops abroad.

You need to ask your employer. We're not allowed to access the systems from certain countries because of their lack of online security.

"Don’t want to ask work yet as they’ll cotton on!"

I really don't think you can do this without asking/telling them.

This would absolutely be against the policy of one organisation I've worked for, but totally fine with the other (if told!).

I'd imagine your IT department will be able to tell where you are.

Talk to your employer. I think you should have done so before committing to any holiday, flights, other costs etc.

You could get there and find remote working does not work easily or at all.

I wouldn't bother telling employer. I don't think it's their business if it's just for a month. Unless as PP have stated, you are in a country where security might be an issue.

A young woman I work with had a horrible relationship break up and went to stay with her parents in a European country for a month to help her recover. It wasn't at all problematic.

In my work the IT system (public sector) would pick up if you’re logging in from abroad and block you so it wouldn’t work. So it probably depends on your systems. I would ask a friendly IT person a hypothetical question 😁

Yes talk to your employer. Our IT team notify line managers if someone is trying to login remotely from another country for obvious security reasons

Some of my colleagues with family abroad do this but are absolutely open about it and have it agreed by their manager. I wouldn’t try and do it without agreement

It used to be common where I work but about a year ago we told that it was no longer allowed. It creates tax complications, apparently.

Some remote working policies state you can only work from your home address. Some state you cannot take company IT equipment abroad unless you are travelling on business. It's not healthy to not have proper breaks from work. Take the holiday and leave work behind for a week or two.

I think you have to tell them? My company allows people to work from abroad for small stints but it has to be pre-approved. Different countries pose different security threats and it's not up to the employee to know/decide that threat.

It's not much of a holiday if you lose your job over it.

That depends entirely on your company policy.
I am in the civil service and its banned unless special permisision is granted. It wouldnt be possible for us a international ISPs are automatically blocked. Any attempts at logging in abroad are logged and reported immediately to line managers. There are also tax implications

To be honest the fact that you are contemplating trying to do it secretly suggests you know if won’t be approved.

Companies with lots of international workers or over seas locations would take a different view

YABU to do it without permission. The fact that you don’t want to ask seems like you know they’ll say no, so you shouldn’t do it.

IT can almost certainly tell where you are logging on from (Indeed, ours is set to flag up any log on attempts from outside the UK).

DH is banned from taking any company property into certain countries.

You really need to talk to work. If they say no, better to find out now than after everything is booked, or once you are there.

We’ve been given permission to do this (NHS and civil service) We’re going for 4 weeks to Spain and staying in a villa. Two weeks AL and 2 weeks WFH. It’s going to be so nice being able to go for walks in the sun at lunchtime, sit round the pool, two extra weekends and meals out. Awesome!

Definitely ask your work, don’t just do it without telling them. It might be fine, but also might not be.

also think about things such as will the internet connection be good enough? Will the time difference work? Will you have to take your work laptop abroad?

I agree with PP, you need to check out your company regulations on this. My DH works in the financial sector and is not allowed to work when abroad.

Don’t you need to have right to work in the destination country though?

Dh wfh policy states it has to be at main residence, so would not allow for that in UK or abroad. If you use a vpn it may not be possible and is there a time difference.

Tell them but don’t call it a holiday.
say you need to stay with family in another country for a month for personal reasons. You will be able to work as normal, it’s the same as you having to stay with family in this country and you’re just making them aware.

unless you mean it’s for your actual holiday not your ‘staying with family’ holiday
in which case you should take a holiday, it’s good to have a break
also will you lose your holiday allowance if you don’t use it? What are you saving it for

Haven’t booked anything yet as driving and staying with his family. DH would drive with DC anyway. Quite fancy jumping in pool after work rather than staying here on my own! Also his parents are very old and not seen them for 3 years.

Online security could be an issue though (South Eastern Europe not EU). Hadn’t considered that funnily enough! Internet connectivity is good, so only considered that.

Will have to speak to manager. Bugger!

Also there are no tax issues
you aren’t there permanently, or even long term
you aren’t employed by another company
it’s no different to if someone who is self employed goes on holiday and logs on and does a bit of work whilst they’re there - you don’t say there’s tax implications to that.

the only issue is works policy / it systems