To think IT need to do more to facilitate me WFH?

[NameChangedSpring25]

I have recently returned from maternity leave, to a company where i have worked for 10 years. Since the pandemic, there has been a (non-contractual) hybrid working arrangement where everyone can work from home 2-3 days per week if work allows (i.e. no face to face meetings), with a Wednesday being mandatory in the office.

Since my return, i have found a lot of people do work in the office more than the minimum 2-3 days, and it appears to be frowned upon not to be physically present. I'm finding this difficult, though no one has said anything.

Furthermore, a core part of my role requires a VPN connection (not many people need this but i need to use a software that is only accessible remotely with the connection). There have been issues with this connection, and its intermittent / unreliable. IT's instant fix is 'come into the office'. It doesn't affect enough people for them to care as only 6 people in the whole company need this software, and it works fine in the office.

I just cant do this - i have arranged my childcare around working in office 2 (max 3) days. Nursery only opens 8-6 and i do most all pickups (DH does most drop offs). I can't get from the office to nursery without leaving at 4pm, and if i do this i need to log on after bedtime to pick up the requests I've missed in the last hour or so (and often i cant do them due to no VPN!). its not sustainable. If i switch to drop offs i wouldn't get to the office until 10am and there are often urgent things i should have dealt with so that looks bad too. (unfortunately 9-10am and 4-5pm busiest two periods of the working day for me and my team).

I can do my job remotely very well - i just need the VPN to be working. AIBU to think IT need to do more to fix this instead of just saying 'connect from the office'?

It's possible that with leadership wanting people back in the office IT have been told not to put any more resources in homeworking.

Do you think that is likely?

Could you ask IT if there is another work around?

It’s not really a you & IT thing. It’s a you and your boss thing.
If your boss is supportive of your working arrangement, they need to make sure suitable provisions are available and sort that with IT.

if they aren’t, then they need to be up front with you on that.

Your childcare issues are not your jobs problem.

From the sound of it they don't want people wfh so why would they facilitate it.

You need to sit down with your boss and try to find a solution. Be that different working hours or sort the VPN issue.

YANBU if it is IT job to do that and they are not doing it then, well, they are not doing the job they are paid to do and I'd be looking for someone who is personally responsible for doing that, asking them to do it and then complaining if they haven't done the job they are paid to do.

If it connection to the VPN that’s the issue, could it be your Home Broadband that’s causing the issue ? M

I work in IT. I have a very long list of things to do. Fixing OP's VPN connection seems to a thing that only benefits her and has a workaround (come into the office). That means it's at the bottom of my list, behind fixing things that benefit multiple people, things that have no workaround, things that affect outside customers and things that bring money into the company.

OP needs to explain how her need to have a VPN connection outweighs other people's need for IT related things. Unless she happens to have an IT department where the necessary person is sitting around twiddling their thumbs, in which case, absolutely, they should sort her VPN connection.

IT will want someone in the business/OPs manager etc to list this as a priority to be done..
Then likely IT will do something, otherwise they will focus on the IT priorities that the business flag
Potentially a security sign off to make this particular application available in this manner

Thanks all. I’m pretty sure it’s not my home broadband (as other people do have the same issue when it’s down and they happen to be remote but it doesn’t affect their job as much) - I think they need to roll out a fix/update. It happened before when it got very intermittent, and this was how it got fixed. But it affected more people back then, as the other major software has now moved cloud based - so those people don’t care.

If the vpn connection actually works sometimes from home then problems are at your end. Either your broadband provider or the wifi/network link to your device is at fault. Nothing to do with IT - do you really expect a home visit to 'fix' your home network?

If it doesn't work at all then yes they may be able to help/provide advice as to firewall settings etc - but sometimes broadband providers do constrain what vpns are permitted.

If it doesn't work because it hasn't had an update, then it sounds like your company has made a decision not to maintain it. Probably because the software that needs it is only used by a few people who can just use it in the office.

I'd suggest getting clarification as to policy from a senior person and not expecting the IT person to explain why they are not fixing it.

If it works fine in the office, but doesn’t work fine at home, it’s possibly a connection issue rather than a software issue.

Try using a connection that isn’t your broadband, see what happens.

IT are not magicians - 'rolling out a fix' is dependant on software vendors, previous problems are not necessarily related to current problems.

If you can reliably reproduce the problem to the extent that IT can do the same and get the same results then you may be in with a chance of them finding a fix/contacting vendors for a fix - don't hold your breath.

However your comment that it works in the office but not at home points to your home network/computer being the issue - even more so if its the same laptop being used in the office and home.

I had a similar issue and it was my home WiFi, the VPN seems to be very sensitive to small drops in service that don't affect my personal IT. I'm not techy so i have no idea how it works but despite vest efforts from our IT team and a new laptop the thing that did it was upgrading our broadband and installing several boosters. Our VPN is definitely up to date so I knew it was me.

i need to use a software that is only accessible remotely with the connection

Is this software being used due to a disability or just part of your role. If its a disability adaption, it could be grounds for discrimination and I'd speak to your boss or HR.

Your childcare problems are not your employers issue and I wouldn't be mentioning that to them at all.

Have you tried using the system on a different connection/WIFI such as cafe/library/relatives house etc?

Maybe you just need to rethink your childcare, OP, because it's NOT sustainable for you to work from home. Your childcare issues are not your employers problem to solve.

I WFH and our vpn works until there is a slight "drop" drop the wifi (as someone has mentioned above) when it then stops - it's a security feature I think. If you can upgrade your home wifi that might help.
Otherwise, everyone has the right to ask for flexible working and your employer must deal with the request appropriately - in other words, they can't just say no because they prefer everyone back in the office.

www.gov.uk/flexible-working

Bottom line is you cannot do your job very well remotely as the VPN for whatever reason does not work from home and works well at the office. In addition you don't have a remote contract.

In your OP you say staff can WFH if work allows, in this case you can't do your work from home, but can from the office. So it seems clear that you can't do your job remotely, and I'm struggling to see how this is ICTs responsibility, especially as it could be a home connection issue.
Home working isn't a right, or an entitlement and your childcare arrangements aren't relevant to your workplace.

Really I don't know why you wouldn't have an open and frank discussion with your line manager about where you are working and your arrangements to get some clarity. I think you're making a lot of assumptions.

If you need help to work from home and/or you want this to be a more stable feature of your working life, then the next step would be to submit a forcibly working request as a PP has suggested.

IT will only really do what (senior) operational people within the business ask them to do.

I'm afraid childcare issues aren't works concern. I have a full WFH contract (rest of company are on normal office 60% minimum contracts). My 'home' office is 2 1/2 hours away. As a compromise I can meet I.T at another work location that's an hour away when they are already working in that location for other people. Sometimes those days fall on my working days (I'm PT) and I have to sort extra childcare arrangements out. It honestly works both ways with a bit of give or take. I can work anywhere I like in the country and moved away from my 'home office' however the consequence being I have to make an effort to get things fixed on the companies terms when things don't work.

Like most people in most jobs, I do the things my management tell me are my priority, whether I agree with them or not.

If I wanted to help OP, I would have to do it in my own time, and if I helped all the people that had similar lower priority issues, then I wouldn't have time to sleep.

I assume that you actually don't work, since you think that employees that can't fix everyone's problems are "terrible".

Do you have a WFH contract? IT will need to ensure you can WFH in that case. @NameChangedSpring25 company is under no obligation to fix her home IT issues as she doesn't have a hybrid contract. She could take her computer into the office and check if the VPN works there, if it doesn't then IT are obligated to fix it as it is company software. Her home network is her responsibility.

Without a hybrid contact OP, your boss might have told IT not to fix your VPN as you don't need to work from home.

Do you have an alternative VPN that your company allows and will that work with your software? The built in VPN on our work laptops drops out all the time but we can switch to another approved VPN that is much more stable (I'm not techy so don't know why).

the VPN is also intermittent when testing in the office. It’s really not my home WiFi that is the problem. But in the office the connection to the software does not require this vpn. I’m not techy so may not be explaining this properly.