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'?

I don't know why my message was deleted. An unhelpful IT department is a nightmare in my experience and a sign of a poorly run company.

I don't have a WFH contract, but firm policy is hybrid working and the IT department is very helpful in fixing any WFH issues to enable fee earners to do their jobs efficiently.

An IT department that can't help because they have too much work and/or not enough money may be the sign of a poorly run company, but that's not the individual IT employees' fault.

If your employer is ok for you to finish at 4pm but you'd need to log on for an hour in the evenings but can't/wont then you need to source alternative childcare that opens 730-630 or your husband needs to split his work so he can do more pick ups

Why is your office 2 hours away? Did you know this when you accepted the job and/or had a child

It is their problem if this is what they have agreed with OP

OP do you have a massive commute if you have to leave at 4 to pickup at 6?
If you want to stay in this job long term i'd agree fixed days in the office with your manager by email, then once this is in writing i'd seek support to approach IT to asisst.
I'd also be researching wfh vpn glitches on google (reading tech forums etc) in my own time so that i could try and present a specific issue to IT. Vague issues are much harder to get input on.

Tell your boss you can't work when it's down and IT aren't fixing it. They can raise the priority for you.

You could also speak to IT and ask if there's a way around this. It sounds like you are running software on your computer which needs to connect to something in the office via VPN. Is having a computer in the office with the software on that you can remote desktop to an option? That may work better for you if it's something that IT can set up (then if you get disconnected from the remote desktop, the software will keep running happily until you can connect again).

Since your husband does the drop offs at nursery, why don’t you go to the office v early on these days to make up time for leaving at 4pm?

But they absolutely can say that she can't work from home if a core part of her role relies on a technology that only works reliably in the office.

You need to stop using wifi and plug your computer into your router directly at home via ethernet.

Your hybrid situation is a courtesy. You say you can do your job from home, but this can't be the case if you're relying on a VPN which doesn't work properly when you're at home, which your employer seemingly has little interest in fixing.

It seems your choices are to go back into the office as requested, or seek to formalise your hybrid working situation, in which case they'd have to prioritise sorting your VPN out.

This is a problem with your childcare arrangements, not the company’s provision for WFH. Some work has to be done in a workplace, you are lucky to have any days WFH. Maybe a nursery closer to your office would work better.

I'm going to say against the grain I would expect IT to sort the issue out. I would have expected it to be basic if only for data security. I can't do anything on my work laptop without connecting to the vpn because single sign on needs the vpn to work.

I work in IT. Your support team need to go and work somewhere else if that's their attitude. If another Covid lock down happened tomorrow wtf are they going to do? The VPN is intermittent and they need to resolve it - lazy little shites.

Don't apply for a job in IT love.

My partner is in IT and wouldn’t fob people off with this work around.

Have you tried nicely pushing back to say it’s important you can access your work desktop reliably from home?

I’d suggest asking if it would be helpful for you to find some time for them to access your laptop either remotely or in office to take a look - whichever they prefer.

I’d leave out mentions of childcare, but if it’s business critical that you can access stuff outside of core hours, I would say that. if the problem continues, loop in your manager, assuming they are supportive.

Exactly! What’s the disaster recovery plan? Could be anything, bomb threat, building has caught fire, covid as you mention - £££ lost!

I really can't believe all the posters on here who think it's acceptable for IT to be so unhelpful. 😱

I would happily do this, but my work is quite reactive (but quite instant) and not much happens before 9am, it’s busiest between 4pm-5pm too…

Thinking about it….This actually might be the solution….thank you so much!

Commute is 20 min walk/tube to station (central London, then 45-50 min train, then 20 min walk to nursery) so i leave just after 4 to get the 4.30 train, and get to nursery at 5.40pm. There is a 20 min buffer for train delays which happen regularly.

Saying the vpn is intermittent in the office needs clarifying.

You are either connected to the internal network directly (no issues) or connected to 'another' network (home or wherever you're going to when vpn'ing in the office) and using a vpn to connect into the office network. (your issues)

So the problem is either whatever you are using to connect to the 'other' network or the connection/routing between the 'other' network and the office network.

If whatever you're using to connect is a mobile link (embedded or dongle) then tough - mobile signals are not reliable for vpn.

(If it's wifi then I suspect your vpn office connection is via a 'guest' network which is unlikely to have any reliable service level - ie problematic. In which case you need to sort your home wifi - it won't be the laptop wifi/software because that's OK when it's not vpn'ing)

If its the inter-network routing, then issues are often down to the network provider or specific router/firewall misconfiguration. Where vpn is not a priority for the business (which it clearly isn't) then its simply not worth the (serious) hassle of tracking down the issue. Intermittent faults across wide area networks are hard.

It's nothing to do with being 'lazy shites' just assigning IT priorities in line with business priorities and budgets.

Office is about 90 mins door to door. I’ve worked there for 10 years, so no I had no child when I accepted the offer.

Remote desktop would only be feasible across a vpn - otherwise it's a huge security hole.

Yes, we can only test the VPN in the office via a guest WiFi, the corporate WiFi or plugging in to the Ethernet cables doesn’t need VPN

Don't apply for a job in IT love

@MuckSavage if you work in IT you should know that testing on an Ethernet connection is one of the first things her IT team should have asked her to do.