To go abroad when working from home?

[StreakOfTheWeek]

If I went to Italy or France or Spain or wherever... and logged in and did my work - would this be wrong?
I work 8-2 Mon - Thurs normally
Never have to go into office, except for 4 meetings a year.

And I would work as usual, and thought I could then spend the afternoons exploring and taking it all in.

There's nothing wrong with my idea, is there??

Please don't do this without discussing it with your manager first. We have a policy that allows this in certain circumstances and if the employee follows certin guidelines abd procedures.

I had member of staff try to do this a while ago without telling anyone . Suffice to say it caused a lot of issues when it became clear at the very last minute what they were planning on doing. We has a number of data governance access and security issues and tax implications to sort out in a very short time. I was not best pleased, because if the request had been brought up earlier we would have been able to plan for it. As it was we almost missed a deadline because the employee was unable to work on certain parts of a project while abroad due to the terms of our licence for use of the data. Something my staff member was apparently not aware of 🙄

We worked it out but becasue I am a nice boss but the person doing this was warned that if they did it again we would implement disciplinary procedures for not complying with our policies on this . They also forfeited some pay as they had placed themselves in a situation where they were not able to work on what was needed for a couple of days so were forced to take unpaid leave

A less understanding boss would have started disciplinary procedures and HR said I could definitely do that but I was focussed on delivering the promised work and did not want to go nuclear right away. So the staff member kept their job but lost some pay and is on an official warning . This was only because I discovered what thyr planned to do just before they left. If they had been abroad when I discovered it, disciplinary procedures for gross misconduct would have been implemented.

I've done this as have others in my company, but just check with your manager.
If you can I'd highly recommend it!

It depends on your workplace policy, our laptops are blocked if we take them abroad without approval.

I live in France and recently did this. Trip back to UK to spend time with a family member who was recovering from an operation.

I requested written agreement from my manager and HR.

HR had to prepare me and extra insurance document, but otherwise no other issues and they were very accommodating to let me do it.

I wouldn’t go ahead and do it without written agreement, as if you have any kind of accident within working hours, they are responsible for you during those hours.

Thanks! Probably a list of countries I wouldn’t really want to be a digital nomad in, should it ever arise 🤣.

This is really bad advice.

Post-Brexit, if you do not have an EU passport, you enter the EU under the conditions of the Schengen visa waiver, which means that you are typically not allowed to do any kind of work. That actually varies by country (because they have sovrintee™ for work matters when it comes to non-EU citizens), but in general while you are allowed to go for a business meeting, you are not allowed to perform remunerated work.

This is all on top of the data transmission issues and any other policies that your employer might have.

Of course, the chances of you being detected as "working" are pretty low. But if you turn up on your own at Rome or Barcelona and the immigration officer decides to ask why you are there, do not say "I fancied a change of scene for my WFH". And if the hotel WiFi is not very good, maybe be discreet about asking if they can move you to another room nearer to the router "so I can make my work video calls". Things might also get interesting if you got ill and needed to use your GHIC for hospital treatment.

If you did get caught, you could expect a 4-figure fine and ban of a couple of years from the Schengen area, plus several more years of grief when you subsequently apply for an ETIAS (coming soon).

She’s asking if she should do it but dosnt state if it’s allowed or not, so no, not a simple yes or no. I said ask your company!

I've done it in Spain and Amsterdam, but my employer allows working from another country for up to 30 business days per year. You need to check your policy and/or ask permission - you won't find the answer on Mumsnet.

No she isn’t.

She said her work hours are 8-2.

Post 2 is her own time in the UK or overseas. What she does in that time is her own affair.

ask first. ESP if local government.

person in our work didn’t. They couldn’t log in and asked IT for help. They identified they were outside the uk. He had the choice to resign or to be fired.

Someone at my company got sacked for this. Best to check your own company’s policies to be sure it’s allowed.

No one can answer this except your employer. If they are efficient, they will already have a policy on this. If they don’t, I would seek permission from your manager.

VPN could mask the IP location - which is why our employer doesn't allow us to use any other VPN than their one.

We login via a security app, 2 factor authentication, Citrix tunnel to my virtual laptop. They absolutely DO know I am logging in from a radius of X metres around my home.
They don't mind coffee shops, anywhere in the country - but even Wales and Scotland is not acceptable.

My company allow this. They have a work from anywhere policy for 3 weeks per year. Most people tag it on and have a long holiday.

I wouldnt just do it though. I would ask them.
There could be issues with data and IT etc.

And imagine if they did need you to come into the office for an emergency meeting. Would be awkward explaining that.

I would definitely ask them

I am allowed to do this, I just need to let IT know that I'm abroad for logging in purposes, and there are no tax implications, according to HR.

If agreed yes, I did it when my dad died and I had to go and sort out funeral etc. Work laptop and brothers wi-fi. This was Europe but in the pandemic, one person in my workplace had the same and she worked from Australia for some time. So I guess it totally depends on the company you work for. Our IT were very on it and very hot on security.

Interesting. We don’t have any of that. I’ve logged into my email from my phone when out and about and no one has either noticed or cares.

I guess it’s specific to the kind of work you do.

As PP suggest, you need to check with employer. You also need to check rules for whatever country you’re in, as ‘technically’ you might require a work visa.

Doesn’t matter what the internet thinks
About security, what your employers say is the important thing or your in breach of contract at best and could loose your job or at worst loose your job and put the company at risk.
what is their working abroad policy? Usually a set number of days a year, the company often has to have a branch operating in that jurisdiction, not be on a list of countries your firm won’t trade with.
Just enquire through the proper channels then you know

Love to do those hours WFH in the UK tbh sounds like a dream!

But as others have said best to check with company policy. DH have colleagues that do 2 weeks alternating in a different European country but this is prior arranged. They are OK with it on a security/connection basis but I'm not sure the tax situation.

What I definitely would not do is sneak off and do it anyway, with the hope that your employers don't notice and assume you're at home.
You almost certainly run into issues.

It depends on your company policy and the nature of their work.

I absolutely couldn't do this, due to GDPR and security. If I could I'd be living somewhere hot and sunny all year round.

You need to ask.

There are two sides to this, it’s all very well a UK employer saying there are no tax implications for them but the tax authorities in e.g. France, if that’s where someone decides to WFH from, might very well expect a tax return to be filed with a view to assessing liability for income tax and social charges.

edit to add: yes you can pay income tax in two countries, even if employed by a UK based company….

If the OP is serious about this and wants to stay squeaky clean professional advice might be a good idea.

It's very much the company - they are just super cautious. DH does a similar job and can work from anywhere for a few weeks every year.
One day when the kids are older I am going to move to his company!