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HopHead

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Veteran telecommuters do things differently than the post-pandemic crowd. I have had the ability to dial in since the days of a dial-up modem, even pre-DSL. I have remoted in from a dozen states, several European countries as well as from planes, trains and automobiles. Across our company, perhaps 10%, maybe 15%, did so prior to Covid and the majority of those were IT folks, with I-bankers and a few of my colleagues in the mix. These veterans work differently than the newbies. 

 

Our company is now monitoring online activity and they have been for a year. Watching logged in time, keystroke count, apps used, etc. I have heard of several people who have been let go for "gaming" the system and faking their online activity. 

 

Also, a big push to get entire workforce on firm-issued mobile phones as it is becoming a problem with people using personal devices for business use, unmonitored. If you say that $1bn+ settlement yesterday with the big banks, that is the problem, the banks did not have a clear affirmative defense that they have acted to prevent such unmonitored communications. 

“No nation in history has survived once its borders were destroyed, once its citizenship was rendered no different from mere residence, and once its neighbors with impunity undermined its sovereignty.”

- Victor Davis Hanson 

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10 mins ago, flyangler said:

 

Also, a big push to get entire workforce on firm-issued mobile phones as it is becoming a problem with people using personal devices for business use, unmonitored. 

I anticipate this soon.  They tried yo get me to load what I can only describe as a "sperate drive" on my phone where all corporate resouces would reside.  Its particians the phone.  Ok, cool.  Then I noticed the disclaimer that they could brick my entire phone remotely.   Go pound sand.  Give me a corporate phone or remove all access from the device.  Im already doing you a favor using my phone for emails, webex calls and multi factor authentication.

#otterlivesmatter

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19 mins ago, flyangler said:

Veteran telecommuters do things differently than the post-pandemic crowd. I have had the ability to dial in since the days of a dial-up modem, even pre-DSL. I have remoted in from a dozen states, several European countries as well as from planes, trains and automobiles. Across our company, perhaps 10%, maybe 15%, did so prior to Covid and the majority of those were IT folks, with I-bankers and a few of my colleagues in the mix. These veterans work differently than the newbies. 

 

Our company is now monitoring online activity and they have been for a year. Watching logged in time, keystroke count, apps used, etc. I have heard of several people who have been let go for "gaming" the system and faking their online activity. 

 

Also, a big push to get entire workforce on firm-issued mobile phones as it is becoming a problem with people using personal devices for business use, unmonitored. If you say that $1bn+ settlement yesterday with the big banks, that is the problem, the banks did not have a clear affirmative defense that they have acted to prevent such unmonitored communications. 

My last company had us all on company only cell phones back when iPhone 5 was a thing. 

 

People that do any kind of "field" work have been "telecommuters" for decades.  I remember dictating reports while sitting on the beach.

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7 mins ago, Kings over Queens said:

I anticipate this soon.  They tried yo get me to load what I can only describe as a "sperate drive" on my phone where all corporate resouces would reside.  Its particians the phone.  Ok, cool.  Then I noticed the disclaimer that they could brick my entire phone remotely.   Go pound sand.  Give me a corporate phone or remove all access from the device.  Im already doing you a favor using my phone for emails, webex calls and multi factor authentication.

We passed through that "brick" process several years ago before they introduced firm-provided phones. I know a guy involved in that process and they miscalculated the blowback when it was just an app being installed on your personal phone. They couldn't understand the "lack of uptake" for longer than it should have taken. They eventually removed the bricking capability but few people trusted them, especially those of us who knew how to log in from any device. Why use an app if I can just use Citrix to log in to a seperate session on device? 

 

So before Covid they introduced firm-provided phones, but not to everyone, only particular individual in specific business units. i got one, an iPhone 6S when the current phone was the 8. easy peasy with two phones and no crossover. the corporate phone had a limited feature set with many iOS features disabled. No video, no iMessage, no Recording, no iOS email, no Siri, etc. Nothing where conversations could be recorded. MobileIron was the overlay that kept control over everything and created a VPN connection whenever you accessed the system. Separate email app and controlled browser as well. It works brilliantly, but you would not want it as your only phone. 

 

The dam opened when the firm was hit with an earlier multi-million dollar penalty for lack of supervision and my friend said the cost of issuing phones, particularly two generation old models, was cheaper than the penalties. The widened the pool of users and when Covid hit and WFH became a thing, they gave every employee a stippend to buy phone or tablet or laptop or desktop. Officially, the firm was buying the hardware and it remained the firm's property should you leave the company. in reality, i have not heard of a single person who has left that was told they had to return hardware before getting their final paycheck. it was a write-off by the company, but money well spent in the grand scheme of things. 

 

My WFH setup was more elaborate than most given what we do. new mac mini, three 27" monitors, keyboard, etc.

 

I had to argue with the bean counters about 3 vs 1 or 2 monitors and even had to escalate to regional management. The RM told the IT bean counter that whatever was on my office desk would be on my home desk and that ended the discussion. Needed to do similar to make sure my team had same treatment. Seems the low bandwidth types approving such expenditures have slow computers and single monitors and could not figure out why the revenue producers needed more than them. 

 

As for you doing them a "favor", I see it as a 2-way street with mutual benefit. 

 

Sorry, this ran long...

“No nation in history has survived once its borders were destroyed, once its citizenship was rendered no different from mere residence, and once its neighbors with impunity undermined its sovereignty.”

- Victor Davis Hanson 

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