I did consulting for a few companies when it first gained popularity and they were true to it. Forcing people to take time off, but many quickly picked up on the financial incentive and now it's a negative rather than a positive.
Principal Financial-Remote work
- Thread starter pfgemployee
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My job has always been remote or go to the customer site. Only reason I go to our offices is when we want to wine and dine a customer and they wanted an excuse to travel.
My company went to “unlimited” PTO this year, got paid out my vacation days I had accumulated. The only issue is I work in a part of the company that has quotas based on hours billed accounting for national holidays, PTO, sick days etc. Now how do you do that calculation when last year I got 5 weeks PTO and this year is some random number? No one thought of this lol
Personally I told my boss I’m just gonna take off whenever I want like I have the last 8 years. If the customer is happy and I’m hitting the quota then they’ve never cared.
My company went to “unlimited” PTO this year, got paid out my vacation days I had accumulated. The only issue is I work in a part of the company that has quotas based on hours billed accounting for national holidays, PTO, sick days etc. Now how do you do that calculation when last year I got 5 weeks PTO and this year is some random number? No one thought of this lol
Personally I told my boss I’m just gonna take off whenever I want like I have the last 8 years. If the customer is happy and I’m hitting the quota then they’ve never cared.
You're right, all those restrictions were dumb and ineffective.
It's too bad one side always tries to get things caved.
Or my favorite: every once in a while we do company-wide video calls (usually a CEO update) and leave it open for questions at the end.
Without fail there’s always people asking something totally inappropriate for an all-company call. Usually some TMI personal question, a complaint about their pay/benefits, something with political undertones, or a not-so-thinly veiled jab at management. Sometimes a combination. It always amazes me.
Agree. I'm skeptical regarding unlimited PTO. I'm sure it can work well in some circumstances, but in general, I dunno ...
At my previous job, at beginning of '22, it changed from specific days off/holiday to "free-floating," it applied to a longtime colleague/supervisor and me. When we learned of the change, she warned, "That means if we get laid off, they don't have to pay for unused time." Sure as ****, both of us got downsized. Fortunately I had used as much as possible throughout the year so it was at least close to what I had earned/accumulated in previous years.
Even disregarding that aspect, it sounds good on paper, but it has to be realistic. If you're in a group/division and everyone has flex time-off, someone has to cover for the others ... (at least that was the case with my situation) - unless each person's workload/workflow is completely independent of the whole unit. So it can be a burden to everyone and make people hesitant to take vacation, if you have any semblance of empathy AND value the general quality of your group's production.
Seems like the concept doesn't benefit employees who give a s*** about their work ... on the upside, it probably isn't extended frequently to people who are likely to abuse it.
my wife and I both work for companies with unlimited PTO. it Works fine at both companies. she does a good job of getting her share of days off. I’m not as good at it.
the really nice part is not worrying if you need to take time for various appointments or unplanned days off. i don’t recall many people abusing the system, or not getting the time they need.
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Those TikTokkers may be telling an open secret of office work culture. No one, whether they are in the office or works remotely, ever puts in 100% effort, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Those that do, or are forced to, quickly burn out and seek other opportunities. Or in other cases (poor job market, company loyalty, etc), they suffer through their jobs and suddenly we have a global mental health crisis on our hands.
I think there is absolutely something to be said about the status of commercial real estate. The actual proponents of “return to work” are the city leaders themselves who are staring down the barrel of economic catastrophe within their own city centers. I’m not surprised Principal is pushing for this, given their massive presence downtown.
I agree except for those that are self employed. They generally are doing what they like and know that extra effort does generally mean more pay.
I am one of many people who is/will be directly effected by this ‘mandate’. I do not agree with it, and am seeking additional clarification from my direct manager on its applicability.
With that being said, i’m confused by its narrow focus, and it being so broad covering.
For myself specifically, i can do all the aspects of my job from home. I avg 1 meeting every other week for a half hr, with someone in another state. Therefore, its still over teams whether im at home or in the office.
Lastly, WFH was offered by my dept, before covid, as an incentive to/for more ‘seasoned’ employees.
With that being said, i’m confused by its narrow focus, and it being so broad covering.
For myself specifically, i can do all the aspects of my job from home. I avg 1 meeting every other week for a half hr, with someone in another state. Therefore, its still over teams whether im at home or in the office.
Lastly, WFH was offered by my dept, before covid, as an incentive to/for more ‘seasoned’ employees.
I dont work for Principal but I do workmfor a large company. During COVID I came across several people I was certain were manipulating their WFH situation and finding ways to have "IT issues" as a reason to not work. Those who were motivated to work usually answered their phone right away and were willing to do anything to get working again while others would not return phone calls and fight me every way they could when I provided options to fix their issues the fastest way and insist on options that would keep them not working for multiple days while still getting paid. Some of them would conveniently not be at home or answer the door when their new device arrived that required a signature to accept so I would start forwarding the tracking on the shipment to their manager and tell them they were not home to sign for the delivery to show we were trying to get their employee back online ASAP.
I still run into this some now with most people working some kind of hybrid "it's not my day/week to be in office" is a common excuse. Well if you come in 50% of the time making a trip in to fix your issues should not be hard to do. Had someone this past month that lived 2 miles from the office refuse to come in to fix something that would get them working in the same day instead of waiting 2-3 days for a new laptop to ship because "I work 100% remote." These are the type of employees that ruin it for those who are capable of being productive at home.
I have no issues with people that want to work from home that are productive doing it. My issue is in the line of work I do I have seen way too many people that have manipulated that privilege and still get paid to not be productive. Funny thing is whenever you call in IT issues it creates a call and ticket history so it's not like you can use the same story multiple times. I always look up history before I call someone and if I see you have a pattern of calls I'm going to be pointed with my questions and a bit skeptical where if someone has little to no history then they probably aren't someone trying to manipulate the system.
I still run into this some now with most people working some kind of hybrid "it's not my day/week to be in office" is a common excuse. Well if you come in 50% of the time making a trip in to fix your issues should not be hard to do. Had someone this past month that lived 2 miles from the office refuse to come in to fix something that would get them working in the same day instead of waiting 2-3 days for a new laptop to ship because "I work 100% remote." These are the type of employees that ruin it for those who are capable of being productive at home.
I have no issues with people that want to work from home that are productive doing it. My issue is in the line of work I do I have seen way too many people that have manipulated that privilege and still get paid to not be productive. Funny thing is whenever you call in IT issues it creates a call and ticket history so it's not like you can use the same story multiple times. I always look up history before I call someone and if I see you have a pattern of calls I'm going to be pointed with my questions and a bit skeptical where if someone has little to no history then they probably aren't someone trying to manipulate the system.
Aren't unproductive folks then fired for not being productive? Shouldn't the numbers show it?
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
In my line of work, yes. PFG has programs that make it very easy to see/tell who is unproductive and ineffective at their job.
Sure but the other poster made it sound like those folks were still around.
Right, but as with most employers, you cant just get rid of someone, immediately. You have to have warnings, documentation, and corrective actions.