Working from home ??

Hi

employer has just asked me if I'd like to work from home 1 or 2 days a week.
He will pay for broadband , I'm in IT, but he will be cutting my salary. No figures discussed yet as it was v. informal chat, decision meeting next Fri.

What I'm wondering is a salary cut the norm ? If so what % of gross would we be talking about ?
Anything else I need to take into consideration ?

Thanks in advance

I'd be very wary about a salary cut to be honest?

What justification did he give you for cutting your salary?
Are you going to be doing less work by working from home?

He'll hardly be paying for your broadband if he's taking a chunk out of your wages!!!

Nope

I'm worried about the pay cut too & hence asking.

What happened was that I asked for a pay rise.
He said that he might be able to give me the national wage agreement but would have to see as company is only breaking even.

Then he asked about my working from home. Pay cut would be beacuse he would be paying for broadband, I would have less travel costs, I live 30 miles away, and greater flexibility but the same amount of work.

What do you think?

Re: Nope

I think he's not only pulling the wool over your eyes I think he's laughing at you too.

If he's cutting your wages then that is paying for the broadband!! If he's cutting your wages by more than the price of broadband per month then he's really taking the p*ss.

Personally, I would either decline or start looking for a new job where you are taken more seriously. Or both!

No harm in discussing it further...but I really don't think that's on at all.

Take the national wage agreement increase.
IT is beginning to pick up in Dublin. What sector do you work in?

He is taking the p***

Hi

There is no justification for you to take the pay cut.
(a) The company will be making savings by not having you in the office, i.e. your desk can be used by someone else, heating, lighting, insurance etc. are all savings to the company
(b) You will have costs to consider. You need to set up a proper work envvironment, i.e. a room or location where you can work uninterrupted. You also need to comply to certain health and safety standards. Just becuase you are working from home does not mean the company can forget about these.
(c) He suggested to you about working from home. So it must have been something that he has been thinking about for a while
(d) How about your feelings about working from home? How will you cope with lack of social interaction with others in the office? What about supervision and reporting structures etc.

Look long and hard at this offer. It sounds to me like they have not thought this one out. Also broadband connection is only €30 a month which is $360 a year. Is that what he is proposing as the pay cut?

Re: He is taking the p***

You ask for a pay rise he offers a pay cut

You must admire your bosses balls for that one

What does he do if you book your holidays, ask you to work weekends as you have five days to do nothing during the week

Be careful that by the end of this you do not end up working from home for the same salary and exstatic that you did not get a pay cut

Your boos could write a book on win/win negotiating

Thanks for all the replies

Hi all
you are all right that he is being a sh*t and the only one to loose out will be me.
Thanks for all your replies, I knew that his suggestion wasn't right but I needed to hear/read it from other people.
Thanks again.

Working from home

I have been working from home for a year now and I didn't have to take a pay cut. They pay for my broadband and a daily light and heat allowance.

Your boss is a chancer and appears to have little respect for you or your intelligence.

If you work from home he benfits because:
-

OOps

Oops, hit the 'submit' button too early by accident on my last mail.

Anyway, he benefits because:

- You become more productive (proven in studies)
- You will complete tasks faster (also proven)
- You have a better attitude towards your work
- You save him money on light and heat
- The more people that work from home in your company, the better his prospects of being able to move to smaller and cheaper offices
- He retains you as an employee rather than losing you because you don't get paid enough - working from home WILL actually save you money in terms of travel expenses/fuel and lunches.

If you lie down he will walk on you, so don't accept that cut-in-salary con!

Not a fan of working from home

The structure of your company and what you want for the future should be taken into account when working from home.

I find that in a lot of companies the person who advances up the ladder is not always the person who puts the head down and gets on with their job (who is the ideal candidate for home working). Annoying as it is, playing the 'politics' game is probably just as important as productivity.
It's very easy to become isolated from the rest of the company and considered as being 'not quite a full time employee' - the pay cut being offered been a perfect symptom.
Ideally a combination of home/office is probably best. I find Mon-Tue in the office and Wed-Fri at home works well.
That being said I spent 6 months working from home on a permanent basis and hated it. Missed the social interaction.
I had to laugh at the fact that part of the pay cut justification was that you don't have to travel to work - were they paying you for this privilage in the first place...i doubt it.

.

Alpha hated working from home. I love it! I couldn't stand working in an office environment, and all the travelling etc, involved.

With regards to the original post, the boss is obviously trying to cut their overheads. There's nothing underhand in what they are doing. Maybe the business will become more profitable. (That's a good thing, BTW). The boss was up front with the suggestion.

It's simple case of wage negotiation, and deciding if working from home suits the individual.

.

> the boss is obviously trying to cut their overheads. There's nothing underhand in what they are doing.

Do we know that for sure?

Working from Home

A friend of mine was asked to work from home, the office she worked in was needed for extra storage. She agreed as it saved her travel and parking expenses. Her boss gave her an allowance for electricty, broadband and heating.

The outcome

Well work were not willing to give me subsidy for anything.
So I declined offer and instead got 1.5 % pay increase, first part of the national pay agreement. The rest is not guaranteed but its better than what I got for the last 2 years - nowt.
I don't know what the reasoning behind the whole working from home & taking a pay cut was all about but its sorted for now.