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It was never about security or productivity of the team per se. It was always to do with HR's concerns about the policy being used as workaround for taking unp

It was never about security or productivity of the team per se. It was always to do with HR's concerns about the policy being used as workaround for taking unpaid leave - not saying it is right, just how it is. When you are travelling personally - you are already on leave HR don't care whether work happens or not ( your manager might). If it was official travel then in HR's mind you are not using the policy for as a paid leave so they don't care.

ineedasername 6y ago
As a work around for taking unpaid leave-- I see no reason to deny someone pay because they ran out of sick time if they're able to be productive from home.
ravenstine 6y ago
As if it should even matter! (I'm not saying you're wrong, just that the viewpoint you describe is ridiculous and archaic.) If a business can't measure its productivity absent the employees in the office, then it's not a real business. Now a business owner might think "Hey, I paid for those hours, so if they aren't working every minute of every work hour, I'm losing money!" That might make sense in a "production heavy" environment, like factory labor, construction, fire fighting, etc., but there is a growing number of businesses that can operate asynchronously, and existing businesses should still consider shifting towards asynchronicity because, as much as it might seem more expensive on the surface, said businesses can already operate at lower base overhead, and even if an employee takes hours off their day to travel, run errands, etc., you're still usually paying them a base salary to get X work done by Y deadline. Being worried about an employee "not working" for part of the day because they work remotely is nonsensical for office type jobs where employees tend to work solitarily.
- manquer 6y ago
  Like you say it shouldn’t be hard in many industries . However measuring outcomes is hard , developing good outcome metrics is such diversified workforces as knowledge economy is not easy and goodhart law make is not easy to solve

ineedasername 6y ago

As a work around for taking unpaid leave-- I see no reason to deny someone pay because they ran out of sick time if they're able to be productive from home.

ravenstine 6y ago

As if it should even matter! (I'm not saying you're wrong, just that the viewpoint you describe is ridiculous and archaic.) If a business can't measure its productivity absent the employees in the office, then it's not a real business. Now a business owner might think "Hey, I paid for those hours, so if they aren't working every minute of every work hour, I'm losing money!" That might make sense in a "production heavy" environment, like factory labor, construction, fire fighting, etc., but there is a growing number of businesses that can operate asynchronously, and existing businesses should still consider shifting towards asynchronicity because, as much as it might seem more expensive on the surface, said businesses can already operate at lower base overhead, and even if an employee takes hours off their day to travel, run errands, etc., you're still usually paying them a base salary to get X work done by Y deadline. Being worried about an employee "not working" for part of the day because they work remotely is nonsensical for office type jobs where employees tend to work solitarily.

manquer 6y ago
Like you say it shouldn’t be hard in many industries . However measuring outcomes is hard , developing good outcome metrics is such diversified workforces as knowledge economy is not easy and goodhart law make is not easy to solve