Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 200 posts

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#111

Post by carmen_sandiego »

dx034 wrote: post #109
carmen_sandiego wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK is basically 'at will' for the first two years. I've never worried about getting fired in that period. Just pick who you work for carefully and make yourself valuable.

The standard probation period is six months in the UK. I haven't encountered two years yet, is that even legal? And it's called probation period for a reason, it's a time for both sides to figure out if the arrangement works out and be able to quit with no or little notice otherwise. After that, 3 months notice periods are completely normal so it's good to not get locked into that from day one.

I'm not talking about contractual probation periods. There's a universal two year threshold after which you get extra protections, and before which you can be fired for any reason that's not specifically discriminatory on race, gender, etc + some other very narrow cases. Pretty similar to what 'at will' means in the US. We just have a short statutory notice period.

https://www.stephens-scown.co.uk/employment/employment-right...

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#112

Post by laurent92 »

kzzzznot wrote: post #31

I expect employers should offer an additional allowance for extra space to work in at home or (post lockdown) coffee shop/coworking space fees.

As an employer (given our revenue didn’t deflate), I’d be happy to do that, but the administrative hurdles is what annoys me.

Laws of France says I can offer an allowance, but only if I gather every single receipt and do a pro-rata of, for example, the additional electric consumption caused by WFH. The administrative overhead of admitting a dozen invoices per employee of $7 each is probably around $7 each (their time, my time, the accountant time, and the opportunity cost that we spend 10%, 15%, 25% time dealing administrative matters rather than interesting software work - making our work boring is a huge cost). If I give it as a bonus (and pay taxes like on a salary), god knows whether I’ll be required to keep paying the bonus when they come back to the office.

I’d rather the govt say “Allowance is $10 per day”, but it is considered unfair between those who have to purchase their own desk and chair, and those who had the Aeron chair provided by the employer. We’ve succeeded to negotiate our social framework so much that moving in any direction has an important cost.

Having lived in Australia, it’s incredible how administrative overhead impacts morale in a huge way. In France you are always late for some paperwork, never free of mind.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#113

Post by dx034 »

aardvark179 wrote: post #98
ainiriand wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about lte connections? I live 40km from Berlin and I get 5G. 4G would be quite decent too.

The highlands are difficult. They have lots of hills, lots of bedrock very close to the surface, and low population density. It’s hard getting any mobile coverage in some areas let alone 3, 4, or 5G. It’s even tougher on the islands as cables can get damaged and microwave links perform poorly during winter storms.

I'm really curious if Starlink et al. will change the region over coming decades. Its attractiveness is undeniable. I'd be surprised if remote places (esp islands) receive more interest if fast internet is available everywhere.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#114

Post by bryanrasmussen »

xvector wrote: post #90
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #2

at some hazily defined point work anywhere, anytime becomes work everywhere, all the time.

as mentioned earlier, setting boundaries is up to you

My wife's sister once said my problem was that I couldn't say no.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#115

Post by raesene9 »

dx034 wrote: post #57
Jonnax wrote: post #30

This will be great for those smaller towns which have been suffering a drain to the cities for decades.

Only mid-sized towns, really. At least currently, very rural areas often lack the infrastructure to allow several people in the household to use video streaming (calls for the parents, youtube etc for kids) simultaneously. Starlink could change that, let's see. But unless you get at least 50mbit/s to every household, remote work won't really be possible for many. And sadly, many countries are far from having 50mbit/s…

So Anecdata for me. I live in the rural west highlands in a village of 200 people.

I have 900/100 FTTP and 4G connectivity is available anywhere in the village on EE. With lack of contention you can get 100Mbps down stream over 4G

I did have to pay for the FTTP install (FTTPoD) but when compared to the reduction in property prices it was easily offset.

Even without extra money for FTTPoD, the village has FTTC and a couple of cabinets so most get decent coverage, and the houses next to the exchange have straight FTTP.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#116

Post by dx034 »

cletus wrote: post #8
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #2

at some hazily defined point work anywhere, anytime becomes work everywhere, all the time.

This reminds me of companies who have “unlimited” vacation days. If I can’t take the next 40 years off at full pay it’s not “unlimited”. A more accurate description is probably “vacation days determined by whether your manager likes you”.

I also don't like it and I believe it's not necessarily legal in all countries. Many European countries have a minimum amount of vacation days and companies need to make sure employees also take those (not all do but theres no enforcement unless someone complains). "Unlimited" without a floor might lead to more vacation days for some but likely to fewer days for most.

And if they were truly unlimited, why would anyone work part-time? You could just work full time and take 2 days off per week (plus vacations) at full salary. But I doubt many companies would accept that.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#117

Post by raesene9 »

aardvark179 wrote: post #98
ainiriand wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about lte connections? I live 40km from Berlin and I get 5G. 4G would be quite decent too.

The highlands are difficult. They have lots of hills, lots of bedrock very close to the surface, and low population density. It’s hard getting any mobile coverage in some areas let alone 3, 4, or 5G. It’s even tougher on the islands as cables can get damaged and microwave links perform poorly during winter storms.

4G in the highlands has massively improved in the last 5 years thanks to the ESN project.

The area I live in (west highlands just past the Rest and be thankful) has good 4G coverage anywhere in the village and even on the road up to the A83 now.

Whilst the ESN project has been a bit of a disaster overall it's really helped rural connectivity.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#118

Post by dx034 »

curiousgal wrote: post #71

Interns and junior employees will suffer because of this.

Absolutely. You learn so much more during the first years than just technical content. It's all about behavior at work, socializing, office politics etc. Sadly, anyone deciding if people should work remotely has already done that and is most likely in a position where they have a family and enough space at home for a nice office. Few people in upper management work out of a studio apartment in their first job.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#119

Post by dx034 »

cosmodisk wrote: post #33
sn_master wrote: post #4

How would that work in terms of taxes? The UK doesn't have taxes based on location like the US?

I doubt it's anywhere as in 'you can work from the beach in Thailand'. Going abroad means complying with the local tax regime and if spent enough time outside the UK, no taxes need to be paid there.

It's usually the 180 day rule. So unless you move abroad that shouldn't be an issue. But moving abroad has more issues here. Nationwide is a bank and customer data leaving the UK could cause regulatory headaches for them. So I'd be surprised if they let people work from anywhere in the world.

Re: Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

#120

Post by aseerdbnarng »

I have two comments on this:

a) I feel sympathy for the young, single-types who benefit most from working in a busy environment. The WFH change is wonderful for the older types a bit fed up with long-commutes and open plan offices. I hope the hybrid approach allows us to treat the office like an old-school marketday where once or twice a week, everyone is there and the goal is to be as social as possible. The softer skills of work arent easily passed on via a Zoom call

b) The world has had to quickly adapt to WFH, and I suspect much of the dislike some people have experienced with WFH is due to things that arent fit for this purpose. Many of my colleagues live in small London flats with both parents trying to hold simultaneous zoom-calls and with schools being shutdown, having to manage their children while also doing their jobs. As WFH (hopefully) sticks, these problems iron themselves out

Post reply on HN