Lots of people picked up side gigs with the WFH. It is happening all over the place. Put your 2-4 hours in, pretend to be online the rest of the time, then put 2-4 hours in on the other gig. I worked Service and Support one time. A co-worker told our manager he quit. Manager didn't believe him, never asked for the computer or badge back. So, he logged in every day for 6 months, signed into a problem ticket, and worked his other job. Evaluations came up, he made the call to his manager, manager gave him his "meets expectations" rating, and signed on it. He asked the manager if he remembers that he quit. Manager still didn't acknowledge it. He handed in his laptop and badge to HR because the manager was an id--t.
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That’s Cisco’s current policy, but the longer-term industry trend is clear. They are not going to pay Bay-area wages to remote workers. Even if they don’t cut your salary immediately, do you seriously expect to ever get another raise?
I can see Bay-area companies not paying Bay-area wages to remote workers who live outside the Bay-area. But there's no way they're going to keep employees who used to work in their Bay-area offices if they allow them to work from home, i.e. remote, and not pay them the same wages as before.
Even Cisco re-adjusts SJC employees' salaries if they relocate from SJC to RTP. As far as I know, the "remote" worker's wages are based on the state/local community they live in, not the office that they support, i.e. SJC or RTP.
Those on here who think their pay will be cut by WFH are not up-to-date.
That’s Cisco’s current policy, but the longer-term industry trend is clear. They are not going to pay Bay-area wages to remote workers. Even if they don’t cut your salary immediately, do you seriously expect to ever get another raise?
For me, very important. I cannot do two full time jobs (one at Cisco) without it. It will be about 75% pay cut from my contract job.
WFH is extremely important to me! I will never want to commute and sit in a cubical again. Fran said on Wednesday's Work Hybrid Work Update Session that employees WFH will not be paid less, unlike other tech companies that are threatening to do so. Those on here who think their pay will be cut by WFH are not up-to-date.
I'll lump my comments to various replies into one post.
For the person who said "adios to high tax places", my management is unwilling to let me relocate to a different state so I can be close to my elderly father. There's no need for me to be "in the office" since my whole team is remote except for me.
For the person who thinks WFH is just 8 hrs of pretending to be busy, do you not have deliverables and deadlines? What do you do? Do I use an app to keep my system "active"? He-l yes, because I can't deactivate the screen saver timer and who needs to move their mouse or type during an hour-long meeting? But I'm not pretending to be active or "busy".
For the person who "supposedly works 2 full time jobs simultaneously", how do you do that? I"m going to go out on a limb and say that you're giving each company less than 4 hrs a day of work and that you're basically just making sure that each job's meetings don't overlap instead of actually "working" both jobs.
There's still office politics going on, but it's just Webex messages behind your back instead of water cooler chats. And workers still get grumpy, or have a Webex message misinterpreted because there's no tone/body language and now you have a grump back-and-forth message flame war until someone figures out it wasn't meant the way it was taken.
To the person who would quit, my hat is off to you. I've worked full-time remotely for another company and quickly tired of it. Everyone wanted to schedule back-to-back-to-back meetings and meetings at lunchtime "because you can just heat something up and eat at home since you don't have to leave to get food". I'm sorry, I enjoy my lunch hour to actually have a mid-day break. And if I'm having a working lunch, then why are you scheduling "stand-up" meetings first thing every morning and then end-of-day status meetings? When do I get to take off that hour I gave you at lunch?
Granted, Cisco is much better about this, but at least the other company had a catalog and provided an office desk, a real office quality ergonomic chair, a large monitor, a printer and paper/toner/ink and replaced the furnishing/equipment on a regular basis. The $300 WFH stipend from Cisco is a joke. Choose between a good monitor or about 25% of the cost of a quality ergonomic office chair.
I do wish that I could relocate to a cheaper place to live as my area's housing costs are skyrocketing, but rather than allowing me to move to where I can afford housing at my current salary, they want to use the move to a different state to lower my wages and won't give me a raise to stay where I am.
Cisco can't afford to pay Bay Area salaries. WFH allows the company to attract candidates from lower cost of living areas. Unless you are a Director or higher forget about home ownership in the Bay Area...
I would quit if I could not work from home. It is to Cisco's credit that they have always allowed and trusted home/remote working. For sure, they get benefits from the arrangement too, but so do employees.
I've come to the office every day during covid just to support people who want to work from home. Haven't complained once. Yet all these wfh people have not once shown appreciation to people like me who allow them to work remotely
I have a feeling with Google's precedent, this WFH (aka Hybrid work) could be used by tech companies as an excuse to cut salaries. Blame it on COVID, even though many tech workers were doing hybrid work already.
I've been primarily working from home for the past decade and will not go back to a daily commute just to sit in a cubicle. There are occasions when going to an office has its advantages but those days are the exception, not the norm.
Pay should be higher if office work is mandatory.
Err, it’s the opposite. Pay will be lower for those that don’t come to the office.
Thanks to WFH, I work 2 full time jobs simultaneously. And to top it off, I don't have to deal with office politics, grumpy co-workers, smelly food, traffic jams, etc.
Work from home is just 8 hours of pretending to be busy and moving your mouse every few minutes to show you are active.
WFH means adios high tax places
It is the new normal across most of the industry. Pay should be higher if office work is mandatory.
Would you be willing to quit if not allowed to do it anymore full time?