If your on VPN alot at&t will assume you work from home.
35 replies (most recent on top)
What a crock that comment is about telecommuters being a weak link! They are in fact the strong link. They work more hours than people in the office, are more focused and more efficient. Sounds like you are a jealous person who was not allowed to telecommute, congrats, you win, now the company is making the worst decision they can make by eliminating telecommuting! Fools!
@3qrc our team was 100% VO and we DID not work that way, so please don't classify everyone as a "weak link". This company is failing because of poor decisions made by upper management. Put down the kool aid.
I'm going to say it. The work from home people that I have worked with keep stepping away from meetings to meet repair people at their homes. They also run out for errands outside of normal lunch hours, and then they expect everyone else to stay late and collaborate when it's convenient for them. Because they don't have to leave on time to beat traffic. Regardless of the knowledge base they bring, they are the weakest link on the team. Especially as more of the people within a team are onsite together.
The company will fail if we don't change the way we work. I hate driving into the office more than telecommuters do, but I hate watching our company fail even more than I hate the drive.
If that is what they are basing layoffs on, they are infinitely more foolish then even I thought. What about approved full-time telecommuters? What a crock of sh*t! If this all comes to past based on these reasons, I’d be embarrassed to stay working for this company if they don’t let me go.
What a shame that our performance now depends on how long you sit in a chair in an office. After 7 years of telecommuting nothing has changed in my job duties except being placed under a microscope and made to conform to an unnecessary, unproductive environment.
This company is a data-driven, analytics skilled, targeted advertising powerhouse. I'm sure they already know who needs to work after hours and VPN in for late night troubleshooting. Unless the VPs just have their recent college graduate chief of staff put the spreadsheet together. Those kids dont believe technical jobs require 24x7 availability.
what about night work? or in the field? or during travel?
Does that still count as VPN logged hours?
give me a f---ing break
@tng - this is like the only place where you can do everything right and they still do not want you ... so why bother. i have also seen many smart well qualified people leave not on their own terms for several years now.
@tng Excellent post.
@sfh I believe it was installed on all ATO PCs, if not most. Notice how long it takes to start up & power down your laptop, the reports are being run. Also there is something called Endpoint or Forcepoint, another time tracker. Big brother always watching.
The worst they can do is fire me. If my VPN time and badge swipes are more important than the results I generate from working, then I'm in the wrong place. Firing me will make me better off in the long run. Yes it would stink losing a paycheck and finding another job isn't fun but good people will always be in demand.
Over the last 3 years I have seen some of the most intelligent, hard working, and moral people discarded like yesterday's trash. My time and your time will come. The only question is will it be voluntary or involuntary. I've accepted it and planned for it either way. But I will not live in fear or be intimidated. My faith is placed higher than man and I will do nothing to dishonor my family who loves me. I challenge you that if your priorities aren't right; make them.
Fear and intimidation is what management wants however they should realize it's creating a toxic, resentful environment not conducive to productivity.
All T shareholders need to come together and fire and replace top management. They are doing a lousy job managing shareholders company.
My occupancy indicator is TW, so my vpn records should show me logged on most days. I’m not saying I’m not on this list. just logs match my status, which has not been revoked yet.
Wow monitoring VPN usage, badge access swipes, idle PC time, key strokes, URL sites, etc. Who wants to work for a company like that? Oh wait, all of corporate America does the same with their employees not just AT&T. T just uses this along with collaboration zone/hub location as reasons for massive layoffs.
FYI...if you have been WFH consistently (VPN) and not using your badge to access a company building since 2017 you have already been placed on the “list” by HR.
it might be the healthier option to leave then ... they don't care how good your work is at this point , so why should you care either
@ozh - like I said, I have no energy to worry about it. Just mentioned that because I’m not ‘hiding’. I plan on going back in a few days a week but that’s it. If I don’t get hit this round, I will begin my outside job search.
it's not up to your boss
I don’t have enough energy to care at this point. I do my work, work late/early/overnight when needed. Not fighting 90 mins each way in traffic to the office. My boss is aware and doesn’t mind. Whatever.
The telecommuting is just a b---s--- excuse to cover the executive’s asses! Most people are approved for some sort of telecommuting whether it be part or full-time. Using that as a general excuse on why this company s---s is pathetic!
I don't understand what's the big deal if they are
Also, this goes without saying...cover up the camera on your laptop with a bandaid or post it note...
To get the discount on uverse, in the fine print, you had to consent to being monitored. I said no thanks and happily pay full price for Comcast. Also- I shut my COU device off and have been leaving it at home. I know they can still track it, I will just say it broke and I stopped carrying it back and forth.
And I have been using a mouse jiggler for years...
iDeskOp is a different topic and is now branded FiDO. It has been installed on all TechDev machines. It tracks idle time, mouse movement, keystrokes and URLs visited and time. You can terminate its process but it will phone home if its not running. Go into the program files and you can find and change that script to stop it but you may get questioned when your missing from reports.
I would be intrested to see how many people find iDeskOp on their company issued PC.
Not completely accurate, many of us use VPN when in the office so that we can ssh to the servers. They will use badge swipe data to confirm you were in the office during that time.
The full scale monitoring comes from the iDeskOp executable that T may have installed on your machine. Look it up on the insider page for details.
EASY Solution run for VPN monotoring
Here is some AutoHotKey code:
#SingleInstance force
SetTimer MoveMyMouse, 60000 ; 1000 ms = 1 sec.
Return
MoveMyMouse:
MouseMove, 1, 0, 1, R ;Move the mouse one pixel to the right
MouseMove, -1, 0, 1, R ;Move the mouse back one pixel
Return
^!#Pause::ExitApp
Load the code in AutoHotKey and test it, once your'e happy compile to your own MouseMove.exe
What is does: During startup it starts a timer that executes the little sub-routine labeled MoveMyMouse every 60 seconds. This little sub-routine will move your mouse one pixel back and forth.
I also added an escape by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Win+Pause.
YOUR ARE MOST WELCOME !!
@wol, looking at what is watched on your TV isn't practical (for these purposes anyway) , as you could be home with your kids and they are watching TV while you work.
Also they don't need to do that as your VPN use, badge swipes, and COU use are plenty to tell where you are and what you're doing.
If you want to go full “big brother”:
Most employees take advantage of the employee discounts on uverse and internet. That being said for the people working from home, the company also collects data on what you are watching and when. Are you enjoying that new movie while you are working from home? The company knows.
you are not supposed to get work done here at this company, it is all about being kept off "a list"
If you are supposed to work 40 hours a week and you are working extra hours without approved overtime, that is a code of conduct violation and the company has to pay you...And then fire you.
@ote - I think you know how that works. You know they are going to screw it up because one team will manage the badge list and another will have vpn list.
Do they compare against badges? I go into the office every day and VPN in the evening. I'm going to be p-ss-d if my extra effort bites me in the a-- because they are too ignorant of how work is getting done..