Working from home advice

[Cudzoziemiec]

Report on teleworking harassment in Japan here:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200624/p2a/00m/0na/015000c

Haven't heard of similar here, is it just being kept quiet?

Don't know, but it sounds like the same old shit just done via Zoom etc, (as well as being a chance to push new insurance products), so it would be surprising if not.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I disagree with the not getting dressed thing. It's important to maintain a distinction between 'home' and 'work', and getting up and getting dressed properly are part of helping to enforce that distinction. I've been impressed with my son, who has just started his new teacher training course this week - it was supposed to be a residential course in Leeds but is now all online. He has been getting up and getting properly dressed every morning before starting work. He's even been wearing a shirt!

Do you mean getting dressed in clothes that you'd wear if going to work in your office/school/etc, or just not spending the day in pyjamas? I've got to admit I do sometimes check my initial emails while still in pyjamas, but then I often do this before breakfast, so I reckon that's kind of before the working day. I'm not sure whether what I then get dressed in counts as office wear. It certainly would have been acceptable in the last couple of office based jobs I had, but they had fairly slack dress codes (the only one I specifically remember was "no spandex").

[Regulator]

I disagree with the not getting dressed thing. It's important to maintain a distinction between 'home' and 'work', and getting up and getting dressed properly are part of helping to enforce that distinction. I've been impressed with my son, who has just started his new teacher training course this week - it was supposed to be a residential course in Leeds but is now all online. He has been getting up and getting properly dressed every morning before starting work. He's even been wearing a shirt!

Do you mean getting dressed in clothes that you'd wear if going to work in your office/school/etc, or just not spending the day in pyjamas? I've got to admit I do sometimes check my initial emails while still in pyjamas, but then I often do this before breakfast, so I reckon that's kind of before the working day. I'm not sure whether what I then get dressed in counts as office wear. It certainly would have been acceptable in the last couple of office based jobs I had, but they had fairly slack dress codes (the only one I specifically remember was "no spandex").

I am sat in my dressing gown.  I am logged on to my work computer (I'm typing this on it) and have already responded to a handful of emails and had a phone call with my manager.  I will get dressed before I take the dog out and start what will be a day of Zoom calls...

[Polar Bear]

There is an old fashioned british establishment mentality about being dressed in the appropriate "uniform" for work.  Somehow apparently we cannot do our jobs if we are not groomed and attired appropriately.

I find this all rather establishment and subversively controlling. If I was to sit naked at my computer it would not stop my brain functioning in it's normal way.

[L CC]

I get dressed into work clothes (mostly) and change out of them at the end of the day. It helps to separate work and not-work.

It's not 'them' doing this, it's me. Work clothes=work head=work time

[Jaded]

There is an old fashioned british establishment mentality about being dressed in the appropriate "uniform" for work.  Somehow apparently we cannot do our jobs if we are not groomed and attired appropriately.

I find this all rather establishment and subversively controlling. If I was to sit naked at my computer it would not stop my brain functioning in it's normal way.

TMI!

[Polar Bear]

Don't worry Jaded.  I only do social video calls.  Oh ...

[Jaded]

 

[Regulator]

I am now dressed.  A light pink polo shirt and shorts.

We have a smart casual work dress code.

[citoyen]

There is an old fashioned british establishment mentality about being dressed in the appropriate "uniform" for work.  Somehow apparently we cannot do our jobs if we are not groomed and attired appropriately.

I find this all rather establishment and subversively controlling. If I was to sit naked at my computer it would not stop my brain functioning in it's normal way.

I kind of agree with that if you're talking about the classic suit and tie. The only time I've ever worn a tie to work was the most junior job of my entire professional life, straight after uni, when I was doing an admin role as a temp before I could find a proper job.

But to answer Cudzo's question, I was thinking more about the daily routine aspect. For me, getting up, getting dressed and getting on a train to London helps to differentiate work life from home life. Now I don't have that any more, it's easy for the lines to become blurred, which is not good. I think it's important to maintain the distinction, so try to stick to the routine of getting up and getting dressed as if I were still commuting.

On the same lines, keeping a separate space in the house for work is important too. The family have to know that when I'm at my desk, I'm at work and shouldn't be disturbed.

YMMV, though. Might depend on the nature of your work to a large extent. And the separate space thing is obviously not an option for many people. I'm lucky in that respect.

[ian]

Shorts and a shirt there, which is what I'd wear at the office, I've never had a job that required a tie and starch (that said, my stint in Virginia was very anti-shorts, I'm not sure why men's knees are that fearsome to the southern constitution, there seems to be a general thing about shorts in the workplace).

My main effort is, of course, putting on clothes. I do have a routine than involves starting at about 9.15am and generally calling an end to proceedings before 7pm, which matches what I'd do if I went into the office. I work a couple of hours beyond my seven because I faff around doing this, but I'd do this in the office too. And stuff needs to get done, galactic subjugation etc.

I am lucky enough to have a big office with a sofa and stuff, plus a balcony (admittedly with a view of the garage and the Famous Levitating Tent).

[TheLurker]

If you haven't got a separate space in which to work then "work" clothes may be helpful to put you in the right frame of mind, it may also provide a useful signal to others that you are "at work" and not available for long rambling discussions about this, that or the state of Mrs. Miggens' washing line.  Seems like a non-issue to me.  If you need to glam-up for work, do so.  You're not harming anyone else. 

I'm sure there's a Dilbert cartoon on this, but ICBA to look for it.  Finger puppet, webcam & Dilbert unshaven wearing a dressing gown.

[citoyen]

Shorts and a shirt there, which is what I'd wear at the office, I've never had a job that required a tie and starch (that said, my stint in Virginia was very anti-shorts, I'm not sure why men's knees are that fearsome to the southern constitution, there seems to be a general thing about shorts in the workplace).

My dad worked in the Caribbean for a bit. Bermuda shorts were normal office attire there. Looks so odd with a shirt and tie.*


*ETA: actually, it probably largely depends on the individual - it's hard to argue that in the right hands and on the right person, it's an incredibly good look:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/296322850452884037/

[ian]

Americans seem big on 'business casual' which for men seems to consist entirely of tan pants, blue shirts, and loafers. Women, as ever, tend to go at with a bit more variety, but not much. I'm sartorially moribund, but honestly, by American standards, I'm practically flamboyant.

[citoyen]

If I started dressing smartly now, people would think I'm having a midlife crisis.

[ian]

I don't own a tie.

[tonyh]

Requiring what people are to wear: Setting good standards? Or just a way of exerting Control?

[ian]

I can see in some jobs it's required, you probably wouldn't be so confident if your plane pilot turned up in bermuda shorts and flipflops. For back-office type jobs, making people dress is up is just a control kick.

Ties would be fine if they were worn stylishy, but mostly they're worn like nooses.

In the heady field of big data analysis, no one much cares, fortunately. Our CFO doesn't wear socks ever. But he's German.

[L CC]

At our gaff it's because many of the office staff started on the shop floor, and if your employer has always provided your work clothes that's a loss of a benefit with promotion. All of us wearing the same uniform is deemed to be team building.

I'm happy for someone else to pay for my polo shirts. I could have 2 pairs of cargo shorts and two pairs of cargo trousers on the company, were I the kind of woman who wanted them.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'd say that whereas dress code is simply a more detailed version of "look smart", a uniform is on a different scale.

[Regulator]

The hospital that Mr R works at has decided that all front line clinical staff should be in uniform, so for consultants that means scrubs.  He's had some natty navy blue scrubs delivered.

[Polar Bear]

It's an interesting range of views that people have.

Imagine if you can that you cannot see the person with whom you are communicating for a particular professional function.  It might simply be a phone call rather than a video or face to face meeting.

How do you assess their professional competencies then?

[L CC]

What other people wear is of very little interest to me. What comes out of their mouth/ keyboard is much more important.

It makes me like Barack Obama. Choosing clothes is one less daily decision when you're at work. It's why I preferred uniform for school children, too.

[The Family Cyclist]

When I worked at a big company (think at least 100 branches nationwide) everyone and I mean from the head of the company (who came to visit us and see how wonderful his flagship branch was shortly before leaving the company and his flagship proto branch being reduced to a normal branch and I was made redundant) down wore the same polo shirt and cargo trousers. I've also worked in a fairly dirty by nature of business parts department where we had to wear white shirt and tie on the MDs whim. Got in trouble when I ordered all my staff five shirts as were meant to have two but if you weren't covered in grease or dirt by the end of the day you probably had been wearing a jumper.

[rafletcher]

I get dressed into work clothes (mostly) and change out of them at the end of the day. It helps to separate work and not-work.

It's not 'them' doing this, it's me. Work clothes=work head=work time

I do exactly the same, usually. But as my “office” is a west facing 1970’s flat roofed extension, also containing the airing cupboard, the last 3 days it’s been shorts, and that’s it!