I heard a new phrase... Employee Vendor = benefit, and policy changes for work from home status...

[LovesTimone]

I met a friend for lunch last week, I thought it was very interesting what she shared with me....and this term " Employee Vendor"

She has been working from home since the pandemic, before she worked in the office for like 15 years... During the pandemic no changes were made to their benefits and salary and such...

Now that her office has opened back up and people are able to work in the office. The employees where given the choice to work in the office or work from home... She made the decision to work from home going forward, this was in the middle of last year...

Once everyone had made their decisions

Then the owner of the company moved from a very fancy large office space to a smaller comfortable office space to accommodate the office people... Which is a bottom line business decision... less rent, less electric, less insurance -

So at this meeting... once the basic meeting was over they separated by work status - "Office Employee or Core Employee" and the " Work from Home or Employee Vendors"

She said that when the separated the two groups she said she got a sick feeling... So in the meeting they went through the whole thing with the pandemic, the move to a smaller office space, and how the trend with working from home, and some of the numbers, the owner, HR director, looked for guidance and went to several seminar on this, and how its best handle this new way to do things... and all this leads up to a new employee category " Employee Vendor" and the benefits to match the new category...

She said that basically they took all the sick time away not unless your hospitalized for 3 or more days, so she lost 8 sick days - Reasoning your already at home, and the pandemic proved that people can work from home while they are sick. Staying home is safer which equals healthier

They get 2 weeks of vacation a year - a 1 day extra for each year after 10 years of employment - which for her is an extra week of vacation, so she gained 5 extra vacation days...

Pay and bonus scale changed for Employee Vendors - She said she not sure if this will be better for her or not... now it will be based on projects, goals, and on time completions of projects... not salaried as before...

That work lap tops are to be used for work only... nothing else... that they went in a clean out everything they did not pertain to work, they said it was shocking to see what was on some of them... so now they have locked it down...

Monthly work meeting in person are mandatory...

Code of conduct... a whole section on clothing, room setting, and professional behavior... as well as children and pets, spouse's or partners - while they are wonderful, should not be in the room while you are conducting a meeting...

Workmens comp will not be paid to Employee's who work from home, as the company can not control or do safety inspections in your home environment... only if you are hurt while in or at a meeting...

Plus new guidelines for dismissal, and corrective actions for Employee Vendors...

She said its a whole new world... and things are a changing.

 

[WhatDinosaur]

I’d be upset about the loss of sick time. You can definitely be too sick to work but not sick enough to be hospitalized. Hopefully that’ll change the first time an employee runs meetings from a bathroom floor while vomiting every few minutes.

 

[sam_gordon]

I’d be upset about the loss of sick time. You can definitely be too sick to work but not sick enough to be hospitalized. Hopefully that’ll change the first time an employee runs meetings from a bathroom floor while vomiting every few minutes.

They took away our sick time long before the pandemic. It's all one "PTO" (paid time off) bucket. Use it or lose it.

 

[kdonnel]

That work lap tops are to be used for work only... nothing else... that they went in a clean out everything they did not pertain to work, they said it was shocking to see what was on some of them... so now they have locked it down...

This seems like common sense. I don't understand why people use work provided devices for anything other than work.

 

[bakerworld]

I've retired but when my place of work was establishing a back to office plan there was significant push back from departments that worked successfully from home.

 

[bakerworld]

This seems like common sense. I don't understand why people use work provided devices for anything other than work.

My daughter maintains a separate cell phone from her work phone. They are not linked in any way.

 

[easyas123]

I met a friend for lunch last week, I thought it was very interesting what she shared with me....and this term " Employee Vendor"

I've got to say, none of what your friend discussed with you seems unreasonable to me at all.

 

[SueInBoston]

I think the employees should've been notified of the changes for their decision making, not after the fact. That seems sneaky.

 

[DopeyDame]

It sucks that they didn't outline all of this before making employees make a decision, but...
She lost 8 sick days and gained 5 vacation days. Which could actually be a great thing, since she wouldn't be able to use sick days unless she were actually sick, while the vacation days are now a benefit that has to be paid out. (As a PP said, one large Paid Time Off bucket, rather than sick vs. vacation, isn't that unusual. I used to have PTO and now I'm back to sick/vacation, and I much preferred the PTO method)
I also would definitely roll my eyes at the children/spouses/pets comment (said as my dog is sitting comfortably at my feet)

 

[_19disnA]

None of what the OP described seems unreasonable to me. Prior to covid, I think some people liked the idea of working from home since they could get away with doing other things that weren't work related. Some types of work lends itself to being done remotely, while other jobs do not. If you chose to work from home, seems reasonable the company sets certain guidelines associated with that. At the company where I work, salary employees get paid even when out ill, so there was never any number of 'sick days' to use each year. If you are paid hourly, then having 'sick days' makes more sense to me.

 

[BrianL]

It sucks that they didn't outline all of this before making employees make a decision, but...
She lost 8 sick days and gained 5 vacation days. Which could actually be a great thing, since she wouldn't be able to use sick days unless she were actually sick, while the vacation days are now a benefit that has to be paid out. (As a PP said, one large Paid Time Off bucket, rather than sick vs. vacation, isn't that unusual. I used to have PTO and now I'm back to sick/vacation, and I much preferred the PTO method)
I also would definitely roll my eyes at the children/spouses/pets comment (said as my dog is sitting comfortably at my feet)

I agree. It's not the changes that are necessarily problematic, it's that they didn't give everyone all of the information before they made their decision. That was a poor way to manage this.

 

[Nabas]

Some news agencies are reporting that employers are having difficulty getting people to come back into the office, and that some intend to turn up the heat (such as the example you mention) to get them to come back in.

It was less than 2 years ago that many of the same companies were reporting that “work from home” was the new business model.

According to one article, managers don’t like the lose of control, which is why they are trying to force people back into the office.

 

[GAN]

Seems strange they didn't outline all this before they detailed the changes. Personally, it doesn't sound so bad -not equal, but not bad either. I think most people, depending on actual job, would say that work-from-home is a huge benefit itself. The idea of working from any remote location is appealing ...especially if it's a lanai in Maui or somewhere -LOL

 

[dvcgirl67]

I'm not sure why they're designated differently from "office employees", and the sick pay day reductions is not acceptable.

Other than that, all of those new "rules" are really common sense. My husband is a software architect...and has been working at home since 2005 for a company on the other side of the country. He's does work up on our third floor, and so conducts and participates in meetings essentially all day long. We have three dogs, and we gate them on the first floor...in the back of the house (kitchen/dining room/den areas), so if they bark the noise doesn't travel up the stair cases to the office. I don't walk up there to speak to my husband in person when he's working...I text him. If he has more speaking to do than usual for a meeting...if he's presenting something for example....he lets me know the time so I can avoid coming back to the house during his meeting....because the dogs would bark and it could be faintly heard in the background. It's so ingrained in our routines that we don't even think about it.

On the personal equipment vs. work equipment....again, common sense. He does have a work laptop upstairs along with the computer/monitors....and it's never used for anything but work.

If companies push too hard on the other items, like sick days...opportunities for advancement.....employees will push back and/or....leave for another job.

 

[Princesca]

So basically they are treating the WFH employees as independent contractors in all ways but the tax form. It honestly would not surprise me if that's coming. People have been saying for a long time that the 'gig economy' was the future of work; basically everyone operating as an independent contractor. A lot would have to change to support that, though, like we would need some kind of universal health care system instead of employer-based.

 

[LovesTimone]

Op here...

She told me that the lease on the larger builder had come up for renewal in the middle of last year... so at the time which by now has almost been a year, it was good business to see how many were wanting to work in the office verse's continuing to work from home... so at that time I think it was just a matter of the actual office...

So the way that she told me I don't think it was anything underhanded, she said that she figured that something like this was coming...
they have had alot of growing pains, and every business needs some rules, policies, and way to gauge it...

She said that the company that she work's for is a drug free work place, and effective immediately random drug testing for everyone went into place... that for the people that work from home, representative from HR and nurse would come to do in your own home... and if you refuse or fail the test, it is immediate termination... the HR person will take the company property and wish you good luck.. She said that this had the most push back from a few people...

All in all she said that she thought that it was fair, and now thankfully there policies to guide everyone...

 

[LovesTimone]

So basically they are treating the WFH employees as independent contractors in all ways but the tax form. It honestly would not surprise me if that's coming. People have been saying for a long time that the 'gig economy' was the future of work; basically everyone operating as an independent contractor. A lot would have to change to support that, though, like we would need some kind of universal health care system instead of employer-based.

Op here

That's the way I see it..

This way seems better as she still get Health, Dental, Vision insurance through the company which would cost alot more if she was totally a independent contractor.. As well as vacation time, along with they provide the lap or desk top, printer and part of the cost of high speed internet...

 

[Princesca]

Op here

That's the way I see it..

This way seems better as she still get Health, Dental, Vision insurance through the company which would cost alot more if she was totally a independent contractor.. As well as vacation time, along with they provide the lap or desk top, printer and part of the cost of high speed internet...

My thing is, I would not be surprised if your friend basically gets told they are going to be terminated with the option of rehire as an independent contractor (at some point in future). It kind of feels like a lot of the things you wrote about are cutting some strings to make that a bit easier down the road.

 

[fla4fun]

My thing is, I would not be surprised if your friend basically gets told they are going to be terminated with the option of rehire as an independent contractor (at some point in future). It kind of feels like a lot of the things you wrote about are cutting some strings to make that a bit easier down the road.

I didn’t want to click Like, because although I agree with your post, it doesn’t make me happy. I see the same thing and it doesn’t feel good as someone looking for work right now

 

[lifesavacation]

Can she switch back to going to the office? Maybe not since the employer downsized spaced.

Honestly, I side with the employer on this one. They've done nothing wrong. Why pay for empty office space when you don't need it? The change in sick/vacation time seems reasonable, as does the laptop usage.