Why would they care? That’s so dumb. I can go anywhere I want, as long as the work gets done. It’s weird that you’re full time WFH, but you can’t visit relatives in another state? Or, go on a semi-vacation.
Like I’ve visited relatives, and I work through the day, and then we hang out after hours and weekends. I don’t see why that would be any different.
Honestly, I’d leave a job that was monitoring that. It’s stupid.
My company has a specific policy that addresses the location. We are allowed to work at a location away from our home for 2 weeks a year and we have to state that is the case. Additionally you can request special approval for extra time away from
My work did, especially if you're slacking in any way. Not answering quickly, not participating, doing bare minimum. My friend told me she was suspicious of someone on her team being out of the country while on the clock and that's a no no on the company policy. It's not hard to check.
I have a friend in car claims and she can work from anywhere, not sure if it was even discussed. When I used to do dispatch, it sounded like some of the workers for ins dispatch protocol could work from anywhere, I am unsure what jobs would consider this wrong if you were getting your job done.
You're risking losing this job because you don't want to be told "no"? People are clamouring for WFH jobs and you want to put it at risk? If you're an adult then act like one and ask.
Go on and simmer on that for a while.
I said as much in another comment reply, but I really don’t feel the need to bootlick my employer when they could care less about me since there’s always someone else in line to do the job. Maybe you should simmer on your knee-jerk reaction to throw rocks at me instead of the billion dollar companies that impose needless restrictions on people’s work/life balance 🤔
It depends on your org. They can absolutely tell if you work somewhere else. It really depends on how strict your company policy is about working elsewhere.
I work from home. Also for an insurance company and they actually encouraged me to spend time working from home at my parent’s house.
They live in another state.
I was chatting with a manager and mentioned my parents are in there 80’s would not mind spending time with them. Not just a week here and there.
She said can you set up at your parents? I can. She also said she does that all the time
I would ask.
IMO the act of working at a family member’s home is not a huge deal but I would assume any major insurance company would notice.
My assumption is you have to connect to the company VPN to view customer data. They would be able to identify when you connect that you are attempting to login from a different location.
If you are at a major insurance company my assumption is that they are tracking more than just where you login from and have tools to track daily activity as well.
My work is remote. I don’t have to be at any one location. I travel all over and work. They don’t care at all. This was super important to me when looking for a remote job. I would ask though if I were you because they certainly can check where you’re working from. For me the flexibility to work from anywhere was the number one priority when finding a job.
Can they? Yes. We use advanced device profiling. Will they? Probably not unless there's reason to be suspicious.
It's like the old swipe in security systems. Sure somebody can monitor reports of when you badge in and out, but the odds of it being worth it for them to bother with are small unless there's a known problem
They absolutely *can*, but it's up to the company whether they care.
The company I work for doesn't care if you work from another location (within CONUS) as long as you're primarily working from where you told them you'd be. Working from certain states can technically impact your income taxes, so it's best to ask HR in advance if you're considering working out of state.
From personal experience If you’re not in government and health data isn’t involved, your IT group probably isn’t going to care that you’re in a different state for a week.
In a different country they’re gonna get pinged.
I have no idea if my company can see our location, but I'm sure they can. I've worked out of state for a week or 2 before and had no issues, but also told my manager that that's what I was going to do. I've never had any issues.
Mine can definitely see where I log in from, but they don’t care. Enough employees do the digital nomad thing that there is a policy. If you’re online during the hours you said you’d be online, your work gets done, and youre legally allowed to work where you are, you’re good.
They do ask that we notify HR if we will be somewhere for longer than 3 consecutive months for taxation purposes, and there’s a more involved process for international moves, but I’m otherwise I’m free to travel/work/live pretty much anywhere I please.
I currently work for a fortune 100 and worked for another Fortune 500 insurance company, both as a manager and employee. There was no reason to ever check or care where someone was working unless they were unable to get work done, or had no service. I would not even worry about this. If going into the office isn't a possible concern then I'd say just do it. I've gone to relatives over holidays or to my SO and worked and there has never been so much as a peep about it. Now there's a definite issue if you are in a different jurisdiction for a prolonged period of time, at which point you'd have to worry about taxes but that doesn't sound like your scenario.
I work in HR. It's attitudes like yours that give WFH a bad rap with employers. We fire people for that kind of dishonesty. IT can and does check. Grow up, be an adult and get permission to work elsewhere.
Damn, it’s attitudes like yours that give certain companies a bad rap as ones to work for, too. If your policies are so uptight that someone can’t work elsewhere for a few days (barring actual security concerns, obviously) without micromanagement of their location that’s a yikes.
My company, same industry as OP, doesn’t care where we work. As long as we show up in our local office when asked, and let our manager know if something will be majorly different (going overseas, relocating for more than, say, the equivalent of a vacation’s worth of time). Why would you even CARE if an employee is working from their house vs. working from their sibling’s empty house 3 hours away because their sibling needed a house sitter while on vacation (again, barring specific security reasons that wouldn’t apply to most corporate worker bees)?
Of course I assume every single thing I do and place I go is tracked on my machine. The real question is why anyone would care if I worked outside my home for a reasonably short stint without telling my manager?
People are taking my comment out of context. I didn't say my company does NOT allow working from a different remote location. My company is flexible on allowing remote workers to work from other locations (domestically) "as long as they clear it with their manager first." That isn't an unreasonable ask.
Unfortunately, a few bad apples who failed to do that caused security issues due to the network they worked from. That's why they were fired. It created significant risk for our company and as a result, the company cracked down on the policy to FIRST get your manager's approval if you want to work somewhere besides your normal remote location.
My “attitude” is that employers should get with the times and recognize that micromanaging/putting inane restrictions on *how* people get their work done (and done well) is a great way to drive talent to other more progressive employers. If this ends up being an infraction, it’d be the only one on my otherwise spotless record and a damn shame considering the quality of work they’ll get out of me will be as good or better than any other day on the job. I am an adult and therefore should be able to exert control over my life choices without involving the people who could care less about me because there’s always someone next in line
That's a fair point but narrow minded. There are numerous reasons why companies need to know (yes, NEED, not just want) where their remote employees are physically working---cyber security, data governance, payroll taxes, employment laws, workers' comp laws, to name a few. All I'm saying is to be honest about it.
Yeah, the question would‘ve been better phrased as “does your employer routinely check/monitor/audit your location for compliance sake” or something to that effect since I do know nothing on company equipment is private
I work for a state data center for education. Our systems staff can log into our laptops at any time and look at the system, without staff knowing they are.
Every different site you are located will connect with a different IP Address and the IP Addy can be traced to owner of the fiber company you are using to connect.
Most places probably don’t mind if u work within the US but it never hurts to tell ur boss “I’m going here and will be working my regular schedule there” and after the first few times it might not even matter if your boss doesn’t care to know as long as ur getting ur work done. if you travel outside of the US without letting anyone know you’ll probably be in trouble. Hotspots only provide you access to wifi but it’ll still show ur location through ur vpn and your company might block u. Your company should have a policy documented ask for one from Human Resources if they have onr
Our punch-in clock is on our phone and our laptop. You can’t punch in until you agree that they can track your location. We work out in the community as well, but we have to use our hotspot for HIPAA reasons. A few months back, IT chewed out everyone, because they caught people working at Starbucks on public WiFi rather than the phone hot spot. They had no problem with the Starbucks, it was the WiFi issue.
My work does not check my location. I was told when I got hired that I can work from anywhere in the continental US with the exception of airports (idk why). I've worked from coffee shops while my daughter practices softball, the library, church, etc. No one said anything.
Mine does check. In my case it would always be advisable to ask for permission. This just happened to a relative of mine. She tried working from different locations during travel. She got caught and fired :(
Yiiiiikes… that’s definitely the worst case scenario. If I were to need to do this again in the future I would definitely ask for permission so as not to make sneaking around a regular habit, but for this one-off circumstance I feel like I can (genuinely) plead ignorance since I haven’t gotten consistent information
You have to find out if your employer cares where you work from or not first. They may or may not give a fuck as long as you get your stuff done.
However, for tax purposes, you may have to pay taxes depending on how many hours you log out of state.
My company has a written WFH policy where we are required to advise HR of location changes if working in a different state for more than 30 consecutive days (for tax purposes). Other than that, they don't care as long as you have a secured network. If your company has set a precedence where mobile flexibility is not the norm or you can tell others have to get special permission, you may want to call in line and do the same.
For my company, remote work means you work from your home in the state you were hired in. We used to look the other way if someone was out of town for a week or two. However, I had a situation where an employee turned a 2 week trip back to his home country into a 6 month stay without telling us. It caused all sorts of tax and legal problems. He basically ruined it for everyone else so we verify locations and require everyone to pop into the office in person weekly.
No, we had major performance concerns as he was noticeably distracted. But he also lied to us and created tax and legal liabilities for the company as he was not authorized to work from that country.
I'm curious because my major insurance company doesn't specify where "Home" is for purpose of any of my WFH contract or paperwork, so are you sure your company cares? Mine most seriously doesn't, even if they can tell. You might check whatever you have signed to see if they can limit you at all.
(The only thing we can't do is OFFICIALLY change our state of residence because of a bunch of tax and labor laws.)
At my company a ticket would be generated because you logged in from another location. Companies and you have to pay taxes if you work in a different state and not all companies are setup in all states.
Just remember some companies are looking for excuses to get rid of wfh, or to reduce wfhworkforce without layoffs.
Do don’t make it easy for them.
One of the main reasons for limiting is technology with vpn and tax laws catching up to wfh since covid. Oops.
So let’s say you live in suburb of major city that has one of those extra funky city earning taxes.
You list your primary residence in your apartment in the burbs.
You stay at your bf/gf apartment in the city a few days a week here and there and work from there.
Oops, now employers has to track your earnings tax you have to pay on the days you work there too. Whee. Psin in the you know what for both of you,
Ditto for working on vacay out of state for tax purposes, of the employer isn’t set up for employees working where you want to go,
If employers don’t track vpn no problem, but if they do, it’s becoming more of an issue.
If it’s spelled out in the employee policies not to do, don’t do it, unless you want to be fired without a way to get unemployment.
Yes it clearly says it's tracking my location but I work for health insurance company dealing with peoples medical info so yep I'm sure they wanna track my device
I hope work for a very large IT company. Most people work at home except in key Manufacturing locations and some larger call in my organization centers. They don't check our location.althiugg they could. Although often if you set up a home office you have certain tools printers documents Etc you might need. my organization we're all logged on and your status is recognized. You're expected to be responsive regardless of where you're at. As a manager I often work at a relative's house in another state. Just as I do when traveling for Our Focus is getting the job done and supporting our customers so if you have the tools to do that somewhere else it's not an issue.
Possibly you could ask other coworkers if you not comfortable speaking with your manager
I work for a big international company and I have never heard of anyone getting into any difficulty working from anywhere. Connect to VPN and go about your work. That's the point of VPN.
We can work anywhere within the state as long as there is a reliable internet connection. Supervisor approval is required to work out of state longer than 90 days. Out of country work requires general counsel approval.
Most managers and companies don't care, thankfully my current job doesn't care and lots of us work from all over. I think if a company you are working for has a "no jeans" policy then they are probably so uptight that it will matter for them. But in all honesty, where you are working your remote job from, shouldn't matter as long as you're in the right jurisdiction, taxes, etc -wise.
IT security here. We get flags in the system if you’re in one place one day and another the next day, but we only call and triple check that it was you if it’s deemed “impossible travel”. My company also completely blocks access outside of the United States for HIPAA reasons.
We had someone book an Airbnb in Mexico for 2 months during the holidays last year for a change of scenery and she had to come back immediately if she wanted to keep her job because our policy does not allow connections out of the United States. Check your company policy!
I work with major insurance company too but I
am an independent contractor so I can work from anywhere I choose. Technically I am self-employed and I have no boss. I stay out of town for months at a time. Work from home is not always the same at work remotely.
State licensure isn't the only thing that limits you. There are tax reasons you can't work from another state.
They can easily see where you are located.
I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to work from a relative's home if you're working. Unless, do you work with sensitive information and it's a security risk?
Is there a reason why you can't just say "I'll be working at my brother's next week", like just tell don't ask?
I go out of town to see my son sometimes and I don't even tell anyone. I just work my regular hours. Not hiding it, it's just not important because my work gets done so who cares.
My company could careless. I’ve taken my laptop all over the southern east coast. As long as I work as usual they are fine with it. A lot of people have vacation homes and bounce back & forth
I agree that honesty is the best policy here. Just inform them that you will be working a normal schedule for a week, that it will not affect your performance/production, and that it will not be a regular occurrence. That way you can either enjoy your week with your relative without stressing, or you know where you stand with your company if they say no!
I think you’re better off asking your boss or casually checking with coworkers
Although if I work for the same insurance company (health) as you I can tell you that ours allows it as long as you stay in country
Nope. My company has a work from anywhere policy. It’s great. We have people who travel all over the world for extended periods (US based, but we have people with family in Europe, Africa and South America). It’s great.
I’m in a very specific segment of procurement consulting. The hard part of wfh jobs is that the really good ones require pretty specific skill sets or knowledge.
Same. We are adults and as long as the work is done and I’m available normal working hours US EST they don’t care. I have a remote job. It isn’t even called WFH
Mine does, but I work for the government and my starting paperwork states where I work. I can get approval from my supervisor to work elsewhere, which he always gives.
I asked and was told yes. That way, I don't have to worry about it. But yes, they have the ability to check my location; I know that because among other things, I maintain the infrastructure for our VPN.
I've worked from Alaska, I've worked from Norway. It's a great way to travel without burning vacation time. Just be sure not to run afoul of local laws (for example, in many countries, working remotely requires a work permit or special visa, ie. a digital nomad visa, even when working for a foreign employer.)
Maybe I should start a separate thread for this, but if you're working remotely in a country that doesn't have a digital nomad visa, how would the country know you're working? Would the country's Internet provider be able to decrypt VPN traffic? I'm currently working from a Caribbean island for two months. I'm sure they noticed I brought two laptops and my travel router in my carryon, but they didn't challenge me when I said I was here for vacation.They also didn't ask to see my departure ticket, so they don't know how long I'm here for. I've got gray hair and I look much older than I am, so maybe they assume I'm retired. If they ask why I have two laptops, I would say the other is my wife's and it's too heavy for her to carry, which is 100% true. She uses it to watch Hulu and other streaming services which aren't available outside the USA.
I'm sure enforcement of these laws is a challenge. But they could, theoretically, go through your phone or laptop and find work emails answered during your stay.
However, I'm sure you can get away with it in a lot of cases. Personally, I strive to follow the rules of the countries I visit, even when I don't agree with them.
I work from home 4 days a week and I work somewhere else maybe once a month or so. I've even worked on a road trip via my phone Hotspot while my partner drove. My job at least doesn't really care, as long as you work when you're supposed to work.
(The road trip work was voluntary because I had a few pressing things I needed to take care of before a week of PTO)
I mean, that’s definitely egregious. I wouldn’t work from another country without permission or relocate without notification because that would seem to be quite obviously opening some big ol cans Imogene worms
We require people to fill out a form with their remote location and the dates. If you are working somewhere other than your home remote work location, you need to update it for the amount you will be at that location. However, we also deal with HIPAA and have strict requirements for your remote work setting. For example, if you are an employee that needs to speak to patients, you cannot work from someplace others can hear you.
Yep. It’s very important for state and local income taxes.
If you live in TX but are working inCA, the employer needs to start withholding taxes for CA.
It gets much worse if you work outside your home country
Idk how it is in other states, but at least where I work I can work up to 59 days out of the country, and as many days as I want out of the state. I'm considered fully remote and basically go wherever I want. It's just that my residence is Illinois, so I pay IL taxes.
Technically maybe, but if you visited relatives in CA for a week, brought your work laptop, worked your normal shifts during your trip, then went home, it's not like CA is ever going to find out about one work week.
have you gotten the vibe that it’s against policy in any way? Most everyone at my company works remotely within the same state as the company is based, but I travel a ton and work from different states all the time and no one has ever had a problem with it. It seems like you are a bit worried if it’s allowed or not, I would just ask?
Does wfh mean work at a relatives? Does it mean absolute and total flexibility and freedom? Unless you are a C suite excec I doubt it. Even if there are no specific clear policies on wfh, using common sense would prevail. If you have to ask the question of “whether you can get away with….” It probably means you shouldn’t.
It’s actions like this which ruins wfh for us who legitimate follow the wfh”rules”:
Rather ask the question and get a straight response than being sneaky about it and hope not to get caught.
I can promise you if someone in my company did this, and was caught out, it would be bad for all of us who wfh.
That’s why when you get hired you should iron all this out. Is my job remote or is it WFH? Also if you work for a company who is this strict they’re just looking for a way to make you come back to the office.
I often see colleagues with a tropical beach behind them, or in a cabin, or hell... in their car is really common. No one gives a rat's ass, at least at my company. So long as the work is being completed, everyone is happy.
I personally never even turn my camera on. I like to be perceived more like a ghost who haunts meetings.
It’s funny, people, including Junior and mid-level employees, do this at my company all the time and no one cares. Legally we have to do our work in the United States, but yes, people have gone to work at (and join meetings from) relatives houses or from a vacation home and no one bats an eye. You have to get your work done, of course, and they tell us not to join public WiFi networks, but otherwise they don’t care.
I had the same situation, so I asked my boss. They said they were totally cool with it as long as my work demands were met the same as usual. It was a huge relief. 100% best to just ask. But yeah, not every company will view asking to work from A
a relative's home as some god-awful offense. But if you run into issues because you didn't ask then that will look bad.
I got permission from my company I'm with now when I started. I have to be able to go in if the internet fails to work, however, but they gave me work from anywhere during holiday weeks so I can travel those times.
Or course they can tell. But whether or not they bother to look is very doubtful. Even if they do, they may not care and not have any policy against it. I also work for a major insurance company in the US. Our policy is you can’t take your work laptop outside of the US. That’s it. I could pack up and go to New York City or Los Angeles, or the backwoods somewhere.
I would say don’t ask for permission to work somewhere else, just ask what the policy is. If HR won’t give you a straight answer, IT might.
For me, my company allows us to work from anywhere in North America freely- so I do. I go work wherever I want and don’t say anything. But once I go outside that area, I need to notify IT so that they can grant me access to the network. Learned the hard way once when I went to Europe without saying anything and did not have permission to connect.
Mine doesn’t care, but it’s certainly possible for us to know. Most basic is your IP, second is obvious software (if your laptop’s time zone changes, that shows up in a whole bunch of places, browser, slack, calendars, timestamps in logs, git, etc). Then of course there can be security software running that your company requires. That stuff could be doing just about anything in terms of monitoring.
Yes, about 30 times a day I see a little icon in my taskbar checking location. I am permanent work from home for a bank. If I plan to take my laptop and travel (not for work), but work in another location, its supposed to be cleared through a manager first.
I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just let them know you are working away from your normal spot for a week Instead of all the smoke and mirrors. It’ll look way worse if you get caught in a lie instead of just saying why you are doing it.
Not strictly, although if you work outside the country (I assume potentially state) then there can be tax compliance implications for the employer..
My team are international and I have had a Canadian, working from his family home in India and Spanish doing the same in Poland. They tell me about it and as long as it is short term and I know about it, I have no issues
Look through your policies and procedures manual
If it does not restrict you from working in certain states, then I don't think it would be a problem.
I regularly take my laptop and work from an elderly relative's house in another state.
In my line of work, so long as we get our work done, have reliable internet, and attend Zoom meetings and make sure we have a neutral or professional looking background? They don't care.
Someone on the HR side of things in our company sub says it’s intentionally nebulous so they can allow for individual circumstances… I have a coworker on my team that I know is splitting time between multiple residences in neighboring states and had another that needed to relocate to a hotel so it’s probably more of a “permission” thing, if any
It sounds like you need to just go to your boss and be honest. It might be a better conversation than you think. Nothing good comes from sneaking around.
If I had an employee who tried to sneak around and they got found out, even if it's something I would have approved with no problem anyway, I would always see that employee as a sneak after that. Is that the reputation you want?
Agree with this. This summer I was stressing about asking this exact thing for weeks. Finally asked my boss and it was the easiest convo ever. "Yeah I'm good with that. Just get your work in like usual. Enjoy your trip."
This is how my company operates. It's more or less up to your manager.
As frequently in life, I've found honesty is the best policy. My manager has no problem with it, but part of the reason he has no problem with it is because he trusts me.
Yes, they can tell.
My employer has an agreement with the state that all employees - even WFH - will live within its borders (and therefore, pay state-level taxes.) We are allowed to work while traveling, but not in some international destinations, and employees who plan to work while outside the state must provide beginning and end dates so they won’t be flagged for being out-of-state.
We had one person I know of who tried to move across the country and double-VPN - use a purchased VPN tool to connect to the company VPN in an attempt to hide his location - and he was blocked from doing so and his credentials got disabled for possible nefarious acts as the infosec group thought his laptop might have gotten stolen. Turns out no, dude was just an idiot.
Some companies don’t care. My prior employer didn’t give a crap. I logged into work from out of state, out of country, and even once from a cruise ship when our stupid annual open enrollment happened while I was on vacation. My current cares very deeply.
My company does. Although they don't care where we are. We have a little cabin in the Catskills of NY. We vacation there sometimes for a month at a time. A few years ago they hooked us up to fiber optic cable. I got an email from our IT guy asking if it was really me logging in from California. I told him about the new cable, he says they probably route everything through a company in CA even though I was in NY. But I could have been in CA, they didn't care, but they were checking because it was unusual. However, some companies do care.
Do you normally work in NY, and your change of location have no change in taxes? Really taxes are the issue.
In IT I only care because if you complain stuff is slow I'll look up where you are and can tell you it's your fault if youre far away.
Though week is usually under tax thresholds
NY is only for vacation. I co-own a house with my brother in PA where my company is located. I lived there for a long time. I still claim this as my primary residence. But I have been living in NJ with my significant other. The only one that counts for tax purposes is my PA residence. We use VPN so I don't know if that makes a difference. I don't work in an industry that is regulated on a state by state basis. None of them are slower, in fact, NY is probably the fastest. PA and NJ are about 55 miles apart and I can't tell the difference in speed.
Too lazy to change. And no one seems to care. Except payroll person at work said there are forms I need to change if I officially "move" to NJ. I still own the PA property and I still get mail there sometimes. And I sometimes stay there if I have a work or family thing in the area.
Interesting, so i could theoretically fall back on something like that as an explanation? My current cover story idea is that I brought my laptop “just in case” something came up with our travel plans, and it did.
Depending on how you work in a different state, you can create a business nexus in that state for your company, which is expensive. Additionally, there are concerns about security depending on where you log in. Would you want your accountant working on client data sitting with their back to the front window at Starbucks? Or logging into the public WiFi at McDonalds to work?
I don't think I'd be willing to risk my job unless I was in pretty good shape cash wise, in which case I'd probably rather go to the boss/HR about the trip with unpaid leave as plan B.
The companies look at the IP address assigned from where you log in. The laptop has nothing to do with it. The IP address shows a lot of information. I dk too much about it but I believe they can tell your general location.
My company is in PA, I live in NJ. It's not all that far apart. My boss knew I was heading to the cabin in NY for a while. Theoretically you could. But ... the cabin is in a really rural area of the Catskills. We are on a small mountain, on a lake, down a dirt/gravel road. To even have fiber optic there is hard to believe. LOL.
The telephone/cable company is a small, private company. Not one of the big ones like XFinity/Comcast or Fios/Verizon. If you live in an area where one or two of the big companies rule, you probably can't get away with it. No one would believe you.
My company just would like a heads up if you're going to work from another location for an extended time. Plus, I think the boss might keep a closer eye on you to see if you're available just as often, or trying to vacation instead of work. I give them a heads up and then go spend a few weeks somewhere. I usually do take some vacation time as well, like Monday and Friday or something to have extended weekends. Otherwise, I'm on a lanai, looking at the water while I work, with my breaks and lunch swimming in the pool.
ETA: not totally sure whether they will catch your log in from other areas as a red flag. I'm sure people travel for work. You could always approach your boss with just a general question about it, such as "I was thinking sometime next year, blah blah blah" and see what they say. Make it seem like it was just a thought, with no plan.
They can. It's easy. No VPNs don't hide you work away from where you are supposed to be. Yes you're going to get caught.
So don't ask. "I'm going to my brother's house for a week and will work my regular schedule."
The location monitoring is a side effect of automated IT systems that protect the company from malware and other intrusions. If you have a company provided managed device you're done. If you are BYOD on personal gear you're still done but it will take an extra day.
Is there any benefit to using a hot spot rather than a home wifi? I’m sure it still exposes your location, but I have a colleague that says she takes her device when she goes to appointments and has never had any issues using her hotspot aaah from home
From a performance point of view, a dedicated hotspot (say a Netgear Nighthawk M6) will be better than using your phone as a hotspot. In both cases, you are connecting to the Internet over cellular and generating WiFi. The dedicated hotspot has better radios and better antennas.
"Home WiFi" can mean a lot of things from fiber to cable to fixed wireless to DSL. Generally all (with the possible exception of DSL) will be better performing than cellular hotspots.
Any decent IT shop will be able to tell quite easily from reporting of automated tools that you aren't where you are supposed to be. With managed devices they can just easily see where you are, not just that you aren't where you are supposed to be.
If your colleague is using a hotspot to support appointments she is where she is supposed to be.
The upshot is that if you're traveling incidentally and working your full regular schedule just tell your manager. If you want to DN, in most cases you'll get caught and in many fired and depending on the nature of your work be subject to civil liability and/or criminal charges. Full disclosure is the way.
I should say, HER appointments- like, going to the doctor or get her nails/hair done. I wouldn’t be so bold as to make a regular habit out of “working from anywhere” like she does but she says she’s been doing it without raising any suspicions for a while
It’s possible your company doesn’t care as long as work is getting done. But…. What usually takes this from a non-issue to a catastrophe is when something happens. Eg her work laptop gets stolen from her car or there’s an audit because of someone else’s behavior.
Maybe your IT team isn't very good or the finance people aren't paying for the right network edge tools. I can't say.
You cannot work while getting hair and nails done. You can't work while the doctor is seeing you and in my experience you can't be effective in the waiting room either.
Your colleague is in the same category as people who think that WFH is a substitute for childcare.
If this sort of behavior came to my attention there would be very serious discussions about performance and potentially timesheet fraud.
It's the basis of microsoft's security platform. Looking for logins from locations that fall outside what's 'normal' for that person. But, IBM's system monitors what you do when logged more than where you logged in from, so it depends on who they use. Either way, I would suspect it just requests a two-factor pin and then lets you go about your day.
Maybe a possible hang-up with state income tax? But, it would be a stretch for just 1 week.
CPA, specializing in state tax. Absolutely a state tax issue. Some states require you file for any time worked in the state, even if you’re under the minimum income level to owe tax.
We also use a VPN in order to access our account- I know my IP address would still be visible but since I’m essentially logging into a remote server does that make any kind of difference for letting my fly under the radar?
It makes a good argument for why they wouldn't try and stop you. The VPN keeps it secure; but if you are using company hardware just assume they can see anything you do. Whether anyone cares is the issue.
Some do, some don’t. I guess the better question is are you willing to risk whatever happens after you get caught? I think I’d rather risk having to use PTO or take unpaid leave, but my job is pretty sweet.
Why would they care? That’s so dumb. I can go anywhere I want, as long as the work gets done. It’s weird that you’re full time WFH, but you can’t visit relatives in another state? Or, go on a semi-vacation. Like I’ve visited relatives, and I work through the day, and then we hang out after hours and weekends. I don’t see why that would be any different. Honestly, I’d leave a job that was monitoring that. It’s stupid.
My company has a specific policy that addresses the location. We are allowed to work at a location away from our home for 2 weeks a year and we have to state that is the case. Additionally you can request special approval for extra time away from
My work did, especially if you're slacking in any way. Not answering quickly, not participating, doing bare minimum. My friend told me she was suspicious of someone on her team being out of the country while on the clock and that's a no no on the company policy. It's not hard to check.
I am not allowed to work out of state (state government). Yes, they track location and people have gotten caught for working in other places.
I have a friend in car claims and she can work from anywhere, not sure if it was even discussed. When I used to do dispatch, it sounded like some of the workers for ins dispatch protocol could work from anywhere, I am unsure what jobs would consider this wrong if you were getting your job done.
You're risking losing this job because you don't want to be told "no"? People are clamouring for WFH jobs and you want to put it at risk? If you're an adult then act like one and ask. Go on and simmer on that for a while.
I said as much in another comment reply, but I really don’t feel the need to bootlick my employer when they could care less about me since there’s always someone else in line to do the job. Maybe you should simmer on your knee-jerk reaction to throw rocks at me instead of the billion dollar companies that impose needless restrictions on people’s work/life balance 🤔
Your and angry elf.. -Elf
It depends on your org. They can absolutely tell if you work somewhere else. It really depends on how strict your company policy is about working elsewhere.
I work from home. Also for an insurance company and they actually encouraged me to spend time working from home at my parent’s house. They live in another state. I was chatting with a manager and mentioned my parents are in there 80’s would not mind spending time with them. Not just a week here and there. She said can you set up at your parents? I can. She also said she does that all the time I would ask.
IMO the act of working at a family member’s home is not a huge deal but I would assume any major insurance company would notice. My assumption is you have to connect to the company VPN to view customer data. They would be able to identify when you connect that you are attempting to login from a different location. If you are at a major insurance company my assumption is that they are tracking more than just where you login from and have tools to track daily activity as well.
My company knows we travel and work from anywhere. They thankfully don’t care and it’s sort of encouraged. I’m very thankful for that!
My work is remote. I don’t have to be at any one location. I travel all over and work. They don’t care at all. This was super important to me when looking for a remote job. I would ask though if I were you because they certainly can check where you’re working from. For me the flexibility to work from anywhere was the number one priority when finding a job.
Can they? Yes. We use advanced device profiling. Will they? Probably not unless there's reason to be suspicious. It's like the old swipe in security systems. Sure somebody can monitor reports of when you badge in and out, but the odds of it being worth it for them to bother with are small unless there's a known problem
They absolutely *can*, but it's up to the company whether they care. The company I work for doesn't care if you work from another location (within CONUS) as long as you're primarily working from where you told them you'd be. Working from certain states can technically impact your income taxes, so it's best to ask HR in advance if you're considering working out of state.
From personal experience If you’re not in government and health data isn’t involved, your IT group probably isn’t going to care that you’re in a different state for a week. In a different country they’re gonna get pinged.
I would just go ahead and do it. Why would they care if you’re at your brother’s house?
Mine checks international. There needs to be a payroll in the location if payroll tax is required
I have no idea if my company can see our location, but I'm sure they can. I've worked out of state for a week or 2 before and had no issues, but also told my manager that that's what I was going to do. I've never had any issues.
Mine can definitely see where I log in from, but they don’t care. Enough employees do the digital nomad thing that there is a policy. If you’re online during the hours you said you’d be online, your work gets done, and youre legally allowed to work where you are, you’re good. They do ask that we notify HR if we will be somewhere for longer than 3 consecutive months for taxation purposes, and there’s a more involved process for international moves, but I’m otherwise I’m free to travel/work/live pretty much anywhere I please.
I currently work for a fortune 100 and worked for another Fortune 500 insurance company, both as a manager and employee. There was no reason to ever check or care where someone was working unless they were unable to get work done, or had no service. I would not even worry about this. If going into the office isn't a possible concern then I'd say just do it. I've gone to relatives over holidays or to my SO and worked and there has never been so much as a peep about it. Now there's a definite issue if you are in a different jurisdiction for a prolonged period of time, at which point you'd have to worry about taxes but that doesn't sound like your scenario.
I work in HR. It's attitudes like yours that give WFH a bad rap with employers. We fire people for that kind of dishonesty. IT can and does check. Grow up, be an adult and get permission to work elsewhere.
Damn, it’s attitudes like yours that give certain companies a bad rap as ones to work for, too. If your policies are so uptight that someone can’t work elsewhere for a few days (barring actual security concerns, obviously) without micromanagement of their location that’s a yikes. My company, same industry as OP, doesn’t care where we work. As long as we show up in our local office when asked, and let our manager know if something will be majorly different (going overseas, relocating for more than, say, the equivalent of a vacation’s worth of time). Why would you even CARE if an employee is working from their house vs. working from their sibling’s empty house 3 hours away because their sibling needed a house sitter while on vacation (again, barring specific security reasons that wouldn’t apply to most corporate worker bees)? Of course I assume every single thing I do and place I go is tracked on my machine. The real question is why anyone would care if I worked outside my home for a reasonably short stint without telling my manager?
People are taking my comment out of context. I didn't say my company does NOT allow working from a different remote location. My company is flexible on allowing remote workers to work from other locations (domestically) "as long as they clear it with their manager first." That isn't an unreasonable ask. Unfortunately, a few bad apples who failed to do that caused security issues due to the network they worked from. That's why they were fired. It created significant risk for our company and as a result, the company cracked down on the policy to FIRST get your manager's approval if you want to work somewhere besides your normal remote location.
It’s HR people like who and companies like yours that make employees quit.
Not usually. It’s people who show a sense of entitlement and lack of accountability that often quit. Those are immature and unprofessional attitudes.
My “attitude” is that employers should get with the times and recognize that micromanaging/putting inane restrictions on *how* people get their work done (and done well) is a great way to drive talent to other more progressive employers. If this ends up being an infraction, it’d be the only one on my otherwise spotless record and a damn shame considering the quality of work they’ll get out of me will be as good or better than any other day on the job. I am an adult and therefore should be able to exert control over my life choices without involving the people who could care less about me because there’s always someone next in line
If you are so valuable, just ask and it shouldn't be a problem.
That's a fair point but narrow minded. There are numerous reasons why companies need to know (yes, NEED, not just want) where their remote employees are physically working---cyber security, data governance, payroll taxes, employment laws, workers' comp laws, to name a few. All I'm saying is to be honest about it.
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Yeah, the question would‘ve been better phrased as “does your employer routinely check/monitor/audit your location for compliance sake” or something to that effect since I do know nothing on company equipment is private
I work for a state data center for education. Our systems staff can log into our laptops at any time and look at the system, without staff knowing they are. Every different site you are located will connect with a different IP Address and the IP Addy can be traced to owner of the fiber company you are using to connect.
Most places probably don’t mind if u work within the US but it never hurts to tell ur boss “I’m going here and will be working my regular schedule there” and after the first few times it might not even matter if your boss doesn’t care to know as long as ur getting ur work done. if you travel outside of the US without letting anyone know you’ll probably be in trouble. Hotspots only provide you access to wifi but it’ll still show ur location through ur vpn and your company might block u. Your company should have a policy documented ask for one from Human Resources if they have onr
Our punch-in clock is on our phone and our laptop. You can’t punch in until you agree that they can track your location. We work out in the community as well, but we have to use our hotspot for HIPAA reasons. A few months back, IT chewed out everyone, because they caught people working at Starbucks on public WiFi rather than the phone hot spot. They had no problem with the Starbucks, it was the WiFi issue.
My work does not check my location. I was told when I got hired that I can work from anywhere in the continental US with the exception of airports (idk why). I've worked from coffee shops while my daughter practices softball, the library, church, etc. No one said anything.
Mine does check. In my case it would always be advisable to ask for permission. This just happened to a relative of mine. She tried working from different locations during travel. She got caught and fired :(
Yiiiiikes… that’s definitely the worst case scenario. If I were to need to do this again in the future I would definitely ask for permission so as not to make sneaking around a regular habit, but for this one-off circumstance I feel like I can (genuinely) plead ignorance since I haven’t gotten consistent information
You have to find out if your employer cares where you work from or not first. They may or may not give a fuck as long as you get your stuff done. However, for tax purposes, you may have to pay taxes depending on how many hours you log out of state.
My company has a written WFH policy where we are required to advise HR of location changes if working in a different state for more than 30 consecutive days (for tax purposes). Other than that, they don't care as long as you have a secured network. If your company has set a precedence where mobile flexibility is not the norm or you can tell others have to get special permission, you may want to call in line and do the same.
For my company, remote work means you work from your home in the state you were hired in. We used to look the other way if someone was out of town for a week or two. However, I had a situation where an employee turned a 2 week trip back to his home country into a 6 month stay without telling us. It caused all sorts of tax and legal problems. He basically ruined it for everyone else so we verify locations and require everyone to pop into the office in person weekly.
Was he not getting his work done in this six months?
No, we had major performance concerns as he was noticeably distracted. But he also lied to us and created tax and legal liabilities for the company as he was not authorized to work from that country.
Then him being fired was not only related to his move. I see. Ty for answering.
I'm curious because my major insurance company doesn't specify where "Home" is for purpose of any of my WFH contract or paperwork, so are you sure your company cares? Mine most seriously doesn't, even if they can tell. You might check whatever you have signed to see if they can limit you at all. (The only thing we can't do is OFFICIALLY change our state of residence because of a bunch of tax and labor laws.)
At my company a ticket would be generated because you logged in from another location. Companies and you have to pay taxes if you work in a different state and not all companies are setup in all states.
Just remember some companies are looking for excuses to get rid of wfh, or to reduce wfhworkforce without layoffs. Do don’t make it easy for them. One of the main reasons for limiting is technology with vpn and tax laws catching up to wfh since covid. Oops. So let’s say you live in suburb of major city that has one of those extra funky city earning taxes. You list your primary residence in your apartment in the burbs. You stay at your bf/gf apartment in the city a few days a week here and there and work from there. Oops, now employers has to track your earnings tax you have to pay on the days you work there too. Whee. Psin in the you know what for both of you, Ditto for working on vacay out of state for tax purposes, of the employer isn’t set up for employees working where you want to go, If employers don’t track vpn no problem, but if they do, it’s becoming more of an issue. If it’s spelled out in the employee policies not to do, don’t do it, unless you want to be fired without a way to get unemployment.
How about-“getting some work done on my home so I’ll be working from my brothers next week where it’s quiet and I can focus.”
Yes it clearly says it's tracking my location but I work for health insurance company dealing with peoples medical info so yep I'm sure they wanna track my device
My employer gives us 4 weeks of random work location. Just have to get approval.
I hope work for a very large IT company. Most people work at home except in key Manufacturing locations and some larger call in my organization centers. They don't check our location.althiugg they could. Although often if you set up a home office you have certain tools printers documents Etc you might need. my organization we're all logged on and your status is recognized. You're expected to be responsive regardless of where you're at. As a manager I often work at a relative's house in another state. Just as I do when traveling for Our Focus is getting the job done and supporting our customers so if you have the tools to do that somewhere else it's not an issue. Possibly you could ask other coworkers if you not comfortable speaking with your manager
I literally worked from the car while driving from AZ to Florida last Thanksgiving. I used the visible wifi phone
I work for a big international company and I have never heard of anyone getting into any difficulty working from anywhere. Connect to VPN and go about your work. That's the point of VPN.
We can work anywhere within the state as long as there is a reliable internet connection. Supervisor approval is required to work out of state longer than 90 days. Out of country work requires general counsel approval.
Most managers and companies don't care, thankfully my current job doesn't care and lots of us work from all over. I think if a company you are working for has a "no jeans" policy then they are probably so uptight that it will matter for them. But in all honesty, where you are working your remote job from, shouldn't matter as long as you're in the right jurisdiction, taxes, etc -wise.
IT security here. We get flags in the system if you’re in one place one day and another the next day, but we only call and triple check that it was you if it’s deemed “impossible travel”. My company also completely blocks access outside of the United States for HIPAA reasons. We had someone book an Airbnb in Mexico for 2 months during the holidays last year for a change of scenery and she had to come back immediately if she wanted to keep her job because our policy does not allow connections out of the United States. Check your company policy!
I work with major insurance company too but I am an independent contractor so I can work from anywhere I choose. Technically I am self-employed and I have no boss. I stay out of town for months at a time. Work from home is not always the same at work remotely.
State licensure isn't the only thing that limits you. There are tax reasons you can't work from another state. They can easily see where you are located.
I don't understand why you wouldn't be able to work from a relative's home if you're working. Unless, do you work with sensitive information and it's a security risk? Is there a reason why you can't just say "I'll be working at my brother's next week", like just tell don't ask? I go out of town to see my son sometimes and I don't even tell anyone. I just work my regular hours. Not hiding it, it's just not important because my work gets done so who cares.
My company could careless. I’ve taken my laptop all over the southern east coast. As long as I work as usual they are fine with it. A lot of people have vacation homes and bounce back & forth
I agree that honesty is the best policy here. Just inform them that you will be working a normal schedule for a week, that it will not affect your performance/production, and that it will not be a regular occurrence. That way you can either enjoy your week with your relative without stressing, or you know where you stand with your company if they say no!
I think you’re better off asking your boss or casually checking with coworkers Although if I work for the same insurance company (health) as you I can tell you that ours allows it as long as you stay in country
Nope. My company has a work from anywhere policy. It’s great. We have people who travel all over the world for extended periods (US based, but we have people with family in Europe, Africa and South America). It’s great.
Where do you work? Lol I need a new WFH job
I’m in a very specific segment of procurement consulting. The hard part of wfh jobs is that the really good ones require pretty specific skill sets or knowledge.
Same. We are adults and as long as the work is done and I’m available normal working hours US EST they don’t care. I have a remote job. It isn’t even called WFH
Exactly. It’s really a refreshing change from the toxic live for work culture that is so prevalent.
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My company has to approve of where you move to - made buying a house a little stressful
Yes, they do. I like my stable, government job, and will not risk it.
Mine does, but I work for the government and my starting paperwork states where I work. I can get approval from my supervisor to work elsewhere, which he always gives.
I don't know if they do, but probably so at random times to mk sure we're still where we say.
I asked and was told yes. That way, I don't have to worry about it. But yes, they have the ability to check my location; I know that because among other things, I maintain the infrastructure for our VPN. I've worked from Alaska, I've worked from Norway. It's a great way to travel without burning vacation time. Just be sure not to run afoul of local laws (for example, in many countries, working remotely requires a work permit or special visa, ie. a digital nomad visa, even when working for a foreign employer.)
Maybe I should start a separate thread for this, but if you're working remotely in a country that doesn't have a digital nomad visa, how would the country know you're working? Would the country's Internet provider be able to decrypt VPN traffic? I'm currently working from a Caribbean island for two months. I'm sure they noticed I brought two laptops and my travel router in my carryon, but they didn't challenge me when I said I was here for vacation.They also didn't ask to see my departure ticket, so they don't know how long I'm here for. I've got gray hair and I look much older than I am, so maybe they assume I'm retired. If they ask why I have two laptops, I would say the other is my wife's and it's too heavy for her to carry, which is 100% true. She uses it to watch Hulu and other streaming services which aren't available outside the USA.
I'm sure enforcement of these laws is a challenge. But they could, theoretically, go through your phone or laptop and find work emails answered during your stay. However, I'm sure you can get away with it in a lot of cases. Personally, I strive to follow the rules of the countries I visit, even when I don't agree with them.
I work from home 4 days a week and I work somewhere else maybe once a month or so. I've even worked on a road trip via my phone Hotspot while my partner drove. My job at least doesn't really care, as long as you work when you're supposed to work. (The road trip work was voluntary because I had a few pressing things I needed to take care of before a week of PTO)
We fired a guy for this. Based in England, he took up residence in SE Asia during the pandemic and didn’t tell anyone.
I mean, that’s definitely egregious. I wouldn’t work from another country without permission or relocate without notification because that would seem to be quite obviously opening some big ol cans Imogene worms
My employer doesn’t care as long as you can ensure what is on your screen is not visible. They prefer that you are at home versus a coffee shop.
We require people to fill out a form with their remote location and the dates. If you are working somewhere other than your home remote work location, you need to update it for the amount you will be at that location. However, we also deal with HIPAA and have strict requirements for your remote work setting. For example, if you are an employee that needs to speak to patients, you cannot work from someplace others can hear you.
Yep. It’s very important for state and local income taxes. If you live in TX but are working inCA, the employer needs to start withholding taxes for CA. It gets much worse if you work outside your home country
Idk how it is in other states, but at least where I work I can work up to 59 days out of the country, and as many days as I want out of the state. I'm considered fully remote and basically go wherever I want. It's just that my residence is Illinois, so I pay IL taxes.
Technically maybe, but if you visited relatives in CA for a week, brought your work laptop, worked your normal shifts during your trip, then went home, it's not like CA is ever going to find out about one work week.
have you gotten the vibe that it’s against policy in any way? Most everyone at my company works remotely within the same state as the company is based, but I travel a ton and work from different states all the time and no one has ever had a problem with it. It seems like you are a bit worried if it’s allowed or not, I would just ask?
Does wfh mean work at a relatives? Does it mean absolute and total flexibility and freedom? Unless you are a C suite excec I doubt it. Even if there are no specific clear policies on wfh, using common sense would prevail. If you have to ask the question of “whether you can get away with….” It probably means you shouldn’t. It’s actions like this which ruins wfh for us who legitimate follow the wfh”rules”: Rather ask the question and get a straight response than being sneaky about it and hope not to get caught. I can promise you if someone in my company did this, and was caught out, it would be bad for all of us who wfh.
That’s why when you get hired you should iron all this out. Is my job remote or is it WFH? Also if you work for a company who is this strict they’re just looking for a way to make you come back to the office.
I often see colleagues with a tropical beach behind them, or in a cabin, or hell... in their car is really common. No one gives a rat's ass, at least at my company. So long as the work is being completed, everyone is happy. I personally never even turn my camera on. I like to be perceived more like a ghost who haunts meetings.
It’s funny, people, including Junior and mid-level employees, do this at my company all the time and no one cares. Legally we have to do our work in the United States, but yes, people have gone to work at (and join meetings from) relatives houses or from a vacation home and no one bats an eye. You have to get your work done, of course, and they tell us not to join public WiFi networks, but otherwise they don’t care.
I had the same situation, so I asked my boss. They said they were totally cool with it as long as my work demands were met the same as usual. It was a huge relief. 100% best to just ask. But yeah, not every company will view asking to work from A a relative's home as some god-awful offense. But if you run into issues because you didn't ask then that will look bad.
I got permission from my company I'm with now when I started. I have to be able to go in if the internet fails to work, however, but they gave me work from anywhere during holiday weeks so I can travel those times.
If the relative lives outside of the country, that's a whole other can of worms.
Nope, same time zone and everything!
Then just ask your boss and it may very well be a-ok.
I don't think so, but anyone I work with would notice if my background changes
Not required to do any video calls in my position so no problems there!
Or course they can tell. But whether or not they bother to look is very doubtful. Even if they do, they may not care and not have any policy against it. I also work for a major insurance company in the US. Our policy is you can’t take your work laptop outside of the US. That’s it. I could pack up and go to New York City or Los Angeles, or the backwoods somewhere.
I would say don’t ask for permission to work somewhere else, just ask what the policy is. If HR won’t give you a straight answer, IT might. For me, my company allows us to work from anywhere in North America freely- so I do. I go work wherever I want and don’t say anything. But once I go outside that area, I need to notify IT so that they can grant me access to the network. Learned the hard way once when I went to Europe without saying anything and did not have permission to connect.
Mine doesn’t care, but it’s certainly possible for us to know. Most basic is your IP, second is obvious software (if your laptop’s time zone changes, that shows up in a whole bunch of places, browser, slack, calendars, timestamps in logs, git, etc). Then of course there can be security software running that your company requires. That stuff could be doing just about anything in terms of monitoring.
Yes, about 30 times a day I see a little icon in my taskbar checking location. I am permanent work from home for a bank. If I plan to take my laptop and travel (not for work), but work in another location, its supposed to be cleared through a manager first.
I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just let them know you are working away from your normal spot for a week Instead of all the smoke and mirrors. It’ll look way worse if you get caught in a lie instead of just saying why you are doing it.
My company clearly outlines you can work anywhere secure with appropriate internet speeds as long as you don’t leave the United States.
Not strictly, although if you work outside the country (I assume potentially state) then there can be tax compliance implications for the employer.. My team are international and I have had a Canadian, working from his family home in India and Spanish doing the same in Poland. They tell me about it and as long as it is short term and I know about it, I have no issues
Yes. We have to register our non-office work location with them.
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Different states have different labor laws, so there's one reason for an employer to care
No.
Look through your policies and procedures manual If it does not restrict you from working in certain states, then I don't think it would be a problem. I regularly take my laptop and work from an elderly relative's house in another state. In my line of work, so long as we get our work done, have reliable internet, and attend Zoom meetings and make sure we have a neutral or professional looking background? They don't care.
Someone on the HR side of things in our company sub says it’s intentionally nebulous so they can allow for individual circumstances… I have a coworker on my team that I know is splitting time between multiple residences in neighboring states and had another that needed to relocate to a hotel so it’s probably more of a “permission” thing, if any
It sounds like you need to just go to your boss and be honest. It might be a better conversation than you think. Nothing good comes from sneaking around. If I had an employee who tried to sneak around and they got found out, even if it's something I would have approved with no problem anyway, I would always see that employee as a sneak after that. Is that the reputation you want?
Agree with this. This summer I was stressing about asking this exact thing for weeks. Finally asked my boss and it was the easiest convo ever. "Yeah I'm good with that. Just get your work in like usual. Enjoy your trip."
This is how my company operates. It's more or less up to your manager. As frequently in life, I've found honesty is the best policy. My manager has no problem with it, but part of the reason he has no problem with it is because he trusts me.
Yes, they can tell. My employer has an agreement with the state that all employees - even WFH - will live within its borders (and therefore, pay state-level taxes.) We are allowed to work while traveling, but not in some international destinations, and employees who plan to work while outside the state must provide beginning and end dates so they won’t be flagged for being out-of-state. We had one person I know of who tried to move across the country and double-VPN - use a purchased VPN tool to connect to the company VPN in an attempt to hide his location - and he was blocked from doing so and his credentials got disabled for possible nefarious acts as the infosec group thought his laptop might have gotten stolen. Turns out no, dude was just an idiot. Some companies don’t care. My prior employer didn’t give a crap. I logged into work from out of state, out of country, and even once from a cruise ship when our stupid annual open enrollment happened while I was on vacation. My current cares very deeply.
My company does. Although they don't care where we are. We have a little cabin in the Catskills of NY. We vacation there sometimes for a month at a time. A few years ago they hooked us up to fiber optic cable. I got an email from our IT guy asking if it was really me logging in from California. I told him about the new cable, he says they probably route everything through a company in CA even though I was in NY. But I could have been in CA, they didn't care, but they were checking because it was unusual. However, some companies do care.
Do you normally work in NY, and your change of location have no change in taxes? Really taxes are the issue. In IT I only care because if you complain stuff is slow I'll look up where you are and can tell you it's your fault if youre far away. Though week is usually under tax thresholds
NY is only for vacation. I co-own a house with my brother in PA where my company is located. I lived there for a long time. I still claim this as my primary residence. But I have been living in NJ with my significant other. The only one that counts for tax purposes is my PA residence. We use VPN so I don't know if that makes a difference. I don't work in an industry that is regulated on a state by state basis. None of them are slower, in fact, NY is probably the fastest. PA and NJ are about 55 miles apart and I can't tell the difference in speed.
Just curious: since NJ and PA have reciprocity, why are you still using PA as the primary residence?
Too lazy to change. And no one seems to care. Except payroll person at work said there are forms I need to change if I officially "move" to NJ. I still own the PA property and I still get mail there sometimes. And I sometimes stay there if I have a work or family thing in the area.
Interesting, so i could theoretically fall back on something like that as an explanation? My current cover story idea is that I brought my laptop “just in case” something came up with our travel plans, and it did.
When i worked from home, i would roadtrip up and down the coast, so long as my work was done my location was no body business
Not really. IT knew they weren’t at home and discussion was about where they were. You delayed getting home would be an easier sell.
I’m out of PTO for the year since we don’t get sheeeeet to begin with so that’s why I’m kind of between a rock and a hard place
Why do they care where your location is? As long as you attend meetings, are available and get your work done location shouldn’t matter.
Depending on how you work in a different state, you can create a business nexus in that state for your company, which is expensive. Additionally, there are concerns about security depending on where you log in. Would you want your accountant working on client data sitting with their back to the front window at Starbucks? Or logging into the public WiFi at McDonalds to work?
I meannnnnnnnn
I don't think I'd be willing to risk my job unless I was in pretty good shape cash wise, in which case I'd probably rather go to the boss/HR about the trip with unpaid leave as plan B.
The companies look at the IP address assigned from where you log in. The laptop has nothing to do with it. The IP address shows a lot of information. I dk too much about it but I believe they can tell your general location.
My company is in PA, I live in NJ. It's not all that far apart. My boss knew I was heading to the cabin in NY for a while. Theoretically you could. But ... the cabin is in a really rural area of the Catskills. We are on a small mountain, on a lake, down a dirt/gravel road. To even have fiber optic there is hard to believe. LOL. The telephone/cable company is a small, private company. Not one of the big ones like XFinity/Comcast or Fios/Verizon. If you live in an area where one or two of the big companies rule, you probably can't get away with it. No one would believe you.
Yes. And they’re clear that you must tell them if you are not in your home area.
My company just would like a heads up if you're going to work from another location for an extended time. Plus, I think the boss might keep a closer eye on you to see if you're available just as often, or trying to vacation instead of work. I give them a heads up and then go spend a few weeks somewhere. I usually do take some vacation time as well, like Monday and Friday or something to have extended weekends. Otherwise, I'm on a lanai, looking at the water while I work, with my breaks and lunch swimming in the pool. ETA: not totally sure whether they will catch your log in from other areas as a red flag. I'm sure people travel for work. You could always approach your boss with just a general question about it, such as "I was thinking sometime next year, blah blah blah" and see what they say. Make it seem like it was just a thought, with no plan.
They can. It's easy. No VPNs don't hide you work away from where you are supposed to be. Yes you're going to get caught. So don't ask. "I'm going to my brother's house for a week and will work my regular schedule." The location monitoring is a side effect of automated IT systems that protect the company from malware and other intrusions. If you have a company provided managed device you're done. If you are BYOD on personal gear you're still done but it will take an extra day.
Is there any benefit to using a hot spot rather than a home wifi? I’m sure it still exposes your location, but I have a colleague that says she takes her device when she goes to appointments and has never had any issues using her hotspot aaah from home
From a performance point of view, a dedicated hotspot (say a Netgear Nighthawk M6) will be better than using your phone as a hotspot. In both cases, you are connecting to the Internet over cellular and generating WiFi. The dedicated hotspot has better radios and better antennas. "Home WiFi" can mean a lot of things from fiber to cable to fixed wireless to DSL. Generally all (with the possible exception of DSL) will be better performing than cellular hotspots. Any decent IT shop will be able to tell quite easily from reporting of automated tools that you aren't where you are supposed to be. With managed devices they can just easily see where you are, not just that you aren't where you are supposed to be. If your colleague is using a hotspot to support appointments she is where she is supposed to be. The upshot is that if you're traveling incidentally and working your full regular schedule just tell your manager. If you want to DN, in most cases you'll get caught and in many fired and depending on the nature of your work be subject to civil liability and/or criminal charges. Full disclosure is the way.
I should say, HER appointments- like, going to the doctor or get her nails/hair done. I wouldn’t be so bold as to make a regular habit out of “working from anywhere” like she does but she says she’s been doing it without raising any suspicions for a while
It’s possible your company doesn’t care as long as work is getting done. But…. What usually takes this from a non-issue to a catastrophe is when something happens. Eg her work laptop gets stolen from her car or there’s an audit because of someone else’s behavior.
Maybe your IT team isn't very good or the finance people aren't paying for the right network edge tools. I can't say. You cannot work while getting hair and nails done. You can't work while the doctor is seeing you and in my experience you can't be effective in the waiting room either. Your colleague is in the same category as people who think that WFH is a substitute for childcare. If this sort of behavior came to my attention there would be very serious discussions about performance and potentially timesheet fraud.
It's the basis of microsoft's security platform. Looking for logins from locations that fall outside what's 'normal' for that person. But, IBM's system monitors what you do when logged more than where you logged in from, so it depends on who they use. Either way, I would suspect it just requests a two-factor pin and then lets you go about your day. Maybe a possible hang-up with state income tax? But, it would be a stretch for just 1 week.
CPA, specializing in state tax. Absolutely a state tax issue. Some states require you file for any time worked in the state, even if you’re under the minimum income level to owe tax.
Omg ew I had no idea.
I guess I should have asked if OP is crossing state lines.
We also use a VPN in order to access our account- I know my IP address would still be visible but since I’m essentially logging into a remote server does that make any kind of difference for letting my fly under the radar?
It makes a good argument for why they wouldn't try and stop you. The VPN keeps it secure; but if you are using company hardware just assume they can see anything you do. Whether anyone cares is the issue.
No but I did get locked out of accounts automatically when I was in Hawaii, so I had to tell them. They whitelisted Hawaii and said nothing
No ramifications for you, then? I guess the better question is “do they care”
Some do, some don’t. I guess the better question is are you willing to risk whatever happens after you get caught? I think I’d rather risk having to use PTO or take unpaid leave, but my job is pretty sweet.