delinkventen

My girlfriend is being sent to India for a few weeks for work, and I was hoping to go with her. I would love to be able to work remotely for one week (and take the rest as PTO), but my manager has a strict view on remote work. I work as a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it seems that many other companies out here have a much laxer view on this.

Just curious. Are you allowed to work remotely for a week or two, where do you live and what line of work are you in?

jerry305

I wouldn't expect employees to work very efficiently from a remote location that is a trip to the other side of the world.

If I'm spending a few weeks in India, I'll be jetlagged and I sure won't care about work as much as I would back home.

You might lose some capital with your boss trying to get approval for this if you can't telecommute when you're within the same time zone.

sent

I can't pay the bills unless my feet are on the ground and my fingers are in someone's mouth dealing with their teeth issues. My brother sometimes has RW opportunities in your field and in your location and I day dream about what that must be like. He must work for one of your more flexible neighbor companies.

However, I would like to someday be able to pay the bills by traveling to have others pay me to teach them about teeth issues. That's when I would get to be remote in my profession. That chance for travel someday is why I stick around here.

rayikes

We are allowed to work remotely at my job, however working abroad for any period of time is forbidden. I assume tax liabilities and insurance play a role, but I've never asked. I agree with previous post, the time zone could wreck havoc on your productivity. Maybe if you have a team or contractors in India, you could arrange a site visit for a couple days or a week? That might work... I wouldn't count on it but worth a shot.

(Sorry about friend request, using my mobile)

ArizonaGuy

Domestically, my managers have never cared. I'm supposed to be in my local area to work but frankly I never go into the offices here. So whether I'm here or in a hotel or cabin in the woods - as long as I've got some decent broadband connection and a phone signal I'm fine. We're spread all over the country. Previously we were mostly in SFO, SMF, PHX, MSP and a small MKE contingent along with a few other individual scatterings. Now we're also in CLT, DFW, RIC, PDX and other places I'm certain I've left out.

Internationally - I know I'm not permitted to take the company laptop or phone abroad. No idea what they do for the ones who occasionally travel to HYD, HKG or LHR. I've never had the pleasure of doing so for work. I assume clean, internationally configured systems are given to those individuals for the duration of their trips.

camjr

When I'm not on the road (weekly for at least 2-3 nights each week since mid-June), I will still go into my office just because of the distractions at home. I could work from home and my company doesn't discourage it -- really, it's my choice.

powerlifter

My home is my office. I have worked in most of Europe, The old Soviet Block Countries as well as the Middle East. The only problem is time difference. You also need a good internet connection. So if a call to the office is needed you have to account for the time difference.
This is were Skype comes in. You can call and talk for free on Skype.^
You just have to make sure that you set up a time to call before hand, so anybody that needs to be there is ready for the call. You may have to be up working a little longer, but I find it is easier to work late when away from home.

Often1

Unless there are local tax issues (which sometimes arise) and as long as you are responsible for all additional costs (broadband, phone, security), it's fine.

I would submit a plan which answers the objections before they are made, covering:

1. Will work x hours/day and take the balance unpaid.
2. Quality will not suffer
3. Will make self available on local work time for calls & collaboration.
4. There are no tax issues (check this out carefully, don't want a tax bill from foreign country).
5. Will provide broadband & high-quality phone just as if at desk. No cost to employer.
6. Will take adequate security measures.

If manager has misgivings, ask him to try it so you can prove it to him.

Maigret

Most of my work is client and project facing, so working rmotely can be difficult, but sometimes necessary (for a while I had two major projects ongoing in HKG and Chicago)

We do however have software engineers who work for us (as employees) who work remotely - one in the South of France and one who appears to be touring the world - currently in Bangkok. Our only stipulation is that they are contactable during the working hours of either our UK or German offices (our coporate offices) for core product or R&D development or of the hours of the project they are supporting (if they are assigned to one project). This has been the case for the last 2-3 years and we've never had a problem

I'm not sure but I believe we require them to be domiciled in the UK for tax purposes, but I could be wrong.

We did have one of our SW guys working remotely for a couple of months in South Africa whilst his mother was ill. Again limited time zone issues.

Sadly, we'd probably look less favourably on you just going for a week's holiday followed by prolonged travelling. In our organisation we draw distinct lines between what are perceived as holidays and work....except when needs must

FLgrr

Does your company let people work remotely when in the US? How will you handle the time zone difference of around 12 hours? If you have a noon PT meeting, are you working at around midnight/ 1 am India time?

Other questions
- how are you going to make those phone calls?
- how can your company reach you? Time zone issues again maybe. You don't want a call when the two of you are asleep.
- what is Internet service like where u r staying? A major hotel chain or someone's house?

Some jobs, like DR, she salesman, construction worker require you on site at specific times. Project managers, IT, software people COULD work remote if the culture allows for it and the distance does not interfere and the cost is not more than you want to spend.

LTBoston

90% of my company is virtual. If I am not at a client site no one cares where I work from, as long as I meet my deadlines and am available via phone and email.

MR_MAMA

We have worked remotely for 15 years. I see my boss once a year we can live anywhere in the US as long as we have access to cell phone, email and internet and a major US airport.

Paint Horse

Except for being in a classroom to teach the class, all of my work is from home. I am much more productive that way.

wrp96

I'm setup to work remotely (for times when things like weather or illness prevent me from getting in), but the preference is definitely to be in the office - because a large portion of my job involves sharing information with others in my company, usually in paper form. Wanting to travel for personal reasons but not take vacation time would not be considered a reasonable use of this resource.

KoKoBuddy

Some projects I never even meet my clients face to face. It's great. I work from home. No commute, no office politics BS. No birthday cake in the breakroom nonesense.

Unless you need to physically touch something/someone as part of your job (doctor, plumber, assembly line worker, etc) any job today can be done remotely. It will happen eventually on a massive scale.