Latest news with #workFromHome
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Scientist with ‘debilitating' condition alleges discrimination by not being allowed work from home
A scientist living with 'debilitating' endometriosis has accused international medical devices firm Abbott of discriminating against her by refusing to let her work from home to ease a daily commute of nearly four hours. The worker, who has over a decade of industry experience and advanced postgraduate qualifications, told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Tuesday she was given ten minutes to pick up her things and get off an Abbott site last autumn after being told she failed her probation. She said she was reduced to 'crying all the way back' in a colleague's arms during the drive home. Abbott Ireland Ltd is denying complaints of disability discrimination and discriminatory dismissal under the Employment Equality Act 1998 by the worker, Ms X, who has been afforded anonymity by the WRC. READ MORE Ms X was hired by Abbott in spring 2024 and spent just short of six months working in an office at an Abbott site in a county town analysing test data, but was deemed to have failed her probation and was let go that autumn, the tribunal heard. The company's representative, Fiona Egan of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (Ibec), submitted that Ms X failed her probation for 'conduct and performance' following a number of instances of lateness and uncertified absences from work. It had 'nothing to do with her condition', she said. Shaun Boylan BL, appearing for Ms X instructed by Sean Ormonde & Co Solicitors, said the firm's policy of refusing to allow probationary employees to work from home was 'implicitly discriminatory' against his client, as it put accommodations for her disability 'on hold for six months'. Ms X said she had been diagnosed with stage two endometriosis in 2022, a condition affecting the female reproductive organs. She said it causes her 'debilitating pain', accompanied by 'nausea, fainting and dizziness' which was at its worst during the 7-8 days of her period and required prescription-only codeine and opiate painkillers to manage. The daily drive from Ms X's home to the Abbott site was 'coming up on a four-hour commute to work every day', adjudication officer Brian Dolan remarked during the hearing on Tuesday. Ms X said she thought at first she should 'just endure' the commute. Her evidence was that she was 'promised in the interview that it would be a hybrid role' and that she had turned down roles elsewhere with a five-day-a-week on-site commitment because of that. Ms X said her immediate team consisted of six or seven colleagues, but 'nobody' was in office five days a week, and 'most' were working from home. On a date six weeks after she started, a 'very sudden' departmentwide meeting was called, at which she said a senior manager declared 'there would be no more work from home possible' at the site, barring the 'possibility' of one day a week. Ms X said she was in 'excruciating pain' that day and found the message 'difficult to take'. She told the commission she went straight to her team leader 'in visible distress, with tears in my eyes' and proceeded to tell him she had endometriosis. She said her team leader was 'empathetic' and 'supportive' at that stage and gave her an assurance that a 'one week in, one week out' work from home arrangement would be possible – but only once her probation was finished. Making it in for an on-site team meeting at 9.30am meant setting out from home at 6.30am or 6.45am, Ms X said. Over seven weeks before a probationary caution letter being issued in her final weeks on the job, Ms X was late eight times and absent without a medical cert on three occasions, leading to an occupational health referral. She said a senior manager later told her: 'The company cannot offer more than one day work from home past your probation,' and urged her to find somewhere to live closer to the site. The probation review continued into the following month, and concluded when her team leader called her into a conference room and read out a letter stating that her employment was being terminated, she said. The only reason stated was: 'Your standard of performance has not met company expectations.' 'I asked why. [My team leader] said: 'Everything is in the letter,'' Ms X said. After saying she could not continue with the meeting a company HR officer told her an outstanding pay matter could be handled by email and gave her 'ten minutes to leave, to grab [my] stuff and leave the premises'. 'Everyone was crying in the car,' she said. 'I hugged my colleague, in the car, and kept crying all the way back to Dublin,' she added. The adjudicator, Mr Dolan, told Ms X he had the power to order her reinstatement as a remedy under the equality legislation if she was successful in the case. Ms X replied: 'I'd probably never come back to Abbott.' The case has been adjourned to a later date, when three company witnesses, including Ms X's team leader and the senior manager are due to give evidence.
Times
13 hours ago
- Business
- Times
Should workers who don't come into the office have their pay cut?
The UK was named the working-from-home capital of Europe last week, with university graduates revealed to work 1.8 days a week from home on average. We're nearly world-beaters too, with only employees in Canada found in the office less, averaging 1.9 days at home. Worldwide, the average is 1.3 days, according to the Global Survey of Working Arrangements, a poll of 16,000 full-time university-educated workers across 40 countries. However, the winds could be changing, with companies such as HSBC threatening to cut pay packages if workers don't come into the office more. But are they right to do this? Oliver Chapman, the chief executive of OCI, a supply chain company As a company, we pride ourselves on transparency, performance and long-term value. That's why I believe it's time we address the widening gap between in-office and remote work and change the pay structures that have failed to adapt. I'm not here to say remote work doesn't have its place. It does. During the pandemic, it kept businesses alive and people safe. But we are no longer in crisis mode. What we face now is a choice between what's convenient and what drives collaboration, innovation and growth. When employees choose to work remotely full-time, often from locations with a significantly lower cost of living, they are making a lifestyle decision. That decision has real economic implications. Yet in many cases, their salaries remain tied to cities they've left behind, often London, where pay reflects not just talent but living expenses, access and availability. If you're living in Cornwall instead of Canary Wharf, but drawing the same salary, we have to ask: is that fair to the company or to colleagues showing up in person every day? In-office work brings tangible benefits. It facilitates mentorship, spontaneous problem-solving and stronger team dynamics. It builds culture. These aren't just perks — they drive productivity. The people commuting daily, navigating the rising costs of transport, lunch and childcare, are investing in the business in ways remote workers simply are not. Compensation must reflect contribution — real, measurable, and holistic. If a role no longer requires city-based presence, great, we're flexible. But flexibility works both ways. Geographic-based pay is not about punishment. It's about equity. If you choose not to be where the work most needs you, that should be factored into how you're compensated. Some will call this regressive. I call it responsible. Businesses need to adapt to a post-pandemic reality, yes, that's true, but that means balancing flexibility with fairness, and performance with presence. Remote work isn't going away, nor should it. But it should evolve. And part of that evolution includes acknowledging that when you change where and how you work, it might also change what you're paid. That's not exploitation. That's economics. • Read more money advice and tips on investing from our experts Gemma Dale, a former HR director and senior lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University No, workers who don't return to the office shouldn't have their pay cut. Firstly, there are the legal issues. Any unilateral pay cut to a contractual salary is likely to result in a wave of claims from workers for unlawful deductions from wages, or breach of potential legal issues aside, it is still a very bad idea. Organisations need productive, engaged, healthy employees. Remote and hybrid work can help to deliver this. We learnt during the pandemic that a great deal of work can be successfully undertaken remotely. Employees want to retain that flexibility — and who can blame them? Remote work is good for wellbeing, work-life balance and inclusion, helps people manage caring and domestic responsibilities, provides them with time for family, friends and exercise, and saves money. In contrast, commuting can be expensive, stressful and, if you add in public transport, unreliable. When you get there, many offices aren't conducive to deep work, and, spoiler alert, watercooler conversations don't magically spark innovation. There is a growing body of evidence, which the debate too often ignores, that shows that workers are just as productive working at home than they are in the office. In fact, it has been found that people work harder and longer from home. • Bosses shouldn't discipline staff for working from home, judge rules Forcing people back to the office unnecessarily, even without a pay cut, runs the risks of talent attrition, disengagement and difficulties attracting the best people. Cutting workers' pay if they don't fulfil an attendance requirement, especially if they are performing well, is the very opposite of trust and motivation. It's also poor people management. Good managers focus on outputs and outcomes, not performative presence. People are paid a salary to undertake a role; what should matter most is how they do it and what they contribute. Cutting pay for employees working remotely conflates presence with performance. It's about lack of trust. Underneath lies an assumption that if people work from home they might skive or spend all day watching Homes Under the Hammer. There is no need to penalise people for wanting to work in a way that is practical, suits their family and supports their wellbeing. Flexible work is now an employee expectation, not a nice to have. The office still has a place, but when we empower people to choose how they work, everyone wins.
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
Better Business Bureau warns of rising employment scams in Atlantic Canada
As many students dust off their resumes and begin searching for summer jobs or their first career positions, the Better Business Bureau in Atlantic Canada is warning them about a rise in employment scams. A 2024 risk report by the Better Business Bureau found that employment scams are the second riskiest in Canada, with a median dollar loss of $2,500. Employment scams are riskiest for people aged 18 to 44. 'Many of the employment scam victims were seeking work-from-home opportunities,' said Julia Lewis, CEO of the Better Business Bureau in Atlantic Canada, in a news release. 'As people search for flexible employment options, they need to keep in mind that not all the jobs being posted are legitimate, and remember to do their research before submitting resumes with all their personal information.' The Better Business Bureau says some employment scammers will send fake cheques with extra funds in the hope the victims will deposit the cheques and send back the excess amount before realizing the cheque has bounced. To guard against scams, the Better Business Bureau recommends: doing research on the company and the job before applying getting all details and contracts in writing not rushing into accepting job offers not providing social insurance numbers, direct deposit banking information or any private information as part of the application process More to come…
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘There is no doubt': CEO makes bold WFH claim, sparking big debate
An Aussie boss has revealed the big problem with working from home after an American CEO claimed remote work would have stopped her from becoming such an success. The working from home debate certainly isn't one that will be settled anytime soon, and American CEO Emma Grede has just stirred the pot all over again. Ms Grede appeared on the podcast Diary of a CEO and claimed that if she'd been WFH in her twenties, she'd never have achieved such success. 'If I had been a work from home person in my twenties I would not be where I am today. There is no doubt,' she said. The 42-year-old is the mastermind behind Khloe Kardashian's denim brand Good American, and she co-founded Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand Skims. Skims has been valued at over $4 billion and Good American has been valued at over $3 billion. It's a big statement, but Australian boss Jessy Marshall, 36, founder of the PR agency Hive HQ, can't help but agree. Ms Marshall said that working from home can hold back people's careers 'depending on the role', and this is something she is hyperaware of. 'If you are taking my role as a publicist as an example, we work with many Australian start-ups and us being together as a team in the office is where we get our energy, our creativity, and how we best execute,' she told 'Our job is entirely about execution. If we were doing this from home, we would have no vibe, no hustle and we wouldn't be achieving the results we are.' The 36-year-old doesn't doubt she'd have succeeded if she had worked from home in her twenties, but she doesn't think it would have been on the same scale. 'Maybe because of my personality, I would have been driven enough to get here anyway, but learning on the job fast-tracked my ability and success,' she said. 'You have to learn and fail and learn again; you simply cannot do that as sufficiently by yourself at home. Seeing examples from good and bad bosses helps build your career and your skills.' Ms Marshall's opinion echoes Ms Grede's who spoke at length on the podcast about the downsides of flexibility. The CEO explained that, since the pandemic, her staff has worked only four days in the office and one day from home. Ms Grede said people talk a lot about flexibility but don't talk about what WFH 'takes away from work' and how Zoom life has impacted businesses. 'I met my husband at work, I made my best strongest relationships in my life. (They are) the most important things to me and they're the foundation of my happiness,' she said. Ms Grede finds it 'interesting now' that there's an aversion to working from the office, saying young people are missing out as a result. 'It is so interesting to me because I'm like an in-person person. I want to be with people, I want to collaborate. I want to do things quickly and the culture of work right now makes that so hard,' she said. Ms Grede believes rise of fully-remote jobs is making it harder for young people to learn from seniors at work, which is something she finds that disappointing. 'All of that is lost,' she said. 'I feel a little bit sad for the way that we're working right now because I don't think we're having that exchange of what happens when you're in a really dynamic environment and you're able to learn from people around you.' The CEO's working from home opinion immediately divided workers, with plenty quick to disagree. 'Maybe not everyone wants to be a CEO. Some people want to work to live not live to work,' one argued. 'I would never work in an office again,' another said. 'Interesting perspective! It's important to evaluate how working from home impacts long-term career growth and success,' someone else said. 'Remember half of us are introverts who prefer to be home. We're just as valuable. I also don't want to spend hours of my precious life commuting,' one said. 'Life is not just work,' someone wrote. 'WFH is overrated,' another declared. Someone else argued that some workers get more done working from home, but another said that when she worked WFH, it was the 'loneliest' she'd ever been. Recruitment expert Roxanne Calder said bosses are 'spot on' if they say working from home is holding back young people's careers. 'When you are starting out in your career you need to be around people to learn,' she told 'If you're not among people then you can't learn as quickly. It is critical in that career stage.' Ms Calder said it is invaluable to be able to turn to your co-worker and ask a question or even observe their habits and learn from them, and this isn't happening over Zoom. The recruitment expert said that, despite the 'pushback' and the clear benefits of working from the office, workers don't want to come back. 'I find a lot of people don't want to come into the office still, despite the pushback that has been evident now for 18 months,' she said. Ms Calder said that workers know that 'learning is better in the office', but they'd rather have flexibility over career growth. 'The advice I'd give to anyone in their twenties or in your thirties is definitely to be in the office; it is important for career building,' she said. 'It is relationships that get you places and people seeing you do things.'
The Verge
6 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Insta360's face-tracking Link webcams have hit their lowest prices yet
If you're looking to upgrade your work-from-home setup, the Insta360 Link and Link 2 are gimbal-equipped 4K webcams packed with features to improve how you present in video calls. Now through June 8th, both are down to all-time low prices, with the original Link selling for $149.99 (originally $299.99, but typically priced at $179.99) and the Link 2 on sale for $169.99 ($30 off) at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon. Each of these 4K/30fps cameras stand out thanks to having a 0.5-inch Sony sensor that's mounted on a motorized, three-axis gimbal. This can help to keep you centered in the frame as you move around the room, while also letting you capture content from multiple angles with its useful software features, if you so choose. Their AI-powered framing tool, for example, can automatically zoom in on your head, upper body, or full body, depending on your distance from the webcam. They can also tilt slightly downward with the DeskView mode to highlight what's on your desk, or tilt straight down for overhead mode. The whiteboard mode uses special stickers to identify (and remain locked on) to a whiteboard, making it perfect for presentations. The aforementioned features are present in all Link webcams. However, the smaller, newer Link 2 model adds a couple of new upgrades, like a magnetic mount, more hand gesture controls, and group tracking to keep multiple presenters in the frame (the first-gen Link can only focus on one person at a time). Users can also now designate no-follow zones where the camera won't track movement. Insta360 Link $150$30050% off The Link is a premium-level webcam that offers a gimbal, impressive software, and great value. $150 at Amazon (with on-page coupon) Insta360 Link 2 $170$20015% off The Insta360 Link 2 offers the same auto-swiveling design as its predecessor, but is now smaller with new features like group tracking and no-follow zones. $170 at Amazon (with on-page coupon) More deals worth a look The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus with 256GB of storage is on sale in select colors for $749.99 ($150 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, which is its best price to date. The S25 Plus features a 6.7-inch 120Hz display, which is larger and sharper than the standard model's, plus it has a bigger battery that lasts all day. It's otherwise similar to the S25, offering a robust IP68 dust and water resistance, a good camera system, and seven years of software updates. Read our review. You can grab a five-pack of Anker's USB-C to USB-C cables for $12.99 ($5 off) at Amazon, matching their all-time low price. Each six-foot cable supports up to 60W fast charging, making them great for powering phones, tablets, some laptops, and other USB-C devices, like the Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam Deck. They also feature a durable, tangle-resistant nylon-braided design that should be able to withstand everyday wear and tear better than your standard cable. The M4-powered Mac Mini is on sale starting at $488.63 ($111 off) at Amazon, which is an all-time low price on the desktop computer. Despite being smaller than its predecessor, it's more powerful and includes 16GB of RAM by default. It now supports up to three displays – up from two – and offers a solid port selection that still includes 3.5mm audio jack. So long as you don't mind supplying your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse, it's a great value at this price.
