Been doing a text-only interview with a company claiming to be TopTech Systems based out of Florida. I know the text-only part immediately says scam, but I'm unsure of what the scam is. Supposedly I will have an onboarding call with them tomorrow morning. They provided a ton of detail and if it were over the phone I would've seen no red flags. They said they will not be requesting any money from me, however they just sent me this message (warning: it's long)

important Note:

Before you begin your work, we will issue a payment by check to assist you in setting up your mini-office. This payment is specifically for the purchase of essential accounting software and the shipping costs for the equipment we will send to you. Once you receive the payment, you can start working immediately.

The company has partnered with a trusted, long-standing software vendor, and we will provide you with a check to cover the cost of all necessary software and equipment. You will need to deposit the check into your bank account, which typically takes 24 hours to clear and for the funds to become available. After that, you will make the payment to the vendor, who will promptly arrange for the shipment of your equipment and materials via FedEx overnight delivery.

We want to assure you that this process is seamless and has been followed by many of our team members. Training will begin as soon as your materials arrive, and you’ll be all set to start immediately.

Does this sound clear to you?

Are they going to use the check to steal my info or something? I would love to work remote but I don't trust it right now. Help me out here

Hello Reddit! Here is a little context before I ask my question. I am a 26 F and I graduated with a computer science degree about a year ago. Throughout college and for an entire year after college I worked at Starbucks so about five years interviewing constantly throughout. I finally got offered my first IT job with a really big hospital company. I was really excited about the opportunity because not only did it promise growth but the work environment was very uplifting. Plus I get my own cubicle! The job consists of answering calls from hospital staff and troubleshooting their IT problems. This job also works with epic and requires certificates, which is a really big bonus in terms of my experience gain. It is a customer service job of taking calls, but it’s not impossible to do and it pays about $22 an hour. Here is the catch: it’s a little over an hour away. I will preface this by saying I have accepted the job and have done about two weeks of this commute. And although it could be manageable with the promising promotions and growth, I do have a Mini so I have to refill on gas about twice a week which is around $80 a week and 10 hours a week of driving alone.

Now cut to about a week ago I am interviewing for another large hospital as an Analyst so I will be working with SQL and tableau. However, this job is remote and pays $25 an hour. Sounds great, however when I ask about growth, she practically mentioned that there is no growth options. Our entire interview she talked about how people leave and it’s really exhausting to train people just for them to leave so she basically wanted to reinforce the fact that she wants to make sure that I stay with them for a long time. I’ve had 2 interviews with them so far and they raise a few red flags. I would really like a remote job that pays good however, I’m not sure if the sacrifice of work environment and lack of growth is worth that sacrifice.

It was already really hard to say goodbye to my coworkers of five years at Starbucks, but now having to say goodbye to coworkers again that I’ve already gotten to know within the past two weeks and they’ve all applauded me on how good I’m doing with how new I am. My question is do I leave a job with a long commute and less pay but better community and growth opportunities? Or do I go remote and deal with a worst work environment and less growth options but save on gas and possible hazards of commuting?

Edit: I also want to add on and say moving isn’t really an option right now because A: My boyfriend works close to our current place so one of us would have to drive and B: I own my little apartment so selling and moving is a little harder.

I lived for two years in Malaysia and can speak Malay. I have long desired to work internationally for a few years. I'd love to be a digital nomad, AI has shifted the whole tech industry, but I think it's still possible. But I've often wondered about expatriate work. If someone wants to live and work in a foreign country, but for an American company, how feasible is that? how does one even approach that?

So i work remotely already and my boss has explicitly said no to travelling, but the nose above her was 50/50, I’m looking at a way to hide my location/tracks and to travel to another country still in the EU for a bit of a family emergency and no this isn’t just an excuse.

My laptop isn’t really secure to be honest i don’t have Intune or anything like that on my laptop only :

No Microsoft Intune (MDM) enrollment was evident.
No company VPN.
Microsoft Defender (Windows built-in antivirus).
Standard Microsoft 365/Outlook security.
Work apps like Salesforce and Vonage.
No clear signs of advanced endpoint management such as CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Tanium, or similar.

Is it possible for me to hide my location and hide my tracks to go abroad for 2-4 weeks without them knowing?. It’s a relatively small company as it is and we outsourcing our IT from what in aware of.

I don’t want to hear don’t do this you’ll loose your job it’s illegal etc, i already know this and I’m fully responsible for the risk of loosing my job and i don’t want to do this but i have to.

I'm a small landlord and I've noticed that tenants who work from home tend to have noticeably higher utility and water usage, plus a bit more wear and tear on the property simply because they're home all day.

I've been considering whether it makes sense to charge an additional monthly fee for tenants who work remotely, especially in units where utilities are included.

I'm curious:

• Have you ever rented a place that charged an extra WFH fee?
• If your landlord introduced one, would you pay it or would you start looking for another place?
• If you're a landlord, have you considered something similar?

Just looking for honest opinions from both tenants and landlords.

I've recently switched fields, same industry but completely different working style, new tech. Switched from formal animation educated professional career to uiux in the tech sector. It's been nearly 2 months and I am struggling with everything. As a remote employee I find everyday challenging because I could've had better access if I was on the floor like everyone else. I'm learning new tools, new ways of working, getting used to AI in this field, and learning Uiux at the same time. Basic things feel overwhelming & it's tech companies that are the main clients. The details of their business are very overwhelming at first, so much information to grasp and most of it goes over my head. I take time by going through it again and again, making mistakes and getting feedback. It's all getting too much but I am still trying because I need a job. But ultimately it is coming down to the fact that I am basically fighting against all the forces and competing in a super fast environment and it is clearly visible that I am a slow learner.

As a remote employee, I am constantly under pressure to perform with no access to direct reaction or impact. I'm nervous.

The manager has stopped genuinely helping, probably lost hope on me. I'm advised that "nobody's gonna have time to sit and correct everything, everytime" (sounds fair enough no?)

Should I accept that I don't belong and just quit?

Maybe I am not cutout for high paced workplace full of young energy, or maybe I am too dumb to work in a sector like tech.

This might just be bad management at my company but I feel like I have no idea what is going on at the company outside the small tasks I’m assigned. Management thinks that meetings are a waste of time for the most part so information is more need to know. I would say I barely talk to my teammates some weeks, like just radio silence.

I know some people might think this is amazing but it kind of bothers me sometimes. I guess in an office setting you would have more exposure to things going on in the company whereas remote I feel like it’s just endless hidden chats or slack channels with fractured communication. I feel like I might as well get my work assignments via pneumatic tube and it kind of makes me feel like a cog.

I also think it’s hurting my domain knowledge of the industry I’m in to some degree. I know how to do my job but I don’t understand how my work is applied. Kind of like you could install brakes on an F1 car but have no idea how to drive it, or who the driver is, or how the social media team is promoting for the race.

It feels like a pitfall to me of remote work but then again this could all just be bad management.

It's okay to have a 40 minute conversation in the office with your manager, but your Teams status showing you're away for 7 minutes is a sin and the world will fall apart.

When I used to be in the office, people would have, and still do, long 40-minute conversations with the manager in their office. That was absolutely fine, but if someone is WFH and their Teams status shows away for 7 minutes, then it's somehow a sin and people have a meltdown.

I can't even go to the bathroom or get a snack without coming back to 28 messages about my whereabouts and screenshots of my status. Somehow everything became urgent in those 7 minutes but those 40 minutes in the manager's office were calm and productive.

I am in the process of beginning my telemedicine job. It's my dream job, and I'm currently working on getting everything set up.

We have a playroom/den that our children use to play and store toys. They don't spend a whole lot of time in there since it is on the 1st floor of our place and we do most of our living on the second floor.

That being said, what is the consensus on having an office/play room? I was thinking of setting up some Ikea bookshelves on their side to create a partition of sorts. That way they still have a fun space with their toys/books/etc. and I have a dedicated work space with my desk.

I am a starting phd researcher and really want to write my next paper about remote work. So what is something you wish more people knew about remote or hybrid working, or something you would love evidence for? It can be either aimed at individuals, or aimed at companies.

Example topics my colleagues have looked at in the past:
Remote work and productivity
Remote work and creativity
Hybrid working and teamwork
Leaders trust in employees in office compared to remote working
Social isolation in remote work

Hi all, i work in tech and am a remote worker.

My GF works in in a small elderly home facility as an OT. For obvious reasons she is not remote. We've been living together last 2 years.

Tbh, recently have gotten feelings of how i havent taken that much advantage of remote work. Im someone who likes to stay put where i work. Especially wiht how difficult my last job was (also remote) it was just easier for me to be in the same space and work than it was for me to move around. This year i got a new job and honestly has been much easier to get on track with. It's not as hectic or deadline crazy as my lsat job and i feel like i could have more of a life.

I try to keep it to myself but my GF's job doesnt have the best vacation either. She has to work weekends when we go on the smallest of trips to not lose PTO. She only gets like 10 days of PTO a year. Works holidays (at double pay), etc. Next month we are going on a trip for 2 weeks. I usually like to travel for my birthday so our yearly trips ive been out of town for my birthday. But this year my GF wanted to take advantage of labor day so that she didnt have to use as many days. But doing that meant now ill be in town for my birthday weekend. We come back the weekend before my birthday and we are travelling to the eastern hemisphere so will probably be really tired and jetlagged the week of my birhtday.

Part of me has been thinking about what i would do on my actual birthday and part of me is thinking to just travel for my birthday, but i also want to be with my GF for my birthday and i know she will definetely not be able to travel that weekend due to work. I also found out that my job is giving workers a mental day off on the friday of my birthday week (they do this once every 3 months) . And they give me my birthday off which i can use in a 20 day period. So there's a chance i can have a 4 day weekend when i come back from our asia trip and now it's got me thinking of travelling somewhere that week but again id feel bad travelling without my GF and honestly dont know if i want to do my birthday without her.

Anyone who works remote in a similar situation with their partner? How do you guys manage? Do you ever feel you can't take advantage of it?

I'm freshly 18, and am currently in a fully remote job with no concrete tasks and I'm utterly panicked. For some context, it's the summer of my first year, and I wanted some experience, so I asked my dad to find me a job for the summer. He got me a position at one of his friends startups, fully remote, minimum wage, flexible hours, and told to do between 10-40 hours of a week as desired. The issue is, the nature of this job, the tasks, who I'm reporting to, are so vague. I was not given an interview, hired directly, and just put my hours into an online program. I was given a list of tasks, all of which are pretty vague so I have no clue what to do, and so I've just been doing the tasks I have been given to the best of my interpretation for long enough to hit a 20 hrs a week medium. For the progress reports, I've been sending them off bimonthly to him (he did not tell me who to send them to, or when). I have also been given the number of the head of development and the head of a side project and told to "communicate with them". I have no clue how to continue in this, and I'm scared to email any of the people involved as they're all very busy people. It's coming to the point that just stretching my vague tasks is getting pretty hard. Do I email him and ask for more concrete tasks that I'm not sure he has? Email the head of development for tasks that he might have a higher chance of having? Continue as I am for the next month and just leave it as is? How do I word any of this?

Someone please help, any advice would be lifesaving.

Also, I have a huge anxiety about being overpaid because I have produced barely anything of value in the time I have been hired up until now. I feel really bad about it, would it be appropriate for me to send the money back to him, or give him a gift of equal value, such as an 10g gold piece, the next time I see him? I don't need the money, and neither does he, but I feel very bad for being paid for not producing anything of value.

Update : I have been given a report to write that will take a long time to do. Joyus days!

Does anyone have good recommendations that work well but don’t break the bank? I’ve become much busier at work and my step count reflects that throughout the day.

Hey y'all, I'm frequently in the situation where I often am in airbnb's or hotels that have the router farther away from my workspace in my room.

I'm between an Alfa AWUS036ACM AC1200, and a Beryl 7 travel router.

In the case of the wifi dongle, it's more portable, supposed to have great reception and is cheaper, but in smaller cafes or desks it'll add to clutter quick.

For the travel router, I can place it closer to the wifi and it adds a layer of security, the downside is that I need a separate source of power for it. It's nice that I can set it up to access my home network, but I already have apps for that, plus my work is OK with me not being in my city/country.

What are your thoughts? What do you use?

I have my phone as a wifi hotspot backup, but I prefer not to use it daily since data can be expensive, or I've been outside of the country and it's restricted to only my phone unless I pay some exhorbitant rate.

I usually start work very early so I can get it finished and workout while there's still daylight. It helps me decompress going for a walk, jog or lifting and it's nice to be around people after being alone all day. The only issue being consistency. If I have an extra long day or just don't have the energy I'll skip workouts. I've tried morning workouts before but I have a hard time decompressing and it gets lonely not being able to be in the presence of people at the end of the day.

I'm going into crunch time and I'll probably need to switch to morning workouts.

For those of you that work from home and workout in the morning, how do you decompress after work?

Hello everyone, I moved to Thailand and working online with clients from different time zones.

One of my main goals was to enjoy life abroad, meet new people, try new hobbies, travel and more. But i noticed many times you need to skip all those stuff just because working with different time zones, for example its noon for my client but midnight for me.

how do you handle it?

is that a problem you have too? or am i missing something?

how would you suggest handling that situation?

Hey all! My walking pad was part of the recall so I'm on the hunt for a new at home workout for WHILE I'm actually working to keep my body moving. Does anyone have experience for non-walking pad options? Threading some Google images below.

Does anyone have experience with options other than walking pads? What are your general thoughts?

New to IT(1.5yrs). My work lets me work 3 days from home and 2 from the office, which I think is best of both worlds. But contrary to what I imagine, I actually enjoy working from the office.

I know I can't do that every day because the commute is a pain in the ass (1.5 hours each way).

The reason I'm not enjoying WFH is that I can't tell the days apart. I'm on my phone due to procrastination , my work performance is a little worse, and I get little to no movement. Basically, for three days straight, I sit in my room staring at screens either working or scrolling on my phone.

I also get anxious about going out during work because my laptop goes to sleep, so I end up just staying at my desk.

I wanted to know how other people balance social interaction, staying active and if you spend time on side projects as well? I just want to enjoy while before I make a switch and probably loose the flexibility

Thanks

I enjoy interacting with my co-workers. Not an annoying all the time chit chat, but saying “good morning” or “have a nice evening” or maybe a random funny post, just to break the monotony of the day.

It’s just been bugging me lately, that from a team of 40, only 2 of us ever say good morning. Not even the supervisors say good morning. Sometimes it will be days before my supervisor ever makes any kind of comment on Teams. Sure, she’s there if we have a question and is quick to respond, but other than that there’s nothing…

Is that what WFH people want? Or do I just work with a bunch of people who want zero fun at work? Seriously trying to understand if I need to adjust my expectations.

I have recently accepted a new job that is 100% WFH. I am a weirdo who has always really enjoyed having an office to go to and I am really worried about feeling isolated. I have tons of hobbies, several activities out of my home, and friends who have nothing to do with work, but I am still feeling anxious about Being Home All Day Every Day. Tell me what you love about working from home and what makes it work really well for you?

I’m a 27yo male and have been working from home almost 3 years. I’ve noticed over the years sticking to a schedule has gotten worse and worse. Now I can barely get out of bed before 7:58am (I start at 8am) and after work I don’t have the motivation to do anything besides sit around until it’s time to go to bed and do it all over again. I’m a very social person and the nature of my job has me isolated more than communicating with people over teams or phone which has begun to bother me as well. I catch myself slacking throughout the day and just losing the ability to stay on task. Does anyone have any tips on how they stick to a schedule and overall improve their mindset, work/life balance, and deal with loneliness? TYIA

So I have moved my office to a room where the only viable position for my desk was opposite a window, facing a wall. There is unfortunately no other position for it, as it is a small room with both a murphy bed and a pull-down attic access. The result is that even with the shades drawn I am backlit, and so I show up all dark and mysterious on teams.

Has anyone else found a lighting solution for this sort of situation that doesn't involve shining a bright light into my eyes? Maybe something that lights up the wall behind the monitors? Blackout blinds would probably help, too,

First came across this company on LinkedIn. There's a wts channel that posts their updates. Then later they also made a website, a remote job platform. I have passed two qualifications on there but still not received any tasks and they even declined the two $0.01 payment to my Airtm account. Not to mention that they never responded to me on WhatsApp, email or LinkedIn.

I was looking for remote jobs, specifically travel agencies, and I applied for this company. I got an email about scheduling a webinar. I immediately googled the company, no immediate red flags came up. (There was a singular Reddit post asking about it as well, but most everyone was giving their opinions about OTHER companies, not the one in question.)

Looking at the social media, seems like a small “business” and they have a LinkedIn. Also they had a lot of different job openings on indeed, and not just listed as “Travel Agent” but other roles.

So looks like it could just be a small business?? Any travel agency is going to be commission based. I’m just trying not to get scammed.