Work from home question

[bwin12]

My wife and I have decided to move halfway across the country to be closer to family. The consulting frim I work for is allowing me to work fully remote. Myself, and my employer are not familiar with this process, but I assume readers of this forum are either managing people doing this or have done this.

I assume payroll and therefore a workers comp policy needs to be in place for the new state. How complicated (expensive) is that? I believe all my benefits will be fine anywhere in the US. Is there anything else that I need to consider or account for?

Any advise or personal experience is appreciated.

 

[blybrook PE]

Remote work can be done if the paperwork is handled correctly and you get along well with management. I work remotely in AK for a company based in ME, so there is a 4 hour time difference for daily communications; expected delays on responses is normal.

The payroll company (if not in house) and management will need to ensure that the proper workers comp, unemployment taxes, and state taxes (if applicable) are applied to your paycheck for the new residence state. Your company might need to get a business license for the remote location depending on state laws. There might be additional charges from the insurance company for remote locations / satellite offices; or you will be considered out of network in the new location (it is policy dependent). Your company safety manual will need to be updated to account for the remote office location.

You will also want to insure that the new location has a dedicated office space if working from home or a rented desk in a shared office. Not only for your taxes, but for the company taxes. Make sure you have a good internet connection and determine if the company will partially subsidize the cost of the internet / phone / etc. for you to be productive in the new location. Verify with your management the expected work hours, including the time zone changes. I know several remote workers in AK that are required to work on East Coast time, a 4 hour time difference as it is a company requirement, get this in writing!!!

There are probably a few other things that I am forgetting right now, but the above is is a starting point to consider.

We cannot really provide you with the additional costs involved as each state will handle the remote location differently. The policies and requirements for working remotely is constantly changing.

Good luck with the move.

 

[jeb6294]

I would not be terribly upset if they ultimately decide to let us work fully remote. Being gov’t would eliminate a lot of issues someone in the private side might have. I can say, you need to verify your benefits/insurance would still work. Being in Cincinnati, sometimes it’s actually closer to go to a doctors office across the river in Kentucky. We ran into a problem where insurance at one point wouldn’t pay for some office visits because we went to an “out-of-state” doctor. Doctor had offices in Ohio, but the one in N. Ky was more convenient.

One of the reasons they hesitating with going fully remote here is because our pay is partially based on where you work. Do you get paid based on where your office is/was or where you live? I don’t know what they’d do about us. We’ve already talked about becoming nomads if we went remote.

 

[Tiger15]

Tagging @tj_PE
I know they dealt this this

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Verify with your management the expected work hours, including the time zone changes. I know several remote workers in AK that are required to work on East Coast time, a 4 hour time difference as it is a company requirement

A friend of mine works for Humana, and his team is based in Kentucky. He moved to San Diego for his wife's job, and moved to fully remote for Humana. He was required to work/be available on Eastern time while in California. He loved it, though, because he could golf every afternoon since his work day ended at 1 or 2 pm Pacific.

 

[bwin12]

This is what I came here for. Thanks. Keep them coming, lessons learned from people that have done it are awesome.

I had thought of the time zone stuff, but I promptly forgot about it. The office is in MST, I'll be in EST, so I'll have to adjust slightly. We're checking on our benefits, but hope that everything works.

I am lucky, management is behind this because we have a few clients near where I'm moving and we could develop more business out there.

 

[Tiger15]

This hours conversation is interesting to me. I didn't realize that was still a common requirement. I haven't worked anywhere with a fixed start and end time in almost 19 years. My last 3 companies all had flex time, so your start and end time was mostly up to you. I wonder how common that is?

 

[blybrook PE]

Flex time really depends on the company.

My previous employer permitted flex time provided a minimum of 75% of your billable day was during normal business hours (0800-1700) in your primary office state. The flex time was intended to permit doctor appointments or getting kids to/from school; however, it did get abused by some folks and they essentially ruined it for all.

The company I worked for from 2012-2016 had set hours to be available for client coordination. There was no flex time and no remote work permitted. Time off for doc visits had to be preapproved as PTO and weren't allowed to conflict with a regularly scheduled client meeting.

My current company permits me to set my own hours for the most part and provided I get a minimum of 36 hours onto the time card. We do have an internal policy concerning expected working hours being similar to normal business hours for client coordination. Working hours in the field is usually set by the client / site hours, but not typically less than 10 hour days.

 

[bwin12]

I by no means have set hours. I'm in Denver and currently have clients I am working with from Boston to Hawaii. If the phone rings I answer it and add the task to my to-do list. Now, do I foresee a problem when I am in EST and a Hawaiian client wants to have a conversation in their afternoon ... yes. Fires come up and need to be handled accordingly.

I (and probably most importantly my wife) recognize that I'm the one relocating, so I am going to have to take an occasional call in the evening. It's not a big deal. Frankly, I'm looking forward to the 2 hours I will get to spend without distractions from the office.

As for how common, I bet having a specific window is more common than you think. I think its common in smaller/boutique firms, but the companies/municipalities/etc that employ more people are more likely to have a standard. When I worked for the Denver airport and the Denver transit agency there was a standard work hours window to work within.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Yeah, I've seen places that have flex time policies, but you must be "on call" between certain hours (say 10 am to 2 pm Eastern).

My company's flex time is unusually good. As long as your work is getting done and you're answering emails/phone calls directed your way, you can come and go as you please. But I can't be fully remote. Performing inspections of evidence related to insurance claims/lawsuits is part of the job, and it must be done in our secure evidence storage facility.

 

[Tiger15]

The last 3 places that I've worked (2 fed gov contractors and one industrial equipment manufacturer) have all taken a similar approach. There are "core hours" that everyone is supposed to be at work, for example 9am-3pm. But you're allowed to flex your time around those hours. So for example, you could work 6am-3pm or 9am-6pm or anything in between.

All of my jobs have been in manufacturing, so we're not dealing with clients. Maybe it's more common in the manufacturing industry for that reason.

 

[bwin12]

Apparently there are agreements between states pertaining to state taxes, they're called reciprocal agreements. I don't have to deal with it, but its a thing anyone else that's going to work remote needs to research.

 

[snickerd3]

Apparently there are agreements between states pertaining to state taxes, they're called reciprocal agreements. I don't have to deal with it, but its a thing anyone else that's going to work remote needs to research.

that doesn't just apply to remote working. Pain in the ass that is, when the states don't have one.

 

[munyua44]

have good internet connectivity and get to google for very many relevant knowledge available for you. Thank you

 

[steel]

This hours conversation is interesting to me. I didn't realize that was still a common requirement. I haven't worked anywhere with a fixed start and end time in almost 19 years. My last 3 companies all had flex time, so your start and end time was mostly up to you. I wonder how common that is?

It varies by company, but I think a lot of firms in the consulting world have some sort of flex time policy.

For me, we can start and end at any time as long as we're here between 9 AM and 3 PM. So if you take a 1 hour lunch, you can set your hours anytime from 6a-3p to 9a-6p. Personally, I work a 7:30-4 schedule with a half hour lunch and I find that works really well for me.

 

[simon mugo]

My wife and I have decided to move halfway across the country to be closer to family. The consulting frim I work for is allowing me to work fully remote. Myself, and my employer are not familiar with this process, but I assume readers of this forum are either managing people doing this or have done this.

I assume payroll and therefore a workers comp policy needs to be in place for the new state. How complicated (expensive) is that? I believe all my benefits will be fine anywhere in the US. Is there anything else that I need to consider or account for?

Any advise or personal experience is appreciated.

I have been working from home since COVID 19 affected the world. I have been doing my PCB designs from home. The projects Developing Prototype Circuits from Home -HARDWARE - Share - PCBWay is one of the greatest things I have been doing and I have been teaching so many electrical engineers how to work from home. As long as you are able to do all the company's duties from home, I don't think there is any trouble working from home. In fact, it is the best idea as it saves time wasted during movement to and from the company.

 

[pgheng]

You doing ncees record? They tell you how to word it and get approved. Seriously.