Edit: The dailup part was an exaggeration but if your web app doesn't suck 3g and two bars or a 1Mb down DSL pipe should be fine for most CRUD type business tasks that. There's no reason that signing in and signing up for a shift should take more bandwidth than Craigslist.
They couldn't if they needed to work asynchronously. Or if they couldn't speak or hear well over the phone, the likelihood of which approaches 1 if you have so much as a different accent. Or if you don't want the other person to hear your accent.
It's a bit cliche maybe, but I know people who've benefited from all of those features of IP-based communication, and they're reasons to be happy about the Internet. And since just about any telecommunications system that transmits voice can be bullied into transmitting IP packets, there's really little cost.
Ask me how I know you haven't used dialup recently. First, you can't even get dialup in many places because the pots system has been ripped out and replaced by partial fiber. Second of all, Once you add a phone line and pay for dialup you're looking at a cheap broadband cost.
The employee has absolutely no control over that and sure, you could pass regulations - but those regulations are going to be fairly difficult to enforce.
But you know, we could just start trying to make sure everyone has decent internet. Work isn't the only benefits to this.
You know, saving data is saving energy.
Speeds 10x that shouldn't even be an option in 2020 honestly. It's a failure of capitalism that they are.
This may be the least reasonable assumption I have ever read.
And if we’re talking mobile, wouldn’t an app experience be the best?
I think the reaction from GP was likely due to a difference in how people interpret the meaning of the word can't, as in some people mean "I currently use the internet because non-internet solutions are inconvenient" vs "It's literally impossible to do my job without the internet or losing the internet would make my job completely irrelevant(such as being a dev on the Google search team)."
I think that even for work from home jobs, if the internet disappeared tomorrow a lot of employers would figure out how to do the important stuff with non-internet solutions, like accepting longer business timelines, couriering paper documents, sending faxes (this might require getting fax machines and landlines for employees, but companies will pay for them if they need to), and having telephone meetings instead of Zoom.
Some employers would probably cut employees/tasks that weren't adding as much value as the effort required to shift to non-internet solutions, but I don't think it would be as high as a literal interpretation of this survey would imply.
Be glad you've never had to work somewhere where you're disposable, and your boss is forced to fire you for reasons they don't even believe in, like being mere minutes late. If your shift starts at 7:30 AM, you have to be there at 7:00 AM to be in line to have punched into the time clock before it turns 7:30. Making it to work in time to stand in line for the time clock before 7:30 isn't good enough.
This is why I never pay attention to self reported studies. You could argue they are crafted to make the most clickbait headlines while also saying nothing of worth.
A lot of clerical paper processing jobs and bean counting that don't exist anymore because of computers, and more recently, the internet.
It's possible that some of the 70% are not considering their local library, though.
I don't use my personal phone for work. Anyone who does use their personal phone for work is being abused by their employer.
An abusive employer is going to make unreasonable demands of you, regardless of whether you use your personal phone for work.
Well your experience is more the exception than the rule today given my friends, family, and own anecdata.
> An abusive employer is going to make unreasonable demands of you, regardless of whether you use your personal phone for work.
Let me know when there's enough employers that most people without negotiating leverage can actually be employed by one that's not abusive.
Using your smartphone to log into your payroll site, or as the internet bridge to the company VPN, is not any different from using a broadband line and a laptop to do the same thing. Those systems shouldn't be able to interrupt you when you're not working, but they might still be accessed through a smartphone in lieu of a desktop or laptop.
Parroting implies blind repeating. I honestly believe my statement though. It's not parroting.
> That's abusive, because it allows the employer to send you work when you're off the clock.
No, it's abusive when doing work functions requires the use of my personal phone. Accessing an employer's VPN should not be done using devices or services that are wholly owned and paid for by me.
Allowing my employer to notify me, while I'm off the clock, of any work that's available or scheduling changes or emergencies definitely falls under personal devices can be used.
But when the employer requires you to use your personal devices and personal internet service to actually do any function of that work then that's where you and I clearly disagree.
> Using your smartphone to log into your payroll site
Payroll sites necessarily must be accessible from outside of the work VPN: payroll sites' reporting ability must be accessible after my employment has been terminated.
> or as the internet bridge to the company VPN
Using someone's personal internet service or phone service is unethical. Employers should pay for the internet bridge to the company VPN and all devices and services necessary to connect to it.
> is not any different from using a broadband line and a laptop to do the same thing
Nope, it isn't. Who owns it though?
> Those systems shouldn't be able to interrupt you when you're not working
Indeed.
> but they might still be accessed through a smartphone in lieu of a desktop or laptop.
Sure, but who owns it?
Another kneejerk thought also suggests that whatever few(?) that are open might take on increased traffic, at odds with distancing guidelines/mandates.
So if you don't have an internet connection at home, you don't have an internet connection.
Also, resiliency is a good thing. It is not redundancy if the two services have different business continuity profiles.
I could theoretically write code with a laptop from the back of a camel in the Sahara desert. That doesn't mean it qualifies as "able to do my job".
People who say, "Just use the library" are people who have never tried to just use a library.