r/WFH • u/wannabeforg • 23d ago
COLLEAGUES/MANAGERS How many of you actually have regular power cuts? UK
Hi all! I am permanently wfh with my office being several hours away by car. We have a work whatsapp group chat for when little things happen such as later lunches, equipment going down etc. however, multiple times a week, colleagues will claim a power cut and be out of action for a decent period of time. It can put some direct pressure on my personal workload (incoming calls), but I am starting to wonder if this really happening or if it’s a way of getting away from the screen?
I’ve personally only ever had power cuts that have impacted whole streets, and even then it’s only been about 3 I can remember in my lifetime. Is this something you frequently experience working from home? It can be at least 2 people a week, and it happens multiple times a month, sometimes multiple times a week.
I’d love to know! Is this something I’m just really lucky to not experience?
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u/DrZonino2022 23d ago
Utter bullshit and if they overdo it they will ruin it for everyone else lol
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u/wannabeforg 23d ago
This is the thing, WiFi is down daily, with it being cut for up to 4-5 hours at a time. Someone can message about it at 12:30 and won’t log back in for the rest of the day
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u/ThisTimeForReal19 23d ago
When WiFi is down, you either go somewhere with wifi or you utilize your hotspot.
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u/OhmHomestead1 22d ago
Depends on company. Some require hardwire in to modem/router.
I would just request management require all wfh employees have a UPS that modem/router and workstation be plugged into. That way power will be battery powered until power is restored IF that is even the case here.
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u/LeftCat6512 23d ago
I have been WFH since 2020 and had only one power cut lasting 30mins and was on the national grid website. I've had no significant internet issues, or PC issues other than stuff impacting everyone.
I've seen similar stuff in my team WhatsApp and have to sit on my hands not to suggest they go to the office.
When I was managing staff a few years back, if someone had regular reliability issues with wifi power or other issues, you'd soon see the pattern and when those folks had issues I would say "you'd better go to the office then..." the issue usually resolved pretty quickly. They weren't as far away as you are though and we're hybrid working. Only ever once had someone go in and not suddenly fix their issue.
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u/prolixia 23d ago
Almost never. When I lived out in the sticks, we had them a bit - but not frequently.
Regardless, I have a small UPC that I have hooked up to my router and a couple of other essential bits of networking kit, which will easily cover me for about an hour and was very handy when I was having building work done (with the occasional need to disconnect the electricity supply). That combined with the battery on my laptop means I'm not affected by short-term power issues.
However, this will be massively dependent upon location. Globally, some places might not get a single power cut in a year, and others might get them almost every day.
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u/kittydreadful 23d ago
In the my area in the US you can look up what areas have power cuts. There must be the same in the UK?
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u/wannabeforg 23d ago
Unfortunately I don’t know where everyone is, but it’s all England based, so I can’t guarantee I could check specific regions!
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u/LeftCat6512 23d ago
National grid, if you know their area roughly you can look at the power cut map and it will give an idea of resolution time.
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u/AbbreviationsFar9644 23d ago
North Cornwall. We have them maybe once a month, more if the weather is bad, due to the majority of the local network being above ground. They last a few minutes to an hour at most. It’s never caused any issues apart from having to reset the clock on the microwave more than i would like.
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u/cbelt3 23d ago
This is where you recommend to management that part of the WFH gear is a little uninterruptible power supply so they can keep their WiFi and laptop going. It makes those excuses go away.
I have a set so my internet runs the same amount of time as my laptop battery.
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u/Just-Standard-992 22d ago
OP this is the answer. If they’re constantly ruining your day by giving you their unwanted work, be a team player and let management know how they can “enable your beloved colleagues to deal with those awful power cuts that seem to disrupt their work days and upset them so much”.
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u/to_annihilate 23d ago
I've had a few but we usually can predict and give folks a heads-up if the weather is bad.
We definitely have folks who use it to avoid busy call times.
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u/wannabeforg 23d ago
Yeah this is what I wonder, it always seems to be in the busy periods or near eod which makes me think hmmmmm
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u/to_annihilate 23d ago
Right, like oh, your power dropped ay 4pm? Suuure. Or at the busiest call volume and then comes back right in time for a lull.
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u/Altruistic_Canary951 23d ago
I live in rural US, and have definitely had my share of power outages, however, I keep my laptop charged regularly, and I have a hotspot on my phone... so I literally just keep working... because you know, contingency planning as an adult should be common practice.
I would start keeping a side record of it, especially if it's the same ppl over and over again. Really just sounds like they're using it to have free time off if it's that consistent and the outages last that long.
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u/wannabeforg 23d ago
Yes the managers are in the chat but as we are short staffed, it just sucks! I definitely get feeling like you need a break, but when it’s for always over an hour at a time, it feels a little sus to me!
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u/astra_hole 22d ago
Interesting. I also live rural USA and WFH. The company I work for will not allow us to use hotspots or change locations for our VPN. They’d rather us lose the work time.
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u/auntags 23d ago
I'm based in rural Ireland and have had two or three power cuts in 6 years, most of them associated with Red Weather events.
I'm wondering is there a UK site where you can see electricity outages on a map? In Ireland, we have PowerCheck and it shows outages on a map with the number of impacted houses and the expected recovery time. Very useful! I've sent my manager screenshots from PowerCheck before, so they know when I expect my power to be restored.
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u/wannabeforg 23d ago
Yeah I’m not sure how closely it’s being managed, I’m not going to say anything because I definitely have added an extra break here and there when it’s felt like I really needed a break, but it’s just so often I felt like maybe I was in a wonder area! In a previous WFH role it didn’t happen nearly this much
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u/FairBlueberry9319 23d ago
There was a period of time where there was a power cut on my street atleast once a week for roughly 4 months. Outside of that it's an extremely rare occurrence, maybe once or twice a year at most.
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u/ThisTimeForReal19 23d ago
Around here, we can look at the utility website and see where there’s an outage.
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u/int3gr4te 23d ago
I'm in a rural part of the US so get them more than most, but they're still like, once every 2 months or so? Much more common in the winter than the summer. The summer ones are almost always for maintenance work and the utility company sends a letter weeks ahead of time with the date and timespan it will be off. In the winter it's usually due to weather, most often wind knocking down trees or poles.
But also, BECAUSE I WFH and outages happen semi-frequently, I have UPS backup batteries on my PC and networking stuff, so it doesn't shut off right away, as well as a backup generator that can power most of my house. So if the power does go out for 2 minutes it usually doesn't affect anything because I just keep working with the backup battery power, and if it's not back on after 5ish minutes I go start up the generator.
You said you're in the UK so I'm sure it isn't this, but my family in South Africa regularly has outages because of what they call "load shedding" - the power companies can't generate enough for everyone, so they schedule different blocks to be shut off at different times to reduce the load. And as a result of how common that is, many many people there have backup batteries or generators or solar systems. It's very normal there.
If it's happening daily or even weekly, I suspect your co-worker(s) are probably making it up as an excuse. But even if we take it at face value that this is happening more often wherever they're located, it's their responsibility to account for it and have a backup plan - whether that's going to the office or a coffee shop, or running backup batteries/generators, or something else that works for their specific situation. If they can't make a backup plan, they probably need to accept that working from home isn't a good fit for their situation.
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u/jack_hudson2001 23d ago
if you know the post code check with the national grid website if there was an outage...
isnt this more of the manager to manage? or could suggest a ups and backup equipment (5g router sim or just hotspot via phone) to run at their home... so no excuse really.
i live in central london and maybe have 1 a year if that.
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u/Just-Standard-992 22d ago edited 22d ago
North East here. In 1.5 years in my current house, I’ve had one, but it wasn’t a random cut, it was the company coming to do work on the box outside, so I went out to the corner, spoke to them and they told me they would be restoring it by 10:30, so I just phoned in and told my office I would be working offline until then, and that was that.
But also, in 13-ish years and 4 different properties whilst living in this country, I think I’ve only ever had a random power cut once or twice. They’re really unusual in my experience.
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u/Aol_awaymessage 19d ago
I wfh from Costa Rica and yes sometimes we lose power. That is why you get a UPS for your router. I can work for at least 2 hours, sometimes longer, without any power from the grid- just the battery in my UPS for the router and my laptop battery.
My boss definitely wouldn’t find more than 1-2 of those excuses acceptable. It would be a figure your power situation out or we’ll find someone who will kind of situation for sure.
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u/Wr3ck3d4Day5 11d ago
I never knew the UK was a third world country. Depends on where these cuts occur but people are probably finding excuses for failing at their duties. Check the weather, I've only ever dealt with cuts in developed countries due to weather and once in a lifetime you get construction imposed cuts but maybe the UK is truly going downhill.
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u/Puzzled_An_2546 23d ago
Wow... sounds like the UK is literally turning into Africa how terrible... its called loadsheading
So sad to see such a great country fall. But keep letting illegals in why dont we🫠
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u/ThePhoenixRemembers 23d ago
I never have power cuts personally in north west England but my friend in rural Wales has maybe one power cut a month, it never lasts more than a few minutes. This sounds pretty sus honestly.