“My work team has been one-upping each other every day during our quarantine meetings with homemade costumes,” says IMGURian @squirrld1. “Here's some of my favorites.” Read the rest

My friends John J. King and Ramona Rose King have spent their quarantine creating a new weekly web series called Home Office. Riffing on the confessional style of the original Office, each 5-ish-minute episode details the trials and tribulations of a newly married couple trying to learn how to turn their tiny apartment into a shared office space (While John and Ramona are both playing caricatures of themselves, I  personally feel it's a little too-close to my own life). Even the Boston Globe has celebrated its delightfulness.

In the episode above, the Kings tackle the very important topic of workplace diversity. Maybe their experience can help you bring some new perspectives to your own home office.

With Home Office, a Boston couple concocts a workplace comedy from their tiny apartment [Terry Byrne / The Boston Globe] Read the rest

John J. King is a playwright and all-around awesome and clever dude; we were playwriting fellows together at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, and I also contributed some music to his Hamlet/James Bond mashup From Denmark With Love.

Now John has decided to share his work-from-home tips, in the form of a fun, dance-y music video (clothing optional). Enjoy! Read the rest

My Wirecutter colleague Thorin Klosowski has written a great new article on what not to do on your employer-issued computer. He consulted with security experts at the New York Times as well as Vantage Technology Consulting Group and more to get an overall idea of the different kinds of access levels that different companies can get.

Employers can install software to monitor what you do on your work-issued laptop or desktop. In the most watchful of workplaces, this may include keyloggers that can see everything you type or screenshot tools that track your productivity. What type of surveillance and security software is installed on your company computer is often based on two factors: how large the company is (and what resources it has to dedicate to this) and what type of information you deal with in your role. If you work with sensitive materials, such as health records, financial data, or government contracts, you can count on your employer keeping a careful eye on what you do.

For most of us, the fear of being heavily surveilled at work is unwarranted. Jesse Krembs, senior information security analyst at The New York Times, said, “Without supporting evidence, at scale this is pretty rare. It tends to generate a lot of useless data, rope the employer into liability issues, and generally make the team that monitors these surveillance systems miserable. That being said, almost all large companies have a targeted program for doing this, especially for dealing with suspected insider threat or fraud.”