Coronavirus Thread

[Costock_Fox]

3 minutes ago, Thefox81 said:

Great news to wake up to. Best christmas present we all could have wished for.

You clearly haven’t played a PS5 yet.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Recently found out that my team at work (working from home since just before the first lockdown was announced) will be working from home permanently and our employer cut the lease on the offices we were working at. The service we provide hasn't been compromised in the slightest working remotely, in fact I'd say we're more efficient now, and pre-COVID none of us would have imagined that - very few staff were ever permitted to work from home and it'd only be under certain circumstances. The positives massively outweigh the negatives - it's an hour and a half not wasting time commuting, not having to pay for parking or roughly £7 of fuel every day, and obviously the environmental effect that has

 

Has anyone else been forced to work from home, and will continue to work from home even when coronavirus is no longer a factor?

Edited 2 December 2020 by Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo

[StanSP]

Hope this doesn't make people complacent especially up to and during Xmas though thinking they can do whatever they want just because a vaccine, for up to 20m people, is now available.. It's not a license for that but it is the most promising sign of beating this virus since it took over. 

Very well done to all the scientists and researchers and volunteers involved. Hope more vaccines can follow soon. 

[CollinsLCFC]

1 minute ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

Recently found out that my team at work (working from home since just before the first lockdown was announced) will be working from home permanently and our employer cut the lease on the offices we were working at. The service we provide hasn't been compromised in the slightest working remotely, in fact I'd say we're more efficient now, and pre-COVID none of us would have imagined that - very few staff were ever permitted to work from home and it'd only be under certain circumstances. The positives massively outweight the negatives - it's an hour and a half not wasting time commuting, not having to pay for parking or roughly £7 of fuel every day, and obviously the environmental effect that has

 

Has anyone else been forced to work from home, and will continue to work from home even when coronavirus is no longer a factor?

Im in exactly Same position. 

 

WFH since 1st lockdown, lease on office expires very soon and  will not be renewed. 

 

Whilst our efficiency has also been stable/even improved, I think the decrease of morale is starting to show. People are missing the social interaction. 

 

For me, when working in office, if I need that quick 5 min informal chat for a second opinion on an issue, I can see if someone is free/approachable.  With WFH, I have to wait until a meeting or feel like I'm disturbing someone with emails or calls. 

 

WFH has its pros and cons IMO. I don't miss the commute and love being able finish work and instantly be at home, but it can be tough feeling alone with your work all day long and the stress that comes with it. 

 

That being said, very fortunate and grateful my workplace is unaffected by lockdown and I still have my job. 

 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

39 minutes ago, CollinsLCFC said:

Im in exactly Same position. 

 

WFH since 1st lockdown, lease on office expires very soon and  will not be renewed. 

 

Whilst our efficiency has also been stable/even improved, I think the decrease of morale is starting to show. People are missing the social interaction. 

 

For me, when working in office, if I need that quick 5 min informal chat for a second opinion on an issue, I can see if someone is free/approachable.  With WFH, I have to wait until a meeting or feel like I'm disturbing someone with emails or calls. 

 

WFH has its pros and cons IMO. I don't miss the commute and love being able finish work and instantly be at home, but it can be tough feeling alone with your work all day long and the stress that comes with it. 

 

That being said, very fortunate and grateful my workplace is unaffected by lockdown and I still have my job. 

 

True, we have an hour conference call every afternoon, and we get plenty of piss-taking done in that time which definitely helps with the morale. Took a good 3 or 4 months to get properly used to WFH and had some real down days in that time where I felt lost but been fine recently, and knowing I'm unlikely to have any distractions from other staff in an average working day I can plan the day a lot better

 

In the office it used to be a regular occurrence that staff from other depts thought it was alright to just walk in and start waffling or make ridiculous requests with no warning, I don't miss that in the slightest

Edited 2 December 2020 by Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo

[dsr-burnley]

59 minutes ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

Recently found out that my team at work (working from home since just before the first lockdown was announced) will be working from home permanently and our employer cut the lease on the offices we were working at. The service we provide hasn't been compromised in the slightest working remotely, in fact I'd say we're more efficient now, and pre-COVID none of us would have imagined that - very few staff were ever permitted to work from home and it'd only be under certain circumstances. The positives massively outweigh the negatives - it's an hour and a half not wasting time commuting, not having to pay for parking or roughly £7 of fuel every day, and obviously the environmental effect that has

 

Has anyone else been forced to work from home, and will continue to work from home even when coronavirus is no longer a factor?

The beauty of it from the bosses' point of view is that it will be much less practical to train any new staff and they will have the perfect excuse to employ much cheaper people from say India.  Why waste money on a trainee when you can get a fully qualified person for less money.  This may of course knock on to replacing more senior staff, short term or long term.

 

I suspect the environment won't be helped as much as you might think - extra home heating, and the extra cost of internet use and data storage, has to be offset against the driving.

[Manini]

4 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

The beauty of it from the bosses' point of view is that it will be much less practical to train any new staff and they will have the perfect excuse to employ much cheaper people from say India.  Why waste money on a trainee when you can get a fully qualified person for less money.  This may of course knock on to replacing more senior staff, short term or long term.

 

I suspect the environment won't be helped as much as you might think - extra home heating, and the extra cost of internet use and data storage, has to be offset against the driving.

Doesn’t always work like that, and just because people join a company remotely doesn’t mean mgmt are okay to bypass training and mandatory learning? You say less practical but in the modern world a lot of jobs don’t require you to be on site to facilitate your duties, given the advancement in remote learning and development opportunities, thats pretty practical in this day and age.

 

If @Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo company wanted to cut costs by outsourcing why haven’t they already done it like pretty much every other company who’s had the same idea? They’ll have saved money on the lease from the building for starters, which means, if anything, there’s more money to invest in good staff. 
 

Pure speculation on my part, obviously, your bosses might be willy pullers for all I know but I wouldn’t be that sceptical, I think a lot of businesses will be cutting leases on buildings whilst continuing to expand as businesses within the UK. 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

4 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

The beauty of it from the bosses' point of view is that it will be much less practical to train any new staff and they will have the perfect excuse to employ much cheaper people from say India.  Why waste money on a trainee when you can get a fully qualified person for less money.  This may of course knock on to replacing more senior staff, short term or long term.

 

I suspect the environment won't be helped as much as you might think - extra home heating, and the extra cost of internet use and data storage, has to be offset against the driving.

 

Well are offices not heated, air conditioned, and lit, and have those machines that constantly boil a gallon of water? What about the extra fridges? And Dyson hand dryers, and toilets/stairwells/receptions that have lights on all the time even when no one is using them, urinals that flush every minute of every day even when no one is using them? Working from home is massively more energy efficient in the long term, and those points don't even factor in the energy wasted from commuting

 

You might be right about the first point, as we've seen most call centres farmed overseas, but I doubt that'll ever be a huge issue. At some point - if too many people are unemployed in the country, the government will offer incentives for employers to employ people domestically. It's not sustainable for the economy to have a high rate of unemployment, that's been proven plenty of times

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

1 minute ago, Manini said:

Doesn’t always work like that, and just because people join a company remotely doesn’t mean mgmt are okay to bypass training and mandatory learning? You say less practical but in the modern world a lot of jobs don’t require you to be on site to facilitate your duties, given the advancement in remote learning and development opportunities, thats pretty practical in this day and age.

 

If @Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo company wanted to cut costs by outsourcing why haven’t they already done it like pretty much every other company who’s had the same idea? They’ll have saved money on the lease from the building for starters, which means, if anything, there’s more money to invest in good staff. 
 

Pure speculation on my part, obviously, your bosses might be willy pullers for all I know but I wouldn’t be that sceptical, I think a lot of businesses will be cutting leases on buildings whilst continuing to expand as businesses within the UK. 

 

True, good employers will appreciate their staff and ensure they continue to employ them. There's also plenty of negatives of having worked farmed overseas. For example, have you ever phoned to complain about a service you're paying for, you're already pissed off, you're then on hold for 30 minutes, and then you're left speaking to someone you can barely understand? And is that situation going to paint that company in a good light?

 

With my line of work we do often have to outsource temporarily, but it's always to local agencies and the cost is astronomical - they never think about the cost-saving in that sense!

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I'm not usually an authoritarian but I think it SHOULD be made compulsory, just so there's the prospect of seeing Laurence Fox, Ian Brown etc and their ilk being forcibly bundled into a police van.

 

We all get to be protected, and they get to be genuinely oppressed which I think is all they want anyway.

 

Everybody wins

You are completely mad.  Forced vaccines?  Jesus Christ.  Who wants to live in a country where they Government can force something into your body.

 

Vaccines don't require everyone to be vaccinated, 80% will be more than enough to get the country fulling up and running.  Let the idiots be idiots.

[Jon the Hat]

My company who are global are looking at their office footprint. Some will no doubt close, but then close to 80% of our office based teams have said they would like to return 1-2 days a week, so we will need a lot less desks.  We have invested heavily in MS Teams and other collaboration tools (started before Covid but accelerated).  Offices will become more about meetings / workshops and collaboration that sitting at your desk working on your own all day.  Makes sense to me, and it will mean more flexibility on where people live.  Happy to commute 2 hours once a week etc.  The interesting question for recruitment is whether we can say pay Manchester money for a role whose office is notionally London but only a few times a month.  That could open up the talent pool and boost the regions in an interesting way.

[Mickyblueeyes]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/three-parts-leicestershire-now-below-4752318

 

Leicester (city), Oadby and Wigston, Blaby, Harborough and NW Leicestershire in the top 100 national average for infection rates.

 

However, three other areas (Melton, Hinckley and Charnwood) below the national average. 

[Nod.E]

1 hour ago, Innovindil said:

Easy solution. Have all MP's take the vaccine and air it on tele. The narrative will change from "they're gonna force us to take it" to "why do those privileged bastards get it but we don't". Queue made rush for the doors. 

Ha, like it!

[Dunge]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

Hope this doesn't make people complacent especially up to and during Xmas though thinking they can do whatever they want just because a vaccine, for up to 20m people, is now available.. It's not a license for that but it is the most promising sign of beating this virus since it took over. 

Very well done to all the scientists and researchers and volunteers involved. Hope more vaccines can follow soon. 

It feels a bit counterintuitive in a way, but the recent vaccine news has made me more cautious. My attitude has gone from one of finding ways of living alongside it (albeit carefully) to one of “don’t **** this up now”.

[dsr-burnley]

42 minutes ago, Manini said:

Doesn’t always work like that, and just because people join a company remotely doesn’t mean mgmt are okay to bypass training and mandatory learning? You say less practical but in the modern world a lot of jobs don’t require you to be on site to facilitate your duties, given the advancement in remote learning and development opportunities, thats pretty practical in this day and age.

You've completely misunderstood.  I'm not saying that training isn't needed for new trainees, I'm saying that training becomes a lot less practical.  What's the first thing a new trainee with no idea what they are doing, does on their first day?  They are attached to someone who does know what they are doing and shown how things work.  I reckon that's a lot easier to do in person than via zoom.   And of course when the trainee gets stuck and doesn't know what to do, it's easier to ask the person at the next desk than to chase someone by internet.

[dsr-burnley]

45 minutes ago, Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo said:

 

Well are offices not heated, air conditioned, and lit, and have those machines that constantly boil a gallon of water? What about the extra fridges? And Dyson hand dryers, and toilets/stairwells/receptions that have lights on all the time even when no one is using them, urinals that flush every minute of every day even when no one is using them? Working from home is massively more energy efficient in the long term, and those points don't even factor in the energy wasted from commuting

 

You might be right about the first point, as we've seen most call centres farmed overseas, but I doubt that'll ever be a huge issue. At some point - if too many people are unemployed in the country, the government will offer incentives for employers to employ people domestically. It's not sustainable for the economy to have a high rate of unemployment, that's been proven plenty of times

Perhaps I'm fortunate that I work in an office that doesn't waste electricity like yours seems to.  We have gas fires (not central heating) but certainly no air conditioning (in the north of England ) and only 1 fridge.  No electric hand dryers - we use paper towels.  Fluorescent lights really don't use much power, and our toilets flush like the ones at home.  The suggestion basically is that heating 20 or 30 rooms at separate homes is likely to use more heat than heating one building.  Maybe not.  Especially, of course, if people put their central heating on in unused rooms during the day as a matter of course.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

4 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

Perhaps I'm fortunate that I work in an office that doesn't waste electricity like yours seems to.  We have gas fires (not central heating) but certainly no air conditioning (in the north of England ) and only 1 fridge.  No electric hand dryers - we use paper towels.  Fluorescent lights really don't use much power, and our toilets flush like the ones at home.  The suggestion basically is that heating 20 or 30 rooms at separate homes is likely to use more heat than heating one building.  Maybe not.  Especially, of course, if people put their central heating on in unused rooms during the day as a matter of course.

 

Maybe ours was particularly wasteful, but I think there'd be plenty of others like it and some probably even worse

 

Your average house also won't have 2 lifts running all day every day, power assisted doors, automatic doors, emergency lighting throughout the building. We also previously had 2 extra computers permanently left on for use as our database server and file-sharing, and we've worked out systems that bypasses the need for those so that's more energy saved.

 

In an average day at home, I've got the computer on, a lamp (if it's dark like now) and I'll boil the kettle twice. Might stick the heating on for an hour or so now it's getting cold, but any other power (WiFi router, fridge) would have been on if I was at work anyway

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Fantastic news. Hopefully the vaccine will cut the deaths down quickly as those being vaccinated first are those most vulnerable. Even if cases rise again in the new year, as long as the most vulnerable are protected we can start to get back to normal soon. Light at the end of the tunnel, and we'll never have to utter the words "lockdown" or "social distancing" ever again 

[Manini]

29 minutes ago, dsr-burnley said:

You've completely misunderstood.  I'm not saying that training isn't needed for new trainees, I'm saying that training becomes a lot less practical.  What's the first thing a new trainee with no idea what they are doing, does on their first day?  They are attached to someone who does know what they are doing and shown how things work.  I reckon that's a lot easier to do in person than via zoom.   And of course when the trainee gets stuck and doesn't know what to do, it's easier to ask the person at the next desk than to chase someone by internet.

I’m struggling to understand who you think trains up the outsourced staff then in that case? Everyone needs some level of training in a new job whether it’s an experienced hire or a trainee. 
 

If I ran a business I wouldn’t stop hiring trainees in the UK because it wasn’t practical to train them over Zoom, I might, however, start outsourcing some work because it was cheaper, as has been mentioned above with call centres etc. Apologies if that’s the point you are trying to make but I don’t see how hiring a workforce thousands of miles away to do a job is any more practical than training new staff in a remote environment? 

[SpacedX]

Just now, Sol thewall Bamba said:

and we'll never have to utter the words "lockdown" or "social distancing" ever again 

Until the next zoonitic disease mutation and the pandemic that subsequently follows. 

[Dahnsouff]

Just now, Line-X said:

Until the next zoonitic disease mutation and the pandemic that subsequently follows. 

Quite. It is perhaps the rapidity and rigour that seems to have gone into producing these vaccines that is just as exciting. Further virus outbreaks seems inevitable, so let hope we learn and build our capabilities.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

1 minute ago, Line-X said:

Until the next zoonitic disease mutation and the pandemic that subsequently follows. 

That's the spirit. 

[RowlattsFox]

Split workload will be ideal, I can't do all my job working from home but the admin side of things are fine. I've not been a fan of permanent home working, really struggled for motivation at time. I guess it depends on the job you do I guess.

[SpacedX]

1 minute ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

That's the spirit. 

Sorry, just being realistic. Don't think of this as a one off event. These infections are strewn across the animal kingdom - that it will happen again is inevitable. Perhaps not on this scale in our lifetime - but don't be surprised if the terms 'lockdown' and 'social distancing' are "uttered" sooner than you think. The magnitude of this crisis will at least mean that lessons have been learned and are at least more prepared for this eventuality.  Perhaps our re-shaped societies and economies of tomorrow will have slightly greater resistance to the future damage wrought by another pandemic when it inevitably comes? 

[SpacedX]

1 minute ago, RowlattsFox said:

Split workload will be ideal, I can't do all my job working from home but the admin side of things are fine. I've not been a fan of permanent home working, really struggled for motivation at time. I guess it depends on the job you do I guess.

And how amenable to flexible working practices and willing to embrace change that your employer actually is.