nick205
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| posted on 5/1/21 at 02:11 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by roadrunner
I have a persistent cough and have flu like symptoms which is aches and pains. Skin and muscles feel sensitive.
I'm not suffering with a temperature though and still have my sense of taste and smell.
That sounds perfectly normal if you have young kids, often accompanied by pounding headaches and a compulsion to strangle someone
As a father I sympathise and agree 
In the kids younger years they seem expert at bringing pretty much every bug around back into the home. SWMBO always told me "it builds up
their immunity" whilst I was spluttering away feeling rubbish.
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02GF74
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| posted on 5/1/21 at 05:29 PM |
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I'm back at work tomorrow albeit working from home, which started last March.
Don't like WFH in winter as it costs me money heating the house. Office is 3.5 miles away that I cycle to so costs nothing in travel costs,
other than replacing bike parts plus it ensures I get to exercise 3x a day (commute and at lunchtime).
Can't see the point of us having an office, in fact one of the employees is home based anyway.
Although there are 6 of us, I think the work can be done by 2, think the only reason the rest of us are there is to spread the week of out of hours
support.... so basically being in the office is kinda pointless as about 70% of the time there is nothing for me to do. Not a good situation but this
is my last job before I retire, it pays well so biding my time when I finally throw the work towel in.
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 5/1/21 at 07:29 PM |
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I think mine and many companies are going to look at how much money they saved this year in heating, cleaning, lighting, furniture, rent, car parking
and office supplies. That there's no way they will want staff back after this.
I can see them just sending a email out saying either you continue to work form home or there will be redundancies.
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steve m
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| posted on 5/1/21 at 09:22 PM |
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Theres also, the lateness thing, as unless your a real muppet, and set your alarm wrong, how can you be late to work, if working from home ?
Also, productivity has to go up, no more 30 mins teabreaks in the workplace kitchens talking about last nights footie, soaps, or what ever,
Fag breaks, and im a non smoker, but some of the people i worked at in Virgin Atlantic, could spend easily 3 hours a day having a fag, while chatting!
seriously peed me off, that one
I know it must be difficult working from home, especially for those with young kids running about, but i really do think, this is a positive move, and
the way forward, and the benifits must out weigh the negatives, or am i being unrealistic ?
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 5/1/21 at 09:59 PM |
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Well we were discussing this a few times with colleagues. It's getting hard to feel part of a team or even a company. You get less or no contact
with people who difficult to begin with as you can't pay them a visit. My strategy was just to go round to their desk and sit myself down. Many
don't reply to emails for hours and honestly you wonder if they are even there. I've even been told their not at their desk by some of
them.
Many people are working with inappropriate furniture, I was getting sore knees and fair play I got a brand new fancy seat that same day, but my desk
is an old kitchen table but my office desk wouldn't even fit through the door far less up the stairs. One guy who works for me lives on his own
and has no one to speak to so phones me up all through the day mainly for a chat. Another lives in a one bedroom flat with a young kid, her husband
and a large dog and they have only broadband for one computer at a time.
Compared to most I have it really good and even I'd rather go back to working in the office now. Even with the lost hour commuting.
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 5/1/21 at 11:15 PM |
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I'm definitely happy to remain working from home. Our team chat over email or Teams. This afternoon, I spent 20 minutes going through some work
with a colleague and 30 minutes talking about Christmas and DIY. You are more in control of interruptions though, so productivity is better than in
the office.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 6/1/21 at 08:37 AM |
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I look after a small team of contract techies, not really in a true management capacity but more of a 'senior techie' kind of thing. One
of the guys sent me a message earlier in the week and said he was struggling with the whole 'work from home' idea, it's the first
time he's done it as a full time contract. The type of contract work we do has usually allowed a Friday work from home by default (especially if
the individual is working away), but for most it's the first time it's been a permanent WFH.
I also think our workplace will be taking a long hard look at the benefits vs drawbacks of having people in the office, even if Covid was eradicated
tomorrow I think we've proven that WFH is equivalent to, or better than, office working. At least for productivity. But for some it's
tough to not have the human contact.
If nothing else I suspect a lot of new WFH workers have no decent office furniture, myself included. That can't be good from an overall health
point of view either.
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 6/1/21 at 02:17 PM |
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I was lucky. I already had our family PC, with 27" QHD monitor and good quality keyboard in the living-room, on a decent workstation, with an A4
colour laser printer on the bottom and a proper office chair. All I needed to do was put my work laptop on the (deep) window ledge beside me, connect
it to a spare input on the monitor, use a USB switch to connect the keyboard and mouse to both computers and plug in another ethernet cable. I now sit
in the same position, on the same chair, with the same monitor, keyboard and mouse that I was already using each evening. I did plan ahead and in the
week before the first lockdown, I bought a second-hand A3 inkjet printer, which sits on top of the record (LP) cabinet behind me. I use an incinerator
for disposing of work documents and printouts that I no longer need.
My children are also at home all day due to the lockdowns, but they each have their own PCs and get on with their online lessons or work packs without
disturbing me at all. My wife has health problems and the medication leaves her very tired, so she doesn't get up until the evening.
If my children were younger and needed constant attention or (like a work colleague) I lived alone and saw no-one from one week to the next, I'm
sure I'd hate it though.
[Edited on 6/1/21 by SteveWalker]
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hughpinder
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| posted on 7/1/21 at 09:07 AM |
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Well I have been working pretty much as normal (we make pharmaceuticals and I can only do about 30% of what I need to do from home). I wouldn't
have minded working from home if it was possible for my role, but would miss the contact with real people.
The real negative to working from home, if you can do your normal job that way is that you effectively become just a number of hours and tasks done on
a spreadsheet. Not so bad for a year or so, as you know the other people you work with, but in a relatively small time you will be working
with/managed by people you have never met, and then how do you argue you are 5* better than someone working in Mumbai or China who will happily do 12
hr days for a 8th of the money? Big businesses are already dumping their huge UK based offices as they can have everyone 'WFH' and they
can save money by doing that. They then have no tie to the UK and the next logical step is WFC(hina) or WFI(ndia) I'm afraid.
Sorry to be negative, but although I think there are many personal and personal financial benefits to working at home, the sooner you are a real
person in an office again the better!
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nick205
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| posted on 8/1/21 at 10:38 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
I think mine and many companies are going to look at how much money they saved this year in heating, cleaning, lighting, furniture, rent, car parking
and office supplies. That there's no way they will want staff back after this.
I can see them just sending a email out saying either you continue to work form home or there will be redundancies.
My company has already started down this route.
Why pay commercial building lease costs when 65% of our staff can work at home (and when asked actually prefer to)?
1. Company saves lease expenditure
2. Company saves untilities expenditure
3. Company could reduce insurance expenditure
4. Staff could save travel expenditure
5. Staff could save travel time
6. Staff could save work clothing expenditure
The environmental benefits of reduced travel have to be a winner:
1. Less fuel (energy) usage
2. Less travel time (more work time)
IMHO software and IT stand to gain from this situation. Companies will have to invest in IT systems that work over wider spaces with adequate
security measures. Microsoft, Zoom, Skype.....
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 8/1/21 at 10:49 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by hughpinder
Well I have been working pretty much as normal (we make pharmaceuticals and I can only do about 30% of what I need to do from home). I wouldn't
have minded working from home if it was possible for my role, but would miss the contact with real people.
The real negative to working from home, if you can do your normal job that way is that you effectively become just a number of hours and tasks done on
a spreadsheet. Not so bad for a year or so, as you know the other people you work with, but in a relatively small time you will be working
with/managed by people you have never met, and then how do you argue you are 5* better than someone working in Mumbai or China who will happily do 12
hr days for a 8th of the money? Big businesses are already dumping their huge UK based offices as they can have everyone 'WFH' and they
can save money by doing that. They then have no tie to the UK and the next logical step is WFC(hina) or WFI(ndia) I'm afraid.
Sorry to be negative, but although I think there are many personal and personal financial benefits to working at home, the sooner you are a real
person in an office again the better!
While there will be some of that. The likelihood is that companies will mainly work from home, with people spending one day a week or fortnight in a
smaller office to maintain some face to face contact. The company I am working for has let the lease lapse on the office we worked in and is planning
that, as we return to the offices, we will have a small number of hot-desks in another of their offices (only 200 yds from the other one), with people
spending one day a fortnight there. A chance for contact, to print/plot large documents, hand over signed documents and shred confidential data.
Companies that can easily transfer jobs abroad have mainly already done so in recent years. There will always be a need for some face to face contact,
physical handing over of work or information, security implications of passing data abroad, etc. and the majority of the remaining jobs are likely to
stay here.
[Edited on 8/1/21 by SteveWalker]
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Slimy38
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| posted on 8/1/21 at 12:48 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
IMHO software and IT stand to gain from this situation. Companies will have to invest in IT systems that work over wider spaces with adequate
security measures. Microsoft, Zoom, Skype.....
I'm a performance tester by trade, and I'm already seeing job adverts popping up for my skills around a company's need for remote
access but maintaining performance and security standards. I'm a bit surprised it took so long to be honest, but perhaps it's a sign that
companies are starting to consider working from home as a long term solution.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 8/1/21 at 12:54 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by hughpinder
Big businesses are already dumping their huge UK based offices as they can have everyone 'WFH' and they can save money by doing that. They
then have no tie to the UK and the next logical step is WFC(hina) or WFI(ndia) I'm afraid.
Our place is already heading towards that. As an IT company we have a huge percentage of our staff coming in from India and living locally here. It
was really good to have everyone in the same office, even if we come from different countries. Our work Visa bill must have been huge! 
But when we first started working from home, some bright spark said 'well, if these guys are working from home, why can't we send them
back to India and have them work from that home instead? It'll be cheaper for us'. Some went, some quit, a lucky few were kept in the UK.
I think it was really sh**ty to be honest, but it's exactly as you say, when you become a faceless number on a spreadsheet it's difficult
to see the benefit of WFU(K).
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ADH75
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| posted on 8/1/21 at 02:22 PM |
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I find it really interesting seeing these different views on WFH. I've got colleagues on my team who are desperate for any excuse to stay at
home, where as I've been the exact opposite & fortunate that you can't install MFDs, build laptops, replace faulty equipment and
support a 24/7 control room without being onsite.
Its probably just how my brain works, but for me home is an escape from work, where I don't have to think about it. "Work" is where
I do work, with no home comforts to distract me or family causing disruption. There is already blurring of the lines these days with remote access,
work phones collecting emails as well as calls even when your on annual leave that I like to keep work and he life as seperate as humanly obviously
that's a personal opinion and won't fit everyone.
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 8/1/21 at 03:31 PM |
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For me WFH means not only reducing the risks of bringing the virus back to my wife, who is classed as extremely vulnerable, but saving me around 8 to
10 hours a week of commuting, giving me extra time with my family or to do DIY or hobbies; less stress as there is no need to drive in heavy traffic
during rush-hour; flexibility as I can start and finish when it suits me, instead of having to time my journey to work to miss the worst traffic,
arrive while there is still parking available and leave just in time to miss the jams trying to leave the business park. If I have a spare hour or two
in the evening, I might decide to work it and finish earlier another day. I am also saving around £120 a week in fuel, wear and tear, etc. for the car
and snacks at work, while suffering only a slight increase in electricity usage.
My wife leaves me to get on with work and my children (aged 17, 15 and almost 13) quietly get on with their live lessons and set work following the
normal school timetable - although I was happy enough to let them ignore the set work for P.E.
All in all, I have a far better work/life balance, more money to spend and a lot less stress. All at the same time as I am exceeding work targets and
taking on other people's work as well as my own, due to fewer distractions, interruptions, better temperature control/ventilation (so more
lively and able to concentrate) and more sleep due to the flexibility.
Our team chat by email or Teams and the laptop is turned off at the end of the working day, so work does not intrude into home life.
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