Contacted by NHS Track & Trace on Christmas day and had to isolate until January 2nd, So its been a bl**dy great Christmas here
So who is back to work tomorrow if just had 10 days off and could do with the same again
Jacko
I'm back to work on building sites tomorrow, so fingers crossed I'll still keep away from the covid as I work and visit sites across London
and the south east mostly :-(
Jason
Yes, work tomorrow. However, I have been working from home since March and unlike some, it suits me.
Instead of getting up at 07:00, showering and getting ready and then driving to work for an 8:15 start, then leaving at 15:50 to beat the traffic and
avoid a half-hour jam getting off the business park, I can get up at 09:00, be working immediately, shower at lunchtime, and work 'til 16:45 when
I'd normally arrive home. So two extra hours of sleep, no stressful rush-hour commute, £120 a week saving in commuting costs and lunchtime
snacks, far fewer disturbances. So far I have not only been running ahead of schedule, but taking on work from other team members who are not doing so
well. I am also there for any deliveries, making life a whole lot easier and have the flexibility to work a couple of hours in an evening (when the
office would be shut) to allow an earlier finish at the weekend.
I would not want to continue working exclusively from home, but one day a week or one a fortnight in the office would suit me fine!
I am hoping this past year has been a wake-up call for management that has always managed by clocking in and out times and observing how much time you
spend chatting to each other, that managing by productivity works well and allows for home working, without constant monitoring. I have long been an
advocate of home working, but too many companies have been against it. However at Christmas, the company let the lease on the offices expire and a far
smaller number of hot desks are being provided in another of their offices (only 200 yds away), so I think that they have got the idea at last.
[Edited on 3/1/21 by SteveWalker]
I just had my first "Brexit" experience! Almost deported from Schipol while travelling to Norway for work. After 1.5hrs with immigration
officer (who was very polite and helpful) I'm on my way again. I guess things were never going to go 100% smoothly but I hope this is not an
indication of the future.
Happy New year everyone
Cheers
Davie
I havnt worked since last March, and i suppose i could call it retirement, and i would like to work, but am not going to mix with anyone, as
shielding
However My daughter in law, who is a PA for a few "construction business" Directors, has worked from home since March, and initially she
hated it, but has now got into the whole process, She reckons she is saving near on 15k a year, in Fuel Car parking, Railfare into london, lunch with
colleages etc etc
Also shes not fatigued all the time as in getting up at 0500, and sometimes getting home around 2000, and doing that 5 days a week, must be incredibly
draining
But my Son is still traveling into London daily, as he cant project manage from home
As Steve W, said, i do hope employers wake up to these new way of going about Business, as it plainly obvious that shoveling thousands of people every
day into and out of London, but applies to all large Cities, is no longer required, Hot desking should be the norm, as should working from home were
applicable, and perhaps rotas of people home working or office based be introduced, thus sharing the pain of commuting only a couple of days a week
This should also reduce traffic, and that will help with pollution, this has to be a win win win scenario
steve
Yes, back at work for me, but from home. Wish they would lift restrictions and let me travel again. Really missing some international travel.
Public holiday tomorrow, back after that. Saying that I'm still working from home and can see that continuing well into summer. I've even asked the regional manager and the CEO for clarity on continuing to work from home after covid but they couldn't tell me. In some ways working from home is great but it is starting to feel very disconnected Especially now most don't even use their camera's, claiming bandwidth issues so its just voices over the phone. It's hard to be part of anything like this.
Still on annual leave until Monday 11th although have been on call. Current situation has made no difference to our household as the other half is a
nurse & I work in IT for another "blue light" organisation.
Been in work every day, but some in my team are working from home, but we're all spread out to avoid taking out the entire team. At times its
absolutely "mental" as I'm the inly one onsite some days and projects don't stop. That and the fact half my time is taken up
configuring laptops for folk to work from home.
Although we've already had COVID in our house due to a positive patient taking out 10 staff on other half's ward (including her), it was
hell trying to work from home, its not for me. I also appreciate the difficulties and strain on ICT departments trying allow home working and many,
many jobs simply cannot be done from home. Other side of the coin is there are folk who can and aren't allowed and others like the member of our
IT dept that refuses to stop travelling around the country! We already feel like potential "super spreaders" doing necessary trips, without
team leader visiting staff instead of Teams calls.
Good luck & health to those returning tomorrow, I'm just enjoying the time off before the madness starts again for me.
[Edited on 3/1/21 by ADH75]
I've been working from home since March and really miss the folk from work and the crack, looks like this won't be changing in the near
future. I'm on call 24/7/365 too, but don't get too many calls.
However......Positive points:
More time with family/kids.
I get to see all the full seasons (I normally miss chunks of the UK seasons when spending 1 month in Africa).
I can do the work whenever it suits me.
Back to work tomorrow since 23rd December. Still working from home so pretty COVID safe.
My 3 kids are secondary school age so it's 2 weeks home schooling for them. I suspect things may well change during that time and the period may
be extended.
My longest friend of 40 years recently lost his father to COVID. Hard Christmas and New Year for his family and a real shame not to be able to spend
some face to face time with him.
Strange times continue!
Back on Tuesday
Contacted by NHS Track & Trace on Christmas day and had to isolate until January 2nd, So its been a bl**dy great Christmas here
Should be back at work tomorrow but started coughing yesterday and awoke this morning with flu like symptoms.
Had the test late morning so can't start work until I have the results
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
As Steve W, said, i do hope employers wake up to these new way of going about Business, as it plainly obvious that shoveling thousands of people every day into and out of London, but applies to all large Cities, is no longer required, Hot desking should be the norm, as should working from home were applicable, and perhaps rotas of people home working or office based be introduced, thus sharing the pain of commuting only a couple of days a week
steve
I'm back tomorrow after a much-needed 3 week break, but as with others here I've been working from home since early last year. We got a
company update at the end of last year where they said they're not even considering opening the offices until February, and even then it will
only be for the Covid team to put the required conditions in place. It could be much longer before we're allowed to go back in any decent
numbers. Since my contract is up in May I'm not expecting to see any of my workmates in person again .
My son is back at school, but my daughter has been notified that her college is working over Teams so I'm currently trying to figure out how to
get her wired up. She's done a couple of calls over Zoom but she needs something a bit more substantial for actual lectures.
Yes I'm back at work in the morning.
quote:
Originally posted by daviep
I just had my first "Brexit" experience! Almost deported from Schipol while travelling to Norway for work. After 1.5hrs with immigration officer (who was very polite and helpful) I'm on my way again. I guess things were never going to go 100% smoothly but I hope this is not an indication of the future.
Happy New year everyone
Cheers
Davie
Back today, but only been in a handful of times since March. I don't think we'll all go back full time given how well working from home is
working and how much money the company can save shutting a few offices.
I only need to visit customer sites infrequently as I'm mainly a paper work monkey now, however the engineers need to go to site. We have remote
access to everything so most tests are executed remotely or on AWS.
quote:
Originally posted by adithorp
Yes I'm back at work in the morning.
quote:
Originally posted by daviep
I just had my first "Brexit" experience! Almost deported from Schipol while travelling to Norway for work. After 1.5hrs with immigration officer (who was very polite and helpful) I'm on my way again. I guess things were never going to go 100% smoothly but I hope this is not an indication of the future.
Happy New year everyone
Cheers
Davie
What was the issue?
To be fair Davie, it sounds like you have taken a sensible view, As in Xmas holidays, Covid and Brexit, and the weekend!
I think just one of them would of caused some hassle, but all together, a bit of a nightmare for you, and i imagine an awful lot of others
I know a Girl Friends, Mother, is unable to go back to her home in Spain, due all the above, shes been here for a few weeks , and has been given no
information, as to when she can go home, and She is Dual nationality Irish/Spanish !
steve
[Edited on 4/1/21 by steve m]
Got my results back from the covid test.
Have to self isolate now for 10 day's.
On the upside I can spend some time on the car 
quote:
Originally posted by roadrunner
Got my results back from the covid test.
Have to self isolate now for 10 day's.
On the upside I can spend some time on the car
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.
Sounds grim, hope you feel better soon.
Thanks.
So do I.
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.
I know that feeling
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
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.
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.
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 ?
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.
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.
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.
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]
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!
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.
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!
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.....
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.
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.
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.