Coronavirus prep
Replies
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We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.5
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cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.9 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
About 95% of our workforce are front line workers that can't really do much remotely...they have to be here and they work directly with the public. During the throws of the pandemic most of them had to be here in person though we kept their numbers down by having them alternate some days at home, but we also had to basically give them busy work to do that wasn't necessarily directly related to their primary functions because they can't perform their primary duties remotely.
The bulk of the people who were able to WFH are people like me who are in some kind of administrative capacity. Now that we are fully open to the public and things are moving again, our front line people have to be here...and it would be very unfair to them if management and other administration were just able to continue to WFH. I can personally do most of what I need to do from home or frankly anywhere in the world as long as I have internet...but it would be a bad look to have 95% of our workforce having to be in person and 5% of the workforce working at home.
ETA: we are pretty small with a total of 135 people. We don't have any kind of corporate HQ or anything where management and administration are more or less invisible to the rest of the workforce...we're all under the same roof. We do have some people who are disappointed about coming back in full time but thus far I haven't heard of anyone saying they'll leave. And like I said, going forward there will be more flexibility to WFH when things come up whereas before the pandemic, there was no such thing as WFH here.
It's also one thing to say, "if I have to go back in full time I'll quite." It's quite another to actually follow through on that.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
About 95% of our workforce are front line workers that can't really do much remotely...they have to be here and they work directly with the public. During the throws of the pandemic most of them had to be here in person though we kept their numbers down by having them alternate some days at home, but we also had to basically give them busy work to do that wasn't necessarily directly related to their primary functions because they can't perform their primary duties remotely.
The bulk of the people who were able to WFH are people like me who are in some kind of administrative capacity. Now that we are fully open to the public and things are moving again, our front line people have to be here...and it would be very unfair to them if management and other administration were just able to continue to WFH. I can personally do most of what I need to do from home or frankly anywhere in the world as long as I have internet...but it would be a bad look to have 95% of our workforce having to be in person and 5% of the workforce working at home.
We are similar. Our factory hourly employees (and direct management support) have been at work all this time as an essential business. Office working from home. As you say I think we will also come back to people being back in the office.3 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
Yeah that's why I said I wasn't sure how accurate it was. I am 56 and don't particularly "need" my job at this point in my life, so personally I might just consider retiring. But not everyone has that option and I'm not sure what the job market is going to be like the next little while.
I mean my son had his whole job description unilaterally changed recently, and it's fine to say they are not allowed to do that and it is basically a "constructive dismissal", but in reality if you need the job you have to balance that as well.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
About 95% of our workforce are front line workers that can't really do much remotely...they have to be here and they work directly with the public. During the throws of the pandemic most of them had to be here in person though we kept their numbers down by having them alternate some days at home, but we also had to basically give them busy work to do that wasn't necessarily directly related to their primary functions because they can't perform their primary duties remotely.
The bulk of the people who were able to WFH are people like me who are in some kind of administrative capacity. Now that we are fully open to the public and things are moving again, our front line people have to be here...and it would be very unfair to them if management and other administration were just able to continue to WFH. I can personally do most of what I need to do from home or frankly anywhere in the world as long as I have internet...but it would be a bad look to have 95% of our workforce having to be in person and 5% of the workforce working at home.
ETA: we are pretty small with a total of 135 people. We don't have any kind of corporate HQ or anything where management and administration are more or less invisible to the rest of the workforce...we're all under the same roof. We do have some people who are disappointed about coming back in full time but thus far I haven't heard of anyone saying they'll leave. And like I said, going forward there will be more flexibility to WFH when things come up whereas before the pandemic, there was no such thing as WFH here.
It's also one thing to say, "if I have to go back in full time I'll quite." It's quite another to actually follow through on that.
Yeah for sure. My office is quite different, it is a professional setting with only 7 people, so it's not like we have "front line" workers in that sense. We are considered an essential service (financial sector) and technically could have kept the office open throughout I guess, but we didn't.
In my particular situation them saying now, after we have been flexible for them for over a year, that they aren't extending us some flexibility would be a bit of a slap in the face. But they aren't doing that anyway. Not sure how many people my scenario applies to.3 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
About 95% of our workforce are front line workers that can't really do much remotely...they have to be here and they work directly with the public. During the throws of the pandemic most of them had to be here in person though we kept their numbers down by having them alternate some days at home, but we also had to basically give them busy work to do that wasn't necessarily directly related to their primary functions because they can't perform their primary duties remotely.
The bulk of the people who were able to WFH are people like me who are in some kind of administrative capacity. Now that we are fully open to the public and things are moving again, our front line people have to be here...and it would be very unfair to them if management and other administration were just able to continue to WFH. I can personally do most of what I need to do from home or frankly anywhere in the world as long as I have internet...but it would be a bad look to have 95% of our workforce having to be in person and 5% of the workforce working at home.
We are similar. Our factory hourly employees (and direct management support) have been at work all this time as an essential business. Office working from home. As you say I think we will also come back to people being back in the office.
I used to be an auditor at a large regional CPA firm. That is definitely one industry that I could see doing away with the office. Most of the time I was in the field with my team anyway and my office days were generally pretty few. I know in some of our more expensive cities we were in (San Francisco), office space was limited to a conference room and a handful of offices that you had to check out if you needed the space...I could definitely see them doing away with in person office. They would save a ton on overhead and if you are an auditor or even a tax accountant, there's really no need this day in age to be in an office.
But really, I think that only works with industries like that who are 100% white collar professionals.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
About 95% of our workforce are front line workers that can't really do much remotely...they have to be here and they work directly with the public. During the throws of the pandemic most of them had to be here in person though we kept their numbers down by having them alternate some days at home, but we also had to basically give them busy work to do that wasn't necessarily directly related to their primary functions because they can't perform their primary duties remotely.
The bulk of the people who were able to WFH are people like me who are in some kind of administrative capacity. Now that we are fully open to the public and things are moving again, our front line people have to be here...and it would be very unfair to them if management and other administration were just able to continue to WFH. I can personally do most of what I need to do from home or frankly anywhere in the world as long as I have internet...but it would be a bad look to have 95% of our workforce having to be in person and 5% of the workforce working at home.
We are similar. Our factory hourly employees (and direct management support) have been at work all this time as an essential business. Office working from home. As you say I think we will also come back to people being back in the office.
I used to be an auditor at a large regional CPA firm. That is definitely one industry that I could see doing away with the office. Most of the time I was in the field with my team anyway and my office days were generally pretty few. I know in some of our more expensive cities we were in (San Francisco), office space was limited to a conference room and a handful of offices that you had to check out if you needed the space...I could definitely see them doing away with in person office. They would save a ton on overhead and if you are an auditor or even a tax accountant, there's really no need this day in age to be in an office.
But really, I think that only works with industries like that who are 100% white collar professionals.
I agree. I do have some concerns that pressure to continue WFH, from white collar folks in mixed settings (where there's a large contingent of more blue-collar or front-line kind of workers who must be at a job site), could have some dysfunctional side effects, if WFH is used much more than previously in such settings.
I'm thinking about management/worker disconnects over the span of my working life, which encompassed a time when (among other synergistic things) "promote from within to management" became relatively less common, and the MBA-ification of management with people who'd never done line work in the business became relatively more common. It's an oversimplification, but I think that gradual shift has resulted in somewhat poorer treatment of blue collar/front line employees as a generality, because there isn't the same level of relating or empathy. HQ distant from factories can amplify that effect, and I'm thinking much wider white collar WFH might also.
If generally everyone can WFH, super limited exceptions, like in all-professional firms, I don't think that would be an issue (though there might be other unanticipated social effects).
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
About 95% of our workforce are front line workers that can't really do much remotely...they have to be here and they work directly with the public. During the throws of the pandemic most of them had to be here in person though we kept their numbers down by having them alternate some days at home, but we also had to basically give them busy work to do that wasn't necessarily directly related to their primary functions because they can't perform their primary duties remotely.
The bulk of the people who were able to WFH are people like me who are in some kind of administrative capacity. Now that we are fully open to the public and things are moving again, our front line people have to be here...and it would be very unfair to them if management and other administration were just able to continue to WFH. I can personally do most of what I need to do from home or frankly anywhere in the world as long as I have internet...but it would be a bad look to have 95% of our workforce having to be in person and 5% of the workforce working at home.
We are similar. Our factory hourly employees (and direct management support) have been at work all this time as an essential business. Office working from home. As you say I think we will also come back to people being back in the office.
I used to be an auditor at a large regional CPA firm. That is definitely one industry that I could see doing away with the office. Most of the time I was in the field with my team anyway and my office days were generally pretty few. I know in some of our more expensive cities we were in (San Francisco), office space was limited to a conference room and a handful of offices that you had to check out if you needed the space...I could definitely see them doing away with in person office. They would save a ton on overhead and if you are an auditor or even a tax accountant, there's really no need this day in age to be in an office.
But really, I think that only works with industries like that who are 100% white collar professionals.
I agree. I do have some concerns that pressure to continue WFH, from white collar folks in mixed settings (where there's a large contingent of more blue-collar or front-line kind of workers who must be at a job site), could have some dysfunctional side effects, if WFH is used much more than previously in such settings.
I'm thinking about management/worker disconnects over the span of my working life, which encompassed a time when (among other synergistic things) "promote from within to management" became relatively less common, and the MBA-ification of management with people who'd never done line work in the business became relatively more common. It's an oversimplification, but I think that gradual shift has resulted in somewhat poorer treatment of blue collar/front line employees as a generality, because there isn't the same level of relating or empathy. HQ distant from factories can amplify that effect, and I'm thinking much wider white collar WFH might also.
If generally everyone can WFH, super limited exceptions, like in all-professional firms, I don't think that would be an issue (though there might be other unanticipated social effects).
NYT had an article about this. It noted many big firms highly value corp culture and are concerned for new hires, want them in the office to experience (i.e. to be molded by) the culture. DD's 2020 summer internship with a NYC firm ended up online, and it was a meaningful work experience nonetheless. The firm's communications to interns were truly excellent re: expectation setting and values messaging. They were very clear that they wanted interns to have the NYC office experience before deciding on a full-time offer. It didn't happen, but they tried.4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Interesting change in vaccine advice - for Australia anyway.
Interval between Covid vaccine and any other vaccine was 14 days either side.
Has now been reduced to 7 and in exceptional circumstances can be given in under this.
I don't know if the official advice has changed in the US yet, but I remember on TWiV recently they said that the original 2 week buffer was out of an abundance of caution as there was no data, and at this point they don't see any need. Someone had written in because they were leaving the country, had to get one vaccine before they left, but also wanted to get the covid shot because wherever they were going was having supply issues if I'm remembering correctly. And they advised him to load up.
I don't know if it applies to covid vaccines, but when I was reading up on vaccine intervals for my shingles shots (which do, or at least did at the time, have an interval recommendation with respect to other vaccines), and wanting to figure out when I could get my seasonal flu shot and a tetanus booster that I needed, I discovered that you could get all on the same day and not have to worry about interval spacing. My recollection was that this was a general recommendation (I believe I was on the CDC site) for any vaccinations that require an interval before getting a different vaccine (not all vaccines require an interval -- my recollection is that it wouldn't have been an issue if it had just been the flu shot and the tetanus booster).
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor and all of the above is based on stuff I read nearly a year ago, so my memory could be off on details, although I'm confident on my main point about same-day vaccination being an option in lieu of interval spacing.
That's because shingles vaccine is a live vaccine
Our standard recomendation in Australia is that live vaccines can be given on same day - but if not, have a 4 week interval.
Since flu and tetanus are not live vaccines this does not apply to them
While Zostavax, which you use in Australia, is a live vaccine, Shingrix, what I received in the US, is not.
Thanks. I didn't think it was, but felt pretty vague on the subject. Thanks for straightening it out.1 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
Of course employers (in most U.S. states) are free to do that, but given widespread labor shortages, the employees are likely to have an easier time finding a new position that suits them than the employer will in finding someone to fill the vacancies if they aren't willing to offer new hires flexibility or higher wages or better benefits.6 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
Of course employers (in most U.S. states) are free to do that, but given widespread labor shortages, the employees are likely to have an easier time finding a new position that suits them than the employer will in finding someone to fill the vacancies if they aren't willing to offer new hires flexibility or higher wages or better benefits.
That is indeed what we are already seeing here. There is a huge vacuum of applications to be filled as the economy is restarting, and job applicants will not consider the job unless it has the WFH flexibility.8 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
Of course employers (in most U.S. states) are free to do that, but given widespread labor shortages, the employees are likely to have an easier time finding a new position that suits them than the employer will in finding someone to fill the vacancies if they aren't willing to offer new hires flexibility or higher wages or better benefits.
Thing is many of the critical labor shortages are in occupations where WFH isn't an option.
8 -
We are going back to the office one day a week starting after the July 4th holiday. While we were working from home, my agency went from 3 floors to 2 floors. So it is now impossible for us to go back like we were before. There simply is not enough room for every employee to be there every day. For example, in my division, we have 70ish employees and now have only 22 or so work stations. I simply can not do my job on just my laptop if I didn't get a work station and had to settle for overflow. My productivity will already take a hit by being in the office because the work stations are set up with only one full sized monitor. I currently use 2 full sized monitors and my laptop and before we went work from home, I used 3 full sized monitors.
Right now my team is planned to be in office on Fridays. Which is fine with me. It's a slower day for me usually so hopefully I won't run into much trouble with the way things are set up.
We'll see. I think it's dumb. They had over a year to figure this all out and waited until just a couple weeks ago to start planning for it.5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
Of course employers (in most U.S. states) are free to do that, but given widespread labor shortages, the employees are likely to have an easier time finding a new position that suits them than the employer will in finding someone to fill the vacancies if they aren't willing to offer new hires flexibility or higher wages or better benefits.
Thing is many of the critical labor shortages are in occupations where WFH isn't an option.
Still, the root may be that the people previously in that labor pool are holding out on returning to work for similar reasons office workers want WFH . . . or are perhaps seeking to leave their previous occupations for something that does allow more flexibility, safety, or some other attribute of WFH.6 -
My workplace just gave guidance for fully vaccinated people who don't want to wear a mask. Need to upload pictures of vax record to a HR website (record will supposedly be maintained separately from personal records). Then the fully vaxed people will need to wear a badge along with employee ID when on company property.
Betting there will be some b#tching about that.6 -
I am really lucky I think. I have always had the option to WFH if I wanted to, although things seemed to go smoother when I was there. With the stay at home orders, etc., we got better at it and I mostly WFH now. I'm in a very small office (3 people) and all of us are vaccinated.
We've been seeing clients more frequently now and (because I'm super cautious) if the client isn't vaccinated we ask that they wear a mask and we do too. Most of my clients have been super understanding about it.7 -
My workplace is also scheduling "preparing to return to the workplace to help maintain good mental health through this time" webinars, presented by corporate psychologist. I'm guessing this means there will not be any revolutionary WFH plan lol.4
-
California open up today. No more masks if you are fully vaccinated, restaurants and public venues like theaters, sports events, gyms, etc, open in full force. Health facilities like labs, clinics and hospitals are still requiring masks.
I have mixed feelings about this "opening,"because we are supposed to rely in the honor system and I don't know how many people (anti-vaxers) are really honorable and will continue to wear masks. My husband and I decided to take things very slowly, and hope for the best.12 -
I will definitely KEEP wearing my mask for the foreseeable future6
-
I am really lucky I think. I have always had the option to WFH if I wanted to, although things seemed to go smoother when I was there. With the stay at home orders, etc., we got better at it and I mostly WFH now. I'm in a very small office (3 people) and all of us are vaccinated.
Same here, I’m in an all-white-collar-industry and flexibility in terms of time and location has always been important to us. Even pre-covid, our rules were that customer work must be done when customer requests it and internal meetings must be scheduled during regular office hours so nobody feels pressured to work nights or weekends, but otherwise we don’t care when people do their work as long as it gets done. We live way up north (and I do mean way up), so especially in the winter people frequently take skiing/walking breaks during the 3 sunny/daylight hours of the day and work later into the dark night.
Recruitment candidates ask me about our post-covid WFH policies pretty much weekly these days, and my regular answer is that unless a customer requests on-site presence or there’s a pre-agreed team meeting at the office, we’re fine with working from anywhere that has electricity and internet access as long as people stay within the European Economic Area for legal reasons. Right now I’m fairly certain (but not 100%) that all of our employees are inside Finnish borders, but I have absolutely no idea where in the country they are since people are on summer cabins, sailing boats, visiting families in other cities etc. Our CEO did all last week from his boat and nobody knew about it until he showed up to a video call, and that’s the example he sets.
Most colleagues I’ve been talking to are planning on 1-2 days of office work per week and staying home for the rest. We were forced to find a new office space last October and signed a 2-year lease knowing we will outgrow the space if everyone wants to work at the office at the same time. The first year is almost up and some people haven’t even checked out their office keys yet because they haven’t wanted to come in even once (and the office has been open this entire time). That’s fine with us, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to need a bigger office anytime soon.7 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I'd already been working remotely 100% for 9 years before the pandemic, and have no desire to ever be onsite full time again. I'm hoping employers are now much more open to it than previously.
My employer wasn't open to it initially, but I had worked there in person for three years before I moved and he trusted me. We had another employee who worked there in person until his visa expired and he had to leave, and he became remote as well. We also had a variety of overseas freelancers who were able to access some of our resources, so our sys admin was experienced with setting people up for remote access, and we were in better shape than many companies to make the switch to all remote for the people in IT and Marketing.3 -
Morgan Stanley CEO to NYC workers: Be back in the office by September or else (https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/16/investing/morgan-stanley-ceo-return-to-office/index.html)
"If you can go to a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office. And we want you in the office," Gorman said.
It seems that not everybody is giving the workers a choice unless there are special circumstances for doing that. I am not going to comment on this subject because I am retired so my thoughts really don't count in the matter. I am just posting this information based on the comments written by many members.
Changing the subject: My husband and I had to run some errands today, the first day after California re-open and I noticed a discrepancy between what is allowed and what people are really doing.
Doctor's office: everybody (staff and patients) wearing masks. No exception, as listed in the health orders.
Restaurant: nobody (staff or patrons) wearing masks, but indoor tables were not too busy and people were choosing tables that were further apart. It was too hot to even think about eating outside.
Sketchers Store: All employees were masked, and the same with some patrons, while others were very happy to show their mask-less faces.
Home Depot: all the employees were wearing mask, but some patrons were not, while most of them were masked. What a mix!
I don't know if the people wearing masks were being careful or were not vaccinated, but everybody was very civilized. No funny looks or comments.
I did wear my mask in the stores, but my husband was not. He was happy to be able to wear his hearing aid without the risk of losing it again. It seems that glasses, hearing aids, and the strap of the mask don’t work very well together.
11 -
As an American Canadian living in Spain, I observed that a lot of people were against the mask mandate back home than here. I mean it’s just a mask.14
-
Went to dealership today for tire repair, chatting with service rep. They're allowed to go without masks at work once fully vaxed, which for him will be this Friday. He was railing about public behavior, which he perceived included many people lying about vax status in order to go unmasked, when what (in his opinion) they should do is to get vaxed, because it's so obvious that that's making case counts drop, and they'd drop further/faster if the rebels would just get on with it.
I'm just reporting his reaction here . . . but I do agree with it, personally. I was wearing a mask, talking with him, though my fully vaxed date (2 weeks past 2nd dose Pfizer) was back in early April. It's not much to protect myself, as I'm not too worried (breakthrough infection would be unpleasant, because with early COPD, even some colds turn into weeks of coughing). I want to help keep it socially comfortable, norms-wise, for people in public to be masked, past the case counts we're at now. There are lots of people, still, unable to be vaccinated, probably not fully protected despite vaccination, etc.13 -
I did wear my mask in the stores, but my husband was not. He was happy to be able to wear his hearing aid without the risk of losing it again. It seems that glasses, hearing aids, and the strap of the mask don’t work very well together.
Sending sympathy to your husband. I’m pregnant and have alopecia, so the combination of wig, sunglasses*, headphones and the mask is a lot of behind-the-ear-action, especially as masks make nausea worse. Whenever I’ve been feeling like it’s too much, I’ve only worn the mask to more crowded situations and taking it off for the rest, like yesterday I wore it on the subway station and while entering&exiting, but removed it while sitting in my seat on the train.
*sunglasses are more necessary than one might think, I never realized how much eyelashes protect from sunlight until I lost them.
Yesterday I got quite worried about the European soccer championship games and covid. Not just the tourism and travel related to it, but people gathering to watch the games. I had a company dinner so I went downtown, and there were huge crowds with not a lot of masks. This is the first time Finland has ever played in the tournament (or any major soccer tournament) and sports fans are going insane. At least the crowds I saw were on outdoor terraces, but I’d bet money any indoor bar with a TV or screen was also fully packed.16 -
Home workout is one of the best solution in this pandemic ofc. Just keep the body moving and sweating hihi4
-
Theoldguy1 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We went back to 50% in office (20 hrs per week) back in January. We go back 100% July 1 which is the start of our new fiscal year. We have an exception form for people with kids that will be in effect until school goes back in August as summer programs for kids were very limited this year. Going forward we will have more flexibility to work from home when kids are sick and stuff like that, but otherwise WFH ends July 1.
I've heard a few times (not sure how accurate it is) that people are saying they will quit rather than go back to the office full time.
I can kind of see it tbh. At my work we are not paperless so it was a LOT of hassle to work fully from home - especially during the stay-at-home orders because there were people who wanted to work in the office, but only alone. So we had to work around that. Personally I went into the office every Sunday for 5 months to get some office time, and had to do pick up and drop off of files during non working hours (like at 7 AM or 9 PM).
It would be pretty *kitten* for my company to tell employees who were bending over backwards to keep the business going that we were expected to be flexible for them, but they won't be flexible for us going forward. Doesn't sound like my firm will be doing that, but some might.
I tentatively plan on working Monday and Friday from home, and in the office Tues through Thursday.
I've seen several articles stating the bloded that x% won't go back to the office. I'm sure that number will change when the employer says that's fine, I'm taking that as your resignation.
Of course employers (in most U.S. states) are free to do that, but given widespread labor shortages, the employees are likely to have an easier time finding a new position that suits them than the employer will in finding someone to fill the vacancies if they aren't willing to offer new hires flexibility or higher wages or better benefits.
Thing is many of the critical labor shortages are in occupations where WFH isn't an option.
Totally aggre 1001 -
Morgan Stanley CEO to NYC workers: Be back in the office by September or else (https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/16/investing/morgan-stanley-ceo-return-to-office/index.html)
"If you can go to a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office. And we want you in the office," Gorman said.
It seems that not everybody is giving the workers a choice unless there are special circumstances for doing that. I am not going to comment on this subject because I am retired so my thoughts really don't count in the matter. I am just posting this information based on the comments written by many members.
[snip]
This has merit:
"If you want to get paid New York rates, you work in New York," Gorman said. "None of this 'I'm in Colorado...and getting paid like I'm sitting in New York City.' Sorry. That doesn't work."
After I moved back to Massachusetts, I could have made more money if I was willing to commute into Boston, but I wasn't, and I was fine with working remotely and getting paid South Florida rates.
When I commuted in FL, between getting ready for work and time spent in the car, I lost three hours per day, not to mention the expense of driving and maintaining a suitable wardrobe.
When working remotely, I stay in my pjs til lunch and then change into my exercise clothes.
I place a lot of value in that improvement in my quality of life.18
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