The working from home thread
- Thread starter BoatieBird
- Start date
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Probably 4 months until I'm actually allowed near my desk.
Being a university, there are massive moves being made towards distance learning even mid-term - so I reckon as a hands-on mechanical type I may end up being furloughed or made redundant - though the management deny this ..
A laptop is heading my way so I can at least try earning the £20 a day over and above what I would get if I had retired - as was my original plan.
Being a university, there are massive moves being made towards distance learning even mid-term - so I reckon as a hands-on mechanical type I may end up being furloughed or made redundant - though the management deny this ..
A laptop is heading my way so I can at least try earning the £20 a day over and above what I would get if I had retired - as was my original plan.
strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
My employer (HE services organisation, four offices, 500 employees) are preparing to reopen offices in the next month.
They're saying that if you can still work from home you should, but given everybody has been working from home for the last 10 weeks, I don't know who is actually going to go back in...
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Shit's getting real now - company laptop on its way to me this afternoon ...
So maybe tomorrow I will do my first 10 mile "false commute" on my bike ..
Hopefully it will actually be fairly quiet - I'll see if I can get away with "being available" in the back garden - since I've moved my spare router to that end of the house ...
So maybe tomorrow I will do my first 10 mile "false commute" on my bike ..
Hopefully it will actually be fairly quiet - I'll see if I can get away with "being available" in the back garden - since I've moved my spare router to that end of the house ...
hegley
never odd or even
Scottish HE here, no official indication but don't think we'll be going back before start of August at the earliest and then anyone that doesn't need/want to be on campus continuing to wfh indefinitely. I'm saving about £250 a month on train ticket so happy with that.
PursuedByBears
Go stick your head in a pig
I don't think we'll be back on campus until at least September.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
i have been offered a new job (got the informal offer just before lockdown and it was put on hold)
they now want me to start and learn a load of new (to me) software and stuff remotely and doing it via teams.
gut feeling it it's really not going to work, and i don't want to take the risk of giving up current job, starting this, then (at best) getting furloughed and at worst turfed out when it doesn't work...
bugger
they now want me to start and learn a load of new (to me) software and stuff remotely and doing it via teams.
gut feeling it it's really not going to work, and i don't want to take the risk of giving up current job, starting this, then (at best) getting furloughed and at worst turfed out when it doesn't work...
bugger
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
Nope. I know they are doing risk assessments, but no indication so far on expected return dates. I suspect they'll stagger it, and keep some people working at home for much longer.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
September at the earliest.
Buddy Bradley
Pantheistic solipsist
Not yet. There's an outside chance that ~90% of the office will get laid off, in which case I doubt we'd keep the lease on the building and I might end up WFH semi-permanently (or at least until we can secure new smaller office space). For now I'm perfectly happy staying at home.
hegley
never odd or even
How keen were you on the job before lockdown? I know in our place all recruitment was put on hold on lockdown and then only lifted on a case by case basis so posts that are going ahead are definitely as safe as possible under the circumstances. Obv different places/industries won't necessarily be operating like this but might be worth having the conversation with them before saying no?
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
shes gone back to her mooring now, (because the canals are open for liveaboards now), but I’ve had my mate who normally moors in Islington and another mate triple moored onto my mooring since the weekend before lockdown. She works for ‘big famous global ents corporation’. Without fail, whenever she’s done a global zoom with many, many people, there’s been a boat/river/pet related disaster. One week my other friends dog went nuts barking in the middle of her call, there was a spaniel in the river (not one of ours) it was obviously lost and couldn’t get out here, because of the metal shuttering, so everyone on the zoom call got to see a Benny Hill chase of wet people and dogs running through her boat. Because my partner and my other friend fell out of our canoe, rescuing it. Then a mate of ours drove past her (shes the outside boat) and his dog saw her and got excited and fell in and had to be rescued. The final time, her ancient pekinese cat, who was very pissed off because she wouldnt let it off her boat, (my neighbours cats would beat it up) fell in trying to escape. My neighbour fell out of his side hatch, only wearing a silk dressing gown, trying to reach it. Whilst his partner, who is a teacher, was trying to teach her class. He then couldn’t get out holding the cat, so I had to interrupt teachers call, running in there to get the cat off him, so he could climb back in through his hatch. The cat was wrapped around and around with water weed. My friend is then sitting there picking it off. All of this on her super important zoom calls.
Sapphireblue
Well-Known Member
i assume you'll get a lot more leeway starting in this scenario, so even if it's going really badly they'll give you another 1-3 months to get the hang of it after offices become a thing again.
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
Current client sent out a survey on Tuesday putting out feelers about how people felt about returning to the office, It doesn't really apply to me but I presume whoever sent it couldn't be arsed to seperate out permies from contractor scum like me. It was all very vague so I suspect the return will be a slow process (now week 11 of WFH). Doesn't bother me, I finish at the end of June so I still think there is a good chance I personally won't go back physically.
Mrs Q said that I might not be able to pick up any personal stuff but I'm not worried, I have a full and unopened box of Kleenex Mansize sitting on the desk but I've got a top end laptop of theirs. I suspect they will ask for it back but I would be happy to let them keep my stuff if I can keep theirs.
Mrs Q said that I might not be able to pick up any personal stuff but I'm not worried, I have a full and unopened box of Kleenex Mansize sitting on the desk but I've got a top end laptop of theirs. I suspect they will ask for it back but I would be happy to let them keep my stuff if I can keep theirs.
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felixthecat
are we there yet?
No idea but don't think it'll be anytime soon.
In fact I think my job has changed forever, which isn't a bad thing. Just a different thing, a different way of working. I foresee much less hands on work, much less one2one.
In fact I think my job has changed forever, which isn't a bad thing. Just a different thing, a different way of working. I foresee much less hands on work, much less one2one.
Our Paris office goes back next week, I think? Not sure. Some time fairly soon anyway. The US offices are preparing to go back too. Not sure about the other offices ex-UK.
In the UK, things are more circumspect. Outside of London, I think it will be a much sooner return to offices than in London. You can do a lot to make the offices themselves safe — only have a third of the staff in at once, close the meeting rooms, space people out, subject the building to industrial cleaning every night — but there’s not much you can do about reliance on the London tube network.
We are acutely aware that there are lots of staff for whom WFH is actually really difficult, so would at least like to present it as an option as soon as possible. It’s not all 40-somethings living somewhere that has a quiet room to work in. People are working from laps and in crowded spaces and it’s not fair to make them do so longer than necessary
In the UK, things are more circumspect. Outside of London, I think it will be a much sooner return to offices than in London. You can do a lot to make the offices themselves safe — only have a third of the staff in at once, close the meeting rooms, space people out, subject the building to industrial cleaning every night — but there’s not much you can do about reliance on the London tube network.
We are acutely aware that there are lots of staff for whom WFH is actually really difficult, so would at least like to present it as an option as soon as possible. It’s not all 40-somethings living somewhere that has a quiet room to work in. People are working from laps and in crowded spaces and it’s not fair to make them do so longer than necessary
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
Much the same for me. Our office building isn't even open yet, and no word from the proprietor on when it will be. Even when we do go back (if that happens, whatever it looks like) I think my employer intends to retain/extend continued flexibility around WFH.
Which is great, actually - it's surprised us all how capable we all are of effective home working. But I cannot wait for the option of desks and colleagues to be there once more.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
On of those annoying days today with back to back meetings. Put myself on mute on this one as I don't really need to contribute and reading the news instead.
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
I had one of those boring, don't really need to be here, meetings last week and I amused myself by 'driving' through Oregon and Washington on the Pacific Coast Highway on Google streetview
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
that's one angle that hadn't occurred to me
thinking objectively about this job, faintly uninspired.
thinking realistically, i'm pissed off with current job (had to decline a couple of other interviews last year due to work situation meaning i couldn't have a day off), i really need to move back to london where this job is (ageing mum-tat), this job still has a half way decent pension scheme attached, and i'm starting to reach an age where there might not be that many more opportunities (especially with the recession that's coming)
and setting the wheels in motion to move house isn't really going to be practical until all this is over, either.
did e-mail yesterday and ask if it would be possible to defer either until a future date or next time they have a vacancy
reply today - no, and they need to know by close of business tomorrow.
bugger.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
So rather late in the day I have a work laptop and call centre s/ware, but I wonder if they really want me to stick my oar into a well-oiled machine...
I have the remote assist tool ,a stack of documentation about previous solutions and promise of shadowing an expert ...
Now that I have the SW, I can see that the call numbers are very low in any case at the moment... with an average of a few 5 minute calls per person ...
I have the remote assist tool ,a stack of documentation about previous solutions and promise of shadowing an expert ...
Now that I have the SW, I can see that the call numbers are very low in any case at the moment... with an average of a few 5 minute calls per person ...
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NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
My workplace issued mice and keyboards to go with our laptops before sending us off. They're cheap pieces of crap; I already replaced the mouse with the one from my currently-broken PC, and yesterday I got impatient with the unreliability of the space bar and ended up thumping the keyboard, cracking the casing. I didn't even hit it that hard. So now I'm using my expensive gaming keyboard, and the difference is like night and day.
Never let anyone tell you that paying extra for decent build quality is a waste of money. There's a false economy in buying cheap shit for a lot of things.
Never let anyone tell you that paying extra for decent build quality is a waste of money. There's a false economy in buying cheap shit for a lot of things.
I heard about someone who works for a county council, and the 'o' key broke on their keyboard.
muscovyduck
Good IT skills and food hygiene competent
I'm on furlough from the type of workplace that likes to think they'll do the right thing in a crisis but then turns around and decides they don't want to. Unsure if I want to return to the job.
have they switched that on mandatorily for everyone?We now have a branded Teams backdrop for video calls, so you can be on screen, with the firm's logo and strapline in the top left corner of the screen and a "professional" looking background. What fun.
quimcunx
imprimeo, lamino, distribuo
Our work have conceded that we wont be back for june. A month is the longest firm time they've given. I presume there was a big fight over it as it wasnt my boss who announced it. Shes been tripping along from week to week mournfully informing us that it looks like we wont be back for a week or so yet. 
My hero for the day is the person who told the staff meeting that a partner organisation has said January for reopening.
My hero for the day is the person who told the staff meeting that a partner organisation has said January for reopening.
mx wcfc
Well-Known Member
No. I didn't use it for an internal call yesterday (a couple of people did and we all had a good laugh about it). We are encouraged to use it for external calls. Apart form the logo, the backgrounds look like trendy modern offices, which is a bit daft - as if we are pretending we are in an office for the call.
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