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The working from home thread

I'll be joining you from Monday as our place announced this evening it was closing shop until June 1st!!

That first 6:40am alarm on that day is going to be tough I tell you!
 
I have the (great) children at home, a wife with a fever and a job to do - now online. My current model is to pretend I am a hill farmer. We get up early, listen to one morning news bulletin, go for an hour walk with the children across local fields and then I get down to a couple of hours online work as they do homework. Have an 11 o'clock break - work some more - prepare a late lunch. Hear another bit of news. Work online and have a tea break/ chat with family. Have a last flush of work and sign off at 5 before preparing dinner/ listen to news/ have a board game and then have a bit of time on computer. It is just about working - deciding to avoid rolling news has been a godsend. I also manage a team who have families at home at the moment as well and it is mental for all of us. The background is super stressful, people are really feeling it but it is difficult to express. Previously all our coping mechanisms involved getting out of the house - me working/ swimming/ galleries/ socialising . My eldest daughter galleries/ gym/ meeting friends. My wife had work and loads of great social groups which have now been cancelled. My youngest had all his sports activities. Now it is like we are in a life raft. We are getting through it but it is amazing how dramatic the last two weeks have been.
 
I have my class logged into Khanacademy online classes.
Great!!
And I've sent them all links to yoga lessons and dance and cardio workouts on youtube..
Also got them to watch videos on storywriting. And sent them lots of art ideas and projects to keep them busy.
They seem happy and are working longer than the normal school day.

I have had a few emails from 2 of them who are clearly very upset and frightened by everything that is going on in relation to coronavirus. Responding to them as carefully as I can and trying to calm them down has been difficult.
Overall, working from home is surprisingly ok.
 
After a stuttery start which culminated in me swearing in a meeting my work have got themselves into gear.

We are not expected to work a full day. Maybe 10 to 4 but with flexibility as the best time to shop or walk or avoid yelling kids might not fit that schedule.
Work will not always be our priority.
We are considering only work 4 days a week, the other day being a mental health day.
More video meetings to keep contact and not feel so isolated.
Trying to think of things we can do to keep community and sanity.
 
We are all on WFH as of yesterday. I actually wfh quite a bit any way, a proper screen and full size keyboard fit the laptop makes a big difference. We had just got MS Teams and I must say I’m impressed so far.
 
quimcunx said:
After a stuttery start which culminated in me swearing in a meeting my work have got themselves into gear.

We are not expected to work a full day. Maybe 10 to 4 but with flexibility as the best time to shop or walk or avoid yelling kids might not fit that schedule.
Work will not always be our priority.
We are considering only work 4 days a week, the other day being a mental health day.
More video meetings to keep contact and not feel so isolated.
Trying to think of things we can do to keep community and sanity.
Click to expand...
That sounds really sensible and most of all, thoughtful and considerate.
 
We all got laptops a few months back so we're quite well-placed for this.

Have to say, my work have been good about this. Very flexible, saying that going to the office should only be in exceptional circumstances, making sure managers check in with you etc. I'm quite impressed.

My team seem to have instigated a group natter at about 3pm each day. My boss started it. No work chat, just a natter. Everyone posted daft photos of them in their teenage years the other day. It was genuinely funny and we'll need more of this in the coming weeks I'm sure.

I did a training course entirely remotely yesterday for the first time and it went surprisingly well. Microsoft meetings worked well. 8 of us online with no real connectivity problems.

It's okay so far.
 
Voley said:
We all got laptops a few months back so we're quite well-placed for this.

Have to say, my work have been good about this. Very flexible, saying that going to the office should only be in exceptional circumstances, making sure managers check in with you etc. I'm quite impressed.

My team seem to have instigated a group natter at about 3pm each day. My boss started it. No work chat, just a natter. Everyone posted daft photos of them in their teenage years the other day. It was genuinely funny and we'll need more of this in the coming weeks I'm sure.

I did a training course entirely remotely yesterday for the first time and it went surprisingly well. Microsoft meetings worked well. 8 of us online with no real connectivity problems.

It's okay so far.
Click to expand...
The regular group natters are a really good idea. It's working well for us too, and today I suggested that we move them back to 10.00 rather than 9.00!

The whole WFH thing is dependent on the IT working though. Yesterday afternoon I couldn't access our servers at all. Today that's fine, but the government gateway thing I use is pissing about.
 
We're going to be having weekly meetings at 10 on Mondays using Teams.

Still waiting for work I'm being tasked to do for the next fortnight.
 
quimcunx said:
I partly posted it so people can think actually I can suggest these things to my work. Expecting everyone to pretend they're hard at it 7/35 WILL prove counterproductive.
Click to expand...
I will suggest them but not just yet. Things seem crazy in the office and they’re fire fighting at the moment. A proper plan will come in time and hopefully we’ll be able to contribute to that.
 
Monday: up early, breakfast, make up on and brushed hair, work jacket on to make me feel 'worky' - meetings or teaching all day and planning all evening.

Friday: woke up at 9, made tea, got back into bed and turned camera off on any work video calls.

I guess my work at home day has morphed into a work in bed day


Interesting to see what next Monday will be like
 
Things I've noticed:

  • I need something better to sit on if I'm going to be at my home computer for 8 hours a day.
  • I probably need a bigger monitor too.
  • Food stores go quicker when you're home to eat them. I never realized that I eat so much pudding.
  • The work day doesn't stop at 5:00 pm. You keep checking to make sure something isn't getting past you.
  • It doesn't take long to start thinking of striking up conversations with people who are just walking past the house. Boredom and loneliness are going to be real issues for a lot of people who are used to running about all day.
 
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Well we had "that office chat" - which was interesting

He is of the opinion that whilst he has no objections to the 3 of us who can work from home, working from home

He is not convinced that we will be as productive as if we were in the office so would not be prepared to pay a full days pay

Long story short - I'm not working from home at the moment as I'm not prepared to be available for a full days work but not to get a full days pay for it

Interestingly - the day after the meeting the "new girl" had to self isolate because her mum has a bit of a cough and stuff

And today the other member of the department (of 3) has had to leave to take his partner to the hospital because her operation would has started to turn septic

Leaving . . . me!

So, Good time to re-open the working from home option then??? ;)
 
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S☼I said:
Important to have a proper cut off time. I was still checking stuff at six thirty last night, and I know my (not really but actually) boss was still doing stuff at 7.45. It's cos you're in the same place innit
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right. There has to be a cutoff. I saw one of our tech people still working at 9:30 pm last night. Admittedly, he has a lot of work to do setting people up to work from home, but he should have gone home by then in any case.
 
colacubes said:
We're all homeworkers in my company so welcome newbs :thumbs: I've been doing it for over 5 years. My tips are for all of you newbs:

1. If possible find a separate space where you can work quietly without being disturbed - so ideally not in the kitchen/living room. I realise this may not be possible for all especially if you've got kids home with you.
2. Get dressed and aim to start at a set time. Don't work in your pants or PJs as tempting as it is.
3. Take regular breaks to make a cup of tea etc.
4. Try and go for a brief stroll or do something different for half hour at lunchtime so you take a proper break and don't eat at your desk. Having a dog is helpful here.
5. As far as possible try and keep to your regular work hours if you can. This does not apply for me as I'm often on call evening or weekend, but if you can be strict do. It's important to maintain a distance between work life and home life and that can be tricky if you wfh.
Click to expand...
I am currently sat on the sofa wfh as Mrs21 bagged the spare room/office :D

It's my second day wfh - I have been able to do this for years but only rarely did I bother. Had a Skype meeting at 12 with the team - Skype meetings are quite annoying :D and the manager told us that work want 10% of housing staff to work in the office, so that basically means 1 day a week, I chose Wednesday for next week - but this could change . Work is also trying to sort out parking permits to I don't need to get the tube/train/bus. Mrs21 is wfh for the foreseeable.
 
marty21 said:
I am currently sat on the sofa wfh as Mrs21 bagged the spare room/office :D

It's my second day wfh - I have been able to do this for years but only rarely did I bother. Had a Skype meeting at 12 with the team - Skype meetings are quite annoying :D and the manager told us that work want 10% of housing staff to work in the office, so that basically means 1 day a week, I chose Wednesday for next week - but this could change . Work is also trying to sort out parking permits to I don't need to get the tube/train/bus. Mrs21 is wfh for the foreseeable.
Click to expand...

I find Zoom to work better for meetings.
 
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