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What's your work status now? Back at work? Furloughed? Working from home? Or bugger all?

Are you back at work?

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I quickly found out, after returning to (CS) work on Tuesday, that all the (work) bus drivers are doing temperature click-scans on the foreheads of all those booked onto all the works buses.

I had my first temp-test on Wednesday (I lay in a bit on Tuesday so I got the town bus ;) )

If you have no ticket showing you've advance-booked your place on the work-bus for that day, you can't get on.

If your temperaturw shows more than about 36 degrees (?), then you also can't get on.

Tightening up stuff! But it does seem reassuring tbf :)
 
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Finally a phone interview on Monday - to start 2 weeks training on the 9/11 if successful ( but at half usual daily rate, seems a bit shady tbh, is not ideal )- installing and fixing broadband in peoples houses round Sutton (SM1), have to rent a van off the company to start but the rate does go up after 5 months

But it's something, which is great as im skint and really bored...
 
I've changed my mind about doing cover supervisor work. I just don't want to deal with rowdy classes and be put off teaching. I can cope for a while on my savings and the small amount I'm earning. I've picked up a few more private online students, and my outgoings are low right now. All I spend money on is my monthly rent and groceries.

Still going through all the background checks for a possible role to start in January..
 
miss direct said:
I've changed my mind about doing cover supervisor work. I just don't want to deal with rowdy classes and be put off teaching. I can cope for a while on my savings and the small amount I'm earning. I've picked up a few more private online students, and my outgoings are low right now. All I spend money on is my monthly rent and groceries.

Still going through all the background checks for a possible role to start in January..
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Ok. The other thing it may be worth looking for, again through the TES rather than an agency, is learning support assistant (LSA) work, with either an explicit EAL focus or it being a valuable bonus. I’m not sure where you live at the moment, but there are big parts of London where Turkish is the most common EAL need. Where my school is, the need is mostly Portuguese, and we have a head of EAL who’s a Portuguese speaker, and she’s also a MFL teacher, but she has a small team of other LSAs with other language skills.

In most schools LSAs wouldn’t teach a whole class, so the responsibility for herd behaviour (iyswim) would be someone else’s. nagapie would be the best person to add detail here.
 
spanglechick said:
Ok. The other thing it may be worth looking for, again through the TES rather than an agency, is learning support assistant (LSA) work, with either an explicit EAL focus or it being a valuable bonus. I’m not sure where you live at the moment, but there are big parts of London where Turkish is the most common EAL need. Where my school is, the need is mostly Portuguese, and we have a head of EAL who’s a Portuguese speaker, and she’s also a MFL teacher, but she has a small team of other LSAs with other language skills.

In most schools LSAs wouldn’t teach a whole class, so the responsibility for herd behaviour (iyswim) would be someone else’s. nagapie would be the best person to add detail here.
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Well I think I might not be best as I was the one who put her off cover supervisor!
But yes, LSA much less stressful. Only ever have sole charge of very small groups.
But what's the end game, do you want to teach in the UK miss direct ?
 
spanglechick said:
Ok. The other thing it may be worth looking for, again through the TES rather than an agency, is learning support assistant (LSA) work, with either an explicit EAL focus or it being a valuable bonus. I’m not sure where you live at the moment, but there are big parts of London where Turkish is the most common EAL need. Where my school is, the need is mostly Portuguese, and we have a head of EAL who’s a Portuguese speaker, and she’s also a MFL teacher, but she has a small team of other LSAs with other language skills.
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I would like a job like that - keeping an eye out, but they all seem to want certain qualifications that I don't have. Not sure how many Turkish children are in schools here with EAL needs - not many, at a guess.
nagapie - I'm not sure I want to teach in schools in the UK. I'd like to get a contract teaching ELT in a university (that's what I do most summers) or get into ESOL, or publishing/materials writing work. My teaching experience is mostly with 18+
 
Just applied for a job at "Jacks" which apparently is a low budget version of Tescos. Ended up down a wormhill after following a link about Tesco recruiting lots of workers over Christmas.
 
miss direct said:
😆 oh its just a Christmas job to tide me over. Applied for royal mail as well.
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I've done temporary Xmas postal work in the past, and it can be good, so long as it's sorting-office work (which I did, in the main SA1 sorting office here) and not delivery, in the dark, wet and cold! :eek:

I expect anything you get would be much more likely to be sorting parcels nowadays, rather than Xmas cards.
With those though, I very quickly learnt vast amounts about the postcodes of all over Wales and across the UK! :cool:

Good luck with your searches/applicatiions anyway! :)
 
So a bunch of people will be back 'in the office' next week - another lot will be on 'gardening leave' on full pay until either confirmed in role or as redundant.

I asked at work, out of interest, if there was any minimum period before a role could be at risk of redundancy again - as in, how safe am I in the continuing wave off bullshit - was slightly suprised to find out there isn't. OTOH, having seen how disruptive a 'consultation period' is I imagine most places don't want to go through them very often so I'm guessing I'm OK for at least a year. Apparently, everything should be settled by end of next month, but due to various moving parts, not everyone who has moved around will be in post before January. So the end of the year will be super confusing then.
 
I went on secondment from my job for 12 months in January, to work at a national organisation in HE (normally I work for a university). Have hated it ever since lockdown started, for multiple reasons and could feel myself cracking up, so handed my notice in and as of today, am now unemployed until mid January when I go back to my old job.

Looking forward to 12 weeks of self care to be honest, and spending more time not stuck upstairs in my home office.
 
Me: in the office and WFH occasionally
Mrs Angel: WFH 95% of the time
lil' Angel: Back in school full time with precautions
the Boy: Furloughed

We're very lucky really - Mrs A and I work for the same local authority - so we are very busy - lots to do - neither of us has been redeployed and there's no danger of being laid off or furloughed as we're in Tier 1 roles.

the Boy is OK for cash - lives elsewhere with a mate
 
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A month ago, there was no question of returning to the surgeries until March - that's now open ended. College seem to be taking a conservative approach to risk management, so a fat middle-aged diabetic and a charming breast cancer patient aren't going to be seeing the inside of that place for a while. And, seeing as I am now pretty much in charge of the other place I teach at, and the professional bodies are slowly coming around to the idea of completing courses wholly online, no risk of f2f there. One student is objecting - "but I PAID for a face to face course, and I WILL HAVE a face to face course" - yeah, maybe, in 2023 or something.

I'm already pretty sick of the corner of my bedroom that is my "online studio", better brace myself for six more months of that...
 
I'm starting a 100% remote video editing job on Monday. The last work from home job I did involved taking home the entire edit suite and drives. This time I will be working over the internet and driving a computer at a location in central London. I really hope this works smoothly as it could be a fab solution even beyond the covid. However I worry that the top speeds I am getting in my home office might be a bit low (and from time to time are dropping right off).
The only other bummer is that I have actually been offered three jobs of this type starting November, but obviously can only take one. . . . buses and all of that, I haven't worked since April.
 
i am at the point where i need to make a decision this weekend to take a new job that i have been offered.

would be to start mid january and will mean moving house.

not sure that starting a new job on home working is a good idea, and the thought of being laid off (with uncertainty about whether any sort of furlough scheme will still exist by then) is not encouraging...
 
Ho ho ho, they have just sent me a bundle of work that needs to be done by Monday, but there is no explanation as to what it is, how it is to be done. My log in won't be active until mid day Monday and I assume there will be some fannying around to get up and running. I also don't know where any footage is (reels or dates), and nothing in the 'script' is labelled or timecoded.
Working in post production is all coming flooding back to me.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
I'm starting a 100% remote video editing job on Monday. The last work from home job I did involved taking home the entire edit suite and drives. This time I will be working over the internet and driving a computer at a location in central London. I really hope this works smoothly as it could be a fab solution even beyond the covid. However I worry that the top speeds I am getting in my home office might be a bit low (and from time to time are dropping right off).
The only other bummer is that I have actually been offered three jobs of this type starting November, but obviously can only take one. . . . buses and all of that, I haven't worked since April.
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Probably worth connecting to (high quality) LAN cables rather than wifi if you haven't already.
 
scifisam said:
Probably worth connecting to (high quality) LAN cables rather than wifi if you haven't already.
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Got a lan in the office, but it's at the other end of my garden and the distance seems to make it drop about 15-20mbps lower than in the house. Not really enough room in the house. Might be able to squeeze in another room if I really have to, but that will also probably mean setting up and taking everything down every day. . . . also buying a table.
 
Looks like I may be forced to work from home for a time. I found it difficult to cope with last time. Would rather be furloughed or even take the time off unpaid if it comes to that. Anyone know what the legal position is for refusing to do the work on the basis of mental health? It’s a totally different job to what I normally do and not what I signed up for. I would be answering the phone all day and I don’t do phones.
 
Throbbing Angel said:
We're very lucky really - Mrs A and I work for the same local authority - so we are very busy - lots to do - neither of us has been redeployed and there's no danger of being laid off or furloughed as we're in Tier 1 roles.
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THIS by the truckload now after yesterday's announcement. Glad to hear that Furlough has been extended for the Boy. And that schools are remaining open. Lil'Angel didn't like SFH after a few days and it had is impact.
 
Orang Utan said:
Looks like I may be forced to work from home for a time. I found it difficult to cope with last time. Would rather be furloughed or even take the time off unpaid if it comes to that. Anyone know what the legal position is for refusing to do the work on the basis of mental health? It’s a totally different job to what I normally do and not what I signed up for. I would be answering the phone all day and I don’t do phones.
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Dunno.

In normal times, I'd say it depends on your contract, whether there's a clause about doing other work if normal duties aren't available for whatever reason.

And without wanting to ask more detail on the mental health front, if someone has a long term health condition that employer is aware of, then equalities act (which incorporated the disability discrimination act) may be relevant, as regards reasonable adjustments and that sort of thing.

on both cases, a lot of it would come down to what's considered 'reasonable' which is not always easy to define, and probably more complicated at the moment as the current emergency would be taken in to account.

do you know if employer will be putting some people on furlough? and if so how they are selecting people for furlough?

common sense would say that if employer has some people who are able and willing to do a particular job and don't want to be furloughed, and others who aren't able / willing and are willing to volunteer for furlough, then it would be sensible to do that. although common sense and management often don't go together. and there may be some workers who, for health reasons, are considered priority for furlough. i've not got too close to the detail on this.

as ever, may be worth talking to your union (if you have one) or ACAS (if you don't) or for that matter talking to employer? they may think they are doing the best for you by providing alternative work if your usual role can't happen (and bear in mind that as of a few days ago, the furlough scheme was about to end and be replaced by something a lot crappier, so plans employers were making on friday would not reflect the position from this week.)
 
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