The coronabrexit thread. I mean, coronavirus thread

[Stive Pesley]

10 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

The one good thing about the cost of lockdown crisis we're now experiencing is that everyone will finally be rushing back into the office once they see how much their fuel bills are going up.

Except in my case (and I guess a lot of other people) there is no office to go back to. My employer took the opportunity to make massive savings on real estate costs and closed all their offices

I've was working from home for part of the week pre-covid anyway, and I was always a big advocate for it. The days I spent in the office were just the worst type of presenteeism. I'd drive 40 minutes up the M1 to sit at a desk on my own - talk to no one - then drive 40 minutes home again. Any employer who doesn't realise that is stupid is doomed. The day I no longer had to do a commute was glorious.

I'm far more productive from home - and our entire team have improved on all their KPI targets since the office closed. It's been recognised as a massive success story. But you won't read that in the Daily Mail. We all know why

 

[PistoldPete]

11 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

Except in my case (and I guess a lot of other people) there is no office to go back to. My employer took the opportunity to make massive savings on real estate costs and closed all their offices

I've was working from home for part of the week pre-covid anyway, and I was always a big advocate for it. The days I spent in the office were just the worst type of presenteeism. I'd drive 40 minutes up the M1 to sit at a desk on my own - talk to no one - then drive 40 minutes home again. Any employer who doesn't realise that is stupid is doomed. The day I no longer had to do a commute was glorious.

I'm far more productive from home - and our entire team have improved on all their KPI targets since the office closed. It's been recognised as a massive success story. But you won't read that in the Daily Mail. We all know why

 

I would ask how you can be productive at anything if you talk to no-one.  But anyway you can talk to people over Teams meetings instead so yes no need to be in the office for most staff it is a huge waste of money  and commuting time. 

[Stive Pesley]

33 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

I would ask how you can be productive at anything if you talk to no-one.  But anyway you can talk to people over Teams meetings instead so yes no need to be in the office for most staff it is a huge waste of money  and commuting time. 

I should have clarified that when I was in the office i meant i talked to no one in person. 

All the people I work with are spread across the uk and europe in a global virtual team, so I was talking to people on Teams all the time. So there was no difference to being at home - just that I got to sit on the M1 for an hour and a half every day for my trouble!

[PistoldPete]

13 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

I should have clarified that when I was in the office i meant i talked to no one in person. 

All the people I work with are spread across the uk and europe in a global virtual team, so I was talking to people on Teams all the time. So there was no difference to being at home - just that I got to sit on the M1 for an hour and a half every day for my trouble!

Yes from what you describe now it makes no sense for you going into the office. 

[Archied]

5 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

Except in my case (and I guess a lot of other people) there is no office to go back to. My employer took the opportunity to make massive savings on real estate costs and closed all their offices

I've was working from home for part of the week pre-covid anyway, and I was always a big advocate for it. The days I spent in the office were just the worst type of presenteeism. I'd drive 40 minutes up the M1 to sit at a desk on my own - talk to no one - then drive 40 minutes home again. Any employer who doesn't realise that is stupid is doomed. The day I no longer had to do a commute was glorious.

I'm far more productive from home - and our entire team have improved on all their KPI targets since the office closed. It's been recognised as a massive success story. But you won't read that in the Daily Mail. We all know why

 

I don’t doubt there is a place for it and can work , the bit where you say there’s no office to go back to is something I was talking to a friend about a while back and I noted that without covid if workers had been told companies were closing offices to save money most would have viewed it with more caution and concern , I hope your right long term and it is driven by giving workers better conditions and work life balance but I suppose I’m a bit of a cynical old sod and will hold off to see where things head a few years down the line

[Stive Pesley]

2 hours ago, Archied said:

I don’t doubt there is a place for it and can work , the bit where you say there’s no office to go back to is something I was talking to a friend about a while back and I noted that without covid if workers had been told companies were closing offices to save money most would have viewed it with more caution and concern , I hope your right long term and it is driven by giving workers better conditions and work life balance but I suppose I’m a bit of a cynical old sod and will hold off to see where things head a few years down the line

No - you're dead right. Our company has been trying to close offices for years, but there was always push back from employees and the work councils/unions. The reason I was travelling 40 mins to an office up the M1 where I had no immediate colleagues was because they closed the Derby office. A year after that they were trying to close the office on the M1, leaving the nearest office over an hour away. Threatening to make people redundant if we didn't agree to an even longer commute - giving us big presentations about how we were all more effective working in an office

Then covid hit and they spied their chance - all those presentations were quietly deleted and never spoken of again

Hence I'm a cynical old sod too, and I wonder where the debate will go now that "covid is over"

[PistoldPete]

18 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

No - you're dead right. Our company has been trying to close offices for years, but there was always push back from employees and the work councils/unions. The reason I was travelling 40 mins to an office up the M1 where I had no immediate colleagues was because they closed the Derby office. A year after that they were trying to close the office on the M1, leaving the nearest office over an hour away. Threatening to make people redundant if we didn't agree to an even longer commute - giving us big presentations about how we were all more effective working in an office

Then covid hit and they spied their chance - all those presentations were quietly deleted and never spoken of again

Hence I'm a cynical old sod too, and I wonder where the debate will go now that "covid is over"

They may find they can get people to work from home.. in Malaysia. 

[1of4]

On 06/09/2022 at 23:11, Carl Sagan said:

I'm pleased if you and your daughter are working effectively, although I worry for the younger generation of workers, alone in their bedrooms, with no one to bond with or ask how something works or how to do things. 

Wokists scoff at the Mail when it is the most read newspaper in the UK so gets more right than it gets wrong. Sadly from personal experience, most people you call post-covid are in their bedrooms completely incapable of sorting any problem out. 

The one good thing about the cost of lockdown crisis we're now experiencing is that everyone will finally be rushing back into the office once they see how much their fuel bills are going up. 

The Daily Mail is the most wokist publications in circulation. Here I'm using the derogatory connotations the right wing media have given to woke and not the the original meaning of the word.

[1of4]

There appears to be a lot of negativity and unhappiness with how the covid pandemic, the ensuing lockdown, the implementation of the furlough scheme was dealt with. 

But didn't Johnson get all the big calls right. Well thats what every tory mp and right-wing media outlet kept telling us. It was only this week that Liz Truss our new PM told us again how Johnson got all the big calls right.

As for the energy crisis, it was probably best that he'd gave up doing his job and went on a couple of holidays and didn't make any big calls. God knows what poo we'd be in now.

There again his replacement, appears to have the same ability when it comes to making the big calls

[G STAR RAM]

Can only speak from personal experience here but I've not seen a single instance of productivity/efficiency improving through employees working from home with any of the organisations I deal with.

Best examples I can give are:-

Gambling Commission. Operating Licence applications should be turned around in 16 weeks, our last one took about 37 weeks.

A local council, was promised a response to an e-mail 'next week' that is now 14 months ago and all subsequent chaser e-mails have been ignored.

Bank loan applications taking probably double the time.

Try ringing G4S, they still have a message saying due to the Covid pandemic staff are working from home and call wait times are longer than normal and its better to e-mail your queries if you want a response.

HMRC...well lets not even go there. 

Fair play to the people who's lives have improved along with their product and efficiency but I certainly dont think you're representative of the situation as a whole.

[G STAR RAM]

10 hours ago, 1of4 said:

The Daily Mail is the most wokist publications in circulation. Here I'm using the derogatory connotations the right wing media have given to woke and not the the original meaning of the word.

Just out of interest, why do you read the Daily Mail if you hate it so much?

[1of4]

32 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Just out of interest, why do you read the Daily Mail if you hate it so much?

You need to understand your opponents to be able to defend yourself against them and ultimately defeat them.

[G STAR RAM]

9 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

You need to understand your opponents to be able to defend yourself against them and ultimately defeat them.

Fair enough, I certainly wouldnt be funding my opponents though. 

[1of4]

45 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Fair enough, I certainly wouldnt be funding my opponents though. 

You don't need to waste money purchasing any of the right-wing rags. You can gain access to much of what they print, free online. 

[G STAR RAM]

6 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

You don't need to waste money purchasing any of the right-wing rags. You can gain access to much of what they print, free online. 

They will gain much of their revenue from online advertising, the more footfall to their online site the higher they will be able to charge for advertising.

[FindernRam]

36 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

the more footfall to their online site

I tried that and broke my phone!

[i-Ram]

53 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

You don't need to waste money purchasing any of the right-wing rags. You can gain access to much of what they print, free online. 

Yeah, right on Comrade. You indirectly keep funding the rag you despise.

[1of4]

51 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

They will gain much of their revenue from online advertising, the more footfall to their online site the higher they will be able to charge for advertising.

You don't have to go on to their web site to see some of their articles. But if a few pennys go into their coffers, I can live with that. It's a small price to pay, to understand an opponent's mindset.

[TimRam]

Mate and his wife got it (both vaccinated and in good health). Mate said he has never felt so ill. They are both getting better after 3-4 days fortunately. It's still around. Regarding working from home, I am much more productive and less distracted by office background 'chatter'.

Edited September 9, 2022 by TimRam

[1of4]

14 minutes ago, i-Ram said:

Yeah, right on Comrade. You indirectly keep funding the rag you despise.

Well hello comrade, never had you down has a member of the party. Don't worry about the cost of gaining access to what the right-wing are thinking.

It all comes free, direct from Putin's information department. They should be listening in on whats being said in the cabinet office. But while they wait around for anything of importance to be said, they pass the time hacking into all the British media.