Working From Home Megathread

snoopboggybog

Mr.S wrote: »

Definitely. And the employers who dragged their feet / ignored work from home policies until now have had to seriously play catch-up.

You can be sure after all this dies down that more employers will have proper work from home policies.



I really don't know either! Although have to say it's very cute when colleagues kids come on VC

Licensing can be expensive for VPN connections but no where near the 15K per employees are paying for having them in the office. Maybe 200 per user.

Imagine employees could get rid of childcare costs, 2nd car, toll costs, transports cost, lunch expenses by working from home.

I was in meetings this week with people's kids annoying the guys on skype, was fair funny. No one cares like.

antimatterx

snoopboggybog wrote: »

Anyone really can work from home if there working from a laptop or desktop in an office.

People underestimate the IT industry but we are flat out the last few weeks facilitating this.

This! I'm a software engineer and we have been flat out for the last 3 weeks. In the 9 months, I've been here, this is the busiest it's been!

beauf

Same here all hands on deck rolling out laptops and refurbishing old ones dragged out from all sorts of places.
Likewise accelerated the replacement of internal systems with cloud based ones, external facing etc.
It probably dragged us a year forward of where they planned to be, and ripped lots of people out of their comfort zone in terms of micro managing.

recyclebin

So how many people here are unexpectantly working from home as a result of the Coronavirus? How are you finding it?

I've just been told that the factory I work is shutting down for two weeks and that some of us are expected to work from home as we don't work on factory floor. I have to go in tomorrow to collect some stuff to work from home.

I have a few reservations about working from home though as the employer did not prepare or discuss this with employees. They are just reacting rather than being proactive even though most knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later.

My biggest concern about working from home is the effects it may have on others in the household. Working from home not only effects the employee but also those they live with.

Marsden35

So I have two jobs. I'm full time in IT which can't be done from home really as I'm an on site PC repair monkey, but some can be done remotely if the client's system is running sufficiently for remote access software. I've had one job in a week.

My other small extra income business is T-shirt sales online. Unfortunately my T-shirt printing company has had to close.

I'm okay financially. Always save for a rainy day....but still frustrating with some frictions in the house. At least there's a garden to escape to and I've had a few walks out.

Just have to deal with it. Man up, boot straps, stiff upper lip etc etc

Rickytumtum

Lavinia wrote: »

so you paid 49 euro for delivery?


i am puzzled that ikea is not delivering any large products that could require handling of two people, yet their delivery charges are still ridiculously high


ill live with no ikea for few months, not gonna pay 49 euro to deliver a small item..

No it was only a tenner. It must be small enough to be delivered in a parcel. But because of that, I’m assuming it went to an post and has vanished. I spoke to ikea customer care online today, they gave me the an post tracker no, which says there is no record. They have now reordered the chair, with another two week lead in time. If it doesn’t turn up this week, I’ll just cancel it and go to Viking.

recyclebin

Sorry, didn't see the mega thread, can my post be merged?

MarkR

recyclebin wrote: »

So how many people here are unexpectantly working from home as a result of the Coronavirus? How are you finding it?

I've just been told that the factory I work is shutting down for two weeks and that some of us are expected to work from home as we don't work on factory floor. I have to go in tomorrow to collect some stuff to work from home.

I have a few reservations about working from home though as the employer did not prepare or discuss this with employees. They are just reacting rather than being proactive even though most knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later.

My biggest concern about working from home is the effects it may have on others in the household. Working from home not only effects the employee but also those they live with.

I work in a university, and have been working from home since they've closed the schools. I'm the IT Specialist for a division, so I've been quite busy. Working from home is not ideal, but it works. My kids often join my conference calls, but what the hell, my house is not an office, so deal with it!

What are the adverse effects you're worried about? I'm sure my wife is happier to have me at home to help with the kids, vs me not being here.

Lavinia

Rickytumtum wrote: »

No it was only a tenner. It must be small enough to be delivered in a parcel. But because of that, I’m assuming it went to an post and has vanished. I spoke to ikea customer care online today, they gave me the an post tracker no, which says there is no record. They have now reordered the chair, with another two week lead in time. If it doesn’t turn up this week, I’ll just cancel it and go to Viking.

you must be living right next to ikea as whichever small item i add to cart it gets to 49 euro to be delivered. i am only in d3 so that's way too much, unfortunately.
(wanted to order a chair or the balcony btw, so delivery would be more expensive than chair itself..)

Beasty

Threads merged....

Lavinia

what happened to this thread? i cannot see any page past page 15?

Lavinia

edit: okay i can now since i have posted that.
anyway, a new working week ahead and with latest news it seems we can be working like this in months to come, not few weeks as were initially told..

Quin_Dub

Stheno wrote: »

Out of a few hundred in my office all but 5 are currently working from home so that would be about 99%of my companyŕ

Varies by Industry of course , but in my company - We employ about 6,000 people here in Ireland and I'd say that right now less than 200 have to physically go in to the office.

Globally the company have implemented a compulsory work from home policy as well and out of the 150k global employees I'd say that less than 5k have to come to the office..

That's not really sustainable long term and some functions are running in a restricted fashion , but it's working for now.

But when all this is over there will be a realisation in a lot of companies that well over 50% of Office based jobs could successfully be done almost exclusively remote.

This "forced experiment" is going to change how people work in the future , without question.

Rickytumtum

Lavinia wrote: »

you must be living right next to ikea as whichever small item i add to cart it gets to 49 euro to be delivered. i am only in d3 so that's way too much, unfortunately.
(wanted to order a chair or the balcony btw, so delivery would be more expensive than chair itself..)

I’m over in Portmarnock. Maybe they have changed how they operate delivery? I managed to order on the 18 March, before the lock down. Just the chair was a tenner. That being said, I called post office today, no record of the package. Contracted IKEA, they said couldn’t do anything, and would rebook me...delivery date in three weeks. Needles to say, I cancelled the order. What happens, but two hours later, get a text from An Post saying they have my parcel now and will be delivered tomorrow....Well f that. I had already gone ahead and bought from Viking instead. Contacted ikea, updated them, said I wanted a full refund (which they will give) and that I refused to pay for the delivery and that I would be rejecting the goods on arrival. No issue.

Best thing? Viking have already sent the chair in the post due to arrive tomorrow, plus there’s a discount if you create and account, plus free delivery and free gift...

I know where I won’t be ordering from again....

snotboogie

Is anyone else noticing difficulties wfh?

From my perspective, I would much prefer the option to work from home rather than have it set as a standard. I am seeing considerable drawbacks to this method both professionally and personally. Professionally, the sharing of information is a lot more fluid in person, particularly when dealing with meetings with groups of 5 or more and discussing complex topics across multiple disciplines. There seems to be a consensus that the value of face to face interaction, both in the office environment and for business travel, is a wishy washy concept with no grounding in reality. I don't agree, aside from the relationship building often cited there is a much better fluidity to conversation in person. Day to day meetings where everybody is familiar with the topic and the process are easy to do remotely but if you are in a PM role or involved in implementing a tool or system where not all of the audience will be familiar or receptive to the concepts being discussed, remote meetings are often a nightmare. Personally, I miss the social contact outside of my family group that work provides. Work forces me to meet new people and get out into the world. I'd hate to be retreated to my work desk from home full time.

Saying this, I think a lot of employers need to be more flexible with working from home but as full time option, it doesn't appeal to me.

Stheno

snotboogie wrote: »

Is anyone else noticing difficulties wfh?

From my perspective, I would much prefer the option to work from home rather than have it set as a standard. I am seeing considerable drawbacks to this method both professionally and personally. Professionally, the sharing of information is a lot more fluid in person, particularly when dealing with meetings with groups of 5 or more and discussing complex topics across multiple disciplines. There seems to be a consensus that the value of face to face interaction, both in the office environment and for business travel, is a wishy washy concept with no grounding in reality. I don't agree, aside from the relationship building often cited there is a much better fluidity to conversation in person. Day to day meetings where everybody is familiar with the topic and the process are easy to do remotely but if you are in a PM role or involved in implementing a tool or system where not all of the audience will be familiar or receptive to the concepts being discussed, remote meetings are often a nightmare. Personally, I miss the social contact outside of my family group that work provides. Work forces me to meet new people and get out into the world. I'd hate to be retreated to my work desk from home full time.

Saying this, I think a lot of employers need to be more flexible with working from home but as full time option, it doesn't appeal to me.

Most of my work is global conference calls normally so wfh doesn't make much difference to my day to day work

I do miss being in the office though

salonfire

I was on IM over and back with another person dealing with a problem and decided to call him as it would be more straight-forward to explain.

Turns out he was on another call .. while on IM to me. So I had to hang up, and schedule a meeting.

If I was in the office, I could have just went over to his desk to explain.

That's a real drawback I'm finding.

Sheep Shagger

Miss the banter in the office, and the ability to walk up to someone for quick kills instead of emails (i try to avoid sending anyone within a 20 metre radius of my desk an email for a basic question normally).

Unfortunately and you get this everywhere I'm sure, some people are being lazy by not answering the phone, or emails or instant messages - just because they can as they can't be physically seen.

Lavinia

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Miss the banter in the office, and the ability to walk up to someone for quick kills instead of emails (i try to avoid sending anyone within a 20 metre radius of my desk an email for a basic question normally).

Unfortunately and you get this everywhere I'm sure, some people are being lazy by not answering the phone, or emails or instant messages - just because they can as they can't be physically seen.

did you try to use any kind of chat instead emails? eg microsoft teams or slack?

Quin_Dub

snotboogie wrote: »

Is anyone else noticing difficulties wfh?

From my perspective, I would much prefer the option to work from home rather than have it set as a standard. I am seeing considerable drawbacks to this method both professionally and personally. Professionally, the sharing of information is a lot more fluid in person, particularly when dealing with meetings with groups of 5 or more and discussing complex topics across multiple disciplines. There seems to be a consensus that the value of face to face interaction, both in the office environment and for business travel, is a wishy washy concept with no grounding in reality. I don't agree, aside from the relationship building often cited there is a much better fluidity to conversation in person. Day to day meetings where everybody is familiar with the topic and the process are easy to do remotely but if you are in a PM role or involved in implementing a tool or system where not all of the audience will be familiar or receptive to the concepts being discussed, remote meetings are often a nightmare. Personally, I miss the social contact outside of my family group that work provides. Work forces me to meet new people and get out into the world. I'd hate to be retreated to my work desk from home full time.

Saying this, I think a lot of employers need to be more flexible with working from home but as full time option, it doesn't appeal to me.

I've worked 100% remote for over 12 years at this stage running Global Business and IT Projects and I'd agree with some of what you say..

You do need Face to face interactions with people to establish relationships and to define ground rules , roles & responsibilities etc. , however once that's done everything else can be done remotely using technology.

It's much easier to get responses etc. from people that you have met in person and have "looked in the eye" as it were.

I travel quite a fair bit - Would average 50 to 60 nights a year away mostly to the US with some European and Asia trips as well..

Almost all of those trips are from Project Kick-off workshops or for launches and they are essential to the success of the projects.

Having said that , a lot of this depends on the size of the organisation.

In my case , even if I was physically in the local office building every day , I'd still be remote from my manager , my team and my customers as the company is a very large Multi-national and all my projects are global..so I'd probably still be travelling..

To make remote working work companies have to adjust their thinking , they have to make allowances for remote workers and use some of the money they save on facilities etc. on team building events, off sites etc. to assist in establishing the relationships that would normally happen over coffee and lunch in the office.

mvl

third week of wfh for me - multinational, virtual teams have been the norm for my roles before this crisis.
tbh, I don't miss the noise associated with staying in an office with other ppl working beside me: I only see advantages of working from home at the moment ...

OU812

One thing WFH has amplified for me is the need for additional space to have a proper home office.

I used to look at new houses being offered with a "study" which was basically a tiny room that was squeezed in from the other rooms being divided up and snort.

What I'd give for one of the now

Sheep Shagger

Lavinia wrote: »

did you try to use any kind of chat instead emails? eg microsoft teams or slack?

Skype messenger.

Stheno

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Skype messenger.

Could you ask if they can give you teams?

Sheep Shagger

Stheno wrote: »

Could you ask if they can give you teams?

Don't need a team, just need people to pull their weight.

Stheno

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Don't need a team, just need people to pull their weight.

I meant a collaboration tool called teams

antimatterx

Stheno wrote: »

I meant a collaboration tool called teams

Slack is superior

Stheno

antimatterx wrote: »

Slack is superior

Yeah but if they have an EA with MS teams is cheaper I think

FrStone

Stheno wrote: »

Could you ask if they can give you teams?

Oh christ, i had to post when i heard the word teams.

It's a terrible programme. We have skype, hangouts, webex and zoom. Yet my boss still uses teams... It is driving me insane

Stheno

FrStone wrote: »

Oh christ, i had to post when i heard the word teams.

It's a terrible programme. We have skype, hangouts, webex and zoom. Yet my boss still uses teams... It is driving me insane

It's way better than just Skype or Weber though?