Is there really that many working from home?

kippy · 18-10-2020 6:04pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I find that many companies are actively keeping non essential staff WFH to reduce the risk of production staff being infected by the office staff.

This is what I am seeing also. They are trying to keep those who have to come to the office/workplace there wihile asking all others to work from home.
Same with college who have been told to keep students off campus unless there is no option but to have them on site.

ED E · 18-10-2020 6:36pm

veryangryman wrote: »

There must be a decent amount of office workers in those cars.

bk wrote: »

That is definitely a lot of offices closed. Certainly all the big IT companies are.

However for those who are going into offices still, people who would have a car, but might have taken public transport in the past, are probably opting to take the car now instead over worries about Covid19 on public transport, thus adding to congestion.

Some of the tech offices have TINY amounts of parking. Like really nothing. Some will fly park about the city but lots were public transport users and have emptied the busses not the bus lanes of private cars.

Zebra3 · 18-10-2020 6:43pm

A friend works for a major SM company through an agency here and he's been back to the office whenever it's been allowed.

When they are working from home they can't deal with tickets above a certain level of sensitivity.

Based in S Dublin tho not CC.

OscarMIlde · 18-10-2020 6:58pm

veryangryman wrote: »

Dr Glynn the other wk mentioned the traffic around Dublin. Given that alot of the work there is office based, what is causing the queues. There must be a decent amount of office workers in those cars.

Traffic definitely picked up in the mornings in Dublin as soon as the schools went back. I suspect a lot of people were WFH due to childcare issues and as soon as schools went back chose/were told to come back into the office.

18-10-2020 7:06pm

OscarMIlde wrote: »

Traffic definitely picked up in the mornings in Dublin as soon as the schools went back. I suspect a lot of people were WFH due to childcare issues and as soon as schools went back chose/were told to come back into the office.

I suspect that many are doing the school run due to lack of bus spaces and driving home afterwards to continue with the WFH.
I have done the odd school runs and the wife has done them every day, far more kids in cars than before.

angel eyes 2012 · 18-10-2020 7:09pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You don't have to be this extreme, but most people can find a private space for the WFH.

If privacy is an absolute requirement, then it would make sense to rent a local office space, they're going to be part of the new normal.

How is this going to work in reality from a data protection stance. Presumably the offices will be open plan. So you have Johnny bank worker processing a mortgage application on one side with Jane HSE staff processing a medical card application on the other. Both processes may require contact by telephone and involve processing of special category or sensitive data. Seems like a high risk proposal.

An Ri rua · 18-10-2020 7:19pm

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

How is this going to work in reality from a data protection stance. Presumably the offices will be open plan. So you have Johnny bank worker processing a mortgage application on one side with Jane HSE staff processing a medical card application on the other. Both processes may require contact by telephone and involve processing of special category or sensitive data. Seems like a high risk proposal.

A lot of these hotdesking places would be open plan, yes.
Which sort of negates the whole point of why one might want to use it. At least until WFH is driven by square footage, heating etc. For now, it's simply driven by Covid.

19-10-2020 12:13am

Looks like the preference for home working is getting stronger, it will take a brave company to try to force them all back into the office for 40 hours a week.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1019/1172345-remote-working-survey/

94% of workers would like to work remotely some or all of the time when the Covid-19 crisis ends, according to the latest National Remote Working Employee Survey.

The survey carried out by NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission shows that 23% of respondents would even consider relocating because of the possibility of remote working, while 7% have already moved.

thebourke · 19-10-2020 12:21am

i work in IT...been working from home since march...probably wont be going to back into the office until next year....

Zebra3 · 19-10-2020 9:33am

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks like the preference for home working is getting stronger, it will take a brave company to try to force them all back into the office for 40 hours a week.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1019/1172345-remote-working-survey/

Unless it's in their contracts that they are entitled to work from home they won't have much choice if the company clicks its' fingers.

loyatemu · 19-10-2020 9:46am

Zebra3 wrote: »

Unless it's in their contracts that they are entitled to work from home they won't have much choice if the company clicks its' fingers.

a significant number of companies have already said they'll be allowing WFH to continue after the pandemic. Companies that don't allow it will find themselves at a hiring disadvantage and will gradually lose experienced staff.

19-10-2020 10:03am

Zebra3 wrote: »

Unless it's in their contracts that they are entitled to work from home they won't have much choice if the company clicks its' fingers.

If my company clicked its fingers, I'd be looking elsewhere. I'm sure some of the people I work with would say the same. Thankfully I don't see them going that route. They have already acknowledged that productivity has gone up since March while 99% of employees have been WFH.

19-10-2020 10:20am

Deleted User wrote: »

If my company clicked its fingers, I'd be looking elsewhere. I'm sure some of the people I work with would say the same. Thankfully I don't see them going that route. They have already acknowledged that productivity has gone up since March while 99% of employees have been WFH.

Yes, this particular genie is most definitely out of the bottle, vacancies that advertise office only working will find recruitment much harder in the future.
People know which jobs are doable from home so will seek out positions that have that option if they prefer WFH.

blackwave · 19-10-2020 12:23pm

Our company has managed to get previous employees to come back as they were offering working from home because the companies that they left our company weren't offering working from home. One had a 2.5 commute each day if he had to go back to his old company office so working from home is great for him.

bk · 19-10-2020 12:26pm

This trend has already been happening in big IT companies for a few years now.

Flexibility to WFH at least a few days a week had already become pretty normal and considered a quality of life perk. Companies who refused to do this, were finding it harder and harder to compete for top talent and experienced staff and were suffering from high turn over.

This is why many of the big IT companies handled this transition so relatively easily. They were mostly already set up for it and doing it at least part time.

Other sectors will now see the same shift. I don't think this genie is going back in the bottle.

Milena009 · 19-10-2020 12:29pm

bk wrote: »

This trend has already been happening in big IT companies for a few years now.

Flexibility to WFH at least a few days a week had already become pretty normal and considered a quality of life perk. Companies who refused to do this, were finding it harder and harder to compete for top talent and experienced staff and were suffering from high turn over.

This is why many of the big IT companies handled this transition so relatively easily. They were mostly already set up for it and doing it at least part time.

Other sectors will now see the same shift. I don't think this genie is going back in the bottle.

Agreed, my company has flex work as part of a contract for years now.
Everyone kind of just got up and wfh since mid-march.
They have provided extra screens, mouse, keyboard etc for home as well.

I personally did not wfh a lot before however going forward I will be looking to flex work more, which in turn will help to buy further away from office

listermint · 19-10-2020 12:31pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Not sure where you get that from.

It does have some GDPR implications, though, which managers are currently ignoring.

Absolutely bizarre. Sure people could take photographs of their monitor's in the office or at home or anywhere.

Sure why have staff at all, they are obviously a gdpr nightmare..

Chris_5339762 · 19-10-2020 8:22pm

Friend of mine (who is pregnant) has a husband working in Insurance. They were doing WFH during first lockdown, and soon after were brought in for 3 days, off 3 days (surrounding weekends etc).

This morning the boss came in brandishing letters for the staff saying that they were considered essential workers and to keep coming in during second lockdown.

Beechwoodspark · 19-10-2020 8:24pm

In my situation I was working from home for approx a month and my sales figures were better than pre covid but my manager would not leave it well enough until I was pestered, cajoled, and borderline bullied into returning to work.

The same guy expected phone calls to be answered within 2 rings otherwise he’d query what you were doing and why not a quicker answer....where do I even begin to explain what it has been like working with this guy.

I was not provided with any letter from my employer either and when I protested that I was told “just tell them you are essential as you work stocking convenience stores”. He also said if a guard stops you ring me and put me on to the guard. That was the height of support I got.

I think it’s awful that some employers have decided to act the pr1ck over this

Mrs OBumble · 19-10-2020 9:02pm

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

How is this going to work in reality from a data protection stance. Presumably the offices will be open plan. So you have Johnny bank worker processing a mortgage application on one side with Jane HSE staff processing a medical card application on the other. Both processes may require contact by telephone and involve processing of special category or sensitive data. Seems like a high risk proposal.

Indeed, we've got one scenario where Johnny and Jane are married and WFH in the same house (in two more closely-related industries). They tell us that one uses the kitchen and the other the front room. Every so often, we wonder if the data protection commissioner would be happy with just their assurance, in the event that someone complained.

kippy · 19-10-2020 11:06pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Indeed, we've got one scenario where Johnny and Jane are married and WFH in the same house (in two more closely-related industries). They tell us that one uses the kitchen and the other the front room. Every so often, we wonder if the data protection commissioner would be happy with just their assurance, in the event that someone complained.

You're fairly obsessed with this GDPR angle. Is there a reason for this?

19-10-2020 11:31pm

kippy wrote: »

You're fairly obsessed with this GDPR angle. Is there a reason for this?

Mrs O'Bumble does seem obsessed with GDPR.

20-10-2020 12:01am

I think that bosses who insist on presenteeism (work from the office where I can watch you) will soon find that their staff will be voting with their feet, when this situation is over.

AlmightyCushion · 20-10-2020 12:40am

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Indeed, we've got one scenario where Johnny and Jane are married and WFH in the same house (in two more closely-related industries). They tell us that one uses the kitchen and the other the front room. Every so often, we wonder if the data protection commissioner would be happy with just their assurance, in the event that someone complained.

You can still run into that issue in the office with different teams working in the same office or using the same canteen.

magicbastarder · 20-10-2020 8:53am

kippy wrote: »

You're fairly obsessed with this GDPR angle. Is there a reason for this?

it's a genuine concern though, and how serious depends on your nature of work.
if i go into the office, only other employees can access my laptop were i to walk away without locking it, and they're all subject to the policies and rules of the company.
if you were housesharing, the person who might be able to have a browse of your laptop were you to walk away without locking it might be someone you don't particularly like.

i don't think it's a massively serious issue but of course it's not ideal. more an issue for the employer than the DPC really. but as per normal, regardless of where the employee is working, you have to trust your staff on a micro level (and distrust them on a macro level)

stefanovich · 20-10-2020 8:56am

kippy wrote: »

You're fairly obsessed with this GDPR angle. Is there a reason for this?

It's the EU superstate flexing its muscle. Who wouldn't get excited?

Stone Deaf 4evr · 20-10-2020 8:57am

Isn't gdpr gas? Years ago you could come home from a hard day's work and chat to your partner about your day, and troubles / encounters you might have had with odd or demanding clients.

Now you've to bottle up all your stresses for fear for breaching gdpr.

Absolute nonsense.

stefanovich · 20-10-2020 8:57am

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that bosses who insist on presenteeism (work from the office where I can watch you) will soon find that their staff will be voting with their feet, when this situation is over.

Unless there is good reason to be in the office then I can't see why they would insist. Unless they don't trust their staff. And if they don't trust their staff then why did they hire them?

loyatemu · 20-10-2020 9:18am

magicbastarder wrote: »

it's a genuine concern though, and how serious depends on your nature of work.
if i go into the office, only other employees can access my laptop were i to walk away without locking it, and they're all subject to the policies and rules of the company.
if you were housesharing, the person who might be able to have a browse of your laptop were you to walk away without locking it might be someone you don't particularly like.

if you're using a laptop, presumably you're allowed take it out of the office anyway, so they should already have measures in place to account for that risk.

If anything the risk is lower at the moment because no-one is travelling, you're not going to leave a laptop or a memory stick in an airport or a hotel, or even on the Dart.

Basically any company that allows employees to take data out of the office at any time, regardless of whether they're working from home or not, needs to have policies in place around device security, encryption etc.

magicbastarder · 20-10-2020 9:21am

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Now you've to bottle up all your stresses for fear for breaching gdpr.

do you think this happens? that couples regularly discuss information which allows customers to be identified, with each other after work?
i.e. not 'some prick from athlone was obnoxious to me on the phone today about his missed delivery', but that they'd say 'bartram fetherstone from 114 goolie heights in athlone was obnoxious to me on the phone today'?

Is there really that many working from home?

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