Relaxation of restrictions

ITman88

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I'd imagine that those who would prefer to WFH will be allowed to do so, at least for a certain amount of time, and those who prefer the office will eventually be allowed to go back. A lot of my colleagues are itching to get back into the office even though they have long and annoying commutes. Lots of people just can't hack working from home every day.

It's hard to imagine when that might be, though. Early summer?

None of my colleagues enjoy working from home.
I think some people enjoy going to work, who want’s to be stuck at home constantly.
The lads at work say if have young kids at home you have f*** all chance of getting any work done

Stheno

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

Weird, because I think exactly the same about yours.

You could always use the ignore button

lainey_d_123

Tell me how wrote: »

HR, Payroll, tech support, sales, administration, engineering development, finance and so on and so on and so on.

But, realistically, for most roles I expect a very strong transition to 60% - 80% working from home with 1 or 2 days a week in the office where hot desks will be in play instead of permanent allocations.

I do think that there will be some implications of this such as introduction of metrics of sort to ensure that working from home equates to 39 hours per week and these metrics might be something which could vary from reasonable to pretty draconian.

This has always been the case at my company due to a lack of space. Everyone hot desks and works from home at least one day a week, and some people do up to 4 days a week at home. There are very few people who want to work from home full time, though. I think most people will still want an office, even if they only end up going in once or twice a week.

lainey_d_123

Stheno wrote: »

You could always use the ignore button

I'm not the one complaining and posting personal attacks.

lainey_d_123

ITman88 wrote: »

The draconian point is interesting.
My role is luckily very relaxed but my boss who works from home has a real s*** show.
He claims that the commute time saved from working from home is more than swallowed up with extra workload.
Secondly a utilities issue exists, will companies subsidise broadband for 200 employees working from home?
Will they subsidise heating etc or does that get offset against a commute!

I doubt they'd subsidise broadband - who doesn't already have it at home for personal use? I'd say the heating costs would get offset against not having a commute, tbh.

ITman88 wrote: »

None of my colleagues enjoy working from home.
I think some people enjoy going to work, who want’s to be stuck at home constantly.
The lads at work say if have young kids at home you have f*** all chance of getting any work done

I definitely enjoy the routine of going to work, getting home and leaving it all in the office. Not being tempted to finish 'one last thing' before dinner. I can't imagine trying to work with young kids at home.

Stheno

Tell me how wrote: »

I do think that there will be some implications of this such as introduction of metrics of sort to ensure that working from home equates to 39 hours per week and these metrics might be something which could vary from reasonable to pretty draconian.

Not necessarily

In the place I work, most of us actually do a longer day working from home as we've no commute, are not taking coffee breaks, dont need an hour for lunch etc

Before all this I could literally wake up of a day and decide feck it I'll work from home which was dead handy if something broke or I'd a personal appointment to fit in

That said most people in my company would be quite senior in our Dublin office so if we needed draconian metrics to demonstrate we are meeting our targets we'd be out of a job fairly sheepish

Not unusual in my place to see people working from home start at 8 and finish at 6 or later

Stheno

ITman88 wrote: »

The draconian point is interesting.
My role is luckily very relaxed but my boss who works from home has a real s*** show.
He claims that the commute time saved from working from home is more than swallowed up with extra workload.
Secondly a utilities issue exists, will companies subsidise broadband for 200 employees working from home?
Will they subsidise heating etc or does that get offset against a commute!

Broadband is not an allowable expense if it is not wholly for work purposes

You can claim a portion of electricity/heat costs back from revenue

timmy_mallet

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

This has always been the case at my company due to a lack of space. Everyone hot desks and works from home at least one day a week, and some people do up to 4 days a week at home. There are very few people who want to work from home full time, though. I think most people will still want an office, even if they only end up going in once or twice a week.

And if the shareholders realise there is not hit to productivity, they will be reluctant to foot the bill for office space regardless if thats what employees want.

niallo27

Stheno wrote: »

Broadband is not an allowable expense if it is not wholly for work purposes

You can claim a portion of electricity/heat costs back from revenue

You can claim a percentage, I have being doing it for years. 50%

AdamD

I do think the WFH productivity has been helped by people having feck all else to do. No doubt it could work very well but I'm not entirely convinced this is an accurate test

ITman88

AdamD wrote: »

I do think the WFH productivity has been helped by people having feck all else to do. No doubt it could work very well but I'm not entirely convinced this is an accurate test

Why hasn’t it been implemented a few years ago if productivity was not affected?

One massive stumbling block must be with new employees, training and probation.

Plumbthedepths

Reading back the last several posts, I'm glad my job requires me to leave my home. Upside my wife gets a break and I interact with colleagues who I also consider friends. Hard not to after 23 years. If the WFH takes off though quieter roads. Win win.

lainey_d_123

timmy_mallet wrote: »

And if the shareholders realise there is not hit to productivity, they will be reluctant to foot the bill for office space regardless if thats what employees want.

Maybe, yes. I personally think there is a hit to productivity. I know that's the case for me, and others have said the same. A lot of people are just in sub-optimal accommodation, whether that's sharing an overcrowded flat or trying to work with screaming kids at home.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

In fairness, why did you ask for stuff then, if you didn't consider it essential? I have an underlying condition myself, but there's no excuse for being ungrateful and rude. You're very lucky to have someone willing to go out and buy things for you, and I very much hope you didn't take this tone with your sister.



Sure, but it doesn't excuse such rudeness. There's nothing particularly high risk about dropping stuff on someone's doorstep - in fact, this is what has been advised. It's not riskier than a postman who has been to every house on the street and exposed to all sorts putting it through the letterbox.

Some people have abandoned all logic and common sense in the face of this.

Because she was going to post them. She didn’t go out and buy them. She had some in the house and I just asked her to post me one if she had it. I didn’t expect her to go out and buy me some. And they are the easiest thing to post, those little button batteries.

Lainey, your posts are filled with attitude. You are no position to be lecturing anyone else about manners, to be honest.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Because she was going to post them. She didn’t go out and buy them. She had some in the house and I just asked her to post me one if she had it. I didn’t expect her to go out and buy me some. And they are the easiest thing to post, those little button batteries.

Lainey, your posts are filled with attitude. You are no position to be lecturing anyone else about manners, to be honest.

Is she the post mistress? Otherwise there's boxes, packaging and then going to the post office which is busy even in an apocolypse.

Couldn't you just have easily ordered them online? Just be grateful

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

Is she the post mistress? Otherwise there's boxes, packaging and then going to the post office which is busy even in an apocolypse.

Couldn't you just have easily ordered them online? Just be grateful

Do you need to be a postmistress to post something? For what I asked for, you need a stamp, envelope and postbox. She had those things and a postbox at the end of her road. Which makes more sense in this scenario: shoving the battery in a envelope and walking for less than a minute or getting in a car and driving 5kms?

therightangle

niallo27 wrote: »

You can claim a percentage, I have being doing it for years. 50%

Im curious, how do you justify 50%?

If I remember rightly, it would work out about <10% from what I read previously on Revenue...
something along the lines of the room being used as an office being 10% floor area of a standard semi, for example. Or that the additional light/heat over non-work use being about 10% extra for 1 or 2 rooms during daytime...?

easypazz

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Reading back the last several posts, I'm glad my job requires me to leave my home. Upside my wife gets a break and I interact with colleagues who I also consider friends. Hard not to after 23 years. If the WFH takes off though quieter roads. Win win.

Worst mistake you will ever make.

Jurgen Klopp

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Do you need to be a postmistress to post something? For what I asked for, you need a stamp, envelope and postbox. She had those things and a postbox at the end of her road. Which makes more sense in this scenario: shoving the battery in a envelope and walking for less than a minute or getting in a car and driving 5kms?

I remember you saying you were in an at risk group.

Take anything you receive by post as carefully and given it a squirt of disinfectant. You just need one lazy ****er in sorting office to contaminate it or to be fair to them someone who posted something could be contaminated. Not sure if it was here or not but some lady that two local police knew had tested positive and was meant to be at home was spotted walking the street to post a letter. That's what you are dealing with.

I know it seems mental but myself and mother have asthma so once I bring in groceries I wipe down all packaging where possible. Just takes one manky person going into a shop and touching or picking up and leaving back items. Say one local 75 year old dickhead walk in to SuperValu during week, no hand sanitizer and picked up basket and off in

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Jurgen Klopp wrote: »

I remember you saying you were in an at risk group.

Take anything you receive by post as carefully and given it a squirt of disinfectant. You just need one lazy ****er in sorting office to contaminate it or to be fair to them someone who posted something could be contaminated. Not sure if it was here or not but some lady that two local police knew had tested positive and was meant to be at home was spotted walking the street to post a letter. That's what you are dealing with.

I know it seems mental but myself and mother have asthma so once I bring in groceries I wipe down all packaging where possible

Yeah, we’re doing as much as humanly possible. But I think people are the greatest contaminants of all. The postman would be in our building anyway and we get post most days. So what’s one more letter? Whereas my sister is an extra person in the building when she doesn’t need to be.

lainey_d_123

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Because she was going to post them. She didn’t go out and buy them. She had some in the house and I just asked her to post me one if she had it. I didn’t expect her to go out and buy me some. And they are the easiest thing to post, those little button batteries.

Lainey, your posts are filled with attitude. You are no position to be lecturing anyone else about manners, to be honest.

I understand you're stressed and anxious and that her ringing you when she was on her way put you in a difficult position, and I should have acknowledged that. The point I was trying to make is that a lot of people who are high risk are forced to go out and get their own things, or order them off the internet with all the risk that can entail because they don't have anyone to help them.

Your sister didn't mean any harm and she might not have been trying to actually visit you. She was doing a nice thing and trying to bring you the stuff you'd asked for, as a favour. There's obviously nothing wrong with being blunt with her and explaining why you don't want to see her face to face, but your post was really harsh about someone who obviously cares about you and was doing a nice thing. Imagine going to the trouble of getting bits together to take them to someone high risk and then reading about what an idiot they think you are.

lainey_d_123

Jurgen Klopp wrote: »

I remember you saying you were in an at risk group.

Take anything you receive by post as carefully and given it a squirt of disinfectant. You just need one lazy ****er in sorting office to contaminate it or to be fair to them someone who posted something could be contaminated. Not sure if it was here or not but some lady that two local police knew had tested positive and was meant to be at home was spotted walking the street to post a letter. That's what you are dealing with.

I know it seems mental but myself and mother have asthma so once I bring in groceries I wipe down all packaging where possible. Just takes one manky person going into a shop and touching or picking up and leaving back items. Say one local 75 year old dickhead walk in to SuperValu during week, no hand sanitizer and picked up basket and off in

I also have an underlying health issue and have also been wiping anything I'm going to use shortly with antibacterial wipes, and leaving everything else in the bags for several days. My housemate is actually becoming quite abusive, telling me I'm being ridiculous and that the chance of getting something from packaging is tiny compared to the risk of actually being in the shop. I don't know why it's any of his business, but he's making me feel like I'm being hysterical.

Since nobody has been able to say with any certainty what the chance of getting sick from surfaces is, I feel like I might as well do whatever I can. I can't control the other people in the shop but I can choose to wipe down my groceries if it makes me feel a bit less anxious. Can't see any real downside.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I understand you're stressed and anxious and that her ringing you when she was on her way put you in a difficult position, and I should have acknowledged that. The point I was trying to make is that a lot of people who are high risk are forced to go out and get their own things, or order them off the internet with all the risk that can entail because they don't have anyone to help them.

Your sister didn't mean any harm and she might not have been trying to actually visit you. She was doing a nice thing and trying to bring you the stuff you'd asked for, as a favour. There's obviously nothing wrong with being blunt with her and explaining why you don't want to see her face to face, but your post was really harsh about someone who obviously cares about you and was doing a nice thing. Imagine going to the trouble of getting bits together to take them to someone high risk and then reading about what an idiot they think you are.

It was totally unnecessary though. The postman would be in my building anyway. Whereas she is an extra person. People are having to put off really important stuff right now. To make a journey to give me something that could easily be posted and wasn’t urgent just made no sense at all.

Spanish Eyes

Why am I awake and posting so very late.

Anyway, who cares, was just thinking that if people can WFH in the future, what the heck will happen with those shiny new office blocks all over the place. Will there be much need anymore.

This virus awful as it is, may change a lot of things in the future perhaps.

Spanish Eyes

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

It was totally unnecessary though. The postman would be in my building anyway. Whereas she is an extra person. People are having to put off really important stuff right now. To make a journey to give me something that could easily be posted and wasn’t urgent just made no sense at all.

I hope you are keeping well.

You have to remember that people mean well. Perhaps she meant she would leave it outside your door having texted you that it's there for you to collect. There is risk everywhere these days. We have to try and see the good things now.

Padre_Pio

seamusk84 wrote: »

I work in the same area as you (potentially for the the same company) and we have essentially 95% been WFH for 2 weeks now.

But are you not concerned that now that we have shown we can operate like this, we have essentially demonstrated that our work can be done from India etc at a much lower cost with just a "Plate on Door" presence in Ireland?

I haven't heard anyone else say that yet....But we need to think about it.

I've been WFH too, but I've found a lot more camaraderie from people in the same situation, mainly Irish.
the thoughts of my job being outsourced to someone in a lower cost country has crossed my mind, but at the same time there's a cultural similarity between western Europeans and Americans that would be impossible to replace.

Only my job and my opinion however. My friend is living with 4 people who work in a call centre, who are all working frmo home. They don;'t share the same sentiment.

ITman88

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

I hope you are keeping well.

You have to remember that people mean well. Perhaps she meant she would leave it outside your door having texted you that it's there for you to collect. There is risk everywhere these days. We have to try and see the good things now.

Yeah people who mean well are being criminalised.

I live in a rural town, some of the older folk wouldn’t be the best at following the guidelines, but they mean well and some of the posters on other threads completely demonise people when understanding would be more appropriate

Stheno

Padre_Pio wrote: »

I've been WFH too, but I've found a lot more camaraderie from people in the same situation, mainly Irish.
the thoughts of my job being outsourced to someone in a lower cost country has crossed my mind, but at the same time there's a cultural similarity between western Europeans and Americans that would be impossible to replace.

Only my job and my opinion however. My friend is living with 4 people who work in a call centre, who are all working frmo home. They don;'t share the same sentiment.

Yep the more junior jobs would be at risk of being offshore such as call centre stuff, not just to India but cheaper European countries

Spanish Eyes

ITman88 wrote: »

Yeah people who mean well are being criminalised.

I live in a rural town, some of the older folk wouldn’t be the best at following the guidelines, but they mean well and some of the posters on other threads completely demonise people when understanding would be more appropriate

As long as they follow the rules about social distance and all that, it's good to go.

The recipients also need to be aware of the rules too. And I think everyone knows now what is needed, well most people do anyway.

Why am I awake so late, fekkin hell. Ah well, every day's a Sunday.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Do you need to be a postmistress to post something? For what I asked for, you need a stamp, envelope and postbox. She had those things and a postbox at the end of her road. Which makes more sense in this scenario: shoving the battery in a envelope and walking for less than a minute or getting in a car and driving 5kms?

Does everyone have stamps at home? See, I can ask silly questions too. You claimed it was no effort for your sister. I pointed out that unless she lives and works in the post office, it required effort.

Besides, as I already suggested, what makes the most sense is you ordering the item online thus still receiving them by post but without your sister being put out by her apparently ungrateful brother. But that would have cost you and not your sister time, money and effort.

Again, be grateful because she could have simple told you to sod off and order them online.