Working From Home Megathread

The US also has shocking employment laws let alone data protection laws which leave a lot to be desired compared to the EU laws.

As others have noted above, the US push to get bums back in office chairs has been going on for weeks and they are many weeks ahead of us with reopening, with early September being touted as the great return en masse. However, the stories posted above show that a lot of the companies in the US originally going for September returns have postponed until October or even January. The employee surveys are telling and even if companies take a hard line, it seems they will lose significant portions of their staff straight away by forcing them back to the office. Companies need to realise we are in a jobs boom right now so employees can easily move on.

Ireland is completely not set up for a September return to the office. At this rate we will be looking at February or March next year before all restrictions are finally eased. Remember, offices can't have employees back unless all social distancing and mask rules are abandoned. Otherwise, how will people be able to get to the office on public transport? Ireland has barely reopened pubs and cafes to indoor dining, like literally the absolute bare minimum reopening, it is almost impossible to imagine all our restrictions will be gone in 4 weeks to have companies let people back.

Why would they have to do so daily if they've done it at least once?

They have to confirm each day that they don't have any symptoms, aren't awaiting test results, not a close contact etc etc, they only enter the vaccine info once

You're entitled to your opinion, but that doesn't mean it isn't nonsense. It's been scientifically demonstrated that masks can reduce the spread of the virus (up to 80%), which spreads mainly via droplets/aerosols from the mouth and nose.

That's true.

But even only 20% of the usual viral shedding spread in a non-ventilated space over 8 hours still amounts to significant exposure.

Masks don't replace ventilation and distancing in a workplace.

At a practical level masks do replace ventilation because ventilation rules are so difficult to define and implement in an office. Offices cannot upgrade air conditioning overnight and some offices cannot open windows. Masks superseded ventilation at a practical level.

You might find sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "La La La" while simultaneously shaking your head is the best response

I get where you're coming from. If I'm 5 meters away from you and I'm outside, then the mask wearing is absolutely pointless. I could even accept that that would also hold true in something like a well-ventilated shopping center with a high ceiling at 2 meters apart (for the record, I can cough and sneeze phlegm more than 2 meters but that's not a common event).

The problem is that these offices aren't all that well-ventilated. I have no expertise in construction but I know that it can take a while and isn't cheap. Some places will be able to get their ventilation up to acceptable levels easily enough while others won't. Masks on the other hand are cheap and easier to use than shoes with laces. If all those offices could become well ventilated and habitable even in winter with 5C temperatures that would be great but I don't see that happening, Masks on the other hand can make up for those short-comings.

For me a mask mandate in work is a wfh mandate. If my job had it it would be better for them for me not to be there if masks are still needed. Obviously essential jobs will still need them as will anyone unable to WFH for any reason. However if the virus is still in a bad enough spot to require masks in the office than anyone who can stay home and work should see it as their duty to do so which will hopefully allow those without this option to work safer.

Interesting WSJ article on return to office plans have turned to shreds in many companies.

• Up until a few weeks ago, corporate leaders felt confident about what to expect this fall. Delta has now scuppered these plans.
• A range of prominent companies now predict it will be 2022 until most workers return.
• Dell, the latest company to cancel plans, have postponed office return plans and decided not to give new reopening dates.
• Dell said Delta had moved the risk of the return to the office to "red" and "we expect this for next several months".
• Multiple Industry events that had been planned for later this month or this fall have been scrapped or gone virtual or pushed back to 2022.
• Many companies have stopped making reopening estimates altogether. The Houston corporate office of retailer Mattress Firm Inc. is still largely closed, with no reopening date set and they “don’t want to make any predictions” as to when they will return.
• One executive said "We’re back at the same level of uncertainty with office reopening that we were a year ago.”

As predicted by some posters here many months ago ... office re-opening, is largely not happening until after Winter.

I can’t think of any business right now that would put vaccinated and unvaccinated people in a confined office space and keep them there for the whole day. No business would do that responsibly. Certainly not when the work can be done from home, and certainly not whilst covid is still at an elevated level out there.

Bloomberg leading with how we have reached the "point of no return" with September returns to offices.

"The return to the office was over before it even began. Over the last few weeks, a cascade of companies pushed back their return plans because of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus."

BlackRock and Accenture are the latest to push back their office return plans.

Meanwhile, CoinBase have closed their main office and DropBox have said their offices will only be used in future for "collaborative convening spaces".

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-08-09/tech-s-return-to-office-plans-get-pushed-back-en-masse

There needs to be an actual justification to it, not a general health and safety one. There are some industries like food where it could be justified but few others. It is a path that could very easily end up in court.