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COVID19/4 Keep calm and wash your hands


Which Tyler

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The substantial (gdp producing part) of my job is in client contact. We are trying to change that now and explore online options, even though this is not an area that will benefit from lack of contact, in my opinion. Then again, anything to survive. At the same time I’m certain we will give up the office space to reduce fixed costs. My bosses have another company (our sister company) that will likely thrive in the current situation, automated online solutions will surely be in high demand. 

My father promised to send all his employees to home office from Monday but only a portion of their job can be done in home office. At least it requires automatized solutions from the bureaus they work with as well. Some colleagues who are outsourced at their clients aren’t allowed home office, as the client’s policy applies to them which - as of now - isn’t very lenient about telework options. In general however, they will benefit from this situation and learn as a company that people can be trusted to complete tasks in home office as well. It might make their culture much more flexible. 

that is all I can add to the workplace topic. 

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I'm an experimental scientist, so I cant work from home ALL the time. Then again, we wear gloves and lab coats frequently, so there is some protection some of the time.

But I'd have to become a much better theorist than I am, or convince others to do my work for me (which to be fair happens a lot anyways, but I still like to putz around a little bit in the lab)

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33 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Remote working has so many tools that in many ways I do find it’s easier to collaborate online than in person sometimes.

In my industry there are so many collaboration tools which means that  documents can be viewed at the same time, commented on, pointed at, highlighted etc. You have screen sharing and web chats.

I prefer it actually to having to get someone to come to my desk and look at something or book a meeting room. Pain in the ass.

Plus in big companies in the same building I would often be working with people two floors up who I’d never actually meet, it was as if we were remote anyway.

You just lose the social aspect I think sometimes, harder to joke with people or just generally chit chat when you don’t meet them. 

:dunno: 

I guess I just haven't used the same tools. Are those commercially available or bespoke?

I'm surprised you find two floors an obstacle though. I've walked 10+ minutes to get to another building when I felt it was the easier thing to do. Besides, sometimes two floors might be closer than going to separate ends of the same building.

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Right now I’m watching a press conference with the premier of Quebec. They are asking that people over 70 not leave their homes. And people with immuno-suppressed conditions. They have also forbidden visits to nursing homes and hospitals.

They already have 7 special sites where people can go to be tested, and are opening another 13 sites. You have to have symptoms to be tested, or have travelled abroad, including to the US.

He has spoken to the PM about travel, and I suspect there’s a lot of pressure coming from the provinces to institute an international travel ban. Almost all their cases are travel related.”, including travelers to the US and on cruises. They only have 21 cases, and have tested about 1.400 people. Their web site breaks down cases by areas of the province. It’s hard to imagine Montréal only has 8 cases.

Heck, Toronto is monitoring 51 confirmed cases. Ontario has 101 cases. 5606 have tested negative, 939 tests are pending. 6,646 tests have been done so far in the province.

It sounds like Canada has done more testing than all of the US. That should be surpassed in the next week, one hopes.


Canada is advising against all non-essential travel abroad and has added enhanced screening, and limited the airports where international flights can land, but I’m not sure what that means.

Quebec has a large number of snow birds, people who go south to the US for the winter, mainly Florida and the Carolinas. If people panic and head home, the border and testing facilities will be overwhelmed. That’s 30,000 Quebecois alone.

Oh, now there’s a press conference from PEI, home of Anne of Green Gables. They have their first confirmed case, a 57 year old woman who came back from a cruise. Even PEI has done 68 tests - the entire Veterans hospital system in the US has only done 70 tests so far, and found 6 cases.

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3 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

I actually think that if we go to a world of remote work that will be a huge loss.  I’m not saying it shouldn’t be an option, but for people entering the workforce it is a huge loss for anything involving apprenticeship or client service.  Also, it’s amazing how many “internet fights” I have to resolve that start because people are unwilling to even lift the phone, not to mention meet in person.  So I completely disagree that there is no incentive to meet and collaborate in person.  Also, as an extrovert, this is a horrifying and sad vision of the future.  We are a social species.  Limiting our interactions, while good for the moment, is overall very bad for us.

I'm in the middle. I've just begun being able to work from home on an optional basis (now mandatory), and I love the flexibility the "optional" part offers. I absolutely agree that some things just need to happen face-to-face, but I'm also opposed to mandatory 40+ hours a week for face-time purposes only.

Given real-estate ridiculousness, climate change and technological advances, there really is no reason to require people to be in an office 5-6 days out of the week unless it's absolutely critical to the function of the operation.

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4 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I just saw someone justify their absurd behavior with the line 'its nobody else's business why I bought 64 toilet rolls'. 

The stupid thing is, I’ve seen plenty of ibuprofen (good for reducing a fever) and dry cough syrup ... those are the main two symptoms. I swear people just look at everyone else’s trolleys instead of doing any research.

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OTH -- why should They / the university / whomevr get my home for their benefit without me receiving compensation?  They already don't pay benefits of any kind for most of their workers already.  Now they are again forcing adjuncts, etc. to PAY THEM for working.

Most people DO NOT LIVE in non-crowded conditions. Working from a small crowded home isn't an option for the largest number of people in the world. 

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Not to mention trying to teach or do the other work including video conferencing from cramped living circumstances, and now with the kids home all the time too.

There are many reasons we separated the work space from living space in these modern times.

Also, again, why am I supposed to pay them in order to work with my home and space and peace?  You can never go home from work . . . .

 

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3 minutes ago, Zorral said:

OTH -- why should They / the university / whomevr get my home for their benefit without me receiving compensation?  They already don't pay benefits of any kind for most of their workers already.  Now they are again forcing adjuncts, etc. to PAY THEM for working.

Most people DO NOT LIVE in non-crowded conditions. Working from a small crowded home isn't an option for the largest number of people in the world. 

Yeah, people do crazy stuff when you say they cannot stay in crowded places. 

Belgium said they would close bars/restaurants friday at midnight. A bunch of idiots thought it was a good idea to party until the closing time. But, awesome, the bars/restaurants aren't closed in the Netherlands. So today all the towns at the border of Flanders/Netherlands were full of Flemish idiots shopping and eating. 

You can solve this very easily: close the borders, forbid Belgians from leaving Belgium from spreading the virus to the rest of the world... But that would be bad for the assurances. So the government won't do that. :dunno:

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38 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I just saw that Denmark has closed it’s land, sea and air borders.

Denmark's health bureau actually went out and said that the decision was entirely political and had no scientific basis, without going quite so far as to say that they were criticizing it. But they are obviously criticizing it.

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The local hospital has released some info to the various doctors. They are saying, that while this isn't 100% always gonna be true, that generally to contract the virus from an infected individual you need to spend at least ten minutes in close quarters. 

 

Obviously social distancing and the like is the way, just was good to hear that. 

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3 minutes ago, Triskele said:

France orders non-essential public places to close

 

This is why I'm a bit surprised at the optional work from home for basic jobs.  It just feels like everyone who is doing that is slow to the realization that it needs to be full measures.  

Sweden's likely to be at this stage in a couple of weeks, I suppose.

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