COVID-19 (Coronavirus) discussion

CaptainCook said:
Of course they can, that's why when you call Virginmedia or another large company you end up in an Indian call centre. I don't expect a till attendant at McDonalds to WFH but anyone who predominantly works at a computer can literally work from anywhere providing
the company has remote access capabilities, there is no excuse, its 2022
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Virgin lost me as a customer because the WFH guy could not remove the telephone from my package, I'm assuming if he were at an actual work place it would be different.

you also end up on hold for ages too.... "the systems slow today" ... yea I bet from your mobile phone or tablet on a crap connection, you can also hear pets in the background and/or children.

not very professional is it
 
arknor said:
Virgin lost me as a customer because the WFH guy could not remove the telephone from my package, I'm assuming if he were at an actual work place it would be different.

you also end up on hold for ages too.... "the systems slow today" ... yea I bet from your mobile phone or tablet on a crap connection, you can also hear pets in the background and/or children.

not very professional is it
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Sounds like an excuse to me in an attempt to keep you on the same package or the system would not let him do it, nothing to do with their location. If it's a click of a button on a computer, that can be done from anywhere
 
CaptainCook said:
Sounds like an excuse to me in an attempt to keep you on the same package or the system would not let him do it, nothing to do with their location. If it's a click of a button on a computer, that can be done from anywhere
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your assuming they have the same access to the same systems which they likely don't, what if one of these WFH guys gets hacked and then the whole database or whatever is leaked through them?
 
arknor said:
your assuming they have the same access to the same systems which they likely don't, what if one of these WFH guys gets hacked and then the whole database or whatever is leaked through them?
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I'm not sure how much you know about general remote access and VD technology these days....but certainly most people are connected via 2FA encrytped sessions which are the same whether you are at home or in the office to the same VMs (barring some local networking differences).

You are more likely to get phished or ransomwared than anything else which can happen anywhere.
 
You would think the cvil service would be leading from the front in terms of returning to the office especially as all these empty offices are funded by the tax payer.

Requests to WFH should be managed via flexible working policies now.
 
n111ck said:
You would think the cvil service would be leading from the front in terms of returning to the office especially as all these empty offices are funded by the tax payer.

Requests to WFH should be managed via flexible working policies now.
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How many days per week do you work at home?
 
arknor said:
your assuming they have the same access to the same systems which they likely don't, what if one of these WFH guys gets hacked and then the whole database or whatever is leaked through them?
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My brother works from home for virgin media and he has the same access as he has in the call centre
 
I think the commuting into the office every day has (un)fortunately, run its course. I'm a bit torn about it as I personally love being in the office with colleagues, but the commute can be a bore (although you always get a seat at 530-6am). You can't beat inter-personal connections in the face to face world - but I suppose it depends on your sector. However, I won't deny that being at home 2-3 days a week is not welcomed.

I can't support JRM at all - there's a lot of office/admin work that can be done at home (that said, I'd expect proper desks/office space to be set up for workers and not be sitting on their kitchen tables) - and I'm sure the admin-stuff that the .govs are doing can mostly be done at home. Does that mean it should be exclusively at home? No, but trying to get everyone back in all the time isn't going to happen now that people have had the pleasure of working in their pyjamas and creature comforts. At best he can try and mandate a number of days a month in the office, but expecting 100% attendance every day is just going to move people to more flexible companies. And to further counter that mug, more people are now working for companies they never would have before, i.e. if you live in Wales, you can now work for a company based in Edinburgh without issue - this is important as you diversify your workforce and create a different element of value that you wouldn't have had before.

The only thing I will say, is that if people don't ever go into the office, there's a significant (in my opinion) social knock on effect of people forgetting what it's like to interact with people not just socially but in the business world. That said, seeing how busy London is these days I think the majority of people are now back in the office at least a few days a week, I think it's still a fairly small chunk of the sectors that have an "exclusively from home" contract.
 
Freefaller said:
The only thing I will say, is that if people don't ever go into the office, there's a significant (in my opinion) social knock on effect of people forgetting what it's like to interact with people not just socially but in the business world. That said, seeing how busy London is these days I think the majority of people are now back in the office at least a few days a week, I think it's still a fairly small chunk of the sectors that have an "exclusively from home" contract.
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I think 2 days a week at the office is the best of both worlds, you can always do more if you want. We definately state we have no fully remote roles.
 
Surveyor said:
Not much different to the 44% attendance of civil servants according to Jacob Rees-Mogg. If civil servants "lead from the front" and return to nearer 100% attendance will you follow?
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I'd go back 100%, not fussed - as far as I'm concerned I am being paid for my time so my employer can decide.
 
Freefaller said:
I think the commuting into the office every day has (un)fortunately, run its course. I'm a bit torn about it as I personally love being in the office with colleagues, but the commute can be a bore (although you always get a seat at 530-6am). You can't beat inter-personal connections in the face to face world - but I suppose it depends on your sector. However, I won't deny that being at home 2-3 days a week is not welcomed.

I can't support JRM at all - there's a lot of office/admin work that can be done at home (that said, I'd expect proper desks/office space to be set up for workers and not be sitting on their kitchen tables) - and I'm sure the admin-stuff that the .govs are doing can mostly be done at home. Does that mean it should be exclusively at home? No, but trying to get everyone back in all the time isn't going to happen now that people have had the pleasure of working in their pyjamas and creature comforts. At best he can try and mandate a number of days a month in the office, but expecting 100% attendance every day is just going to move people to more flexible companies. And to further counter that mug, more people are now working for companies they never would have before, i.e. if you live in Wales, you can now work for a company based in Edinburgh without issue - this is important as you diversify your workforce and create a different element of value that you wouldn't have had before.

The only thing I will say, is that if people don't ever go into the office, there's a significant (in my opinion) social knock on effect of people forgetting what it's like to interact with people not just socially but in the business world. That said, seeing how busy London is these days I think the majority of people are now back in the office at least a few days a week, I think it's still a fairly small chunk of the sectors that have an "exclusively from home" contract.
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Problem for me is JRM seems stuck in a mindset of going back to the old days, which is probably one of the reasons he is so pro-Brexit - there are some very good points when it comes to interaction, social development and the development of the careers of younger/newer people to the industry, etc. but that doesn't mean there aren't new approaches which could be used to solve those issues, maybe even improve on those areas compared to before, while keeping some of the benefits from the changes over the last couple of years.
 
potatolord said:
My mate works in dwp processing benefit claims, and he says they are likely to be 50:50 for the foreseeable.

He says wfh hasn't affected his output.
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Some who are a lot meaner than me would ask the question how could anything interrupt the ability to say "no" :)

Slightly more seriously though, given most of the input for claims seems to be electronic now I suspect it may even be more efficient to work from home where you can fit a monitor you like, and set the desk up how you feel comfortable rather than having a standard "one size fits no one" desk/chair.
 
Werewolf said:
Some who are a lot meaner than me would ask the question how could anything interrupt the ability to say "no" :)

Slightly more seriously though, given most of the input for claims seems to be electronic now I suspect it may even be more efficient to work from home where you can fit a monitor you like, and set the desk up how you feel comfortable rather than having a standard "one size fits no one" desk/chair.
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It’s been reported that productivity has went up and time off sick has gone down during WFH, if companies are getting more out of an employee working from home, what’s the sense in changing.
 
woppy101 said:
It’s been reported that productivity has went up and time off sick has gone down during WFH, if companies are getting more out of an employee working from home, what’s the sense in changing.
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I can quite believe it, besides anything else you're probably less stressed, less likely to catch something off Dave who hasn't had a day off in 20 years (but routinely comes in coughing and sneezing, and dripping snot), whilst starting work "fresh" as opposed to after an hour or more of travel.
 
Freefaller said:
And to further counter that mug, more people are now working for companies they never would have before, i.e. if you live in Wales, you can now work for a company based in Edinburgh without issue - this is important as you diversify your workforce and create a different element of value that you wouldn't have had before.
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Im 100% WFH these days for a firm in Edinburgh but live outside the M25 in Bucks. Ive popped into the office for a meeting once in two years. It works for me as it saves me a 435mile commute which is great for the environment and saves me a boat load of time.

If the government is genuine about the environment, not having 100s of people commuting unnecessarily, is a good place to start. Lead from the front.
 
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