When will this shit end?

[Haan]

1 hour ago, Homer said:

IPL has finally been postponed. Not sure my vague plan of popping over to India for the cricket world cup is gonna happen now. At least they're talking about moving it to the UAE (one of the countries on the planet I have no interest in visiting).

Thank god, what's going on in India is mental, I really hope Biden waives the vaccine patents like he said he would!

As a side note I hope the postponement gives enough time for Stokes and Archer to get fit again, Rajasthan look very weak without them.   

[steviewevie]

57 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

 

schools weren't plague factories after all.

[steviewevie]

 

[steviewevie]

42 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

It’s perfectly natural for people to be nervous about heading back to an office and also a way of life they perhaps upon reflection didn’t like. 

yeah, I'm not nervous...I just don't like going to the office.

Maybe I should quit.

[Homer]

7 minutes ago, Haan said:

Thank god, what's going on in India is mental, I really hope Biden waives the vaccine patents like he said he would!

As a side note I hope the postponement gives enough time for Stokes and Archer to get fit again, Rajasthan look very weak without them.   

Yeah, it's a tough watch on the news isn't it?!

I've never managed to get into the IPL. I think the fact that I tried to support the Royals and always seem to be crap may not have helped.

I did somehow quite enjoy that 10-over tournament in the middle east - so maybe my attention span just isn't up to the longer form of the game!

[steviewevie]

🙂

 

[Ozanne]

6 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

yeah, I'm not nervous...I just don't like going to the office.

Maybe I should quit.

Which is fine too, everyone has their preference. I read somewhere the pandemic has sped up office working evolution by several years so I don’t think you are alone with those thoughts. 

[steviewevie]

2 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Which is fine too, everyone has their preference. I read somewhere the pandemic has sped up office working evolution by several years so I don’t think you are alone with those thoughts. 

yeah, I mean...I wont' quit...I need the money...and I'm too old to easily get another job...so I'll just have to persevere...poor old stevie. Hopefully will go back to how it was pre-pandemic where I was working from home half the time anyway.

[Homer]

13 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

yeah, I'm not nervous...I just don't like going to the office.

Maybe I should quit.

That's surprising as you come across as a real people person on here!

[st dan]

4 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Which is fine too, everyone has their preference. I read somewhere the pandemic has sped up office working evolution by several years so I don’t think you are alone with those thoughts. 

A big issue surrounding all of this is that the company that is paying your wages has the right to want you in the office for whatever reasons they deem fit - probably more of a point for those who work for small/medium companies. They don’t have to take personal circumstances or preferences into account at all, and it’s probably easier to just have a blanket approach of everybody returning to the office rather than letting the employees decide themselves. 
And with a difficult job market at the moment, people are are extremely unlikely to ‘lump it’ if they are asked to return to the office in the next few months, whether it’s what they want to do or not. 

[steviewevie]

5 minutes ago, Homer said:

That's surprising as you come across as a real people person on here!

It's not my fault everyone I work with are pricks and c**ts.

[BobWillis2]

18 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Which is fine too

No it is not. If you don’t like working in an office don’t pick an office based career. 
 

[Ozanne]

29 minutes ago, st dan said:

A big issue surrounding all of this is that the company that is paying your wages has the right to want you in the office for whatever reasons they deem fit - probably more of a point for those who work for small/medium companies. They don’t have to take personal circumstances or preferences into account at all, and it’s probably easier to just have a blanket approach of everybody returning to the office rather than letting the employees decide themselves. 
And with a difficult job market at the moment, people are are extremely unlikely to ‘lump it’ if they are asked to return to the office in the next few months, whether it’s what they want to do or not. 

I’m not sure it’s easier to force people back if they aren’t ready or want a different way of life. In my view an easier way for a business is to engage with their workforce and strike a balance with what they want to do and also to take forward some of the benefits of this new way of working as we go forward. Employees would be happier that their employer has reached out and is trying to accommodate them which will lead to a better working environment all round.

If a job has been done well remotely for a year then it shows that there are different ways of doing things and we don’t have to go back to how things were. In the main it looks like businesses realise that too. 

[DeanoL]

21 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

Reading around other forums and it seems the general though process is just a little bit more until we go back to normal mid June.  Seems like a large proportion of the population is deluding themselves and not really picking on all the if's and but's which are wrapped around these statements.

@crazyfool1 post is a good example...  Headline screams good bye social distancing - but the reality it is a lie.  

If a pub has to operate a one way system etc - it defacto creates a social distanced environment and reduced capacity.  Think about your busy crammed Friday night city centre bar - it ain't happening with those kind of restrictions let alone a nightclub.
 

For a large portion of the population things will go back to normal on 21st June. A large portion of the population don't care about going to see live sport or gigs. They can see their friends and family. They can go shopping. They can go for a meal. They can go to the cinema. They can go to the pub. They might have to sit down rather than stand in the pub. 

I agree we won't actually be "back to normal" but I don't think it's people deluding themselves, it's people legit going "everything I want to do is allowed again from June 21st".

21 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

I've never looked at it as anything other than a few months respite in summer, which is why I'm so desperate for us to maximise our time - I believe that whatever we do in summer, we won't have a normal winter this year. We won't eliminate covid so whether we try to or not it will be around in winter, and the vaccines will get their first full test, so let's allow these businesses to make their money when they can, when it's safe, in the hope they'll survive and keep the jobs going . I suppose that's part of keeping some restrictions, to make it clear there is still a pandemic going on and make it look less like a u-turn come winter. 

And you ensure hospital admissions are driven right down by a more cautious re-opening. If we can get hospital levels back to normal by winter, we can weather a spike in COVID over the winter. That's what having spare capacity in the NHS is for. 

 

 

[DeanoL]

16 hours ago, sisco said:

Not all jobs work like that sadly.  Going over old ground but lots of jobs need you to go in.  I have people in my team that do different roles, that’s where the problems come in.  Especially when you have some saying they don’t want to come in when they’re anxious and others have to.  Then you have the ones who have to seeing the ones who are to anxious to go in doing all these wonderful things.  Whether people here agree I can assure you it causes issues.

The jobs that need you to go in to do them have been on hold for a year and those people have been furloughed. While anxiety certainly exists there, I've found in most cases those people are happy to go back into the office because they've spent a year being worried their job was gone for good.

Where the real issue exists is people who have been productively home-working for a year now being told their job can't be done from home. That raises a lot of questions, including the obvious "why was I working and not furloughed then?" one.

We're going to see tensions there too, from people who had a year off work at 80% pay versus those who were still working full time. There'll be some resentment from the latter camp towards the former. 

[RobertProsineckisLighter]

41 minutes ago, BobWillis2 said:

No it is not. If you don’t like working in an office don’t pick an office based career. 
 

The same logic can be applied to those who hate the cost of living in London, or the cost of commuting to London. 

You don't have to do it, but don't expect to earn the same elsewhere.

[Homer]

4 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

The jobs that need you to go in to do them have been on hold for a year and those people have been furloughed. While anxiety certainly exists there, I've found in most cases those people are happy to go back into the office because they've spent a year being worried their job was gone for good.

Where the real issue exists is people who have been productively home-working for a year now being told their job can't be done from home. That raises a lot of questions, including the obvious "why was I working and not furloughed then?" one.

We're going to see tensions there too, from people who had a year off work at 80% pay versus those who were still working full time. There'll be some resentment from the latter camp towards the former. 

I'm back on 100% hours as of today - and I must say I'm resenting that fact.

[RobertProsineckisLighter]

2 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

The jobs that need you to go in to do them have been on hold for a year and those people have been furloughed. While anxiety certainly exists there, I've found in most cases those people are happy to go back into the office because they've spent a year being worried their job was gone for good.

Where the real issue exists is people who have been productively home-working for a year now being told their job can't be done from home. That raises a lot of questions, including the obvious "why was I working and not furloughed then?" one.

We're going to see tensions there too, from people who had a year off work at 80% pay versus those who were still working full time. There'll be some resentment from the latter camp towards the former. 

The people who took the piss in the office take the piss even more so at home. 

Working at home takes a lot of self discipline and a level of respect to yourself, your employer and your colleagues. 

[JB15]

9 minutes ago, Barry Fish said:

Workshy Britain 

He says with one of multiple posts throughout the working morning 

[steviewevie]

6 minutes ago, RobertProsineckisLighter said:

The people who took the piss in the office take the piss even more so at home. 

Working at home takes a lot of self discipline and a level of respect to yourself, your employer and your colleagues. 

whether I'm at the office or at home, if I don't do the work I get found out in the end.

For me the main difference with being in office is discussing stuff with other humans, in a room with whiteboards, throwing ideas around as if we're mad men or something....can't really replicate that when all working remotely.

[stuie]

47 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

I’m not sure it’s easier to force people back if they aren’t ready or want a different way of life. In my view an easier way for a business is to engage with their workforce and strike a balance with what they want to do and also to take forward some of the benefits of this new way of working as we go forward. Employees would be happier that their employer has reached out and is trying to accommodate them which will lead to a better working environment all round.

If a job has been done well remotely for a year then it shows that there are different ways of doing things and we don’t have to go back to how things were. In the main it looks like businesses realise that too. 

But I think that you are of that opinion because that’s what you want and it works for your job. 

There’s another category other than furloughed people and working from home people and that’s just about managing. Lots of companies are surviving by implementing this emergency working situation but it’s not as efficient or effective as their pre pandemic model. 

[EasyUserName]

1 hour ago, st dan said:

A big issue surrounding all of this is that the company that is paying your wages has the right to want you in the office for whatever reasons they deem fit - probably more of a point for those who work for small/medium companies. They don’t have to take personal circumstances or preferences into account at all, and it’s probably easier to just have a blanket approach of everybody returning to the office rather than letting the employees decide themselves. 
And with a difficult job market at the moment, people are are extremely unlikely to ‘lump it’ if they are asked to return to the office in the next few months, whether it’s what they want to do or not. 

I am curious to see how the potential impacts longer term play out.  I was talking to someone the other day who has asked their employer if they could stay working from home, as they want to move abroad full time to a house they own.  I thought it was an interesting idea, as they were expecting to keep their London salary, but the area they move to has significantly lower local wages.  There are so many implications of this sort of a move that make it all very interesting to see how it all unfolds. 

[Ozanne]

8 minutes ago, stuie said:

But I think that you are of that opinion because that’s what you want and it works for your job. 

There’s another category other than furloughed people and working from home people and that’s just about managing. Lots of companies are surviving by implementing this emergency working situation but it’s not as efficient or effective as their pre pandemic model. 

Oh yeah I can understand that for some businesses it might not work as well but in those cases I think there should be a dialogue opened between the employer and the employee to see if they can find a middle ground that works best and keeps some of the practices that have worked through the pandemic going by giving staff some element of flexibility. 

[mcshed]

1 hour ago, Barry Fish said:

Yeah, she knew all along....  Little Miss Smarty Pants...

Her point does make sense though, the fact that transmission levels in schools where low when we waited until transmission levels were low in the community before we opened up doesn't mean that transmission levels in schools would have been low in January when the virus was rampant in the community.

[Homer]

30 minutes ago, EasyUserName said:

I am curious to see how the potential impacts longer term play out.  I was talking to someone the other day who has asked their employer if they could stay working from home, as they want to move abroad full time to a house they own.  I thought it was an interesting idea, as they were expecting to keep their London salary, but the area they move to has significantly lower local wages.  There are so many implications of this sort of a move that make it all very interesting to see how it all unfolds. 

 

It's amazing how much things have changed. My boss was the most anti-home working control freak imaginable (he pretty much banned it). Now he's completely converted. We don't plan to ever have an office again.

My wife's central London employers have done the same. They've even told her that when is allowed to go back to New Zealand to visit her family, she can work from there for as long as she wants.