Covid-19

[Texaco Shirley]

A few of my colleagues are wanting to get back in but on the whole people are quite happy. More and more people seem to be moving away such that they physically couldn’t get to the office every day.

[Ella77]

Lots of companies are rolling out new spying software and stuff that lets them monitor a user’s face via their screen to check that they’re always at their desk! Total cunts.

Mr O was just telling me about a guy getting absolutely flamed in LinkedIn for using this. He can track keystrokes and all kinds of stuff of his team. He uses contractors all over the world so basically keeps tabs on them that way. How fucking intrusive!

I think it’s so immoral. One company I only worked at for 5 weeks was just rolling out a thing when I left whereby the system took screenshots of your screen every 3 seconds for management to look at if they wanted. I only found out because I was in IT, they didn’t tell the users!

[Heebie Jeebie]

That's shocking Ella! I'm surprised it's legal if you don't tell the users.

[FiveO'Clock]

They don't even tell you?!

No one on my team wants to go back, but there's also no one who doesn't have a designated space to work.

[Ella77]

It can’t be legal. Loads of people do their internet banking in their lunch hour and stuff like that, don’t they? It’s bloody horrible.

I need to go into my office in a couple of weeks because that’s where my flu jab will be taking place. I’m all conflicted about going in in case it’s deemed easy enough fir me to keep doing.

[Derek Nimmo]

That's disgraceful Daire, I'd be asking HR for clarification - playing it dumb and saying I didn't understand the contradiction between the company and governments' guidance and wasn't sure what to do. Wankers!

In stark contrast, within half an hour of the announcements last week my company shut down both UK offices. I'm quite sad about it as it was me and one other in a 20 person office so it felt very safe, and I liked the company and change of scenery. Ho hum.

[Skips]

Long term I'd happy do three or four days in the office with one or two at home, Right now I'm happy with one a week in the office.

[Epponnee Rae]

I’d only want to go back max 2 days a week in the office. I’ve always preferred a flexible schedule that had WFH time as I (usually) get more done. The worker surveillance shit is sickening and scary.

We’re finally being surveyed around return to the office/remote work preferences, which suggests to me the higher ups think they have a plan for how to adapt our work spaces for some future office reopening (in the US at least) and confidence in the timing of a vaccine. We still have another 4 months (at least) being fully remote. In the meantime we’ve been given a wellness stipend, so I expect half the workforce will be purchasing pelotons. I was considering a slimline treadmill that I could use as a walking desk before (literally just the track belt and it’s controlled by your phone), so I might pull the trigger on that.

[Bat Macdui]

The key stroke monitoring stuff is so vile, Orwellian and insidious. I hadn't heard of the screenshot thing. That's even bloody worse.

[nineseven]

If a manager doesn't trust his/her team and needs to monitor them constantly, he/she needs to address his/her management and people hiring skills first.

[Bat Macdui]

Quite. When I moved to WFH before we all did pandemic related the HR person asked my manager how she'd know I was working. My Manager was like 'she's a bid writer, if she's not working the bid doesn't go in'. It was delivered in such a 'are you completely fucking stupid??' tone as well. It was great.

[H1ppychick]

Also, you need to remind yourself (and your managers) that you are not "working from home", you are "working at home during a global pandemic". Not the same thing. Allowances need to be made.

[Flora Poste]

Mr P's line manager has got a bit funny about him not having his camera on in meetings. He doesn't like to, partly because of how he has his desk set up (two monitors in front of him and then a laptop to the side, so he has to turn to a slightly odd angle to be on camera with the laptop and can't be arsed to buy a separate web cam, and partly because that will mean he can't do the crossword and the sudoku in boring meetings

[H1ppychick]

...though to be honest, I'd probably be titting about on the internet a bit if I was in the office, too.

[Bat Macdui]

I could piss about on the internet just as effectively in the office as I do at home. But I don't have to drive an hour each way to do it. I'm sure the climate is thanking me for this, too.

[Princess Morripov]

Yeah, I mean I probably do the same amount of skiving at home/work, it’s just my skiving at home is napping or watching TV, and at work it’s reading ALL OF THE INTERNET and doing all my life admin.

[Bat Macdui]

I do napping and chores. I'm missing a trick here. Also, I stare out of the window at the birds, which should actually be mandatory because it's, like, nature therapy or summat.

[Kenickie]

Pissing about is much more efficient at home, where you just go and look at the internet for a chunk of a few minutes or whatever. Whereas in an office with an overlooked screen, it's more like read half a page, click back to a work word document and pretend to read it for a few minutes, repeat for an hour or so.

[Pippedydeadeye]

I keep telling my staff I want them to stare into space for a bit.

[smalex]

I'm always amused by employer's seeming to think that working in an office is the most efficient. I haven't worked in that many, in all fairness (maybe everyone else's is a hive of industry) but the ones I've worked in were definitely a collection of people twatting about on the internet, doing tea rounds and chatting about their weekends.