As a company, were doing quite well from WFH. The IT is all in place, internal meetings and calls happen with no issues.
However we deal with a lot of external people - councils mainly - and that has really highlighted the vast gaps in both IT infrastructure and IT literacy nationally.
Some (actually quite a lot) of councils are pretty good, most use Modern.gov meeting management software but what is very noticeable with some is the old equipment, lack of training and general lack of knowledge of some councils and councillors. Not all by any means, but the ones that are bad, it's catastrophic.
Constant dropping in and out of virtual meetings, inability to operate Skype or Teams, stuff like sharing screens, using in-meeting chat functions is beyond them. I get that some people's home broadband is probably shit and that's not helping but this lockdown has really shown how vital it is that companies invest in both the equipment that they're issuing to staff and the training in how to use it before they let loose with WFH.
You can tell I've just come out of a disruptive videoconference can't you?!
Our 10k grant came through this morning from the council.
Should see us through until the government furlough money starts to come through, providing our landlord doesn’t chase us for rent
Well it's confirmed, our local city council are a bunch of despicable low life ****s.
Have made wife and her co-workers redundant with no access to furlough DESPITE a local MSP stepping in and making it clear they could bend the rules in whatever way necessary to allow council to keep the department open long enough to allow people to access furlough.
It's just so needless, they're citing 'cash flow' which I can't believe, I just think somebody is too lazy, inept or politically motivated to get their finger out and help the staff...
Time to start lining bikes up for the classifieds... ☹
(apologies for self-pity, appreciate lots of people in a similar predicament)
As a company, were doing quite well from WFH. The IT is all in place, internal meetings and calls happen with no issues.
Us too. Our company has told us to ease off sales though, as they prepare the VC for the C19 effect. I’ve been asked to relax my quarterly attainment a bit and spend more time with the kids. My paranoia says they are trying to reduce the salary bill by lowering commissions, maybe someone more clever than me can see a down turn. Anyway, having run 4yrs being chased to make my quarterly target I find this relaxed attitude a tad odd!
OK. Now I'm just starting to feel a bit fed up about all this.
Most at home seem to be doing OK with their enforced isolation, Wife and son are getting on remarkably well (in fact I think it's helping them both out).
However, I'm now into day 48 of being stuck on the ship. Unlike other ships we work round the clock, 24/7, so no real break from activity. We are being graciously given an afternoon off once a week, (which I haven't been able to take due to stuff that was happening during said afternoon's stand-downs, required on the bridge 🙄). Even though we are now at anchor, we still have work to do.
Despite good words from the shore end of our business Zero realistic progress has been made toward getting our reliefs in, and getting us home. Some guys were dispacted home last week, after we managed to get space on a flight chartered by Exxon Mobil, however, that meant flying through the US, which my Wife was very reluctant for me to do (underlying health problems).
I expect a minimum of another week, probably 2 before I MAY be out of here.
Trying to focus on the positive side of things, which are:
1- The monster chunck of leave I am going to enjoy. Will somehow have to self isolate once home as I'll be flying home via ?? route.
2- Not having to return to work before some sort of organisation is in place for rejoining the ship.
3- I left home at the end of winter, it'll be starting with Summer once I'm home.
Well, we all have our problems to face, and now it’s our turn. An all company call today is expected to reveal salary reductions for staff, with the exception of the Sales teams as they need to keep motivated to keep revenue incoming.
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I’m in Sales. I’ve just been given a 9 month target that’s double last years 12 month target, and a pay plan that means I won’t receive barely any commission until I’ve sold half of that number. To put that in perspective, commission is 50% of my pay. Not only that, of a UK team of 4 we fired one in January and another left last week, so there’s two of us for the UK, with a huge workload. The spin of course is that “we have much more opportunity to make our numbers...”. The reality is that we’ll be working like dogs for not a huge amount of money, so much for my earlier situation where I was told to back off.
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At the end of the day, we have a job to go to and to be grateful for I guess.
Kryton that's pretty shitty. I reckon there will be a lot of people looking to move when this quietens down based on employer behaviour.
Seems there are some incapable of changing management style and will expect reduced numbers of employees on lower pay to dig companies out of the poo whilst they get prgressively nastier. In Krytons case i can't understand the thinking behind the changes, how do they that's going to motivate someone. It's like they don't believe people have been trying hard enough and feel the best way forward is to incentivise people by restricting pay and upping targets. Absolute opposite effect is going to happen.
I think some companies will be using the motivational stick that Kryton mentioned at the end of his post...
At the end of the day, we have a job to go to and to be grateful for I guess.
My company (oil and gas) is making 25% reduction in global head count and my role is now in a 1 month group consultancy period for redundancy so a very high chance at the end of that I'll be unemployed.
It's understandable that they have to adjust as the industry is on it's backside but I didn't realise quite how big the numbers would be. It'll be thousands of people. I think anyone left will also be given 20% paycuts (they have already culled staff and given paycuts in the US as I think it can be done pretty much instantly over there).
Left me in a world of worry as job prospects are pretty remote at the moment. Hopefully living frugally and my redundancy pay will keep me ticking over for a few months if I can't get anything else. It's a shame they don't see furloughs as a viable short term solution but I assume it is because the long term forecast for the industry is so poor.
In Krytons case i can’t understand the thinking behind the changes, how do they that’s going to motivate someone. It’s like they don’t believe people have been trying hard enough and feel the best way forward is to incentivise people by restricting pay and upping targets. Absolute opposite effect is going to happen.
With likely outcome being I might be able to achieve 75% of my salary if nothing gets worse (?) and I get lucky, with no holiday or break to look forward to for a year at least, I really don’t need that shit.
They also forget we all have challenges at home - kids to manage, bills going up, in our case no shopping delivered now until May 6th. Needless to say I’ve be up since 4:30 this morning - can’t sleep.
Having said that, people like me need to consider people like Bruce ^^. That’s not great, I feel for him.
We cant social distance in the fire brigade, I've tested positive, lad on my shift was the week before, one of lads wife just tested positive, I've just given it to the wife
Other watches on station have at least 4 confirmed cases, one lad who came to our station to cover for an absence now has it, we have one station with 12 confirmed cases its madness
We're sticking ticking along, we have revised our targets down to a more realistic level for the next 6 months. We're forcasting to just about break even by the end of the year, which will be a 20% reduction in T/O, which is a significant amount of money.
Still operating on minimal staff, but planning to start to phase people back into the business as of the 11th May, pending some more key customers coming back online. We've been asked as HoD's/Directors to review with our respective management team bringing back the better members of staff, keeping others on the furloughing scheme until the end with a view to making some redundancies from that point.
It gives us an opportunity to clear the decks a bit, and the reality is as part of a very big global company, a 20% revenue reduction will mean this will have to happen regardless. Doing it this way means we retain some control over the process, rather than having our hand forced by group.
I'm expecting some casualties in my sales team, aftersales team & customer service team. Not going to be pretty.
It’s a shame they don’t see furloughs as a viable short term solution but I assume it is because the long term forecast for the industry is so poor.
I'm not sure it's becasue the long term forecast is poor, more that when it picks up they can, initially at least, re-employ staff for lower wages, until demand outstrips supply and the wages go mental again, the O&G industry has always been thus.
Well things have properly kicked off at my workplace.
We have it written into our contract that you are not allowed to have a second job, it's a sackable offence. But when the furlough lost was announced we all received a pdf that stated the revised rules for those on furlough. If you are furloughed you are allowed to get a second job if you can find one. A few of my colleagues have, mostly driving for supermarkets. This was challenged by a few who thought it was unfair, especially as those that are on furlough pay are actually getting more pay from the company than those of us still working but minimum hours (see my earlier post as to how that works). This challenge was dismissed on Friday morning and pay slips were sent out today digitally too. Cue one or two colleagues popping up on our WhatsApp group boasting about how they're getting roughly £200-250 more than basic from the company and an extra £1k or so from their second jobs. This has properly gone down like a lead balloon. Without going into details a few people have been trading insults with each other and bad blood has definitely been drawn in one case. When they come back to work it is going to cause real issues as we occasionally have to work in two's or three's for some jobs and a few have now said they will not work with any of the furloughed workers on these jobs. My manager is in the group and is trying to calm things down but failing as there isn't anything he can really do to defuse the situation.
I thought this whole situation would throw up some issues later on but nowhere near this level. I'm staying out of it as much as I can but it's going to create a horrible atmosphere at work for a while I fear.
Day 72 on site now, we are locked down on site until 31st May. Currently there are no internal passenger trains running and no flights in and out of the country, any repatriation flights are hideously expensive. We have been told there will be no flights leaving the country regularly until July and we will not be able to return until at least October. Looks like I will be here for a while.
Our civil service agency sent everyone home, closed the offices and started issuing laptops. So far, so good.
Except most of our work - especially my bit that relates to benefits payment, a key worker role - is run by incoming paper applications. And we closed the central post processing office, rather than figuring out how to work 2 metres apart.
Leaving aside the delay in getting decisions out to claimants, we run on statutory time targets. When we miss them, the Minister has to make a statement to Parliament.
I'd like to be our Chief Exec having to explain that to the Minister.
I didn't think you could take a secondary paid job if you were furloughed? I know people have been told they can do voluntary work though.
You can, it's allowed due to some people having two jobs before the scheme was announced so one could furlough you but the other could stay. One of those unintended consequence things. What you cannot do is work for another par of the same company that has furloughed you.
As for DIY sheds and merchants, some are delivering – but not as quick as usual.
for the makers and do-ers. B&q are opening up a little more - following the protocols that supermarkets use in terms of distancing, card only payment and so on
key difference other that that is they’re only offering to sell what you can pick up off the shelf - no services like board cutting, paint mixing or kitchen design /spec and so on
Reluctantjumper - that sounds an unfortunate but predictable situation.
Most of the social worker and OT social services staff in my authority are WFM sending pix of themselves sunbathing or taking family walks (which I would be doing if WFH too) whilst a handful of us are still in work dealing with hospital discharges and picking up the community stuff too .. this week rumblings began to start.
I am happy to still be going into work because it's a different area and feels like a break anyways; but some others are getting very unhappy about picking up more work whilst others have nothing to do at home.
Def a them & us developing!
Was finally announced this week that some people at our place will be going on furlough, but only those who can't work from home (receptionists, estates staff etc), and those with carer reponsibilities whose partners are key workers, and that they'll be topped up to 100% of their salaries. That's all well and good, but I know one colleague who's applied who sends his kid off to the key-workers nursery 4 days a week, so the rest of us get to subsidise a nice extended holiday for him on full pay. Some people really do take the piss.
One way to look at furlough though is that those chosen to go onto it will very likely be the first to be made redundant when things go back to normal and the company needs to streamline things.
We're a small charity. We do a lot of face to face work, funded projects in schools. We do outdoor learning and play. We don't really do online.
Somehow, in the midst of mayhem, we've just hosted a webinar for 800, had a further 1700 face book live stream watcher's and I've over 120 enquiry emails within an hour...
In the last few days we're getting enquiries all around the UK, a few from abroad and new opportunities presenting themselves.
I've over 60 people asking when they can pay to access our (still being created) online training.
By 'eck.
I'm still on furlough in a week though!
Small update on my work: my depot is being mothballed and we're all being furloughed in the 18th with the earliest date of return as the end of June! Essentially we're being furloughed as long as the scheme runs for, if it's extended by a month so will we be. They're making noises about it not being a redundancy situation but they won't reopen us if there's no work so I can't really see how it can be anything other than that on the horizon.
The manager was almost in tears as she broke the news to us on Monday afternoon as it had been leaked out even before she knew. Had clarification yesterday of my furlough pay figure and other details. The pay is enough for me to pay my bills etc so that's good but no room for building up a war chest ready for trying to find a job after this is all over. Going to try and find some short-term work a few days a week to try and top up the savings account.
One word springs to mind: shit.
I’m interested to know, has anyone’s company started making noise to the point of “not using C19 as an excuse” as yet? I’ve heard this last week from a member of a company related to performance, but I can help thinking it’s inconsiderate at best and burying your head in the sand at worst...
Wickes are back open as is Toolstation, screwfix still click and collect and B and Q open to shoppers, but most are running short of stock like timber/plasterboard etc, and the bigger builders merchants appear to be short of bricks and blocks and treated timber.
Supermarkets are re building food stocks, but bike stuff in short supply, eg wheels and other imported stuff,Mega Bus and National Express still not running, long distance trains now buy on line and reserve a seat,many coach operators closing down as are big bus companies cancelling new bus orders.
Quite a few pubs and smaller cafes/restaurants have had all the fixtures and tables removed, probably handing back the leases, also local van and car fleet hire company has hundreds of brand new vans and cars all parked up all around Wallasey, most branded for the new owners,
Local trains and buses running round almost empty, no traffic wardens or parking fees.
Now lots of companies announcing mass redundancies of workers and sacking agency staff.
My boss is keen to get us back in to sell UK holidays in Norfolk & Suffolk. I suspect he's being overly optimistic and I'll get a week in the office before I'm furloughed again.
From a financial point he needs to offer at least 80% of a weeks work else it's not really economical for me.
Run my own accommodation business. Not expecting to get going before autumn, hope I'm wrong.
2 full time and 2 part time staff furloughed at mo. Huge concerns for us:
30% of our annual turnover is lost and not coming back. another 30% could be lost shortly. This money builds up a buffer to get through the cash bleed of winter. Without it we have no buffer.
50% of our business is 4 star self catering. This should run fine as every unit is self contained. The other 50% is hostel style so communal. Don't see that working with individuals so group only. Loss of trade there could be massive. Currently forecasting to run at 50% of normal capacity for the foreseeable. This means we will almost certainly and sadly need to let our 2 full time staff go. They'll be out of a job and house. 🙁
Expecting a huge recession after this. Add in already depressed international trade and it could be brutal. Trade could be disastrous after the initial frenzy.
Upshot is we have rented out our house and are moving back on-site into a big caravan with the kids to cut costs. Already sold a car and our caravan too so no holidays for a few years.
Just hoping we survive without losing everything really.
TS
Share small office room with two others in a typical 4 PC desk configuration. Plenty of lip service to using laptops, none of which available and now talk of returning soon. Would you return and work opposite within 2 metres and just accept the inevitable sneezing (usually uncontrolled) or try and minimise via 2 person max occupancy?
Would you return and work opposite within 2 metres and just accept the inevitable sneezing (usually uncontrolled) or try and minimise via 2 person max occupancy
Risk mitigation at my work means you are not allowed to sit opposite anyone and the desks are blanked off to prevent this. I think we’re having a maximum 25% occupancy at the outset. Just ask to see your employers risk assessment document
There's talk that my work (1500 employee financial company) which has been doing very well during lockdown, with all back office/IT staff WFH and 80-90% of contact centre also WFH, has seen productivity at the same level as before lockdown, and sickness at an all time low, which possibly means that the back office/IT would move to WFH permanently, including myself.
Not sure how I feel about this, I'd welcome 1/2/3/4 days WFH with at least 1 day per week in the office, but it's very hard to keep in touch with other teams when WFH - I was aiming to move up to another team this year which would require some serious inter-team working and getting involved with the infrastructure team that sit above us (and 30ft away in the office) but I've not spoken to any of them since we've been WFH at the end of March.
Guess we'll see what happens when things start going back to 'normal'.
To add, I do feel lucky to be in a well paying job, with no hint of furlough or anything, we've been hugely busy the last week with record call/ticket numbers, and we can do 98% of our jobs from home. I'm also in an industry that's about as recession proof as it can get. So, yeah... things could be a lot worse.
