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Ask HN: Is your company responding rationally to the Corona Virus threat?

My wife's company, based in SF, has their President based in Dallas, Texas. He's saying that he doesn't want to shut the office in SF down until there are 1,000 cases being reported in SF. I think this is a huge mistake due to the fact that many in SF must take public transportation (BART ewww), and it scares me given I'm a bit older than the rest of you. What do y'all think?

gplante 7y ago
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-se...
muzani 7y ago
When the infection first made news, the management brought it up earlier, canceled all business flights, bought masks and antiseptic for everyone here. The office isn't accessible with public transport. We're still coming to office, bosses gossip about COVID-19 daily (we literally added updates to the about menu on our app). But it's still in control where I live, only around 129 cases nationwide, supposedly slowing down.
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blarghhh 7y ago
Very early on, WFH guidance world wide, no visitors to any offices, all interviews made 100% remote, all business travel cancelled, all offsites cancelled, specific offices closed based on high risk areas and/or people having/potentially having it. The '1000' seems a bit silly and arbitrary tbh...
say_it_as_it_is 7y ago
Your wife's company president only needs to know about 1 successful lawsuit against an employer for putting a company's profit interests before the safety of its employees. That kind of news is going to make bigger waves than the Corona Virus itself.
- 2rsf 7y ago
  I suppose that as long as he is following government/official organizations recommendations then he should be fine
2rsf 7y ago
Define rationally... my country's officials (Sweden) sees it differently than my bosses. International travel is canceled, hand disinfectants everywhere, some key personnel was split between our 2 large offices, WFH was and is still a valid option for many, big assemblies and meeting all canceled or broken down to smaller audiences.
Transformify1 7y ago
Not all businesses are prepared to manage employees remotely. Unless it is an all-remote company, it's unlikely for the business to be prepared for the shift. The processes, internal controls, remote system accesses need to be adapted. Data exchange via insecure home wi-fi networks is also an issue. Another problem is low productivity as in-office employees are disturbed at home and can't organize their time. Transformify is an all-remote company and every now and then we have issues with new employees who are treating remote work as vacations.
photonios 7y ago
Very rational. I am in Romania. We have about 40 cases as of today country-wide. About a week ago we were all told to stay home at the slighest symptons or having travelled. A big conference set to take place was cancelled already about two weeks ago and all business travel has been suspended for the last two weeks. Yesterday we were all told to not come to the office unless absolutely necessary. So, we're all working from home until we hear otherwise. Not a big deal for most of us. The local branch is relatively small (<100 people) and consists of mostly software engineers. We communicate daily with other branches around the world, so working remotely has never really been a problem. Company also pays for private healthcare and we all received flu shots two months ago on company costs. Not that those help against COVID-19, but hey, it's something.
AwesomeFaic 7y ago
For the most part. Travel restrictions, no conferences, WFH preparations, etc. From a policy standpoint, we're alright. Have we considered what to do if our offshore contractors get quarantined and can't WFH? Not so much.
Jugurtha 7y ago
I live in Algiers, Algeria. We have about 20 declared cases in the country. As a company, we didn't want to take a risk, especially that we don't know much about this so we're working from home.. We send employees home if they're tired or have the flu, or a headache and we're not going to be reckless with this, especially that some employees take the train/bus/subway. We used to have regular business meetings in Paris, and we stopped that, too.

gplante 7y ago

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-se...

muzani 7y ago

When the infection first made news, the management brought it up earlier, canceled all business flights, bought masks and antiseptic for everyone here. The office isn't accessible with public transport. We're still coming to office, bosses gossip about COVID-19 daily (we literally added updates to the about menu on our app). But it's still in control where I live, only around 129 cases nationwide, supposedly slowing down.

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blarghhh 7y ago

Very early on, WFH guidance world wide, no visitors to any offices, all interviews made 100% remote, all business travel cancelled, all offsites cancelled, specific offices closed based on high risk areas and/or people having/potentially having it. The '1000' seems a bit silly and arbitrary tbh...

say_it_as_it_is 7y ago

Your wife's company president only needs to know about 1 successful lawsuit against an employer for putting a company's profit interests before the safety of its employees. That kind of news is going to make bigger waves than the Corona Virus itself.

2rsf 7y ago
I suppose that as long as he is following government/official organizations recommendations then he should be fine

2rsf 7y ago

Define rationally... my country's officials (Sweden) sees it differently than my bosses. International travel is canceled, hand disinfectants everywhere, some key personnel was split between our 2 large offices, WFH was and is still a valid option for many, big assemblies and meeting all canceled or broken down to smaller audiences.

Transformify1 7y ago

Not all businesses are prepared to manage employees remotely. Unless it is an all-remote company, it's unlikely for the business to be prepared for the shift. The processes, internal controls, remote system accesses need to be adapted. Data exchange via insecure home wi-fi networks is also an issue. Another problem is low productivity as in-office employees are disturbed at home and can't organize their time. Transformify is an all-remote company and every now and then we have issues with new employees who are treating remote work as vacations.

photonios 7y ago

Very rational. I am in Romania. We have about 40 cases as of today country-wide. About a week ago we were all told to stay home at the slighest symptons or having travelled. A big conference set to take place was cancelled already about two weeks ago and all business travel has been suspended for the last two weeks. Yesterday we were all told to not come to the office unless absolutely necessary. So, we're all working from home until we hear otherwise. Not a big deal for most of us. The local branch is relatively small (<100 people) and consists of mostly software engineers. We communicate daily with other branches around the world, so working remotely has never really been a problem. Company also pays for private healthcare and we all received flu shots two months ago on company costs. Not that those help against COVID-19, but hey, it's something.

AwesomeFaic 7y ago

For the most part. Travel restrictions, no conferences, WFH preparations, etc. From a policy standpoint, we're alright. Have we considered what to do if our offshore contractors get quarantined and can't WFH? Not so much.

Jugurtha 7y ago

I live in Algiers, Algeria. We have about 20 declared cases in the country. As a company, we didn't want to take a risk, especially that we don't know much about this so we're working from home.. We send employees home if they're tired or have the flu, or a headache and we're not going to be reckless with this, especially that some employees take the train/bus/subway. We used to have regular business meetings in Paris, and we stopped that, too.