7 ms·

Think this is a smart move - a LOT of other companies spending energy trying to figure out when and how to phase people coming back to the office, this approach

Think this is a smart move - a LOT of other companies spending energy trying to figure out when and how to phase people coming back to the office, this approach shifts it down the road and says lets just focus on executing here and now. Reality is if people did start coming back to office that could easily get reversed in a few months. So again I like the idea of kicking the problem down the road given what we know today.

mox1 6y ago
A friends company is planning on bringing 50% back to the office in October. Which effectively means instead of 4-8 hours of Zoom meetings at his house, he can take them sitting at his desk in the building, while the other 50% sit at home. Not sure how well that is going to work out. This is an old school Financial company though, so it's not overly surprising.
- Loughla 6y ago
  My (higher education) institution had a really nice gradual phase in plan. Small shifts of workers for a few months when the state opened back up, with more people coming in as we approached semester. An emphasis on in-person classes, but with options for folks who were uncomfortable with crowds. Then administration caught wind we were 14% off on students. Two days later - mandatory, everyone back in the office, no remote work to be allowed, for any reason. It's depressing, and I have no other reason to type this out, other than to complain, I guess. 99% of my, and the folks in my office's jobs can be done, effectively, remotely. But that's not an option. Just ridiculous.
  - andrewnicolalde 6y ago
    Name and shame I say
  - NotSammyHagar 6y ago
    Given that, you school must be pushing hard to have regular school in the fall with student's at the school in classroom seats and in dorms. What will happen when the extremely likey covid19 spread leads to a sudden closing of your in-person schooling?
    - Loughla 6y ago
      >What will happen when the extremely likely covid19 spread leads to a sudden closing of your in-person schooling? Faculty are given the choice on whether to teach in-person, remote, or a hybrid. It's the staff that aren't given a choice, and also aren't given an avenue to deal with concerns or questions. So, the answer is, if there is spread on campus, the faculty will be told to go online, and staff will be told "you're safe, because there are no students now", much as we are being told today, in the current summer semester. To quote the President from his most recent update for staff about enrollment, "Please join me in being part of the solutions to the many challenges we face now and in the very near future and refrain from the negativity and participation of those wanting to be part of the problem. That individual choice is yours. Please make it wisely."
  - tome 6y ago
    > Then administration caught wind we were 14% off on students. What does 14% off on students mean? 14% fewer students registering for classes?
    - Loughla 6y ago
      14% fewer students this year compared to the same day last year.
    - NotSammyHagar 6y ago
      14% revenue drop too. I think a lot of colleges would be happy with only a 14% revenue drop! They must have thought not having in-person classes certain was reducing student signups.
  - ssully 6y ago
    What's the reasoning? Why is being off 14% of students a reason to bring everyone back? To show that things are "normal" to encourage people to come back?
- GloriousKoji 6y ago
  At the beginning of July the company I work for divided the employees into two groups and have each group come in 2 weeks at a time. I thought this was silly until I heard my friend also has a 50/50 split but it was every other day. We both work in tech and can do our jobs very well remotely.
- mFixman 6y ago
  Sitting in an office besides someone having a Zoom meeting sounds is my personal version of hell. I probably wouldn't make it as a telemarketer.
closeparen 6y ago
In San Francisco the guidance has been “you idiots keep having social gatherings, this is why we can’t let you go shopping.” But to me it seems absolutely insane to spend our “exposure budget” on shopping, or on a return to the office. There are perfectly good substitutes for these things. Not so for friends.
- draebek 6y ago
  I like the phrase "exposure budget", I hope you don't mind if I steal it. I've been thinking of things the same way, though my #1 "budgetary priority" right now is probably "open schools" over everything else, including seeing friends—and I say that as someone with zero children.
  - bargl 6y ago
    Same I haven't seen that before and I hope the op is stealing this. I'd like to see more people thinking in this way.
    - closeparen 6y ago
      Thanks! I suspect that public health authorities wouldn't like this, as they do not want people to feel that they can "spend" at all unless it's essential. But that doesn't seem like something we can actually sustain until the vaccine, so I have found the concept helpful.
  - jedberg 6y ago
    Even child psychologists have reversed their stance on returning to school. They've realized that the trauma of having a teacher die is worse than not socializing for a few more months. At the current virus levels, it is expected that at least two teachers and 60 students will die every day in the USA if we reopen schools. That is of course out of hundreds of thousands of teachers and millions of students, but if it's your teacher or your friend, it doesn't really matter how many millions didn't die that day, does it?
    - 6y ago
grazhero99 6y ago
I agree. It seems to me that the best course of action at this point is to continue aggressive safety measures. I'm not a virology expert by any means, but it kinda makes intuitive sense that natural herd immunity will build over time. I mean I've been being as careful as I reasonably can, but it's doubtful at this point that I haven't been exposed to the virus many times by now, at least in some capacity. I think some people underestimate the multifaceted nature of your odds of survival if you catch this thing. It's not just a roll of the dice; things like your viral load and your overall health matter immensely. So doing our best to make sure people aren't doing things like spending long periods of time in close proximity to one another with recycled air flow seems like what we should continue doing.
tennineeight 6y ago
Non-US, non-Google regular enterprise IT here. There is absolutely zero reason my team needs to be in office. Management has stated multiple time that our productivity has increased. And yet, our official WFH policy keeps getting extended on the last day the government regulates an extension. Overall it has left a very sour taste in my mouth, it almost feels as if we will be called in office the moment gov removes restrictions. It also tells me my company doesn't want us making any medium term plans. In another words, we are expendable.

mox1 6y ago

A friends company is planning on bringing 50% back to the office in October. Which effectively means instead of 4-8 hours of Zoom meetings at his house, he can take them sitting at his desk in the building, while the other 50% sit at home. Not sure how well that is going to work out. This is an old school Financial company though, so it's not overly surprising.

Loughla 6y ago
My (higher education) institution had a really nice gradual phase in plan. Small shifts of workers for a few months when the state opened back up, with more people coming in as we approached semester. An emphasis on in-person classes, but with options for folks who were uncomfortable with crowds. Then administration caught wind we were 14% off on students. Two days later - mandatory, everyone back in the office, no remote work to be allowed, for any reason. It's depressing, and I have no other reason to type this out, other than to complain, I guess. 99% of my, and the folks in my office's jobs can be done, effectively, remotely. But that's not an option. Just ridiculous.
- andrewnicolalde 6y ago
  Name and shame I say
- NotSammyHagar 6y ago
  Given that, you school must be pushing hard to have regular school in the fall with student's at the school in classroom seats and in dorms. What will happen when the extremely likey covid19 spread leads to a sudden closing of your in-person schooling?
  - Loughla 6y ago
    >What will happen when the extremely likely covid19 spread leads to a sudden closing of your in-person schooling? Faculty are given the choice on whether to teach in-person, remote, or a hybrid. It's the staff that aren't given a choice, and also aren't given an avenue to deal with concerns or questions. So, the answer is, if there is spread on campus, the faculty will be told to go online, and staff will be told "you're safe, because there are no students now", much as we are being told today, in the current summer semester. To quote the President from his most recent update for staff about enrollment, "Please join me in being part of the solutions to the many challenges we face now and in the very near future and refrain from the negativity and participation of those wanting to be part of the problem. That individual choice is yours. Please make it wisely."
- tome 6y ago
  > Then administration caught wind we were 14% off on students. What does 14% off on students mean? 14% fewer students registering for classes?
  - Loughla 6y ago
    14% fewer students this year compared to the same day last year.
  - NotSammyHagar 6y ago
    14% revenue drop too. I think a lot of colleges would be happy with only a 14% revenue drop! They must have thought not having in-person classes certain was reducing student signups.
- ssully 6y ago
  What's the reasoning? Why is being off 14% of students a reason to bring everyone back? To show that things are "normal" to encourage people to come back?
GloriousKoji 6y ago
At the beginning of July the company I work for divided the employees into two groups and have each group come in 2 weeks at a time. I thought this was silly until I heard my friend also has a 50/50 split but it was every other day. We both work in tech and can do our jobs very well remotely.
mFixman 6y ago
Sitting in an office besides someone having a Zoom meeting sounds is my personal version of hell. I probably wouldn't make it as a telemarketer.

closeparen 6y ago

In San Francisco the guidance has been “you idiots keep having social gatherings, this is why we can’t let you go shopping.” But to me it seems absolutely insane to spend our “exposure budget” on shopping, or on a return to the office. There are perfectly good substitutes for these things. Not so for friends.

draebek 6y ago
I like the phrase "exposure budget", I hope you don't mind if I steal it. I've been thinking of things the same way, though my #1 "budgetary priority" right now is probably "open schools" over everything else, including seeing friends—and I say that as someone with zero children.
- bargl 6y ago
  Same I haven't seen that before and I hope the op is stealing this. I'd like to see more people thinking in this way.
  - closeparen 6y ago
    Thanks! I suspect that public health authorities wouldn't like this, as they do not want people to feel that they can "spend" at all unless it's essential. But that doesn't seem like something we can actually sustain until the vaccine, so I have found the concept helpful.
- jedberg 6y ago
  Even child psychologists have reversed their stance on returning to school. They've realized that the trauma of having a teacher die is worse than not socializing for a few more months. At the current virus levels, it is expected that at least two teachers and 60 students will die every day in the USA if we reopen schools. That is of course out of hundreds of thousands of teachers and millions of students, but if it's your teacher or your friend, it doesn't really matter how many millions didn't die that day, does it?
  - 6y ago

grazhero99 6y ago

I agree. It seems to me that the best course of action at this point is to continue aggressive safety measures. I'm not a virology expert by any means, but it kinda makes intuitive sense that natural herd immunity will build over time. I mean I've been being as careful as I reasonably can, but it's doubtful at this point that I haven't been exposed to the virus many times by now, at least in some capacity. I think some people underestimate the multifaceted nature of your odds of survival if you catch this thing. It's not just a roll of the dice; things like your viral load and your overall health matter immensely. So doing our best to make sure people aren't doing things like spending long periods of time in close proximity to one another with recycled air flow seems like what we should continue doing.

tennineeight 6y ago

Non-US, non-Google regular enterprise IT here. There is absolutely zero reason my team needs to be in office. Management has stated multiple time that our productivity has increased. And yet, our official WFH policy keeps getting extended on the last day the government regulates an extension. Overall it has left a very sour taste in my mouth, it almost feels as if we will be called in office the moment gov removes restrictions. It also tells me my company doesn't want us making any medium term plans. In another words, we are expendable.