1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

The Coronavirus Thread

Discussion in 'Serious' started by d_stilgar, 13 Mar 2020.

  1. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

    Joined:
    20 Nov 2005
    Posts:
    12,845
    Likes Received:
    1,939
    I understand that there needs to be some consistency for things to keep moving, albeit more slowly, but in many of the IT subreddits I'm seeing threads of people all being forced to go to the office, being branded as "essential" and their bosses, their bosses bosses, and so on are all either holed up at home, or denying that it's a thing (Often seeing 'it's just the flu' comments). Around where I am isn't that much different. My employer hasn't mandated WFH, but they aren't encouraging it either. Parking areas are just as full as they normally are. Roads are a bit quieter, but not much. And I'm close enough to Italy to drive there in a handful of hours.

    It seems like a huge lack of understanding of what work can be done from home without interruption to normal business activities and a huge 'head in the sand' operation from a lot of businesses. Couple that with Amazon going balls-out hiring people to trek around their warehouses despite some sites of theirs having positive-tested employees. It just feels like a lot of politicians and business operators are putting profits over people.

    Obviously, being in IT, I'm mostly exposed to IT complaints about it. I know there are lots of jobs that can't be done from home.
     
  2. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,070
    Likes Received:
    2,428
    People are hardly going to go on the internet to say how well their employer is handling it though, I'm not sure Reddit is an accurate litmus test for the state of things.

    There's a lack of understand about basically everything right now, and no answers - so many employers will stick to BAU in the absence of any official government advice or mandate to do otherwise. And when people fear something and there are no answers, they do the only thing they know - complain about it on the internet.

    And it's easy to be an armchair expert in the information age, but like it or not there are simply no right or wrong things to do. (Well, I mean there are wrong things to do for sure, but anything else is a best guess). Even if we accept WHO advice as technically correct, its answers are not necessarily grounded in reality, be it of people's behaviour or the reality of trying to keep the wheels of industry and economy turning.

    If it wasn't such a concerning situation I'd be more fascinated by it all. I definitely look forward to reading academic papers about this in 10 years time though.
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Hi! I'm on the Internet to say how well my employer is handling it!

    ...though my employer is me.

    ...and I already work from home.

    ...and have for over a decade now.

    But still, my employer is handling it very well!
     
  4. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,070
    Likes Received:
    2,428
    You clearly deserve a raise, but put it to an employee vote just in case.
     
    MLyons, edzieba and Gareth Halfacree like this.
  5. yuusou

    yuusou Multimodder

    Joined:
    5 Nov 2006
    Posts:
    2,852
    Likes Received:
    916
    I've been working from home for about 6 months now. I also usually work an 18 to 2 shift so even if the VPN is struggling during the day it's fine when I work.

    Oh, and I split internet traffic off the company VPN.
     
  6. Goatee

    Goatee Multimodder

    Joined:
    19 Apr 2015
    Posts:
    2,611
    Likes Received:
    1,296
    My employer has asked everyone to work from home. Pretty decent response IMO. Closed manufacturing sites (that don’t make products suitable for the pandemic).

    My employer is a large US medical device manufacturer.
     
  7. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

    Joined:
    20 Nov 2005
    Posts:
    12,845
    Likes Received:
    1,939
    Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly one to accuse reddit of being representative of.. Well, anything. But It's not hard to find an American business owner, politician, or former, saying something demonstrably stupid about it which does seem to corroborate a number of the things I've seen American IT people complain about. Although there have been a few people praising their employers, it's usually been comments in threads rather than threads as a whole. Hell, I don't think it's a challenge to find a politician of any country, or a business owner of any country, saying something monumentally dumb.

    It absolutely is easy to be an armchair expert, but I really don't think it takes an expert to say "Oh, hey, this virus appears to spread very easily, no one should be leaving their house except for the essential stuff. Food. Hospitals. Work that can't be done remotely." which, as evidenced by Italy and China, does appear to help curb the spread. The reaction times of many governments appears to be slower than they need to be to slow the spread.

    I dunno, it's concerning and fascinating at the same time I reckon. I certainly can't seem to stop reading things about it.
     
  8. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

    Joined:
    30 Apr 2010
    Posts:
    8,873
    Likes Received:
    1,054
    Ditto for me, work from home full time for nearly a decade, the wife is now doing the same. She used to tell me to get out more, not so much these days.

    The down side is my contract is up at the end of the month, fat chance of getting another for a while.
     
  9. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

    Joined:
    27 May 2002
    Posts:
    11,428
    Likes Received:
    237
    Our whole office has been asked to work from home, with it being reviewed at Easter at the earliest. I'm on day 2 and already getting cabin fever, I've always did the odd day working from home, but the idea of being cocooned in my house for weeks seems unbearable. I have a small office set up, desk, PC, multi monitor, TV, etc. but it feels smaller than ever right now.
     
  10. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

    Joined:
    15 Jan 2010
    Posts:
    7,059
    Likes Received:
    970
    The problem is that a lot of companies used debt to expand faster, if you disrupt their cashflow they go bottoms up as they can't service the debts anymore, at which point there is a serious threat that the recession turns into a long lasting depression.
     
  11. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

    Joined:
    20 Nov 2005
    Posts:
    12,845
    Likes Received:
    1,939
    So.. Just kill an indeterminate amount of people because that might avoid a recession? Depending on how long this goes on for (Last I saw was, perhaps, if it all tests perfectly, a vaccine for ~2021 via Curevac), is there a chart for how many deaths is acceptable to avoid a recession/depression?

    I don't see this ending without a significant financial crisis, unless it all goes away in three to four weeks. Which I'm betting it won't.
     
  12. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

    Joined:
    16 Dec 2008
    Posts:
    7,000
    Likes Received:
    548
    Just out of a meeting basically saying work at home if possible. Don't think I can be of any help on the shop floor so it's looking like remote working for me for a while :)
     
  13. tristanperry

    tristanperry Minimodder

    Joined:
    22 May 2010
    Posts:
    922
    Likes Received:
    41
    My company has North American owners and they haven't yet said anything about working from home (I work in tech), but Boris' announcement yesterday means that everyone in the UK who is able to work from home has done just that.

    That's a definite risk, and it won't be helped by plenty of workers being on 0-8 hour contracts who will see their take-home pay slashed - meaning less consumer spending power, too.
     
  14. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

    Joined:
    25 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    19,737
    Likes Received:
    5,502
    Rather than saying "don't use the NHS if you don't need to" (who does?) and avoid pubs, theatres and the like - call for a shutdown if that's what you want.

    Theatres, pubs and other places whose customers are being told, officially, to stay away have no financial backing to survive because there has not been a forced shutdown therefore no insurer support.

    It's half assed. Even in other parts of the nhs the onus is being put on the workers to decide what meetings are 'necessary' and users of non-medical services have to be contacted to determine, often by people not in a medical field, whether they sound well enough to go in for appointments.

    Half assed. Choose a course of action and implement it and give direction, not this airy fairy halfway house.

    It feels more like a set up so that the government can avoid blame for not dealing with it well enough.
     
    ElThomsono likes this.
  15. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

    Joined:
    23 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    15,401
    Likes Received:
    2,996
    Most business insurance won't cover it even if there is a govt mandated shutdown. Most it usually only covers 'disruption to business' from **** like damage to the building.

    Events like GDC or similar might be better placed as iirc [based on when parents organised such things] events insurance *does* having to cancel because of things like this. But even then, iirc some are carefully worded so it only covers specifically named outbreaks [like legionella].

    This is more likely, if they only 'advise', then they [potentially] aren't on the hook for any consequences.

    IMO it all reeks of - Cant be accused of doing the wrong thing if you don't actually do anything.

    EDIT:
     
    Last edited: 17 Mar 2020
    adidan likes this.
  16. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

    Joined:
    27 Dec 2002
    Posts:
    14,070
    Likes Received:
    2,428
    Freaking everyone it seems. Of friends I have in healthcare, and specifically NHS roles, huge parts of their time are taken up by people who should have just stayed home. It's a huge problem in hospitals, people heading into A&E simply because it's more convenient than booking an appointment with their GP, and they didn't even need that.

    At the best of times, time-wasters (whether they realise it or not) are a strain on the NHS. If suddenly everyone with a cough or a temp calls 111, it will be completely on its arse for those that need it.
     
    adidan likes this.
  17. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

    Joined:
    26 Aug 2014
    Posts:
    5,206
    Likes Received:
    2,446
    This should come back to bite the Tories at the next election but, they'll the offer the usual tax cut bribery, blame Labour and the idiots will still vote for the useless, lying incompetents, because they got us out of the EU.
     
    adidan likes this.
  18. mrlongbeard

    mrlongbeard Multimodder

    Joined:
    31 Jan 2010
    Posts:
    3,323
    Likes Received:
    1,339
    I would be very surprised if there weren't
     
  19. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

    Joined:
    15 Jan 2010
    Posts:
    7,059
    Likes Received:
    970
    A recession is guaranteed either way.
    The question is more about how to make sure as many jobs as possible still exist by the end of it.

    I do see an alternative... but it would require the government to turn the taps on full.
     
  20. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

    Joined:
    26 Aug 2014
    Posts:
    5,206
    Likes Received:
    2,446
    Apparently, the government's chief scientific adviser has said that, no more than 20000 deaths would be good outcome... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51933410
     

Share This Page