How is your workplace adapting? | GTAMotorcycle.com

How is your workplace adapting?

bigpoppa

bigpoppa

Well-known member
Found work recently, most of us work from home, but recently they wanted to have an in person meeting, so I grudgingly went in person, and much to my horror, in the middle of a hot zone, no one was wearing masks indoors(20 ppl), needless to say I was ticked, and wont be going to any more in person meetings

bunch of ******* dim witted punks
 
bigpoppa said:
Found work recently, most of us work from home, but recently they wanted to have an in person meeting, so I grudgingly went in person, and much to my horror, in the middle of a hot zone, no one was wearing masks indoors(20 ppl), needless to say I was ticked, and wont be going to any more in person meetings

bunch of ******* dim witted punks
Click to expand...

Anonymous note to HR?
 
As we work in a construction related business, we essentially have two discreet workplace dynamics: the office and the field. The office was fully from home, but the extroverts went crazy and started finding excuses to come in (or the ones with young kids who desperately needed an escape). We did start going in for meetings etc, but that's stopped again with the rising case numbers. Masks were not worn, but with the new(ish) info about aerosol spread combined with a lack of ventilation has changed the norm.

The field has been much more complicated. Policing masks and distancing is almost impossible, and most of the guys are young, so don't operate with much caution. This is less of an issue with the outdoor sites, but I worry about the ones indoors. Fortunately we haven't had a case, but if we do, I'd be willing to bet it'll be more than one...

This piece from El Pais about the latest data on how it spreads might be worth sharing with colleagues or management:

A room, a bar and a classroom: how the coronavirus is spread through the air

Based on it, I would be very happy if I was in the HVAC business right now. Ventilation is such a key component to keeping the spread down, I could see a lot of businesses and institutions investing in big air movers
 
call the municipal health dept. if nobody is wearing masks, i guarantee nobody is doing the provincially mandated temp checks and filling out the daily check personal paperwork they have to sign and file. Couple big fines will sort that out.

ps, start working on your resume......
 
crankcall said:
call the municipal health dept. if nobody is wearing masks, i guarantee nobody is doing the provincially mandated temp checks and filling out the daily check personal paperwork they have to sign and file. Couple big fines will sort that out.

ps, start working on your resume......
Click to expand...

...also, don’t use company email to do this.
 
My work has recently started to try and reel people back into the office the last month or so. The entire workforce has been WFH since early March and productivity is up apparently. We already had a pretty decent WFH program (25-50% of days) before COVID so most of the systems were already in place. They have made so many rules its almost pointless having an office at this point:

- No kitchen access / food&drink must be eaten at desk alone. To take your mask off (at your desk) no employees can be within 10m of you.
- No in person meetings (including quick conversations). They are encouraging people in office to have skype meetings.
- All printing, faxing, courier packaging etc. needs to be done through the receptionist who is WFH the rest of the year due to medical conditions (??????)
- no clients, contractors, etc. allowed in office. All site meetings must be limited to 3 people total.

The best part is they are asking us not to use any form of public transit to get there (downtown Toronto). No free parking / or write-offs allowed. I can appreciate the caution but its to the point where i'm going to end up commuting 2+ hrs to do the exact same thing I've been doing from home for nearly a year now.
 
Sent home in April on paid work stoppage. Called back 2 weeks later, completely separate office from my boss. By July almost everyone in my department was back, cubicles were rotated or spaced appropriately, temperature checks and forms filled out upon entry. Only business critical visits allowed by non employees, meeting room capacity slashed heavily with plenty of pushing to get meetings moved to Zoom. As of 2 weeks ago masks are now required anytime you`re not at your desk. Some of us also recently received remote access to the network.
 
r3r3r3 said:
The best part is they are asking us not to use any form of public transit to get there (downtown Toronto). No free parking / or write-offs allowed. I can appreciate the caution but its to the point where i'm going to end up commuting 2+ hrs to do the exact same thing I've been doing from home for nearly a year now.
Click to expand...

Having been stuck downtown a few times lately at rush hour, I think traffic is as bad as ever despite the number of people working from home, as so many are driving instead of taking transit.

I think a lot of businesses are looking at your point about increased productivity and questioning the need for large offices. I know of one hospital that has already changed some major capital planning allocations based on reduced admin space needs because they intend to have a number of staff work remotely on a permanent basis. After we moved back to Toronto, my wife found work with a major financial company that's permanently remote, and they're restructuring to make a lot more positions out-of-office. As much as I'd love to be in the HVAC business as mentioned above, I'm not sure I'd like to be in the commercial real estate field these days...
 
My office which was largely open concept , we spent 12k on acrylic panels and dividers. Any staff that are considered 'vulnerable' can work from home, you have to ask permission from the receptionist to come in, she is the gate keeper.
No outside visitors and if you visit outside the office , you need to follow all guidlines and fill out tracking forms.

Most importantly NOBODY missed a pay cheque. Even if you sat at home for weeks while we figured out what and how you would do your job, you got paid. Its a family business, taking care of each other matters, all 100 of us LOL.

If you fly or take a train, you get a covid test before you get back into the office. Masks are required to walk through the office, you can take it off at your desk. You have to put your own coffee cup in the dishwasher. Life is very hard.
 
I'm not scheduled to be back in work until September next year. I have cacti as office plants...I'm fairly sure they are dead.
 
My office (large company, old company) went from WFH being rare/frowned up to being almost 100% aside from some operations folks. Second last CEO largely made the company WFH capable, it just never became part of acceptable workplace culture.

It's been going very well so far, and they aren't going to reel us in anytime soon. And I don't think I could go back

Edit: Ok, there is one downside. IT is a chimeral department, with an outsourced online component that is largely not helpful. However at my office the on-site IT people were still available for pretty much anything, so you could avoid the ticketing process that may or may not ever actually help you and just walk to IT. They were very good about not questioning trivial stuff and just doing it, and could easily exchange hardware. Now I'm stacking up issues that are only going to go away once my hardware gets cycled out.
 
Last edited:
Many companies take this seriously.

My former (retired) work colleagues tell me it is so restrictive at their office that they don’t bother going in and continue to WFH.

The staff are allocated into 6 groups strategically so no one sits close to you, and the office is only open 3 days a week so Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday are cleaning days, you realistically only could possibly go in 2 days a month and this only started in September.

Conference rooms are only available on request with reason for meeting and must be approved by a Department head
 
Independent contractor, I work on my own. (The company that Evoex works for, is one of my customers.)

The need to do jobsite visits - there is no way around this - means I have to be in contact with multiple groups of people, different group every day. High risk ...

Fortunately, the companies that I work for have what I would consider to be good policies. Everyone wears a mask everywhere. Sign in and sign out for contact-tracing purposes. Temperature checks aren't universal but a lot of bigger plants do it. My temperature was 36.1 degrees this morning. LOL

I wear a mask everywhere indoors that is not my own house or my own car.

Operationally - We're only issuing documents in electronic form, to avoid having to visit retailers and post offices. Design reviews are by webex wherever possible.

In the last few months, I've run across perhaps two plants that didn't have universal mask wearing. That was during the summer, when infections were hitting a minimum, and they were well outside Toronto. Now, I think if I see people not wearing masks indoors, I'm out of there. Haven't had to make that call yet.

I know that one of my regular customers had 4 people test positive a few months ago, that was followed by a shutdown and cleaning of all areas where those people regularly worked.

A nuisance is that most places, if not all, have shut down their cafeteria. Can't have a coffee break. Even a lunch break isn't really practical or worthwhile - too much aggravation to get out and then sign back in again. I've just been working through until the job is done.

PPE for this morning's job: Hard hat, yellow vest, mask, safety glasses, safety shoes.
 
jc100 said:
I'm not scheduled to be back in work until September next year. I have cacti as office plants...I'm fairly sure they are dead.
Click to expand...
Me too - I left my office in April, haven't been in since and can't return till at least Nov 2021. I had my laptop with me at home, company wouldn't let us into the office to get my monitors, keyboard etc -- they ordered me stuff and shipped it to my house.

I'm guessing my goldfish has died.
 
One place based in the U.S. divided the staff in two. They had been working from home when the government shut everything down for non-essential workers. Since that's been lifted each half is supposed to come in every other week now. Most had been making it work well, but now some will have to get every other week childcare. I'm not sure that this is the right approach.
 
Software developer at a company with a large percentage of the workforce already 100% remote. I used to go into the office until COVID hit in March, at which point everyone in the company was put into WFH. In May I applied for full time remote status and it was approved so I am never going back. Saves me about $300/month in gas, insurance, food, etc.
 
d4rktrooper788 said:
Software developer at a company with a large percentage of the workforce already 100% remote. I used to go into the office until COVID hit in March, at which point everyone in the company was put into WFH. In May I applied for full time remote status and it was approved so I am never going back. Saves me about $300/month in gas, insurance, food, etc.
Click to expand...
The hiccup is employers are legally allowed to present you the option for lower salary or work at office. There is no set discount. Anything seems to be fair game as long as they allow the option of returning to your old work routine for the same money. As this extends, I expect most employers without a personal connection to the employees will use this to reduce comp by 10 to 15%. Many people would take less money to continue wfh.
 
GreyGhost said:
The hiccup is employers are legally allowed to present you the option for lower salary or work at office. There is no set discount. Anything seems to be fair game as long as they allow the option of returning to your old work routine for the same money. As this extends, I expect most employers without a personal connection to the employees will use this to reduce comp by 10 to 15%. Many people would take less money to continue wfh.
Click to expand...

This is true, but my company has a well established remote culture so I'm not concerned. The company policy for a long time has been that pay is based on geo, not by office status. I suppose that could always change but for now I'm not too worried.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom