Honestly, the relationship has been amazing for us and I still remember where I was when you phoned me as back then we were a relatively new company finding our way.
Working from home is now officially the default for us, until further notice. The main office in Glasgow is open, but we need to request to be put on the rota to work there. The Edinburgh office is closed, with a view to opening it soon, and the London office is kind of in limbo - the lease ran out during lockdown, and the plans to move to the new place are going as well as can be expected given the circumstances.
We seem to be getting on OK working remotely, although I've definitely noticed the effect on my mental health and sleep patterns, especially if I don't get out for exercise.
Our Slough office is open but I’ve not been there in 2020 anyway I don’t think. We’re lapsing the London lease, probably at some point (debate over soonish or 2021) we’ll get a smaller one and hot-desk, there are a few people miss human contact and don’t have much at home. Or don’t have good working space. If that happens I might go in once or twice a week if there’s a meeting or to Show Leadership, I dunno.
There's definitely a balance to be found. One of the issues I face (or maybe it's in my head) is that because I work at a factory there's been quite a few people in the office/management team who have remained on site as they're more "operational" and they can't exactly do their jobs at home, but their presence on site gives off the feeling that they're risking more for the business (and was seen via a bonus for on-site workers a few months ago....). I'd say I could do all my on site stuff in a day a week.
There's also been a decent amount of recruitment during this period across other departments, all of which are on site. Not being able to actually see and speak to these new people face-to-face for the first time isn't too great.
I won't be back this year I don't think. Doesn't bother me much if I'm honest as I was WFH before, albeit with odd office trips now and again. My company's approach though is that people should only go into the office if they have problems working from home (kids, lack of space, that kind of thing). Given I've got a dedicated man-cave with three monitors, I don't think that'll apply to me :)
We're under a fair bit of pressure to get everyone* back in the office ASAP. We're resisting and currently am doing 2 days in, 3 days at home.
The 2 days in the office is really weird, but definitely helpful for mental health if nothing else. Now the kids are back at school it's really odd being in the house alone all day.
my boss wan'ts to 'promote' me but he's since revealed there's essentially zero budget for pay raise or whatever (unsurprising seeing as we've been making a loss for years and are permanently on the verge of going under...), so might push for an official WFH half the week as a compromise. I have better IT facilties and a much nicer working environment at home than at work, and the saving on fuel would effectively be a pay raise in itself. We'll see though!
Sort of expecting a second lockdown in Scotland in about a month anyway, case numbers are going up fast and suspect the local lockdowns are going to start merging into one soon.
Decided I'm gonna go back in next Thursday to get my office sorted. Then likely each Wednesday after that. Going to be in a different office to when I started WFH in March, which is a good thing, actually my office before we did a big office move late last year. Less people around and less distractions.
It differs a bit depending upon what type of students they are, but there is a general expectation that students will move into halls and have some face-to-face teaching during the first term. Face-to-face teaching is obviously a headache now, as big lectures are a no-no. For intro week, we're having 25% of the cohort in on each of 4 days. Rooms that would previously hold 18 students for group work now hold 4. So sessions are going to be repeated multiple times. Teaching will be done pretty safely, I reckon, and I suspect that the risks arise more from just having the students on campus/in halls.
The MASSIVE ELEPHANT in the room is that I think we all know what the outcomes of this will be. We can pretend that freshers will socially distance and be 'responsible' within various bubbles, but I think that reality will hit home at some point. My real concern isn't so much for the freshers, the majority of whom will probably not suffer dramatic consequences. My concern is about what happens when we reach the point in the first term where everyone decides to go home for the weekend (usually around week 5, I reckon). Coinciding with declining temperatures and the predicted start of a real second wave.
Because of who I teach (med students), there are particular reasons to maintain 'business as usual' where possible, so I can understand why my department is taking its approach. Other departments, I'm not sure that the justifications are quite the same.
I do feel sorry for the freshers missing out on starting first year, freshers week etc. Just absolutely not the same. Though I imagine they'll all go for it with double intensity next September if things are back to normal.
Reading week when everyone heads home asymptomatic and the spread happens. Students blamed for big local Covid spikes, looking forward to the headlines.
I agree. There was a lot of emphasis post-results of 'we look forward to welcoming you to campus', but the campus experience will not be the same. (I also don't think they get the same experience educationally, either, but that's another matter...) If I were a student, and I had something vaguely decent to do for a year and had the resources to do so, I'd have deferred.
I got an odd reminder that I'm listed as the domain owner of this forum (although I don't have it in my 123reg so presume I gave it to someone) so I thought I'd pop in and say hi.
Good to see people still posting after all these years!
As seems to have always been the way, my life has taken many turns, but I think / hope I'm relatively stable now (considering)
I'm now working for burberry as retail IT Service manager, which means I'm service owner of all the sales technologies in the stores. Until this year, it meant I was able to travel, now I'm working in my home office.
I travelled a lot before January, lived in China for a few years, met my now wife and now we're living in sunny Leeds.
LP! My goodness. How nice to see you again. Sounds like you've been through some stuff! Glad you're sounding happy enough now at least. How does your wife like the Leeds lifestyle?
