I don’t know what it’s like back in Blighty, but the motorways in Holland resemble a post apocalyptic scene from the Mad Max movies, with five lane sections which are normally packed out at rush hour now empty but for a few cars, a truck or two, and some tumbleweed blowing across the highway. I know this virus is causing death and economic meltdown in Europe and around the world, but it’s bloody great at the moment if you have to drive for a living, although I’m starting to get lonely now with hardly any cars or other trucks around me.
My neighbour is working from home and says he’s getting about 90% of his work done that he would normally do in the office. As long as he has wifi and a phone, he says he’s fine. The neighbour across the road who normally steps into his trusty Volvo on the dot of 7am every morning to drive 30kms to Rotterdam is working from home, and I see him sat in the window with his laptop and a cup of coffee and his family around him. Near where I do my first pick up in Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena is the headquarters of the Dutch bank ING, who’s offices are deserted except for a few skeleton staff, when normally hundreds of them come streaming out at 5pm.
I am amazed that so many companies and people have suddenly realised that they can work from home in such numbers that they can empty motorways, and that the corporate world isn’t grinding to a halt if they do work from home. So it begs the question. Will some good come from this virus? Will corporate companies and people realise that it is possible to work from home and it is not totally necessary to have people sat in expensive offices, or to have to spend hours in traffic jams five days a week trying to get to and from work, leaving the motorways to people that really do have to drive or travel to a place of work because their job cannot be done with a laptop.
I just wonder when this crisis is over, will it have changed the working mindset of some companies or people in encouraging work at home with the extra quality time with family it could provide, or will the roads be clogged back up again when it’s all over?
By the way, I think people are getting bored cooped up at home. They are drinking heavily and buying white goods or tv’s while they’re ■■■■■■ for delivery at home. Our work has shot up in the past week. We’ve had to lay on three extra trucks to pick up booze from the wine and beer distribution centre for trunking to the home delivery courier company, and fridges, washing machines and 65 inch tv’s are flying out of the window. We don’t do bog rolls, though I heard a truck was recently hijacked in Eindhoven because word got out he had a trailer load of bog roll behind his unit. Bog roll is currency over here.
I think a lot of the thing with working from an office instead of a home is trust, that is an employer believing enough will get done at home. That leap of faith has kind of been pushed onto them now so on the other side of this, if justified, then maybe yeah it’ll force a change in the way some firms operate but I suspect it’ll all just go back to how it was eventually.
toonsy:
I think a lot of the thing with working from an office instead of a home is trust, that is an employer believing enough will get done at home. That leap of faith has kind of been pushed onto them now so on the other side of this, if justified, then maybe yeah it’ll force a change in the way some firms operate but I suspect it’ll all just go back to how it was eventually.
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
One if the main issues, as alluded to by toonsy, is one of trust.
Most companies do not trust employees to have the same productivity while working from home as when based in a professional environment, despite many studies to the contrary, as well as many successful companies who do utilize home/satellite working.
Another big issue would be one of security. If employees have details of customers, personal info, banking details etc, or company details, such as banking details, employee records, customer contracts etc, it would be much easier for people to hack into unsecured, or not sufficiently secured web networks from people’s homes as opposed to the more sophisticated systems that can be used to protect larger networks.
There would also be more temptation from workers to misuse data they have access to, or attempting to steal information/money/services etc while they know there isn’t going to be anyone else walking past who might, in an office, see them attempting to commit some sort of misdeed.
Overall, I think it may cause some companies to alter the way they do some of their business, most likely to allow some degree of flexible satellite working, for example, being able to work from home one or two days a week, or half a day in the office then half a day at home.
If companies are smart they could really utilize this to their advantage to minimize employee time off. An example would be allowing someone to work from home on days they have things like medical appointments, or having to get work done on the car. Instead of having to miss a full day, or possibly several days, they could instead work from home and possibly only miss a few hours.
It could also be used to help re-acclimatise after a period of absence, such as long term sickness or even maternity leave.
CookieMonster:
One if the main issues, as alluded to by toonsy, is one of trust.
Most companies do not trust employees to have the same productivity while working from home as when based in a professional environment.
Brilliant idea alert
Maybe some of the same James Hunts in offices who have advocated to put cameras in trampers cabs could practice what they preach and fit cameras in THEIR homes linked to THEIR firms while they are working from home…They believe in it so how could they complain.
Doing my early evening trunk to Lockerbie from Howden I saw just 4 foreign lorries. Three were parked in a layby near Scotch Corner heading south, one was a Dutch flower lorry at the roundabout at Scotch Corner ferry bound. Normally the A1 would have loads on and the laybys over the A66, especially Sedbury Layby, would be full of them. At 6.30pm when I passed Sedbury Layby it was barely a third full, normally it’s rammed solid.
Conor:
Doing my early evening trunk to Lockerbie from Howden I saw just 4 foreign lorries. Three were parked in a layby near Scotch Corner heading south, one was a Dutch flower lorry at the roundabout at Scotch Corner ferry bound. Normally the A1 would have loads on and the laybys over the A66, especially Sedbury Layby, would be full of them. At 6.30pm when I passed Sedbury Layby it was barely a third full, normally it’s rammed solid.
There are huge queues and delays, reportedly due to new border checks everywhere. It’s probably hell right now if you have to cross multiple European borders.
Franglais:
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
My daughter is now working from home but they can monitor her workload and see what time she logs on/off the their system, she does love getting up about 2 minutes before she starts work.
On one French m-way in about an hour driving I was overtaken by just over a dozen cars. Half of them UK reg, probably heading for ports. Paris ring roads quieter than 01hr00 on a Monday. Gendarmes checking cars at peage.
Serious shut down.
Franglais:
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
My daughter is now working from home but they can monitor her workload and see what time she logs on/off the their system, she does love getting up about 2 minutes before she starts work.
My daughter is also working from her home. She is not being monitored as such, but her bosses will still expect her to do the same job she did in the office. She says she misses the interaction and has no wish to carry on working at home after.
Franglais:
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
My daughter is now working from home but they can monitor her workload and see what time she logs on/off the their system, she does love getting up about 2 minutes before she starts work.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
theres a downside to negate that im afraid…
if as and when she sleeps in one morning,then she wont be able to hurry up down the road to make up the lost time as by the time she gets down the stairs,then she is already at her work…
Things will never be the same again after this, just shows how many admin types don’t need to be on the premises, how come its taken a virus to make companies make proper sensible use of the internet?
My daughter’s working from home too, she loves it, saving her a 150 mile daily commute (each way) at the project she’s currently overseeing.
I’m enjoying the roads, they’ll be quieter still come Monday when the schools are shut.
Franglais:
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
My daughter is now working from home but they can monitor her workload and see what time she logs on/off the their system, she does love getting up about 2 minutes before she starts work.
My daughter is also working from her home. She is not being monitored as such, but her bosses will still expect her to do the same job she did in the office. She says she misses the interaction and has no wish to carry on working at home after.
That’s the trouble with workers of the opposite ■■■. They love their gossip around the water cooler about what Jenny in accounts is getting up to with Darren from debt collection. They’d miss all that.
Us blokes though would be quite happy sat in front of our laptops at home in our underwear, just texting our colleagues if we have to and swapping dirty jokes.
Franglais:
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
My daughter is now working from home but they can monitor her workload and see what time she logs on/off the their system, she does love getting up about 2 minutes before she starts work.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
there’s a downside to negate that I’m afraid…
if as and when she sleeps in one morning, then she won’t be able to hurry up down the road to make up the lost time as by the time she gets down the stairs, then she is already at her work…
It’s always the people who live closest that are the worst timekeepers.
Franglais:
Office work, and that covers a whole variety, shouldn’t just be about “presentism”. It’s not about the amount of time you’re working but what you do. Easy for an employer to see how long you’ve been logged on, or more importantly what you’ve achieved, surely?
My daughter is now working from home but they can monitor her workload and see what time she logs on/off the their system, she does love getting up about 2 minutes before she starts work.
My daughter is also working from her home. She is not being monitored as such, but her bosses will still expect her to do the same job she did in the office. She says she misses the interaction and has no wish to carry on working at home after.
Yes she misses the office interaction too but a workmate came round and worked from our home so she wasn’t alone then they put a pizza in the oven then ate a large bar of chocolate between them, they’ll both put weight on carrying on like that !!
God knows what our leccy bill is going to be like what with extra lap tops on the go all day.
My wife is a community nurse, she has been kept home this week doing office work, making telephone calls and giving advice, today she has been transferred to a NHS hospice and her own job given to a locum, but if she hadn’t left the house today, our marriage would have been the shortest ever, it was like sleeping in a cage with a wild animal, grunting and growling, I was considering moving into the garage.
I have said for years that most sales reps can work from their home or office, Face-time, Skype, telephone conferencing, internet portals and email doesn’t need Geoff to visit the same sweet shop every week to take orders for chewing gum.
