Vocal Voices

was a day with a difference, I went into the office - one hour there and one hour back.... and that was with not much traffic; certainly won't want to be doing that every day going forwards.

It's been nigh on 6 weeks that I was there last and given we have now been told we will be working from home until the end of May at least, and given current government mumblings that it'll probably be even longer, I figured it was time I went in just to sort a few things. The piles of post were madness, and most of it went into the bin so definitely something to try sort out that we stop getting so much cr*p. I posted / couriered a few things out to colleagues that they wanted off their desks - been sort of OK without so far, but nice to have to make work easier; went through the fridge/ freezer to make sure things were OK there (some yoghurt that will need to be thrown out when the time comes, but at the moment no-one is emptying bins so it's safer in the fridge) - so all in all a productive day.

But, I was quite astounded by the amount of traffic on the road. I'd noticed it locally but Vincent my boss, who was also in today (well he's been in every day), said that London traffic was getting more and more (just to add that social distancing in a large office is very easy to do when there's only two of you ). Actually it was lovely to see him and chat and catch up face to face (and boy does he need a haircut! ) and I think he was very happy to see another human being besides our building security.

So now that's done, it'll be another 4 or so weeks before I go back in. And then I think I'll take a bin liner and bring things home to throw away - I'd have done that today had I thought about it

Sounds like a job well done, Ria! I must say, the volume of traffic has increased here, this past week.

Yikes Ria!

You've reminded me there will still be yogurts in our little fridge at work.

And as we haven't been there since 13 March it's a given they'll be off.

They'll be climbing out on their own, Al!.

(and boy does he need a haircut! )

Don't we all, Meriad …..

Do you think working from home will be the new normal in your company? How feasible is it long-term?

TheOstrich wrote:Don't we all, Meriad …..

The advantage of having straight hair - I can cut my own fringe and just tie the rest up and it looks OK

TheOstrich wrote:Do you think working from home will be the new normal in your company? How feasible is it long-term?

Ossie, actually it's working surprisingly well for everyone. Admittedly it does help that just before lockdown we did a roll out of new laptops to everyone and everyone was given VPN access at the time. We had enough 'spare' equipment so we could set up our trader who is most business critical to have a full system at home - ie laptop, docking station and 4 monitors. Everyone else is doing just fine. So realistically I suspect we could do this for quite a bit longer. My role will be interesting if that is the case as realistically what I do is about 80% office based but that mainly comprises of client meetings and prepping presentation materials etc and we won't have face to face client meetings for quite some time .

But all in all - yes I think working from home will become more regular for quite a few people

Hmm haircut, need to get my clippers out again, job done....

Our traffic is slowly increasing and we live right on a busy road. Come Monday I expect it to explode.

Ria, I am so glad that it is all working out so well for you and that your employment looks safe - that is all good news, but I have a question about working from home and it might apply to many people.

I used to work two weeks of every month outside the UK, usually Paris but it could have been anywhere. The other two weeks I worked from home prepping courses, presentations, student marking, contacts and those kinds of things: nothing exciting. However, I was advised to contact my home insurer and local council to make sure everything was in order and allowed.

I do not want to raise any alarms but it is important to find out. Some types of working from home are restricted and many, even simple tasks, need to be known to an insurer and could even attract extra cover and payment. It would imo be better to be safe than sorry by finding out.

Good luck with it all ....and don't let the cats drive you mad.