Bregxit said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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so are yall expecting to go back to the office in two weeks?

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Company email came out yesterday and said expect the current arrangements (WFH) to last AT LEAST a few more weeks.

I wonder if they are seeing some significant cost savings in general office usage...supplies, coffee, TP, etc.

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Yes...Yes they are. Commercial office space REITs are gonna be in for deep **** over the coming years.

Bregxit said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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so are yall expecting to go back to the office in two weeks?

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Company email came out yesterday and said expect the current arrangements (WFH) to last AT LEAST a few more weeks.

I wonder if they are seeing some significant cost savings in general office usage...supplies, coffee, TP, etc.

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Wait until those WFH employees realize they are paying for their own internet, IT issues, paper, toner, desk chair, TP, coffee,etc and little to none is reimbursed or deductible.

IrishTxAggie said:

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tysker said:

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Bregxit said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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so are yall expecting to go back to the office in two weeks?

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Company email came out yesterday and said expect the current arrangements (WFH) to last AT LEAST a few more weeks.

I wonder if they are seeing some significant cost savings in general office usage...supplies, coffee, TP, etc.

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Wait until those WFH employees realize they are paying for their own internet, IT issues, paper, toner, desk chair, TP, coffee,etc and little to none is reimbursed or deductible.

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I've worked from home for over seven years and everything you've listed has either been provided, reimbursed for, or deductible. Companies with large contingencies of WFH employees figure in all of those costs

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That depends, no? If you don't get reimbursed you can still can deduct from your taxes. However, when the Trump tax cuts went into effect, standards deductions went up which swallowed much of those non-reimbursed employment related deductions. So you can deduct everything you want, but you may not get any money back, depending on your AGI.


eta: Also, not everyone works for large companies with well considered WFH contingency plans.

one more edit: if I'm wrong on the above deductibility of non-reimbursed expenses, please feel free to correct me.

Secolobo said:

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Be nice if some enterprising individuals shoot them out of the sky.

I'm thinking I won't be back to work until June. This whole WFH experiment has proven to be massively successful for us, so there won't be a rush to get everyone back in. I imagine will start with "most essential" and work it's way down a staggered return schedule.

The company I work for is planning to keep working from home until 2 weeks after things open up, then we plan to rotate in a percentage of the workforce in for a week, then rotate them out to work from home. Eventually, we'll work up to everyone back at the office.

texaggierm said:

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The company I work for is planning to keep working from home until 2 weeks after things open up, then we plan to rotate in a percentage of the workforce in for a week, then rotate them out to work from home. Eventually, we'll work up to everyone back at the office.

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This will be the most common return to work plan.

tysker said:

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Bregxit said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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so are yall expecting to go back to the office in two weeks?

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Company email came out yesterday and said expect the current arrangements (WFH) to last AT LEAST a few more weeks.

I wonder if they are seeing some significant cost savings in general office usage...supplies, coffee, TP, etc.

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Wait until those WFH employees realize they are paying for their own internet, IT issues, paper, toner, desk chair, TP, coffee,etc and little to none is reimbursed or deductible.

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Things that won't be affected by me WFH:
Internet, TP, Desk Chair, IT issues (it's a company provided laoptop)

Things resulting in slight usage increase:
Paper, toner, coffee. Haven't printed something in the 5 weeks I have worked from home but could see ot in the future.

Things that had huge drop:
Gas, tolls, lunch bill, time stuck in traffic

The only thing I miss about the office is human interaction. Costs overall have decreased.

My company has been doing WFH on Tues and Thurs for years and they can attest that even 2 days a week has saved quite a bit of overhead costs.

Robert C. Christian said:

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tysker said:

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Bregxit said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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so are yall expecting to go back to the office in two weeks?

---

Company email came out yesterday and said expect the current arrangements (WFH) to last AT LEAST a few more weeks.

I wonder if they are seeing some significant cost savings in general office usage...supplies, coffee, TP, etc.

---

Wait until those WFH employees realize they are paying for their own internet, IT issues, paper, toner, desk chair, TP, coffee,etc and little to none is reimbursed or deductible.

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Things that won't be affected by me WFH:
Internet, TP, Desk Chair, IT issues (it's a company provided laoptop)

Things resulting in slight usage increase:
Paper, toner, coffee. Haven't printed something in the 5 weeks I have worked from home but could see ot in the future.

Things that had huge drop:
Gas, tolls, lunch bill, time stuck in traffic

The only thing I miss about the office is human interaction. Costs overall have decreased.

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I can almost literally watch my cars fuel gauge drop while I drive and have to fill up once a week. Only reason it's not more than once per week is because my commute is only 5 miles.

Last time I got gas was 7 weeks ago and I still have half a tank left. I'm now starting my car every so often just to make sure it still runs.

Work at a division HQ (about 2000 employees on site) for a Fortune 100 company. I don't expect our office staff to go back for quite some time after restrictions lift. We're an essential business and WFH has been working very well for the non-frontline staff. So we're not inclined to undergo the additional risk, cost and trouble of precautions to make operations in an HQ building safe just to get people physically into the office any time soon. All of that safety focus and cost is being centered on our frontline.

Drive 5 miles yet fill up once a week and watch the gauge drop....do you drive a tank or a Vespa??

It's more sport car. It burns gas like a m'fer. It's probably more like 8-9 days if I were to plot it. And when we were doing things on weekends we always took my car.

Esteban du Plantier said:

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I've been in occasional discussions about having my team work from home a day or so per week, mostly as a perk since we all live an hour from the office. This answer was always an emphatic "no, we need the team at the facility."

Here we are a month in and I cannot see any loss of output while working from home. I think we're going to lose people if we bring them back to the office with zero wfh time, since the stated reason for denying is obviously bull*****

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This was us. Actually got into arguments with my boss about it in the last year before this happened because my team is all millennials and it's their expectation. Frankly mine as well so I let them do it even though it wasn't policy.

You will have straight mutiny on your hands if we mandate everyone comes back to work full time after this. Five days in the office per week is a dead concept now for non-frontline folks.

YouBet said:

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Esteban du Plantier said:

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I've been in occasional discussions about having my team work from home a day or so per week, mostly as a perk since we all live an hour from the office. This answer was always an emphatic "no, we need the team at the facility."

Here we are a month in and I cannot see any loss of output while working from home. I think we're going to lose people if we bring them back to the office with zero wfh time, since the stated reason for denying is obviously bull*****

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This was us. Actually got into arguments with my boss about it in the last year before this happened because my team is all millennials and it's their expectation. Frankly mine as well so I let them do it even though it wasn't policy.

You will have straight mutiny on your hands if we mandate everyone comes back to work full time after this. Five days in the office per week is a dead concept now for non-frontline folks.

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My company is going to do this guaranteed because of concepts like 6 sigma. Apparently actually trusting your employees is a foreign concept to many companies.

Thread from New user account of Wictor.

There is some mass delusion that if you cram everyone together they magically collaborate and yield new innovations and such. There is some truth to the increased personal interaction driving some increases in innovation or problem solving, but the increase distraction reduces potential productivity. The question now is if the collaboration effect can be accomplished with technology vs physical proximity.

MouthBQ98 said:

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There is some mass delusion that if you cram everyone together they magically collaborate and yield new innovations and such. There is some truth to the increased personal interaction driving some increases in innovation or problem solving, but the increase distraction reduces potential productivity. The question now is if the collaboration effect can be accomplished with technology vs physical proximity.

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The last company I heard extolling the virtues of six sigma judo black belts was PG&E.

Quote:

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I can finally give you a hard humber for mechanical ventilators in the US.

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I wonder what he is really offering.

MouthBQ98 said:

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There is some mass delusion that if you cram everyone together they magically collaborate and yield new innovations and such. There is some truth to the increased personal interaction driving some increases in innovation or problem solving, but the increase distraction reduces potential productivity. The question now is if the collaboration effect can be accomplished with technology vs physical proximity.

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From our coders and more production oriented employees, we actually see more work on the work from home days. At the office there is a lot of hanging around each other's office and cubes and extending what start as work conversations in to personal ones. We might flip from 2 days a week at home to 3.

agdaddy04 said:

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Also, that leads in nicely with the largest Oktoberfest ever.

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Well, never mind - announced today that Oktoberfest in Bavaria is canceled.

chimpanzee said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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There is some mass delusion that if you cram everyone together they magically collaborate and yield new innovations and such. There is some truth to the increased personal interaction driving some increases in innovation or problem solving, but the increase distraction reduces potential productivity. The question now is if the collaboration effect can be accomplished with technology vs physical proximity.

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The last company I heard extolling the virtues of six sigma judo black belts was PG&E.

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So, we do Six Sigma but it's never been delivered or discussed in terms of onsite collaboration being a requirement to do it or be successful with it.

I think there are three things here: time horizon, onboarding/training, and complex innovation value

Right now everyone in a new work from home situation has already establish good in person relationships. Those in person relationships help effectiveness in a work from home setting. Over time if people stop having interactions in person their effectiveness in a remote setting will decrease. So working from home looks more favorable in the short term but will hit a point of production loss.

Next is the training and integration of new hires into the team. As a recent college graduate I know I benefited immensely from the conversations I'd get to listen in on just by being in the office. Working from home is a much more silo affair. A new hire would have few connections and be even more reliant on manager for integration and training.

Last, I think alot of work done adds little innovation and just keeps the matching running, but a little work adds most of the value. I also believe the capabilities of a team exceed the abilities of an individual. So to combine the two together, if you create a less efficient machine in order to create value adding opportunities you will have a healthier system then just having a fully efficient team with less creativity.

I started working from home in mid March but changed job roles at end of Q1.

First couple weeks of work from home were great. I could knock out projects quickly and I realized how much of my time at work was spent working with new college grads getting them up to speed and solving their problems for them.

Last couple weeks have been a real struggle. I have limited background in my new role and I'm reluctant to make changes without a buddy check because I'm aware of my ignorance and the potential to create more problems than it solves. Reaching out to my new coworkers is frustrating. Calling them, they're often too busy/don't want to be bothered. I send emails and texts, but they often don't get an answer for hours or days. I've discussed with new boss, but there's just not a good solution to train people remotely.

texagbeliever said:

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I think there are three things here: time horizon, onboarding/training, and complex innovation value

Right now everyone in a new work from home situation has already establish good in person relationships. Those in person relationships help effectiveness in a work from home setting. Over time if people stop having interactions in person their effectiveness in a remote setting will decrease. So working from home looks more favorable in the short term but will hit a point of production loss.

Next is the training and integration of new hires into the team. As a recent college graduate I know I benefited immensely from the conversations I'd get to listen in on just by being in the office. Working from home is a much more silo affair. A new hire would have few connections and be even more reliant on manager for integration and training.

Last, I think alot of work done adds little innovation and just keeps the matching running, but a little work adds most of the value. I also believe the capabilities of a team exceed the abilities of an individual. So to combine the two together, if you create a less efficient machine in order to create value adding opportunities you will have a healthier system then just having a fully efficient team with less creativity.

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Sadly, the opposite is true in the federal government. I can speak from direct observation in DC. It isn't the case in every agency, but in many, I mean many, there is one person who knows what he/she is doing and does most of the work in the office/keeps it running. The other nine out of the ten are lazy and float from cubicle to cubicle chatting all day (loudly) disturbing the few that are actually trying to get some work done.

Quote:

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In any epidemic, Rt is the measure known as the effective reproduction number. It's the number of people who become infected per infectious person at time t. The most well-known version of this number is the basic reproduction number: R0 when t=0. However, R0 is a single measure that does not adapt with changes in behavior and restrictions.

As a pandemic evolves, increasing restrictions (or potential releasing of restrictions) changes Rt. Knowing the current Rt is essential. When Rt>>1, the pandemic will spread through a large part of the population. If Rt<1, the pandemic will slow quickly before it has a chance to infect many people. The lower the Rt: the more manageable the situation. In general, any Rt<1 means things are under control.

The value of Rt helps us in two ways. (1) It helps us understand how effective our measures have been controlling an outbreak and (2) it gives us vital information about whether we should increase or reduce restrictions based on our competing goals of economic prosperity and human safety. Well-respected epidemiologists argue that tracking Rt is the only way to manage through this crisis.

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Very long and complicated explanation HERE

Good stuff especially with the error bands fully shown.
Interesting that NY was categorized as 'Full Lockdown' even though schools, retail, parks and transportation in NYC was slow to be closed. Are the Likely Under Control results due to the lockdown or simply because the virus has run its course in those locations and is past it's peak?

I was a big fan of HCQ from the beginning, largely because of OP and Reveille giving it a shot. and reporting on its possibilities. I want it to work. Maybe it doesnt. But the deaths aren't near what was projected and hopefully we will be able to determine why and adjust course.

At the end of the day, I just want to get past this virus and would piss on a sparkplug if it would do any good.

The reason folks like me (non-scientists) are so skeptical of reports, is because many of you (scientists) have been so wrong about so many things from the very beginning. I honestly don't know what to believe anymore. Will I ever trust an infection model again? Think about what some of you have done to the credibility of your profession.

Today my biggest fear is the state of the economy. I think we are going to open up and its all going to work out.

You'll see. Just give it two weeks.

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The reason folks like me (non-scientists) are so skeptical of reports, is because many of you (scientists) have been so wrong about so many things from the very beginning. I honestly don't know what to believe anymore. Will I ever trust an infection model again? Think about what some of you have done to the credibility of your profession.

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what models / publications say <------------------------------------------------------------>what media reports

You're putting your mistrust in the wrong place.

k2aggie07 said:

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Quote:

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The reason folks like me (non-scientists) are so skeptical of reports, is because many of you (scientists) have been so wrong about so many things from the very beginning. I honestly don't know what to believe anymore. Will I ever trust an infection model again? Think about what some of you have done to the credibility of your profession.

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what models / publications say <------------------------------------------------------------>what media reports

You're putting your mistrust in the wrong place

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I'm about the projections posted on this forum in which people then died on the hill for.

Edit, I also meant to post this on the HCQ thread. Oops! Glad it wasn't the premium board!

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I think we are going to open up and its all going to work out.

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at least reserve the possibility that 1) it's both imperative to open the economy as much as possible, 2) that demand will drag in response to the paranoia associated with bad outcomes and very preliminary therapeutic options and thus re-opening isn't a panacea, and 3) a lot of people will die because of the imperative re-opening. and by a lot, in the range where you can't hand wave it as just a bad flu season. this is a 100-year deal and it won't be over on the sort of time table we are accustomed to these things being over.

it's going to be a tragedy through and through. having it "work out" will entail human misery - nature isn't giving us a third way out here.

Well yeah.. don't trust anything an anonymous person on TexAgs posts.