So yeah, a few weeks into this lockdown and it seems like most departments at my job are just pissing away their time on the general slack channel, posting pictures of their slippers, how they are multitasking between their family and work, posting doctored pics of them outside in the woods or on a beach...

I mean, sure, I can see how it helps to stay happy and pass the time, but don't you have an actual job to do or something? Sadly for some departments the answer currently seems "not really". Marketing, events organisation, sales...

I'm happy for them they are still employed (they have the strict labour laws to thank for that) but I kinda wish they would just sit at home and be quiet instead of acting like it's some sort of extended work party. Some of us actually still have work regardless of the crisis, or even more because of it.

Our department pretty much has fuck all to do, which isn't helpful when I'm basically new to it all and learning. My job is to put details about projects that have been installed into our system so that the service desk knows what we support for which customers. Tons of work normally and there was just as it all started to kick off (i.e. just before I went back) because as it's telecommunications, everyone was going 'fuck, we need homeworkers, we don't have the network to support that' and ordering vpns and licences. Now it's just emergency fixes. No new installs, the main thing I've learnt is how to cease something because even the big customers are looking to cut costs and shutting off phone lines they don't use much.

Thanks to this we had an update this past Friday to state we're all to work 80% of our hours and only get 80% salary (unless you're in the 24x7 team) and some staff are being furloughed.

I'm still employed and working my butt off. As much as I hate being worked to death, at least I'm employed I guess. I'll keep doing this until they either fire me, lay me off, or the world returns to a semblance of normal.

Plenty of people in my extended family aren't so lucky. I knew 3 people that I'm loosely related to that worked for the same company, and all 3 got let go. The jobless rate is skyrocketing, and it's definitely only going to get worse. Though, if I manage to keep my job and Shiny keeps hers, the housing market appears to be cratering. We may be able to pick up a really nice place when this is over.

Is the current situation affecting how busy your job is or is it only tangentially related to it? Since we deal with people with subscriptions we get a lot of people who want to cancel/suspend for obvious reason, kind of like with Pev. Strangely enough there is a segment of the population that is actually signing up in greater numbers than under normal circumstance as well. So it balances out to some extent. But overall our flows are down to about 80%. Not great, but not like our business is cratering either.

I was kinda looking to change jobs in the future but yeah...at this point I think I should just be happy I'm employed at all! Funnily enough I'm actually doing quite well financially now. My income is the same as before and I can't really spend money on anything since I'm stuck inside. Maybe like 200 euros on groceries every month? I can't even buy cool new games at full price (like Doom Eternal) since I don't have the hardware to run it. With my desktop still being back in Malta. Like you said Satis the aftermath of this thing may reveal some really stark differences between people like us who remained employed and those who suddenly saw their income disappear completely. We'll have actually saved more money than usual, and they will have had to blow through their savings (if they had any). Pretty sucky for them.

Satis is going to be a new billionaire and lord it over us all! Niall and I have discussed this actually, we're 'lucky' because I've had no pay for 6 months after my sick pay ran out last year and he is used to not getting paid for 3 - 4 months a year due to the nature of his work so we're both quite good with money. Plus we don't drive and have no kids so huge savings there and money is put aside regularly. Our only big spends are gaming related. But most people are so used to buying what they want, often on credit, when they want and living paycheck to paycheck with little savings. Or are in crappy jobs with 0 hour contracts so the instant something like this happens, they get no sick pay. Great, the government is trying to bail people out somewhat with statutory sick pay for those who wouldn't usually get it but that's a crappy £95 a week. Considering even in places outside of London you're looking at £400 a month just on rent that's gonna get you nowhere. I doubt long term lessons will be learnt by most people though, those affected or those in charge.

Odd how some people are signing up whilst others are cancelling Ox! Maybe the ones who think they're doomed and need to find a soulmate before Covid gets them...

My HR dept pissed me off today. Quick recap:

- Wanted to start back in Feb on 2 afternoons a week. Told them I struggle to be up and about before noon so they weren't convinced I was ready to go back and wouldn't allow it until my doctors said yes. The doctors said yes.
- March started back on 2 afternoons a week for 4 weeks. Expected to be paid what I was working. They chose to pay me full sick pay (nice).
- Last week started onto 3 afternoons a week. Sick note for this month from GP states to only do 3 afternoons all month, no more than 3.5 hours a day

HR have sent through a proposed plan that pretty much wants me back at full time (well 80% of my hours so 4 days a week) by 2nd week in May. It's taken me 6 months to be able to regularly wake up and stay awake before noon, and by before noon I mean 11am. Once, maybe twice a week I can manage to stay up when I get up for my meds at 8am. My job tires me out even though it's only admin stuff. I've told them time and again Cushing's isn't like a broken leg, even the specialists can't say "most people will be back to 100% within 6 weeks". The specialists say "some people are back to normal within 3 months, others 3 years, others never are". I'd love to get out a crystal ball and tell them I'll be 100% fixed by this date but I can't.

It just really annoys me that they were "no don't come back yet" then as soon as I do come back it's "well why aren't you full time yet?" I'd be happy just getting paid what I work, I don't expect more but they CHOSE to give me more. They've asked my manager about furloughing me which would be fine but both her and I agree it's better for me to have some small shifts to keep me learning stuff, keep my mind off everything and help out with what little work we have. So anyway we've got a proposal that will see me doing 5 afternoons a week by the end of May and being paid 50% of my salary so I'm still saving them more than everyone else in the company who's on 80% plus I should be able to manage that. But we'll see what happens. You'd think they'd be glad I'm doing something instead of just taking the remaining 5 months or whatever I have left of sick pay this year. If I have to be furloughed then so be it but they just keep winding me up with their "we don't want you back, why aren't you fully back?" seesawing.

Still employed. Still hate my job. My boss recently told everyone in dev that we're not looking at being reduced, but we'll see what happens. Since development is all about the future, we're not currently affected. Most of our revenue is based on subscriptions, so we'd need to have a company cancel before we see issues, which isn't really happening. There's been a reduction in new signups, but we've also been targeting the remote workforce, so not sure how that'll end up. *shrug*

Hope you will see reduced workload in the near future then (when the slump in 'new' subscriptions impacts your future workload)...working 10-12 hours every day sounds really horrible tbh. As much as I like working from home in general, it's actually worse in busy periods because it feels like I can't get away from work. There isn't that clear boundary between being "home" vs "at work, if you know what I mean. But maybe you have a dedicated work space in your house, that will already make a difference I guess.



Yeah, the numbers are a bit surprising but also not entirely I guess. We see a pretty large rise in new young (30 and below) female members, but only a negligible rise in young male members for example. It doesn't take a marketing expert to see why men would be less interested when they can't physically meet, or why women might be more interested in extended conversation/communication without a physical meet-up I suppose.

Your HR experience sounds horrible Pev...but pretty much in line with every HR department I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I had similar experiences with my move to France...I had been harassing them for more than a year asking them what the options were and how this would happen, and they kept telling me they were looking into it. Then when my previous contract ran out things suddenly couldn't move quickly enough. Just so fucking stupid.

Most people are blatantly incompetent. It's amazing the world works at all. Hope everyone is safe and doing well.

Yeah still alive over here. Felt really shit this week but I don't think it was related to the disease, just a general sense of malaise and being unwell. Maybe I'm just finally losing my mind. I feel a lot better already though and part of me thinks that it may just be that I kind of hate my job...which would explain bouncing back over the weekend.

The good news is that this whole crisis has forced all my fellow employees into working from home as well, and suddenly I'm no longer a lone voice in the desert asking for contributions re: my home office situation...as the only full time home-based employee I had little weight to throw around before as you can imagine. But now we are getting surveys asking if we are satisfied with our home working conditions including the office infrastructure and other queries that seem to suggest that the company might accommodate us in the future...it'll be a slow process but at least the wheels seem to be turning.

I think we should all realise that the work landscape will look very different after this crisis. Many people will keep working from home (probably partially, but some permanently) if they and their employers notice that it's working for both parties. Working from home was always the future for the majority of office jobs in this day and age, and the crisis kind of forced everyone to take the leap quicker than expected.

Oh, and this pandemic is clearly the death knell of open plan offices as well - rejoice!

More HR shenanigans today, but of a good kind! We have a new HR lady taking over my case. Old one is Rebecca, new one is Becky. Rebecca doesn't have the time to devote to me as she's in a slightly different role to Becky apparently. So had a 45 minute call which was pretty much 35 mins of Rebecca talking, 10 minutes of me answering and 45 of Becky just nodding and saying nothing. Generally asking how I'm doing now I've been back for 2 months, how my manager has been supporting me etc but also saying they're going to put me in touch with an occupational therapist who is apparently medically trained (obviously not to doctor/specialist standards) and will be able to better assess my situation, advise me on things that might help me out and also advise work what stuff I definitely can or can't do and give an idea of time frames. So it might get them off my back somewhat. It did also make me laugh when Rebecca kept saying "we understand you're not an easy case, you don't know when you'll be back to full time, it might be never, it might be next year etc"... oh, so what was that email all about wanting me to full time by the end of May then? *sigh*

We also had an update from our CEO. I only half listened (he's doing video updates) whilst playing some Animal Crossing I did hear him say something though about how things will be changed going forward, for all companies as this has proven many jobs that previously people insisted had to be done from an office can in fact be done from home, or that maybe not so many hours are needed, or more flexible hours can work. He did mention something about open plan offices as well but I wasn't paying attention at that point. We're all gearing up and expecting some mild lockdown restriction lifting this week so I think that's why he was addressing some of that stuff and there was mention of another update next week to address whatever is announced by the government.

Completely agree Satis! Hope you're getting a bit more time to yourself.

That has never happened to me of course, how dare you!

Not but in all seriousness it sounds like they are finally taking your case seriously so really happy about that! Hope it will translate into some actual benefits for you soon.

Had some video calls with CEO statements myself and there was the possibility to ask questions, and of course my question wasn't answered. I'll save you the details haha. Other than that still employed and doing ok, and enjoying the endless public holidays that May brings in France. Can't complain!

Still hate my job, still employed. Glad things seem to be working out, Pev. Have I mentioned how I'm glad to see you back posting on the forums? Everyone keep staying safe.

The lockdown in Texas officially lifted last week, I think. However, rules are 25% occupancy of offices, no conference room/communal room usage, and mandatory masks, so we're still working from home. That'll go on for at least another week. Hopefully it continues until June, because by then I expect the next major surge of infections because people are idiots. I prefer not to go back until things are a bit less insane. Many people in the area are active like the pandemic is over. However, it's certainly not.... with a gestation period of ~ 2 weeks, things will probably start getting crazy come early June.

BTW, Shiny and I are totally gardening. Fruits, vegetables and some flowers to attract bees (for pollination). I'm successfully growing potatoes... Shiny is all in on Tomatoes, blackberries, jalapenos, bell peppers, basil, and all kinds of other crap. I've also done more yard work in the last 2 months than I've done in the last 5 years.

I feel very ambivalent about my job these days, as I get really fucking annoyed by many things while I'm working but at the same time I realize I should be grateful that I'm employed and making money. I see a lot of people around me who work in the service industry, are self-employed or own small businesses and they are hit so hard. Basically spending all of their savings just to stay afloat. Meanwhile I'm making more money than I can (responsibly) spend. And I'm pretty sure my employer would have had some grounds to at least partially furlough some of us if they wanted to. Not my job though.

On top of that my employer announced some measures last week that left me quite impressed. They are offering an up to 500 dollar/euro rebate for any employee who needs to purchase certain home office supplies (chair, desk, monitor, etc) and they announced 2 days of extra paid leave next week for the entire company so people can disconnect. This means I'll be off from Thursday to Monday next week because there's a public holiday as well. Well, shit. Thank you! Very classy, which I honestly didn't expect. Even our American colleagues - who are in Dallas, incidentally - are getting them. Unusual to say the least.

They also seems to be taking it verrrry easy when it comes to getting people back to work and will only do so 2 weeks after the actual lockdown is lifted, to gauge if the situation is actually safe or not. Then they will do the same things as Satis' employer: 25% occupancy gradually increased to 100%, masks, no meetings, no outside visits, floor plan rearranged to distance workers etc. I don't work in an office anyway so means very little to me, I expect to only be setting foot in an office again in months from now. Can't say I have a problem with that.

Got some pics of your vegetable garden Satis? Sounds pretty cool. Yeah most people I know with a garden (or their own house) have been getting so much done and relishing it a little bit. Clearing out the attic, rearranging all their photos, planting new stuff in the garden...all the stuff they always wanted to do but never got around to. Pretty neat!

It sounds like my employer may start requiring us to go back into work beginning in July, but only 1 to 2 days a week. Since I have an office and communal areas and meetings are still off limits, it'll probably be ok. We're also being encouraged to use our time off, since we're halfway through the year and essentially nobody has used any PTO. We'll see how that goes.

I'm attaching some vegetable garden pics. Most of this stuff is Shiny's work... the only thing I did was the potatoes and all the heavy lifting.

Kinda similar here: my wife will have to go 1 day a week to Brussels where she works starting June somewhere, in 2 weeks i think. She isn't too happy with that, since she'll be using public transportation (train) to get there. And as Ox said somewhere, if there's one thing that we Belgians are good at it's bending rules instead of just following them. So not sure how safe that will all turn out to be.

Strangely enough, several of here co-workers already are back in the office, if you wanted to, you didn't have to work from home anymore. But you can't have meetings and such, so i don't see the point of actually making the trip and physically be in your work space, where you'll still be away from people. Probably people that have zero social interaction at home?

Good job on the gardening!