Coronavirus Coronavirus: In-Iowa General Discussion (Not Limited)

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Tons of businesses could work remotely if given the opportunity, but employers that are stuck in their ways and don't want to change will never actually change unless forced to.

This times 1000. They can but they are worried that they can't look over their employees shoulders at all times.
 
Tons of businesses could work remotely if given the opportunity, but employers that are stuck in their ways and don't want to change will never actually change unless forced to.

Funny thing is there's stuff out there about how employees for companies are just as productive being able to do the work on their own time than the typical '9-5' type of stuff and even how monetary bonuses didn't always lead to better results.

Obviously there's circumstances where wfh can't work for the job needs but even then, two people doing the same job the same way would probably be unusual.
 
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This times 1000. They can but they are worried that they can't look over their employees shoulders at all times.
Exactly. And while I understand their concern for productivity, if you would require them to complete tasks and give them a specific time / due date, then you could keep people on task. If someone didn't do their job well enough or quick enough, you take action. But that requires more work on their end. It's harder for them.

Completely turning a blind eye to this is incredibly stupid though and not changing simply because it's not the norm and going to be tough for a little bit is simply weak minded. The times have changed with how technology has developed and in specific times like now, we should be using those technological advances to our advantage.
 
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Exactly. For every business that is taking necessary precautions there is a business that is taking little to no precautions at all. That's the issue here.

The lack of communication regarding this situation at my company infuriates me too. We have yet to even hold a company meeting regarding anything along these lines besides "wash your hands". I literally just heard my employer from his office say on the phone "This is all crap and I'll argue with anyone until I'm blue in the face".

We did have a quick little meeting reassuring that, since we are a small business, everything would be fine from a paycheck/money flow standpoint.

If you're sick, stay home. Blah, blah, blah. Which is fine, I get all that. It's the lack of awareness that frustrates me and the unwillingness to even entertain the idea.

100% of my work can be done from home. But being he is so old school in his ways, we don't have the option for that, either.

I still wear business casual to a workplace where all we ever see is each other! lol
 
Funny thing is there's stuff out there about how employees for companies are just as productive being able to do the work on their own time than the typical '9-5' type of stuff and even how monetary bonuses didn't always lead to better results.

Obviously there's circumstances where wfh can't work for the job needs but even then, two people doing the same job the same way would probably be unusual.
Exactly. The inability to change comes from those in charge who are afraid to take that next step that are going to happen sooner or later. A large percentage of the older generation don't like change and I understand that, but those types of companies usually get passed by from competitors who aren't reluctant to change.

I know my current position could 100% work from home. There's no doubt about it. Probably half the office could work from home as well. There's a 0% chance thought that we'll be able to unless Reynolds does end up implementing some sort of order.
 
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I've been very impressed the way Principal was moved people to work from home. Two weeks ago we probably had less than 5% of our call center workforce working from home. Within 5 business days we probably have around 98% now working from home. We're talking a couple thousand call center agents. We're also talking about some people with some real ****** internet service.
 
People are spending an awful lot of energy obsessing about whether getting another 5 or 10 percent working from home is the key to bringing this all within our control.

I'm pretty sure that it isn't, my own anecdotes aside. I can't even say if it's as important as getting people to wash their hands a few more times a day, I'm not an epidemiologist.

But I do believe we have been acting in the interest of the public and health officials are legitimately the ones informing the decisions that have been made. I recognize that the spread of illness is going to vary a good deal from place to place and do not have an expectation that one size fits all for managing in a crisis.

That said, my clan is going to continue to hunker down, help neighbors, and wait this thing out. If situations change, we'll change along with them.
 
We did have a quick little meeting reassuring that, since we are a small business, everything would be fine from a paycheck/money flow standpoint.

If you're sick, stay home. Blah, blah, blah. Which is fine, I get all that. It's the lack of awareness that frustrates me and the unwillingness to even entertain the idea.

100% of my work can be done from home. But being he is so old school in his ways, we don't have the option for that, either.

I still wear business casual to a workplace where all we ever see is each other! lol
Your company almost sounds like a spitting image of mine. We have not had a conversation about staying home if you're sick though. There is someone who sits right next to me who was sick for 3 days but feels better so he's coming back. He is constantly coughing too, which doesn't give me the impression that he's any better.

Most of my employers are right at the age of concern for getting this virus. I've heard them speak to one another and say if they'd catch a bad case of the flu, they'd probably end up in the ICU anyway! So that's where we're at right now lol. And I can't talk with any of them because I'm afraid to lose my job or be looked at differently in the future.
 
People are spending an awful lot of energy obsessing about whether getting another 5 or 10 percent working from home is the key to bringing this all within our control.

I'm pretty sure that it isn't, my own anecdotes aside. I can't even say if it's as important as getting people to wash their hands a few more times a day, I'm not an epidemiologist.

But I do believe we have been acting in the interest of the public and health officials are legitimately the ones informing the decisions that have been made. I recognize that the spread of illness is going to vary a good deal from place to place and do not have an expectation that one size fits all for managing in a crisis.

That said, my clan is going to continue to hunker down, help neighbors, and wait this thing out. If situations change, we'll change along with them.
Do you currently work from home?
 
Your company almost sounds like a spitting image of mine. We have not had a conversation about staying home if you're sick though. There is someone who sits right next to me who was sick for 3 days but feels better so he's coming back. He is constantly coughing too, which doesn't give me the impression that he's any better.

Most of my employers are right at the age of concern for getting this virus. I've heard them speak to one another and say if they'd catch a bad case of the flu, they'd probably end up in the ICU anyway! So that's where we're at right now lol. And I can't talk with any of them because I'm afraid to lose my job or be looked at differently in the future.

I was sick last week, only had a sore throat Sat-Mon and stayed home on that Monday. Came back Tuesday and was fine.. So I can't say that I'm falling under the "I'm going to quarantine because I had a sore throat" umbrella, but my co-worker, that same week, was hacking and sniffling and sneezing like crazy. Didn't stay home, of course because he's a 'I'm not getting that' guy.

I've known my boss all my life and that's just his personality so talking about it to him or saying, hey I think we should work from home.. ain't gon' happen!
 
Your company almost sounds like a spitting image of mine. We have not had a conversation about staying home if you're sick though. There is someone who sits right next to me who was sick for 3 days but feels better so he's coming back. He is constantly coughing too, which doesn't give me the impression that he's any better.

Most of my employers are right at the age of concern for getting this virus. I've heard them speak to one another and say if they'd catch a bad case of the flu, they'd probably end up in the ICU anyway! So that's where we're at right now lol. And I can't talk with any of them because I'm afraid to lose my job or be looked at differently in the future.

I'd bet they also say stuff like 'Well, I drove here today and could've died. Are they gonna take my car too?'

That's not even in the political spectrum...many of the older people I know are largely apolitical and I can just hear them saying similar.
 
Exactly. And while I understand their concern for productivity, if you would require them to complete tasks and give them a specific time / due date, then you could keep people on task. If someone didn't do their job well enough or quick enough, you take action. But that requires more work on their end. It's harder for them.

Completely turning a blind eye to this is incredibly stupid though and not changing simply because it's not the norm and going to be tough for a little bit is simply weak minded. The times have changed with how technology has developed and in specific times like now, we should be using those technological advances to our advantage.

I have a cousin who's a manager for a few people and he operates just like this. 'Here's what needs to be done, this is when it needs to be done, we'll check in halfway through, and go out for happy hour after it's done' and it goes really well.

I think they've transitioned to wfh including him, and I'd bet it was a smooth transition.
 
Do you currently work from home?

Generally, but not exclusively. Just isn't the nature of the work, in agriculture. We do have a degree of control just how much outside interaction we have on a day to day basis, but not overall, if that makes any sense.
 
I'd bet they also say stuff like 'Well, I drove here today and could've died. Are they gonna take my car too?'

That's not even in the political spectrum...many of the older people I know are largely apolitical and I can just hear them saying similar.
Yes this is exactly their form of logic. I just can't wrap my head around it.
I have a cousin who's a manager for a few people and he operates just like this. 'Here's what needs to be done, this is when it needs to be done, we'll check in halfway through, and go out for happy hour after it's done' and it goes really well.

I think they've transitioned to wfh including him, and I'd bet it was a smooth transition.
And this is exactly how I think things should be ran with today's technology. If you have the ability to work from home, even just part time, I think you should be given the opportunity. Even if that means you only get a week or two of wfh days a year. You could use those to your advantage in certain situations.

It's just not how most of the older generation works. I just think in sort of "desperate times" that we're in, some companies would be more open to trying new things. I guess that doesn't work when the people making the decisions don't believe this virus is a crisis at all.
 
Yes this is exactly their form of logic. I just can't wrap my head around it.

And this is exactly how I think things should be ran with today's technology. If you have the ability to work from home, even just part time, I think you should be given the opportunity. Even if that means you only get a week or two of wfh days a year. You could use those to your advantage in certain situations.

It's just not how most of the older generation works. I just think in sort of "desperate times" that we're in, some companies would be more open to trying new things. I guess that doesn't work when the people making the decisions don't believe this virus is a crisis at all.

Yeah, older generation will never buy into that stuff. Or most of them won't.
 
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Generally, but not exclusively. Just isn't the nature of the work, in agriculture. We do have a degree of control just how much outside interaction we have on a day to day basis, but not overall, if that makes any sense.
Yeah that makes sense! And it'd definitely be nice to be in the current situation that you're in, but there are those like me, who aren't as lucky. Me complaining about working from home is not because I want my company to be up to date. I'm complaining about it because during times like these and how the workplace I work at runs, there is a constant risk every single day of coming into contact with someone who has this virus. And, from reading situations on here similar to mine, this issue is not singular, it's happening everywhere around the state.
 
For those with ****** employers would an order that says companies have to allow WFH or something to that effect be enough. I’m curious because I want to do as much as possible to get people to stay home as much as possible but at the same time I find an actual order to stay home terrifying.

I hope we find a way to keep people home as much as possible while not prohibiting people from taking a walk away from other people or visiting other family members on a limited basis.
 
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For those with ****** employers would an order that says companies have to allow WFH or something to that effect be enough. I’m curious because I want to do as much as possible to get people to stay home as much as possible but at the same time I find an actual order to stay home terrifying.

I hope we find a way to keep people home as much as possible while not prohibiting people from taking a walk away from other people or visiting other family members on a limited basis.
There have been different orders placed in different states. Some are very strict and want to limit your movement entirely. Some are not as strict and allow you to go different places as long as you're not gathering in groups more than 10. And that's the issue right there. The gatherings of more than 10 people. So many work places have more than 10 people working at a time and depending on the environment, you could be on top of one another a lot.

My business would most likely work from home if we'd be shut down because there's no way they'd completely shut down.
 
Just had a coworker who is a college student come back from his spring break here. He was with a bunch of buddies down in Florida. Not required to quarantine or anything lol.
 
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