For those of us still working what has been your experience?
For those of us who aren't able to stay home in our PJs what has been your experience at work so far? I work in a manufacturing setting and most of our suppliers are also still working. The hourly workers didn't really start to take this new flu seriously until the last week or so. We are practicing the 6 foot rule, no one is using the lunch room anymore, all in-person meetings have stopped (email/text is the rule) and some of the folks are starting to express nervousness.
We supply to nearly every US industry including hospitals so companies like us, if we close, would cause problems in short order which could threaten the nation's ability to deliver food, medicines, healthcare equipment, etc.
It seems like daily there are new challenges from suppliers who are experiencing cash flow problems or who just shut down their operation without notifying anyone. Companies seem to be hoarding cash and stretching out their payables.
Most of the factories in the area have installed more aggressive cleaning procedures and we're also dealing with new local health regulations. These including taking employee temperatures and asking screening questions on a daily basis.
On a personal basis I'm nervous...not just for myself but for my family. I would prefer to stay home but it's just not an option in my company role. I'm thinking about segregating myself from the family until this is over to prevent possibly exposing them.
What are things like for those of you still working?
I do a lot of travel for work. Highways and interstates have been pretty clear. Gas prices interesting each town I drive through. Lowest I saw was $1.37 in Tyrone Township the other day.
I was going to question if this was current until I saw the sign for CBD oil.
Dammit--I was going to say the exact same thing!
That’s what I call a speedy (gas prices) recovery
There is an ETF that tracks gas prices -- which would be a way to 'lock in' a price level.
ticker: UGA
My in-laws live near Onsted and they said the gas station between us and them was at $1.29 the other day.
Still well over $3 per gallon here in commie California
Ha- I was excited to see 3.40 per gallon. However, PC (pre covid) I was filling up every week, and now, haven’t filled up in 16 days.
I'm working from home and honestly that adjustment has been a little rough. I'm here with my 5 year old and wife who is 7 months pregnant (which is adding to the stress obviously) and my instinct is to want to help her which makes it hard to focus.
As far as actual work goes I can perform my job from home, but it'd be easier at my desk at work, but I work for Michigan Medicine in a non-clinical role so they sent as many of us as possible home. It's still part of my job to keep tabs on the news and updates about the ongoing situation and I've got a number of friends on the front lines so there is kind of that constant worry. I've come to terms with the fact that I won't be back in the office till after my paternity leave but it is what it is.
I am on a list of employees that, due to past work experience, could be called in at any time to go work at the hospital which is a constant worry since I'd be worried about bringing it home to my pregnant wife and child, as well as getting it myself. I don't want to be in quarantine when my son is born ya know?
I'm the designated shopper for our house so if we need anything I'm still going out, but I've done a decent job of limiting it to once a week and wear a mask when I go. But there's still that constant worry.
I did some side work for the local school bus company, helping deliver lunches to school families. The major differences (besides not running regular bus routes) was that the terminal had been totally rearranged to prevent people congregating, and they encouraged us to drive with latex gloves on.
My main work? It's largely the same most of the time, but Sundays are a lot different. We're making stuff up as we go along.
It must be said. A lot of stuff has long been made up as we go along-on Sunday.
Being retired-my job has not changed much. My wife's job as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner...that's another story. Our shopping plan is to get groceries every 3-4 weeks. We do need to get plants and seeds for our garden. We have a very large home project that the in-laws were coming in May to help with-now it's ??? We have the materials already-may have to simply take it on myself. The pastures are greening nicely-the cattle and sheep are very happy...the hens keep laying eggs.
This is my first day off in two weeks. I work in NJ just across the water from manhattan. I’m in the worst of it so how bad it could get in your area is what I’m dealing with (maybe 2 weeks away according to those graphs).
A 30 year old hs baseball coach passed away in nj (R.I.P.) from the virus.
Is your position essential?
Seems tone deaf otherwise your company would make people come in when everyone is in one of the most impacted places in the country.
Run an independent pharmacy. Currently short staffed. Older pharmacist not coming in and one tech had to stay home since daycares and schools are closed.
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty essential.
Hang in there!
No work for me. So everyday I get up and subtract money from an account that has none going into it. I’m 46, started shoveling shit in horse stables and have not once had to collect unemployment, if the 1099 thing goes through than that’s all gonna change. Sad times!
I'm 61 and still shoveling horse shit - figuratively and literally. The literal horse-shit job is mine because my wife loves horses, and I love her.
Howsomever, I am also a small business owner, and my paying clients are in two essential industries. This means that for now, I have only lost one paying customer. That may change shortly as many of us head into a long bleak period of slowly advancing financial ruin.
You mentioned that you are a 1099 employee so you are technically self-employed? Most of my clients are also 1099. I have been working with them to recognize their degrees of freedom in the current situation, and to identify some new ways in which they can create results.
No one (especially me) has any certain answers to the problems we are facing, as this environment is unprecedented in our time. With that said, the group can have greater wisdom than the individual.
Do you have a group of peers that you meet with (virtually) to discuss what others are doing and to provide peer feedback and encouragement? I have learned more from the groups I am part of than any other source.
We ended our fiscal year yesterday way short of expectations, but we have plenty of cash on hand and should be fine long-term.
Working in educational technology, the current crisis represents a huge growth opportunity, once districts come around to the realization that this is our new normal.
represents a huge growth opportunity
Any stocks you recommend buying right now?
I don't peruse enough data to make informed investment recommendations, but basically anything related to distance learning that has assistive technology and a Google Education integrated platform is a good bet.
We're #3 in our industry and in the process of merging with #2, but Covid-19 has delayed regulatory approval in both the UK and US. Hopefully redundancy doesn't eliminate my position.
I figure this will either be my best sales year ever, or I'll be out of a job by Christmas. No in-between.
Reading your first paragraph, I thought you were referring to mother Russia.
Work hasn't been affected for me yet other than not having to get on a plane or put pants on anymore.
We also haven't lost any clients yet.
Yet.
Clients aren't outright terminating contracts but they are postponing start dates because they have their own staff to take care of and folks aren't going to their offices. I was supposed to start a new engagement in Dallas mid-April and that's on hold for now.
If this goes into August, September, we're likely fucked.
When I finish up the projects I'm on right now, things will likely get slower then. It's largely dependent upon how mature an org is -- can they handle us working remotely, what are their information sharing capabilities, can we easily do video calls? It's about 50/50... some are good at that stuff others, not so much. You may be surprised who sucks at that kind of stuff too as bigger doesn't always equal better.
The one thing which helps me out stay gainfully employed is information security-related activity has skyrocketed. So while things like IT get cut during tough times, organizations cannot cut too much if they want to protect their enterprise.
I watched the video of the doctor in NYC that someone posted here. Seemed to be a webcast a bunch of people were on. It was very informative. He did mention how relatively weak the virus is to kill on the front end if you simply wash your hands or use Purell after touching anything outside your home. Sounded like he hadn't contracted it yet was deep in it everyday treating people with the virus. He gave examples of how to quarantine yourself when at home with others around. Don't need total isolation but limit exposure and be sure to sanitize your hands. Just be conscious about it and make good judgement. Something we all need to do.
I am fortunate enough to work from home now. Been home for 1.5 weeks now. I work for a small architectural firm but our client is considered essential services so we are continuing to work to assist in them moving forward. Another client shut things down even though they are considered essential as well. Their new projects got shelved but their projects under construction were moving forward and the stores they currently have open have remained open. Work has slowed but we're fortunate to work for one client that seems to be nearly recession proof.
I work for a very conservatively capitalized financial institution, but do the deals my employer views as "higher risk." That end of the market is very quiet right now.
I'm still working with my coworkers, there is only 7 of us at our shop.
We are still open but our doors are locked. So we are setting orders outside and our hours are cut to 35 hours a week.
We supply siding and window materials. Even though almost every contractor is shut down we are still open for whatever stupid reason.
Construction doesn't seem to have slowed down in NorCal. Buildings and roadwork are still active.
I work for a contractor, and there was a big gray area when the order was put in place. So we worked for the rest of the week before my boss finally shut it down, as did most contractors. Cabinets and windows are still being delivered to jobs though, I don't get it
I am working from home. Most of my customers are in South America. Their countries are completely shut down. They are terrified - in part due to the virus, in part due to the existential threat to their livelihoods.
The scary thing in most LatAm countries is that their healthcare systems are not broadly accessible under the best circumstances. If this gets out of hand in any of those countries, it could be catastrophic. This is especially so in Venezuela, where the gvmt destroyed the healthcare system years ago. No docs, no nurses, no hospitals, no meds...and a population that is immunocompromised due to mass malnutrition. Pobre gente
Not trying to pick, but please stop calling it a flu. Please.
Had to downvote OP for that same reason.
??Agreed, otherwise an excellent topic to talk about, which is why I refrained from downvoting the OP. But yeah, this ain’t anywhere near the flu or the “new” flu.
Frankly, people likening it to "just a flu" are a big part of the reason it is a pandemic, expected to take out between 100,000-200,000 people (for people keeping score, that's TWO ENTIRE FULL MICHIGAN STADIUMS DEAD) in a best case scenario.
We're well past taking ANYTHING lightly regarding this illness.
Work at a hospital. Most surgeries have been postponed so it has been quiet. I am working fewer hours but at least I am still working. Hospital wants to save room and beds for Covid-19 patients but it hasn’t gotten crazy. The emergency room has been so slow nurses have been getting sent home. There are so many surgeries that have been postponed it is crazy. When we can get back to doing surgeries we will be so busy I should get some nice OT. If can I make it until then I should be fine.
My employer had their first case on Monday. Shut down for the rest of the week to clean, $100k cost for the cleaning. Found out this morning that the employee was lying and that they weren't sick. They are no longer an employee. People are assholes.
So they faked it to get a couple of weeks off? Yes, asshole indeed. Incidentally, this is likely why so many companies are reluctant to give paid sick days - they're afraid they'll be taken advantage of by liars. Your former colleague is ruining it for many, many others.
My office is staffed like it is on the weekends, through the entire week. Half the staff is teleworking and we rotate our telework opportunity among the staff.
I've actually been super lucky for two major reasons:
I work for an IT Consulting firm and we're almost exclusively a remote company (we have a few Accounting and other back-office roles that sit in our Atlanta office). The interesting thing for us thus far is, a lot of companies are obviously being careful about spending but they're also seeing this as an opportunity to work things they normally wouldn't have time for. So far our numbers are lower but not terribly.
The other thing that's setting up well is my partner and I both work from home every day and have been for the past 7 years. That's helped a lot with making the 9-5 feel....dare I say 'normal'? We also don't have kids, so the disruption of our normal life has been pretty limited and I know we're pretty privileged with that.
If I can offer a suggestion for folks transitioning to working from home: it's so easy to simply sit around in your PJ's or a hoodie and sweatpants all day but I think you'll find if you get up, shower and get ready like you would any other day, that makes it easier to transition into working from home. Also, don't be afraid to shut the door to where you are working. It sets clear boundaries with others at home that you can't be disturbed.
Stay safe all. Go Blue!
Company had its best fiscal year in 2 decades, and that bonus gets paid out this week so that's great. On the down side, orders have dried up to essentially zero so everyone in manufacturing is laid off and everyone in the office is taking a 50% pay cut and having hours reduced to 21 per week starting next week. They've put a 45k floor on the cut and are paying employee and employer shares of healthcare for all employees though. CEO salary reduced to $1 throughout the whole ordeal, higher paid executives and managers are taking a 60% cut. Overall, very proud to be part of a company that seems very well run and is doing its best to take especially good care of the people that are going to be hardest hit by this (hourly and lower paid salaried folks).
I'm in IT, and everything I do is in a web browser, so the technical part of the job is easy enough to do from home. Everyone I've been working with around the world has been very understanding and friendly. As awful as the situation is, everyone seems to be giving a lot of grace as we all adjust.
They announced today that voluntary temporary layoffs are available if the new unemployment benefits make that desirable. Downside is needing to wait until the company calls you back after this is all over, and even if it was a few bucks more to take the unemployment I'll be sticking around. I'll be bored at home even with a 21 hour schedule, so I'm not particularly interested in taking that down to zero.
Baking lots of great sourdough and drinking lots of cocktails though!
Nice to hear stories of leadership like that in action.
100%, I hope I never take it for granted. To be at a multiple-billion dollar company that actually treats employees with respect is a huge blessing.
To be at a multiple-billion dollar company that actually treats employees with respect is a huge blessing.
Like you, I'm grateful for continued employment in the midst of seeing so many hard working people out of work.
I hope that's what comes out of this hell.
Seems like society as a whole has lost its way.
I like going for a lunch time bike ride and people who normally never do so say hello to one another.
I like seeing everyone support the take out menus at mom and pop places.
Since grocery stores are limiting that you cannot buy 100 bags of frozen veggies at once, the 3 limit will get you by just fine, I'm starting to see some more kindness out there.
I hope manufacturing comes back to the States. Fuck offshoring. That $0.25 part from China and sold here for $19.99 here can be made in the US for say a $1.00, still sell for $14.99 and the board and C-suite can still make their $$$. I'd rather train a kid who grew up like I did to get a start in a high paying field in the US than pay someone in India to reset a password, archive a log file, or fuck up my PowerPoint presentation. Wins all around.
Grateful I'm not in NY, or NOLA, or Detroit right now. A friend of mine from HS is a nurse in SE Michigan. Her life is hell right now
We do a ton of manufacturing overseas, and we sell a ton of product overseas. We have IT folks in other countries that have become some of my best friends. I can't address your whole post, but I strongly disagree with where you're assigning blame for a lot of these issues.
I work at a hospital Pharmacy. We started setting up a covid unit, rearranging things a couple weeks ago. Then we set up RNs at the doors to take temps and ask about any symptoms. Now we're required to wear a mask as well. We're a small hospital so we are all familiar with one another for the most part. It was a tad ominous when some of them were voluntold to man the covid unit. Some of our ER docs have since tested positive.
Still working, but was already remote before all of this. Company is highly dependent on people congregating, however, so either we pivot, this resolves in some way that allows us to function at least on small gatherings before it the company goes under, or I find myself out of job.
This sucks all around. I'm all for the social distancing measures and helping those on the front lines. The longer is takes, greater the toll it will take on our economy, and while i'm sure many of us will be fine in the long run, the fallout will not be solved quickly once we're past the threat of COVID. Expect a long, slow economic recovery. Hoping for the best here...speedy resolution on all fronts, but my optimism is waning.
It’s been an adjustment but not life altering. I already worked from home two days a week so I already have the capacity to do my job from home five days a week anyway. The actual working from home hasn’t been the adjustment so much as it’s been the different day to day issues my clients now face, and the concern a lot of them face about being able to pay their bills with us.
We support mostly mid-sized clients, 50-500 employees, and many of them aren’t built to take the hit of being out of business for more than weeks at a time. One of my clients just laid off 90 ee’s this week, and another laid off half of its workforce last week. One of my client contacts that I had a really, really good relationship with suddenly got laid off last Wednesday. More of these are on the way. There is definitely growing concern that a sizable portion of our clients will be unable to pay us for quite a while.
I’m not worried about losing my job, but our ELT has decided to completely suspend promotions, merit increases (which I was just about to get since we finished up annual reviews last month), 401K match, and quarterly bonuses. We may get it back retroactively once this all blows over, but for obvious reasons, our CEO can’t make any guarantees about when or if it’ll ever happen.
Definitely not anyone’s fault and this certainly all falls under the category of “Shit happens.” I’m over it. But still, that’s a lot of money I was due. With a baby due in three and a half months, I won’t pretend it doesn’t fucking suck.
i only have one staff working at a time, alternating days. whoever is in the office is alone. i am paying full wages and health care for them, and if we get released or at least ease-up by 5/1, i'm okay with that. could be some tough decisions to make if we go much past that though.
phone is pretty quiet. still busier otherwise than i though i would be - i was hoping this would be like a big vacation. the good news is that is the work that pays the bills as the shut-down continues.
A mixed bag, and an eerie thing to be honest. I also work in manufacturing, we have 10+ customers keeping us open as an essential supplier. And being an engineer they have my department working on site to troubleshoot issues that arise during production. Most of our workers are at home, either laid off, or working from home. The few of us here, make our building feel huge. Walking around in masks makes it a surreal experience. But what a mixed bag of emotions:
- Jealous of my friends who are getting paid time off
- Incredibly grateful that I still have a paycheck coming in.
- Immense guilt. I'm not important enough to be outside my home, but I guess I don't get to make that call. I mean, how do I belong in the same category (essential worker) as the heroes in the medical community, or food service?
- Selfishly happy that I get to leave my house, and not go stir crazy.
- Scared. My fianceé is a mortician, and is the primary embalmer for her funeral home. My engineering manager is a diabetic who is north of 65 years old. Any day she could bring the virus home, and I'll bring it right to work. Or the other way. I'm just as able to catch it here and bring it home.
To add on to that, the little mental breaks I used to get throughout the day are coming here, or looking at twitter, and it makes everything worse. Feel like I never get to turn my brain off. I'm fucking sad all the time, and I swear I've had a headache for the past week and a half. That's probably not an office only problem though.