Will you go back to your place of employment?

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I’m semi retired, so aside from a few friends who regularly call on me for repairs, and my charitable work, an office or steady away from home workspace is not a concern. Many of you out there are working from home or are otherwise “stuck” there.
It reminds me of the old “I married you for better or for worse, but not for retirement”.
Even though I can escape to the workshop, being around the other 5 residents in the house is driving me a little nuts. I can’t even escape to the gym, and going for a solitary motorcycle ride without coffee with a friend at the end isn’t a pleasure.
So, even though separate spaces are proving good at lowering risks, how much appetite is there out there for just getting away from the family and going to work?

[Rob Luter]

I went back two weeks ago after six weeks of using the dining room table as a desk. We temperature screen on arrival starting Monday, and have very solid protocols in place for PPE and distancing. Our EHS and HR teams are top notch. I'm not concerned about transmission.

[Patrick Walsh]

I will do everything I can to not go back to work. I have my own shop more capable of any employer I have ever had and way more so than my current. Through this ordeal I have been able to work from home with zero down time. I will encourage that continue to be the case with my employer and so far he seems on board. From what I see I have no faith that others will conduct themself with the utmost caution as I can assure I do. Even those I think have previously had my trust have me questioning if they deserve it.

I’m not the slightest lonely, I do notice increasingly people are at a breaking point and can’t handle lonely. Even neighbors that were cautious, still think their being cautious and through the window I can see them letting down their guards.

I’m torn I somewhat feel bad for anyone suffering “generally” provided it’s not of their own making. But in the face of this were ones choices have a direct health effect on those around them Taking away their choice I tend to lack or rather completely lack sympathy for those whom can’t stand the isolation or lonely. Seems very weak to me and leaves me more disheartened than I already was by so many and what’s eels like moats complete lack of consideration for others. This specific experience makes me wonder how many people actually have endured real suffering in their lives as it seems so many are completely not prepared and incapable. Again not that I want people to have suffered greatly but you know it does build character if it doesn’t break you so. Seems to me many are ill equipped to suffer.

I’ll do everything I can to find a way to make a living out of my own shop moving forward the best I can as to take the measures I see fit to keep myself and the ones I love safe the best I can. Not to mention my piece of mind as being out there constantly worried about where you have been what you been doing yada yada will drive me bonkers. For instance my co-workers are both heavily involved in the church and choir music, most all their friends and family also. One lives in a large city apartment building with a roommate whom traveled by plane on Mother’s Day to visit mom from the east to west coats. I call that just stupid and to not be concerned as the roommate well just about the same. Stuff like that will eat me up inside out. So I’ll stay home as long as I can and suspect this will forever change the way I am interested conducting myself. It’s taught me so much about people, so much I was was already pretty sure of. This has confirmed pretty much all my suspicions.

Being vegan I already can do 100% without eating out. Baring work situations I had not eaten out in nearly 5-6 years and maybe on 20 occasion in 10-12 years. I suspect I’ll never go to a public eating place again. As it was I was fairly grossed out by any public eating place. After a bed bug experience when a grandparent was in hospice and dying I haven’t done movie theaters or hotels in about 7-8 years. So I’m pretty much settled into self isolation baring regular shopping, work and outdoor activities, my outdoor interest tend to take me away from crowds.

This whole thing feels like a very normal evolution for me and my life. I understand I do not represent the masses.

[Jim Becker]

I'm not personally in the situation of working for an employer anymore, but for the last 20 years prior to retirement I worked from home anyway when I was not traveling to a client location or attending a meeting or briefing at an employer facility. So being home all the time isn't a shock to me. Professor Dr. SWMBO has had to transition to teaching online and despite the fact that face to face with her grad students is sometimes more effective, it's working out very well. She's lost the long hour-twenty in each direction train commute and no longer has to pay the higher Philadelphia wage tax, either. And honestly, she's within a few years of retirement probably and with her Asthma and the added risk it adds, I'm glad she's at home when teaching...and I hope it stays that way for her work.

Our older daughter, who is essentially a special needs adult because of her mental health disability, lives here and only works part time. So there's no change there. The biggest change during this pandemic is with our younger daughter who just completed here junior year at Penn State. Her classes were all online/remote video so she was not traveling to campus for several months now. Her employer is a restaurant so while she still has her back-of-house hours doing accounting, she has none of the front-of-house hours since it's all take out now. So she's home a lot more now, especially since her serious boyfriend is back in Pittsburgh where he has an apartment he's been paying for but not living in for while.

Interestingly, rather than things being more cloying with us all at home most of the time, it's actually shown some benefit. Our younger daughter has been cooking with me now a couple of nights per week and it's been a great experience. She's a very independent young lady and often has been "more distanced" than is nice...the pandemic situation has actually brought her closer to all of us. So that's a positive outcome. As a family, we're "not social butterflies" anyway; don't follow sports; don't shop for the sake of just shopping; don't eat out a lot, etc., so it's not been a big deal, other than miles being driven has dropped significantly, especially for said younger daughter.

Back to the original question...if I worked for an employer and had to do that work in a particular facility rather than home, my expectations for returning to that workplace would be that the employer is taking things seriously around social distancing, proper cleaning, etc.

[Brian Elfert]

I am required to go to my office if I want to keep my job. Right now I work three weeks at home and one week in the office. We have four who rotate weeks in the office. One of my co-workers has been in the office the past four weeks for a project so I haven't had to be in the office since early April. This week is my week.

There is only one other person working on my floor and I have a private office so it isn't a huge deal to be at work. The ways things are set up I can walk to and from the restroom without touching any door handles. It would be a lot worse if I was in our main office a mile and a half away. That building has open offices with small cubicles with low walls. Less than six people out of five hundred are working at main office right now. My employer plans to bring people back in phases starting no earlier than September. It is likely that a fair number will be able to work from home long term possibly coming to the office occasionally. Those who have medical issues or are concerned about their safety can work from home until this pandemic is considered over.

[Tom M King]

I decided I didn't want to be an employee in 1974.

edited to add: I've been working by myself since the first of February, because my helper's Spouse works at a prison, and I've gotten to the point where I actually like working by myself. I may continue on like this.

[Nathan Johnson]

I've been mostly work from home the last three years, and now 100% since this all started.
Our company has some employees where the job requires they be on site and they are receiving additional hazard pay.
Those of us working at home have been told we will continue until at least June 30th, and then they'll reevaluate.
If I never see the inside of an office again I won't mind at all, but that's been my thinking for years.

I think a lot of companies are realizing that for many jobs, having people together in an office is completely unnecessary. Personally, I'm much more productive at home.

[Jim Becker]

Personally, I'm much more productive at home.

I found that to be true, too, Nathan, over all those years I worked from home when not traveling. Even with hourly "birdie head scratches" (parrot) I got more done in less time and could do the tasks during the part of the day that best suited them. Creative things were in the afternoon, for example, and most of the time mornings were for the mundane while my brain wasn't quite as sharp. :) Of course, there were times when too many hours happened, too...

I do think that one "benefit" of this terrible situation is that many employers will look at remote workers more seriously without some of the easy prejudices that folks struggled with. When I was working, a good chunk of my solution set was stuff that actually enabled remote workers to have the same communication/interaction capabilities as they did face-to-face, at least from a functional standpoint. Some organizations were pretty gung ho, but others....just couldn't get over not being able to constantly look over peoples' shoulders and those people were highly paid "managers" that should have been able to be very productive with self-sufficiently. It's a matter of trust.

[Kev Williams]

I decided I didn't want to be an employee in 1974.
Sounds familiar :)
I'm 2 months from 66 years old, and in all that time only 2 years of my life were NOT spent almost daily with family: the 2nd half of 1972 (year I graduated HS) and first half of 1974, which is when I started coming to work part time, here in this same house, for my parents. Part time money here was double my full-time money renting cars at the time. Dad was asked if he could engrave computer keycaps followed by all hell breaking loose. Since early '76 this at-home engraving business has been my only source of income. And this was a family affair back then, my 2 sisters, their husbands and a couple of cousins worked here at various times. We went thru a few rough times, the worst was '08-09'; my parents were in failing health, so the wife and I moved in permanently to care for them, add to that hardly any work coming in meant my sister/accountant of 11 years, had to go. My other sister's now ex-husband has been here daily for 39 years now. The wife and I are now 11 years into our 24/7 marriage. We're nearing our 29th anniversary, and we have never had an actual fight. Neither of us has ever 'needed our own space'. And all the years of daily interaction with the parents and other family members has only resulted in 1 actual argument, long in the past. In 46 years of working with family and 28+ years of marriage, there's never been any eggshells to avoid walking on. Biz is down a bit but most of the work not coming in is work I don't miss ;) --I feel very fortunate that I have very little on my plate to worry about during this virus pandemonium-demic, aside from actually getting it. That, I AM worried about. As they say, I'm too old for this ____!

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Aaron, I’ve been working from home for 8 weeks and according to our president, productivity is higher than when we were at the office.

My company is in no hurry to bring us back until there’s a clear plan in place.

This may partly be the new world.

I’ve been going for motorcycle rides, sometimes with a friend, we stop for takeout coffee, sitting on our bikes, a few metres apart...Rod

[Ron Selzer]

What bike?
Quit riding 5 years ago. Became quite apparent I could ride a motorcycle or I could work. My body said I can't do both anymore.
thanks
Ron


Hi Aaron, I’ve been working from home for 8 weeks and according to our president, productivity is higher than when we were at the office.

My company is in no hurry to bring us back until there’s a clear plan in place.

This may partly be the new world.

I’ve been going for motorcycle rides, sometimes with a friend, we stop for takeout coffee, sitting on our bikes, a few metres apart...Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

What bike?
Quit riding 5 years ago. Became quite apparent I could ride a motorcycle or I could work. My body said I can't do both anymore.
thanks
Ron

Hi Ron, in order of age

1930 500cc James with acetylene lighting

1975 Norton Commando, 850cc, original owner

1976 BMW R90/6

2013 BMW F700GS, that’s the daily rider...Rod

[Ron Selzer]

Rode a Norton Commando 850 way back in the day when it was a new bike, owner was a brother in law at the time. Nice bike as I was partial to twins back then. He also had a KZ1000 with turbo added, one screaming bike. Bought a well used 95 K75RT while recovering from last magor bike down. Bought while waiting on Ins company to settle on my bike and Doc to release me. This bike ended up being my all time favorite. Rode the K75RT for months in the summer and never got in my pickup at all. Bought a 2006? R1200CL had a Vetter Terraplane mounted to it after settling with Ins co. Sold this one due to divorce, then got a Yamaha 1985 Venture Royale a few years later, still preferred the K75RT for everyday riding. When kids were young had a 82 Yamaha XJ1100J with 84 Watsonian Oxford Sidecar I mounted on it. More bikes thru the years before and after. Would like to be riding still, at least have a little VW Cabrio convertible to enjoy the good weather with now.
Rod keep riding as long as you can, good weather to you
Ron

[John Lanciani]

Many of us never stopped going to work every day, so that everyone else could stay at home.

[Frederick Skelly]

Many of us never stopped going to work every day, so that everyone else could stay at home.

Thank you for what you do, John!

[Tom M King]

For Norton owners, past or present, I bought a new Norton 750 in 1969. I quit riding on the road after seeing too many of my buddies roll across the hood of some old lady's car, not too long after then.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Ron, mine’s a 2009 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic which I got nearly nwew. My buddy rides a 2019 BMW R100R

[Kev Williams]

My rides--
433294
'84 Aspencade, bone stock-

433297433296
'76 Sporty, chopped & stretched 4", SS stroker kit, 24k gold leafed, 24k gold plated shock bolt covers, belt primary, very wrong cams- it's like a big bicycle ;)

--Haven't driven either of them in about 6 years... only because I work too dam much. Maybe I'll find time this summer to drag 'em out...

[Bruce Wrenn]

Amazing, this thread was about returning to work place, and now it's a motorcycle thread. Despite being retired, I go back to my work place every day. That's because I was self employed most of my life. Full time for the last 23 years. Even when working for others, I still had my business. This year will be the first time in over 40 years, I won't have to fill out a schedule "C" (self employment) when doing taxes. Only had to do one for 2019 taxes because of one job, which was for less than $500.

[Anuj Prateek]

Coming to office has been made optional till October in my company. And I am enjoying the time saved from commute.

Eventually, I think I will start doing 2 days a week from office and 3 days WFH.

[Bert Kemp]

Sounds familiar :)
I'm 2 months from 66 years old, and in all that time only 2 years of my life were NOT spent almost daily with family: the 2nd half of 1972 (year I graduated HS) and first half of 1974, which is when I started coming to work part time, here in this same house, for my parents. Part time money here was double my full-time money renting cars at the time. Dad was asked if he could engrave computer keycaps followed by all hell breaking loose. Since early '76 this at-home engraving business has been my only source of income. And this was a family affair back then, my 2 sisters, their husbands and a couple of cousins worked here at various times. We went thru a few rough times, the worst was '08-09'; my parents were in failing health, so the wife and I moved in permanently to care for them, add to that hardly any work coming in meant my sister/accountant of 11 years, had to go. My other sister's now ex-husband has been here daily for 39 years now. The wife and I are now 11 years into our 24/7 marriage. We're nearing our 29th anniversary, and we have never had an actual fight. Neither of us has ever 'needed our own space'. And all the years of daily interaction with the parents and other family members has only resulted in 1 actual argument, long in the past. In 46 years of working with family and 28+ years of marriage, there's never been any eggshells to avoid walking on. Biz is down a bit but most of the work not coming in is work I don't miss ;) --I feel very fortunate that I have very little on my plate to worry about during this virus pandemonium-demic, aside from actually getting it. That, I AM worried about. As they say, I'm too old for this ____!


Wow Kev I have to say your one lucky guy. Oh I'm 70 ride a 2005 Yamaha Royalstar tour deluxe. I try to get out a couple times a week. Might try a cross country later this summer if things lighted up. I've done at least 10 cross countries and a lot more.and to keep on topic. I'm retired so I work from home making stuff to give away on my laser. But recently I found some items people want to buy so I put them on ebay wow only took 5 years to actually find a product to sell LOL

[Adam Grund]

Never stopped going to work. Unfortunately I cannot do my job remotely.
My company did voluntary followed by forced layoffs, I made it through both, fortunately or unfortunately- however you want to look at it. It’s still a struggle every day as to whether I made the right call- not because of the virus, but we are going on week 5 of layoffs now- I just keep thinking about how cool that would’ve been to have all that extra time that I wouldn’t normally have to spend with my kids.

[Darcy Warner]

Its so scary out there, I don't wanna.

Headed to nyc tomorrow, probably going to die according to everyone getting paid fat to sit on their couches..

[eugene thomas]

Glad restrants opening up. Time to eat out... work in heating plant so been working through this and with governer of my state getting sent to the corner life getting back to norma as busnesses get to open up.

[Paul Haus]

Well my main job was sent to India 2 years ago, so after some filler work till my last birthday I retired. I don't miss the drive, though I do miss some of the people I used to work with. In fact we were getting a lunch set up to see everyone when this pandemic happened, so it didn't. Now I fill my time with working in the shop, the occasional contract job and working on the house.

[Steve Demuth]

I've worked substantially out of a home office for 20+ years, but due to travel or part time on-campus requirements, the last three months is the first time I've actually been 100% at home for week after week. I'm never going back to the office grind, or business travel. If my employer requires it (unlikely - they have found the increased productivity and reduced space demands rather appealing) I'll simply retire a bit early. I'm on furlough at the moment, and it's all I can do to not simply turn that into immediate retirement.

[Mike Cutler]

I never got a break from work. I'm working 12 hour days, 6 days a week. Prior to that we were working a rotating 12 hour shift, 24/6, to minimize the amount of folks onsite at any given time. ( I'm becoming "that neighbor.:eek:)
I don't know what it's going to look like after we get off these long hours, but it should be interesting.
I am not complaining here, so don't get me wrong. I have been very blessed in this life to have a very good, secure, job, and good health.
I'll do what I can to keep the lights on in your house and shop. ;)

[Rod Sheridan]

I've worked substantially out of a home office for 20+ years, but due to travel or part time on-campus requirements, the last three months is the first time I've actually been 100% at home for week after week. I'm never going back to the office grind, or business travel. If my employer requires it (unlikely - they have found the increased productivity and reduced space demands rather appealing) I'll simply retire a bit early. I'm on furlough at the moment, and it's all I can do to not simply turn that into immediate retirement.


The company I work for is also seeing increased productivity with us working from home...Rod

[Steve Demuth]

I'll do what I can to keep the lights on in your house and shop. ;)

And thank you and your fellow workers for doing so. We are asking a lot from both people who can't work due to restrictions on their businesses, and those essential workers who must work, despite risk and altered conditions. I at least appreciate and value the contributions the latter are making. One of our biggest efforts at the hospital has been to make it possible for nurses and doctors to perform their jobs safely, so we can get back to full productivity without endangering them and our patients. It's the right thing to do.

[Todd Trebuna]

Never left. I'm in Healthcare Policing, so I've been at work every day. I'm in Management, so most of my days have been spent in management, making policy. I've been wearing a mask all day for the past 4 weeks or so. I have tomorrow off and I've scheduled a much needed week off in mid July. I'm very excited about the time off, because I am mentally and physically exhausted. I have just under 7 years to retirement eligibility. (Lord willing I make it.)

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Brian, I'm on week 11 of work from home, the same as 95% of my company.

Apparently our productivity is higher than when we're at work.

I was reading that Shopify has decided to work from home exclusively now, as you said, a harbinger of the workplace to come.

That won't be good for the shops and services that cater to the workers and the workplace, nor for the real estate market for commercial use. It will be goog for the environment and the workers however..........Regards, Rod.

[Jim Becker]

It will be goog for the environment and the workers however..........Regards, Rod.

There reportedly already is evidence of environmental benefits...'may not be enough to totally affect climate change, but still helpful in mitigating things like air quality.