I work in financial services, and I am curious how others are holding up. Obviously healthcare and grocery are clear frontlines, but there are others too.
How are you doing? How is morale? What support do you wish you had?
Post by silvercrayon on Mar 29, 2020 17:44:38 GMT -5
I work for a company that supplies needed material to medical supply manufacturers. There is no way to do any of our jobs from home currently. So all 50 of us have been there every day. That is office and plant personnel. Our company is really being proactive about social distancing, no travel, lots of extra steps in cleaning and encouraging anyone needing to stay home to do so. However, the morale is in the toilet. I think everyone is just scared. It is a scary time for everyone, everywhere.
Edited to add: I am very grateful for my job. I know that so many people are being let go right now. I was just being truthful about the work place morale.
I work at a call center for car repair. What I wish I had was management that prioritizes life over money. It is clear they do not. I am not customer-facing, so I do not have that stress, although my roommate is a mechanic and my husband is an overnight stocker at Lowes. All are considered essential here so it has been business as usual for my household.
When the news first came out at work, we were told that if we're coughing we should use our sick time (3 days after a year) and contact our doctor. If we were to test positive or have a government-issued mandate to quarantine then our sick time would not be used and we would be paid for 14 days. When the governor issued Stay Home/ Work Safe, we got the second announcement which was simply that you were now allowed to eat at your desk (this was a common practice but technically against the rules.)
The next action taken was a message to the shareholders about stock (with a quick glance at a coronavirus table) which is how we were informed they were choosing to furlough some of the staff (that turned out to be 50% even though business downturn was 30%). They describe this as a furlough but have actually come out and said: "they are welcome to reapply for their jobs" meaning that there is no guarantee that they will rehire them. I survived the cut as I knew I would from the initial get-go because we do rank employees and I am consistently in the top ten. After this was done, they then sent out an announcement showing how we fit the definition of essential and then finally decided to separate everyone so that we are six feet apart. This announcement included the fact that the on-site gym was officially closed (this was Weds of this week). We were also told that there was no need to "congregate or huddle together," which I feel is more them not wanting to discuss our dissatisfaction than caring about the spread.
Less than four hours after this last piece took place we got a notification that we had a positive case and that we had to shut down for three days for deep cleaning. During this time they are choosing not to pay us but to allow us to use our PTO, which I did because with the cut of staff it is going to be impossible to get any time off in the future.
I can not let myself continue to work there any longer than necessary, so I will ramp up my casual job search but I do not know how easy that will be to find any time soon. It does not mean I will not try though, because the only way they could have handled this worse was to do absolutely nothing at all.
I’m in the military and train officers for an already critically undermanned flying career field. We are deemed “mission essential” for future national defense.
Morale isn’t great, but it’s not horrible. As a population, we’re pretty good at following orders, and our leadership has done a good job of explaining why what we do is so important. We are taking as many precautions as humanly possible.
Honestly, while my job has gotten more stressful, I’m thankful for being busy since it keeps my mind off of things somewhat.
Post by twilightmv on Mar 29, 2020 18:29:53 GMT -5
I work in insurance. We were surprisingly proactive. I’ve been WFH since the beginning of March, and they’ve worked to get all staff set up from home over the past few weeks. They’ve been really clear on communication on all fronts and I couldn’t be prouder of us. My staff morale is high. I do have one employee presumed positive, but even he has a positive attitude and has chosen to keep working, despite that we have removed any penalties for taking time off and can fully cover his work.
We are working together on ways to keep us connected and morale high. My hearts go out to workers on the front lines that have to be in the thick of it every day. I can’t imagine the stress.
We are a defense contractor. Since all our other customers are either closed or down to bare essentials, our defense contract is really the only project we have. I work for an 8 person company and only 5 of us were coming into the office. Last week one of those people found out he was in contact with a positive case at the base so he’s quarantined right now.
I feel like we are best case scenario: small office, few people who are all taking shit seriously, and we can control who’s coming in an out. Whoever is in first cleans all the door handles and high touch surfaces first thing in the morning.
Morale is fine. Honestly, I think we’re all glad to have a routine and to be getting paid. My part in our defense contract is dreadfully boring but it’s fine. I don’t know, I’m fine for now.
Post by dirtybella on Mar 29, 2020 18:46:50 GMT -5
My husband is still working. He is an electrician. I am surprised at the amount of work they have. I guess a lot of people are doing projects. I don’t consider most of the work he is doing is “essential” as its not repairs. I also worry what he is bringing into the house every day.
I work in baby pharma- we are still operating. I’m able to WFH for something things - report writing, data analysis, and experimental planning (I’ve been in the lab once for 15 mins in the last 2 weeks). I’m home this week, our facilities director will handle my incoming shipment this week- toss it in the cold room. The week after I’ll need to be onsite for at least 3 of the days. I’m not too worried about going in- we are BSL2+ and I’ll be in my own lab not in our main area. So the foot traffic is low. There are 2 people who come in to access some equipment, but there is more than enough area to properly social distance even in the main lab. We are only supposed to be onsite if we are actively working on something in the lab. We have a weekly schedule that you mark the days you need to be on site. SEM has been very anti WFH prior to this, but they put it in place very quickly. We all have laptops as our regular computers. I was told I couldn’t take my docking station home - coworkers didn’t ask and jus took them home. I think SEM was very short sighted in not telling us to take them home (See anti wfh comment) trying do data analysis on a tiny screen is annoying. I bought a new wide screen monitor so I could do my work without straining my eyes. All of our meetings had Zoom links prior to this as our team meetings are cross location.
I work for an Architectural firm and our workload has increased. Hospitals are reaching out and really pushing fast construction schedules.
But we are all mostly working from home. Our office is NOT closed but they asked everyone to work remotely if possible. Some are staggering in as needed but not much. I went last Tuesday for 2.5 hours to catch up and it was me and 3 others on the floor that seats about 100 ppl. No worries about the virus itself thankfully.
It's been extremely difficult though because its extremely fast paced and busy and WFH is obviously slower. Plus I have my kids home and barely see them because I'm glued to my laptop. I am quite stressed even though I am home. And tomorrow school starts back up from home. ugh
Post by blondemoment123 on Mar 29, 2020 19:08:49 GMT -5
I’m work for a utility. The rest of the admin office is working from home, but they will not allow my department for various reasons. Of course the crew is in the field still.
Morale is....ok. They pretty much eliminated the dress code since the building is closed to visitors.
Truth be told, we’re not that busy and I’m bored. All of my tasks are done and I’m not getting calls because the governor stopped disconnects for non payment.
Not me, I only go in to cover the director and we rotate between 4 of us.
DH’s company is essential and cannot shutdown due to security. It’s very scary. They are up to 5 positive cases, but none in his building. They do not support WFH and I’m not sure how DH would do if they did. He has 2 different computer systems he works from. He says one requires so much computer that it may not fit on a laptop at all.
It’s extremely disappointing how poorly it’s being handled. Basically show up for work or burn your own leave via liberal leave. There is a possible COVID issue with a CW in his division. It’s just a ticking time bomb.
My husband is still working. He is an electrician. I am surprised at the amount of work they have. I guess a lot of people are doing projects. I don’t consider most of the work he is doing is “essential” as its not repairs. I also worry what he is bringing into the house every day.
Ditto. H is pissed bc all the office buildings he works for want to do all remodeling and stuff while the office workers are gone. Which makes him feel expendable, not essential. His morale is so low. He is considering quitting bc of it (and focus on our rental property), and he put up with 2 months of not getting paid a few years ago. He has a coworker test positive and the boss is all “he is faking it to get unemployment.” So year, that’s how much the company cares.
My business is essential. Everyone on my team can work from home, but not everyone in the company has that option. I wish that they would put something formal in place to ensure that my team didn't have to go in on occasion to do some tasks that the office staff could easily do. My company's response has not felt very coordinated.
I am working to support leaders, hoping for a ripple effect to their employees. We are getting better about communication.
I have been feeling really guilty because my kids are in a daycare supporting essential workers. I am likely going to pull them after this week, but I have to see if I am getting moved to a more critical team first. I will likely need to take leave or use significant vacation time. I anticipate layoffs, so not a great time to step away.
H does IT for essential businesses, so he is slammed.
Post by verycontrary247 on Mar 29, 2020 19:34:56 GMT -5
I'm the IT person for our cities fire department. I support 15 fire stations, 2 training facilities, headquarters, and our public safety operations center. I've been busy getting most of our office staff set up to work from home.
Morale is iffy. As people who work closely with first responders, there's a lot of fear for the safety of people we support, and fear of picking it up from them inadvertently.
Post by letsgetweird on Mar 29, 2020 19:54:01 GMT -5
I also work in financial services but have been working from home since last Monday. I'm hanging in there, I live alone so sucks not having any social interaction.
Veterinary hospital. What is going right: Mostly sick/emergency visits. Masks on staff at all times. Temp check before shift and required to stay home with cough, fever, etc. Disinfecting constantly. Lobby closed, doors locked. Clients meet is just inside the door and go back to thier car and we call them during the appointment. Pushing online store options for med refills and working outside the box to keep pets on meds/food with expired exams. What could be done better: Postponing elective surgical procedure (says, neuters, etc) to conserve PPE. Not allowing staff to eat in the break room around each other. Limiting operating hours to have less people in the building and working in "teams" to limit exposure. Morale is down. Several staff have been asked to be taken off the schedule during stay at home orders (a DVM included). Others can't work due to illness. I have the ability to work from home but unfortunately too many staff are irresponsible and require constant supervision so I'm still going in for a few hours every day. I want to stay home for many, many reasons but feel like I can't (even though the owner supports anyone's decision to stay home).
My job is over since school buildings are closed but dh goes in to the office most days. He is essential (IT, cyber security and whatnot for big companies) and our internet has not been working consistently enough for him to work from home. He has his own office and only a few people are coming in, all with their own offices, so I’m not super concerned. It’s not without risk but it’s a much lower risk than many are dealing with.
H is an airline pilot. They are considered essential, but I can't for the life of me figure out why at this point. Unless they are flying healthcare workers or supplies around, passenger air traffic should be grounded.
H has a cough and had a fever the other day. The telehealth doc gave him Tamiflu but told him to self-quarantine for 14 days, just in case. His company is trying to tell him that their COVID leave policy doesn't apply and he has to use his PTO. The policy is very clear that if you are directed to quarantine by any government official or healthcare professional, you are eligible for a paid LOA for the time you're quarantined. So he's having to fight with the chief pilots and deal with his union reps over it. It's absurd.
I own my orthodontic practice. We have had to stop all elective procedures which is like nearly everything we do, but we are also not mandated to close since our existing patients could have an emergency. So there is no new revenue coming in. Oh well, I don't really care because I went through similar levels of hell 4 years ago when I became sick and disabled so it's like I was mentally and financially prepared for this one. I kept everyone working on non-patient projects for the last 2 weeks while we have been closed with reduced hours, distancing and WFH in place. But now my CPA has recommended we lay off staff to let them collect unemployment since the extra $600 from the federal government is going to put a lot of our employees over the threshold of what they would have been making anyways. That works for some of my people but I have an assorted crew of 4 part timers who may or may not qualify for unemployment. I can't put together a schedule because 3 of them don't know yet if they will qualify. The only one who knows she won't qualify is also quarantined because her brother and brother's girl friend tested positive. All of this means I have to answer the phones/texts this week for my patients and that is the one job I hate the most. I felt like I was finally at the level in my startup where I could pay people to triage phone calls so I'd only have to handle the worst ones. So far we've had to see 1 patient for an emergency but I still had my crew. Now I don't know what I'll do if I have to see someone. I'll probably pay my assistant cash to show up. My CPA has also said that they will charge to handle filing for the SBA loans on a limited basis. I am hoping I make the cut because I just don't want to deal with that but I also want to take advantage of the packages Congress put out there. If I have to do it all myself, I know myself, I will procrastinate and miss out.
I also do wonder what our profession (braces and dentistry in general) will look like at the end of all of this. There have been assorted things out there saying that since so much of what we do generates aerosols, no one can seem to decide if our current PPE standards are enough or if we'll have to build negative pressure rooms or something for aerosol procedures.
And I have to keep DD and DS alive, educated (for DD) and fed and away from my husband whose 9 - 5:30 financial sector job has just been business as usual, just conduct your business at home.
I work in the financial industry, and we have been deemed essential. We have a large number of branch offices that are client facing. My company has been very proactive about getting the word out and taking action for the safety of employees. We have disaster recovery/backup plans in place already because of hurricanes, tornados, and such.
I WFH full time, and the team I am on WFH much of the time anyway. Those that went into the office 1-3 days/week just stayed home instead. We are essential; out job is required by the federal government. Nothing about our work has changed or probably will change in the short term. If things last more than 3 months it might be different. I have a full office set up at home already. I'm used to it and to the semi-isolation. My team has always used conference calls, IM, and such to keep in touch, and we are good about it. BAU for us.
We already have generous leave policies in place as a company. They are giving X paid days to any employee that has a childcare emergency. After X days you have to use vacation or take them unpaid. You can take full or part days as part of the X number. The sick policies haven't changed. I can't go into details, but they are taking care of those employees that have to be onsite and providing resources to all employees.
I work for a food company, but if I'm being honest our category is not 100% essential but certainly wanted during this time frame. My work is easily done from home and not a ton is different for me from a normal week in the office.
My husband is a department manager in a grocery store, so he's on the front lines. The main thing that he would request right now is that people NOT bring their entire family to the store. He is struggling because he sees many families who are all headed to the store together to "get out of the house", and it's definitely defeating the purpose of social distancing. He can only do so much to keep his distance from customers, and multiple people from one family isn't helping.
I work in financial services, so technically classified as essential, but my firm advises institutional clients, so we are all now working from home (as are all of our clients).
I am a mobile notary and signing agent. So, I have had a bunch of closings to handle. handling it ok.
Not sure of how the mechanics of it are going to be handled, but CO's governor recently suspended the in person requirement for notaries. wp-cpr.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/03/polis-notary-eo.pdf I don't know if there's a professional/lobby organization for notaries that could push this in your state but thought I'd share in case there is.
I’m in an essential government service, but luckily our department is 95% WFH now. It’s not a great permanent solution, but we’ll make it for now. I feel really guilty that I have one person (support staff) going in full time. We set her up with a laptop to use after she’s done with the mail part, which is honestly a good half of her job, but she prefers to be in the office because she doesn’t have good work space at home.
It is absolutely insane and I’m working easily 12 hours a day.
Love of my life baby boy born 11/11. One and done not by choice; 3 years of TTC yielded 4 MMC and 2 CPs, through 4 IUIs and 2 IVFs. Focusing on making the world a better place instead...and running.
I work for a semi essential business, as in most people are working from home but we do have a fair amount of essential employees who are still working. The campus is not closed, just limited. I can work from home 4.5 days a week but do have to go in that other half day for new employee orientation. I strongly oppose having in person orientation for my own sake and for the sake of others involved, and I think we should be doing it remotely. But because the campus isn't closed and we have some essential staff in other departments, leadership thinks it is no big deal for us to come in too.
My morale over this is poor, and I know one of my coworkers who also has to go in for this is similarly upset. I need to reframe and just feel grateful i am home the rest of the time I guess. I wish there was a better definition of essential, for every company.
Post by undecidedowl on Mar 29, 2020 22:41:38 GMT -5
I work for a medical device manufacturer. DH works in pharma. We can both do some wfh but need to go in the office some too. Most of my team has to be in the office often. Honestly, they don't seem as worried as I think they should be.
While my company is truly critical right now, I'm struggling with the fact that my department doesn't feel essential. Nothing I'm working on will effect the current pandemic. I hate that my whole team is still going into the office just to meet deadlines. I don't know what to think about this, but it doesn't feel right to me.