April 16, 2021 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Finding a Break
April 16, 2021 at 12:27 pm
Steve, I agree with a lot you said here. I'll respond to one point. I think that for many of us management is encouraging working lots. For example, I work in my state's health department, which means we're at the front lines against COVID-19 or supporting those who are. Another thing about state government work, at least in my state, is we're all hourly employees and are usually strongly discouraged not to work overtime. However, that changed once we started working from home. From what I'm aware of every manager/supervisor is encouraging everyone to work long hours. I've mentioned this previously. I think, but am not sure, that this is to compensate for the bureaucracy inherit in state government work. The more we get done, then when the various boards and committees meet to decide what may be released to production, there will be more to give a green light to. Note: I could be wrong about this.
Anyway, whatever the reason is for encourage everyone to work longer hours, I've a feeling this is happening in other locations as well.
Rod
April 16, 2021 at 1:37 pm
I really had to chuckle about some memories from my stint as a 'manager' for the years 1975 to 1986 when I had a small 24-hour shop of five data entry operators and a programmer.
The programmer and I worked in a single small 'office' that probably measured 10' by 10' feet, in which we had two 30"x60" desks and a single file cabinet. It was so small we had to move a desk chair to close the door, walls were only about 7' tall, open at the top and the top half was glass. We were just outside the small computer room that housed as various times an IBM System/3 Model 10 and then a Burroughs/Unisys B1700 and a B1800 at the same time. After the B1800 arrived, we actually got to keep the B1700 as a test and development system. There were no laptops or desktops, so we each had an attached CRT terminal to the systems in the computer room. The systems at first were run from electric typewriter-type consoles.
This morning I'm sitting here in my home office that is more than double the size of that, with work surface around me on three sides and a wall of windows looking out over a green lawn with several pines. I count three monitors up to 31 inches and two laptops with their own screens.
One of the worst features of the job was that I had to support all three shifts and when there were problems at night I had to drive about 15 miles to go in to handle them.
The best thing about that position was that it was my first time to plan for my retirement because my employer contributed 15% (yes, that's not a typo, 15%) of my salary figure to a retirement plan that became my first IRA.
Now when I need a break, I go out on the front patio or the back deck and sit in the sunshine.
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
April 16, 2021 at 3:24 pm
Sometimes the lines between my time and work time tend to blur (today's Blursday, right?). What I don't miss is a 90 mile round trip to the office. Granted I was only doing that 2 days a week, but it was still a lot of travel. I'm hoping that I can keep working fulltime from home with an occasional trip into the office. Probably more for us to catch up in person and maybe have a group lunch to reinforce the personal connections we built up over the years. That helps motivate us as a team more than random meetings. But there really is no need to me or the rest of the team to be in the office unless they want to.
April 16, 2021 at 3:35 pm
Sometimes the lines between my time and work time tend to blur (today's Blursday, right?). What I don't miss is a 90 mile round trip to the office. Granted I was only doing that 2 days a week, but it was still a lot of travel. I'm hoping that I can keep working fulltime from home with an occasional trip into the office. Probably more for us to catch up in person and maybe have a group lunch to reinforce the personal connections we built up over the years. That helps motivate us as a team more than random meetings. But there really is no need to me or the rest of the team to be in the office unless they want to.
Tom, that is a good reminder. You guys all check with your tax preparer to see if you can deduct a percentage of your residence and expenses for a home office, and be sure to account for all your mileage and meals for the job. I think I remember that travel from home to work was not deductible, but maybe now you can.
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
April 17, 2021 at 2:29 pm
That's an incredibly good point, Rick. throughout 2020 while working from home, I had used an old military desk for my working from home. I was the only one using it and I used it only for work.
Rod
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