Covid Support Thread
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Mark there’s a pretty decent demand for house staging over here in Aus, every second house you see has clearly been redecorated for its sale photos. I bet there’s a cottage industry for airbnbs too if you could find the in. I bet there are plenty of fancier buildings in desirable locations with heaps of owners renting their houses/condos out either through holiday rental sites or airbnb. God knows there were in Hawaii. You captured the vibe of Park Place so well, it’d be a good use of your talents.
There is definitely a market for staging in the US.
Our North America lead announced the policy for returning to the office. Vaccination status is not required, a negative COVID test is. You have to have a negative test within 7 days (which is kind of stupid but whatevs) to come to the office. That includes clients. He basically said that if people want to come to the office (which they are not required to do except for certain roles – like the IT teams) then they can count on weekly COVID tests. And the company will pay for the tests.
They also mentioned that up in Canada same rules but as vaccine distribution isn’t as aggressive, they’re taking it slower.
I expect that in my company at some point vaccination status will be treated similarly to drug use: If you can’t take a role because you didn’t get vaccinated / used drugs it won’t be held against you. But if you can’t find another role and you’re unstaffable – you’re out.
I am honestly kind of curious what the post-pandemic office life is going to look like. Assuming (and this is a big assumption) that we get sufficient vaccine uptake to reach some kind of herd immunity and majorly reduce transmission such that COVID isn’t a real concern, how are companies going to operate going forward?
So I’m working for a big company, and they’re bringing people back on a volunteer basis for now. Their vision for the future is for people to be in the office for necessary things, and kind of redesign spaces for collaboration and innovation. But there will be a lot more flexibility for people to be at home than there used to be. They feel that when things are *entirely* remote, we do lose some ability to collaborate and innovate, which is valid. And of course connection.
Our company will do the same as @Kate. We’re global, with about 55k people. Throughout the pandemic, offices were only officially closed the first month or so. We then opened them up to each State or City capacity limits, but nobody was required to go in. You could if you want to. Our Chicago office has about 15 – 20 people in on a regular basis, out of about 250 over two floors pre-pandemic.
For the foreseeable future, I think there will be some kind of hybrid, at least at our company. You won’t be required to go, but you can if you want. And on certain projects or initiatives, some might be encouraged to go in for a collaboration or strategy meeting.
Personally, I plan to go in a day or two a week or if there is a strategy meeting.
I’ve advanced my career because of connections I’ve made, as has the husband. I definitely feel some of that getting lost by never seeing people in person. Yes, there’s zoom or Teams or whatever. It’s not totally the same.
I’m (still) excited to go back to the office eventually. Maybe it will be this fall, but who knows, my company has stopped setting target dates to go back. Our HQ, which is in a smaller city downstate, has been allowing people go back voluntarily and on a schedule that complies by capacity guidelines. At the regional city office I work out of, the office manager goes in maybe once/week or so to check on things, but that’s it. I think if I asked to go back, they’d allow it. I’m told they’re finally coming out with an official WFH policy and while I do hope it affords us more flexibility, I’m not a fan of full-time remote working. If given the option to do whatever I want, I think I’d go in 3-4 days week and work remote 1-2 days. I miss the connections, my routine, being downtown, grabbing lunch or a drink with a friend on a workday. I still don’t have a good at-home office set-up, which I suppose is on me at this point, but we really don’t have a great space to put any of this and I like being able to totally deconstruct my work area on the weekends.
I should have clarified that for my company, only a small fraction of our North America group works out of our offices on a daily basis. Most of the time we are at the client office. So we have to follow client rules and our own company rules. So if the client wants you to be vaccinated, then you best show your card or take an antibody test or whatever comes next. If every client wants you in the office and every client wants you vaccinated, then choosing to not be vaccinated will become an issue.
But we’re rethinking travel right now. It’s one thing to drive to a client office, it’s a whole new world when it comes to getting on an airplane and going to another state or country. The Biogen super spreader event was very very close to home for a lot of people.
Just got my second dose of Pfizer earlier this afternoon. In the observation area, my heart started racing and I got really hot. I couldn’t tell if I was having some kind of adverse reaction or if it was some kind of stress/anxiety response. Debated flagging someone over to check on me, but it subsided. I decided to stay in the observation room longer to make sure I was good. Chalked it up to anxiety and left. Heart started racing again on the way home. I’ve been fine since, and I’m no longer convinced it’s an anxiety response but I also Googled and don’t see any instances of that kind of reaction outside of the reports of those who had severe allergic reactions. So. Currently feeling good but also feel like I’m not off to a great start with potential second dose symptoms.
I’ve mostly worked from home for years except for when clients or the courts require my presence, so I had an easy adjustment period last spring. But I’m ready to get back to in person client meetings and court hearings. Zoom just doesn’t cut it.
First morning after my second Pfizer shot and feeling okay so far, but I know a few people who said their symptoms didn’t hit until 24-36 hours after, so don’t feel like I’m in the clear yet. Had a mild and brief headache last night as I walked the dog after work. My arm is way more sore this time than after the first shot, but after the first shot I did some lightweight dumbbell exercises, so I wonder if that helped.
My arm hurt worse with the second Moderna. I think that’s typical. But the soreness also went away faster.
I heard my cousin in his 30s got the J&J in NC and felt like he had the spins all night long. THAT would suck. I’ll take my fatigue and fever over that.
