OT: Work From Home

[HCCForever]

I don't miss working at the office one bit. I am a software developer. I started working from home after moving to Florida in October since most of the people I work with are in India, Utah, Colorado and Tennessee. So I didn't have to worry about work relationships since they were pretty weak anyway. There was some initial resistance from my manager at first which was ridiculous since he works remotely from New Hampshire. COVID has made those type of arguments moot.

The only time we saw each other, except for the folks in India, was 2 to 3 days every 10 weeks for planning. We have not had planning sessions other than zoom since January. It may never happen again since we get just as much done without the company expense.

I'm an old timer so working from home is fine with me and I will be happy to do that until I retire. I used to enjoy having workmates as friends, drinking buddies and athletic teammates but those days are long gone anyway. I used to crack a beer during the workday but I haven't done that in months either since the novelty wore off

 

[temery]

I'm retired, and hope to continue to do so from home.

That's all I got. Good luck.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

anyone else work in manufacturing or similar? I've been at the office/shop throughout the pandemic and don't see a point where I would do otherwise. My role is such that I have the ability to work from home when I feel like it, but generally I like/need to be hands-on with production equipment (CNC mills, lathes, 3D printers, molds, dies, etc)

For engineers (mechanical specifically...not too sure about other fields) I see a big split between the CAD jockeys and the guys that actually get involved with the equipment. Going back to the whole future of college discussion I see a big shift in terms of career path, where if you want the ability to work from home go to college. If you're not too concerned about that go to a trade school.

 

[alexd]

anyone else work in manufacturing or similar? I've been at the office/shop throughout the pandemic and don't see a point where I would do otherwise. My role is such that I have the ability to work from home when I feel like it, but generally I like/need to be hands-on with production equipment (CNC mills, lathes, 3D printers, molds, dies, etc)

For engineers (mechanical specifically...not too sure about other fields) I see a big split between the CAD jockeys and the guys that actually get involved with the equipment. Going back to the whole future of college discussion I see a big shift in terms of career path, where if you want the ability to work from home go to college. If you're not too concerned about that go to a trade school.

I work for one of those huge aerospace companies in CT. Less than half of the office staff are in the office right now. People who can work remotely; Procurement, staff engineers, project managers are doing so. While Ops/Planning, Manuf. Engineers, QE's and such are on site spread out pretty far. Their rule is you must wear a mask unless eating or drinking including while working at your cubicle.

 

[Chin Diesel]

anyone else work in manufacturing or similar? I've been at the office/shop throughout the pandemic and don't see a point where I would do otherwise. My role is such that I have the ability to work from home when I feel like it, but generally I like/need to be hands-on with production equipment (CNC mills, lathes, 3D printers, molds, dies, etc)

For engineers (mechanical specifically...not too sure about other fields) I see a big split between the CAD jockeys and the guys that actually get involved with the equipment. Going back to the whole future of college discussion I see a big shift in terms of career path, where if you want the ability to work from home go to college. If you're not too concerned about that go to a trade school.

I work within aerospace as well. My specific team has been working from home. Some other team members do software work on proprietary information on local servers in a few buildings. No remote access to servers. They've been working on site since March without any issues.
I started working with some customers two weeks ago. They came from outside our facility and had to quarantine for two weeks. We've now been side by side for two weeks. Sometimes masked, sometimes unmasked. As far as I can tell we are all still healthy.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

I work for one of those huge aerospace companies in CT. Less than half of the office staff are in the office right now. People who can work remotely; Procurement, staff engineers, project managers are doing so. While Ops/Planning, Manuf. Engineers, QE's and such are on site spread out pretty far. Their rule is you must wear a mask unless eating or drinking including while working at your cubicle.

I work within aerospace as well. My specific team has been working from home. Some other team members do software work on proprietary information on local servers in a few buildings. No remote access to servers. They've been working on site since March without any issues.
I started working with some customers two weeks ago. They came from outside our facility and had to quarantine for two weeks. We've now been side by side for two weeks. Sometimes masked, sometimes unmasked. As far as I can tell we are all still healthy.

That's pretty similar to our setup now I'm just in a much smaller company. I've always got mask on in the office and tech dev area, but when I'm in the machine shop everyone looks at you weird if you've got one on.

Remote access has helped me so I can use stuff like solidworks and mastercam, but connection is always terrible so I find myself getting frustrated more times than not.

 

[Chin Diesel]

That's pretty similar to our setup now I'm just in a much smaller company. I've always got mask on in the office and tech dev area, but when I'm in the machine shop everyone looks at you weird if you've got one on.

Remote access has helped me so I can use stuff like solidworks and mastercam, but connection is always terrible so I find myself getting frustrated more times than not.

Interesting. I would think a machine shop, with opportunities of inhaling fine particle dust or chemicals, would be prime location for masks and gloves.

The week before labor day had me doing some hands on work and every 15 minutes, as part of the work, we were wiping surfaces with isopropyl alcohol and changes out nitrile gloves several times a day. Even working close quarters I felt very safe.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I think working remotely was already happening with companies selling off large office campuses. Look at IBM in Kingston. The company I worked for shuttered a huge corporate headquarters in western Jersey to move back to its original headquarters in in Union County which was once deemed to small. I spent a couple of days at the Forrestal Center in Princeton and you have massive empty office buildings belonging to some of the largest companies. Those that weren't already vacant have a half dozen cars in the parking lot. How about big box stores? They are all bleeding money and eventually will give in to online purchasing. Macy's for example huge presence in NYC - its only a matter of time before the cost of that presence has to be cut. As for NYC, some leadership would help but I agree with Fishy its dire.

 

[HCCForever]

Interesting articles in The Economist this week talking about the future of work. Different countries have different opinions on whether the office is obsolete. 84% of office workers are back in France while only 40% are back in Great Britain. But more importantly from my perspective is how this affects mass transit. NYC subway system has a $16 billion shortfall. I never took a Metro North to NYC for work but it was nice to have that option to go to MSG or NYC in general.

 

[mussels]

it was nice to have that option to go to MSG

Yes - how this all affects the Big East Tourney is the real issue. Everything else with the work stuff is details.

 

[Lefty2one]

But more importantly from my perspective is how this affects mass transit. NYC subway system has a $16 billion shortfall. I never took a Metro North to NYC for work but it was nice to have that option to go to MSG or NYC in general.

I heard on the radio this morning (from Cuomo or de Blasio's office, can't remember which) that NYC's wealthy should expect a significant tax increase in coming the years to make up for the decline in tax revenue from lost businesses and residents. Good luck with that. If there's one thing the wealthy are good at it's finding tax loopholes to keep their money.

NYC is going to face some serious challenges in the next decade. The city will be fine, but it'll be interesting to follow nonetheless. It's been what, a 25-30 year golden era for NYC? Even with 9/11 and the recession. What goes up always comes down.

 

[August_West]

I think working remotely was already happening with companies selling off large office campuses. Look at IBM in Kingston. The company I worked for shuttered a huge corporate headquarters in western Jersey to move back to its original headquarters in in Union County which was once deemed to small. I spent a couple of days at the Forrestal Center in Princeton and you have massive empty office buildings belonging to some of the largest companies. Those that weren't already vacant have a half dozen cars in the parking lot. How about big box stores? They are all bleeding money and eventually will give in to online purchasing. Macy's for example huge presence in NYC - its only a matter of time before the cost of that presence has to be cut. As for NYC, some leadership would help but I agree with Fishy its dire.

NYC is gonna be just fine.

 

[NJHusky]

NYC's wealthy should expect a significant tax increase in coming the years to make up for the decline in tax revenue from lost businesses and residents. Good luck with that. If there's one thing the wealthy are good at it's finding tax loopholes to keep their money.

What the wealthy are good at is making/keeping money. What Cuomo/DiBlasio fail to realize is that for many/most people that live/work in NYC, this has proven they don't need to stay there. They can live anywhere and come to NY when they want.

The city/state combined max rate is 12.7% i believe. How much higher do they want it go? 15% Someone making 1M can save 125-150k (without investment income)/ year by moving to Miami...That's a lot of plane flights to NY.

David Tepper moving to FL cost NJ 140 million in tax revenue/year...let's see how many NY hedge funds are still in NY in 2022 if they go forward with a tax increase. The people that will get screwed are those that make good money but not enough to be location agnostic

 

[superjohn]

What the wealthy are good at is making/keeping money. What Cuomo/DiBlasio fail to realize is that for many/most people that live/work in NYC, this has proven they don't need to stay there. They can live anywhere and come to NY when they want.

The city/state combined max rate is 12.7% i believe. How much higher do they want it go? 15% Someone making 1M can save 125-150k (without investment income)/ year by moving to Miami...That's a lot of plane flights to NY.

David Tepper moving to FL cost NJ 140 million in tax revenue/year...let's see how many NY hedge funds are still in NY in 2022 if they go forward with a tax increase.

Pritzker is pushing a new progressive tax vote which he says won't effect 97% of people but it's all a sham. If this doesn't effect most people this time it will in the near future and this will just make the weathy leave Chicago and the wealthy burbs. Many would be okay with paying higher taxes if the money went towards balancing the budget and fixing the pension crisis but it's always the same. The politicians just look at it as a license to spend more of our money and they keep going to that well.

 

[NJHusky]

Pritzker is pushing a new progressive tax vote which he says won't effect 97% of people but it's all a sham. If this doesn't effect most people this time it will in the near future and this will just make the weathy leave Chicago and the wealthy burbs. Many would be okay with paying higher taxes if the money went towards balancing the budget and fixing the pension crisis but it's always the same. The politicians just look at it as a license to spend more of our money and they keep going to that well.

Yup...Lot's of folks from Illinois in my part of FL. That 97 % number is nice except when u realize in NJ the top 1% pay 1/3 of the income tax. You don’t need a lot of people leaving to upset the balance

 

[HuskyHawk]

Pritzker is pushing a new progressive tax vote which he says won't effect 97% of people but it's all a sham. If this doesn't effect most people this time it will in the near future and this will just make the weathy leave Chicago and the wealthy burbs. Many would be okay with paying higher taxes if the money went towards balancing the budget and fixing the pension crisis but it's always the same. The politicians just look at it as a license to spend more of our money and they keep going to that well.

I have a couple of very wealthy friends in Chicago. They also have a home in the Utah mountains. Yeah, like they'd put Chicago down as place of employment if that goes through. They don't understand that they need to compete for these people.

 

[superjohn]

I have a couple of very wealthy friends in Chicago. They also have a home in the Utah mountains. Yeah, like they'd put Chicago down as place of employment if that goes through. They don't understand that they need to compete for these people.

We have the highest sales tax and highest property tax in the nation and what do we have to show for it? The worst fiscal crisis in the country and now he's playing his hand to push out all the high and mega high earners. It's easy to bash the mega rich but Chicago needs Ken Griffin.

 

[NJHusky]

We have the highest sales tax and highest property tax in the nation and what do we have to show for it? The worst fiscal crisis in the country and now he's playing his hand to push out all the high and mega high earners. It's easy to bash the mega rich but Chicago needs Ken Griffin.

I'll put the NJ property tax against Illinois any day.. that's a battle you don't want to win