Interesting COVID work place planning note

[horshack.sixpack]

I'm on near constant conference calls with people trying to plan for and deal with COVID in the workplace. It seems that people with most work flexibility going into this are being given more levity than others with regards to where they are allowed to work. For example, Mr. Attorney, if you can get your work done from home, knock yourself out. Mr Paralegal, we will keep the office open unless we are told to close and we expect you to be here.

Repeat the refrain for other disciplines. Of course we all expect that the people producing the goods we need to survive will keep working and they likely will because they may have the least ability to manage cash flow and miss paychecks. Also, if you think about production lines and proximity to other workers and work product being touched by many different hands, it adds up to potential for more blue collar infections.

Before schools closed, I was a positing closing the most affluent school districts for sure. A bunch of them flew all over the place for spring break. My inner city school friends haven't left the neighborhood...

When it's all said and done, I wonder if any data based on socioeconomic status vs infection rates will be available. It would be interesting.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

It's going to be a rude awakening for a lot of the single income physician families. One of the other volunteer soccer coaches at my kids' school is a stay at home dad whose wife is a cardiologist. They were going to go to Hawaii for spring break, but now that schools are out they are just going to go down to the beach for a couple weeks instead. I'd be saving that money and hunkering in at home because she has a profession where she has to work to get paid, will probably be exposed to COVID-19 patients at some point, and if she's out of work from it no money is gonna get made while she's sick.

 

[kired]

My workplace is about 30% office workers and the rest are production / manufacturing. So far everyone that's healthy and hasn't been traveling is expected to come into work. There are plans in place for all of the office workers to be able to work from home (only half of us currently have laptops - but we could easily get them for everyone). But I know there is some reluctance to do that because there would be major backlash from the production side that's expected to still come in and work.

Glad I'm not the one having to make these decisions.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Pipe dream outcome: value of manufacturing and skilled trades gets properly recognized based on figuring out that, while it may not be the only thing that can move the needle in this country, it can certainly be the thing that stops the needle from moving...

 

[SteelCurtain74]

I just read where Detroit is shutting down the car manufacturing factories due to workers concern of the virus.

 

[missouridawg]

Pipe dream outcome: value of manufacturing and skilled trades gets properly recognized based on figuring out that, while it may not be the only thing that can move the needle in this country, it can certainly be the thing that stops the needle from moving...

I really hope we, as a country, learn to diversify our manufacturing base of everything going forward.

 

[Drebin]

Pipe dream outcome: value of manufacturing and skilled trades gets properly recognized based on figuring out that, while it may not be the only thing that can move the needle in this country, it can certainly be the thing that stops the needle from moving...

I don't think there's any doubt that you are going to see a significant spike in manufacturing jobs and skilled labor pay as a result of this. There is going to be a massive push to become less dependent on other countries for goods and products (for example, lessening our dependence on China for certain drugs or drug ingredients). There's a guy in the white house that's taken a lot of **** for America-first policies but there's going to be a lot of folks coming around to that when all is said and done, and it's a big reason why I expect to see a very rapid economic rebound when this is over. It's gonna have a ceiling though if European and Asian markets can't get their acts together.

 

[HamSammich]

I’m a delivery driver for UPS. On vacation this week, but so far our only change of operation is to no longer obtain signatures. Wash your hands and be careful out there.......

 

[CochiseCowbell]

At work I get daily UPS deliveries. I haven't signed anything in years. "Hey Cochise, you got 6 out here." "OK, see you tomorrow."

 

[The Peeper]

No worries unless she gets it cause those patient hearts are going to keep beating and malfunctioning, regularly.

 

[HamSammich]

That’s pretty much the norm with me as well, however we have government contracts with birth certificates as well as contracts with different pharmaceutical companies that have to be signed for. Not to mention firearms and alcohol that require a signature of someone 21 or over.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I don't think there's any doubt that you are going to see a significant spike in manufacturing jobs and skilled labor pay as a result of this. There is going to be a massive push to become less dependent on other countries for goods and products (for example, lessening our dependence on China for certain drugs or drug ingredients). There's a guy in the white house that's taken a lot of **** for America-first policies but there's going to be a lot of folks coming around to that when all is said and done, and it's a big reason why I expect to see a very rapid economic rebound when this is over. It's gonna have a ceiling though if European and Asian markets can't get their acts together.

Our educational system is broken, trying to prepare everyone for college while creating a stigma for those who might pursue a skilled labor job. There's a lot to be said for a solid vo-tech program and don't get me started on revamping high school math to be useful in some way...

 

[ezsoil]

Our educational system is broken, trying to prepare everyone for college while creating a stigma for those who might pursue a skilled labor job. There's a lot to be said for a solid vo-tech program and don't get me started on revamping high school math to be useful in some way...

my wife has served on the board on a non profit with the Texas Lt Governor for Over 20 years and she has been on his *** about this very issue for years going back to when he was on the Education Committee in the Texas Legislature. This year for the first time in nearly thirty years, they are changing the state funding for Texas Districts to allow for and actually give incentives to add vocational education. I can imagine that other states will follow their lead.

 

[dawgoneyall]

It's going to be a rude awakening for a lot of the single income physician families. One of the other volunteer soccer coaches at my kids' school is a stay at home dad whose wife is a cardiologist. They were going to go to Hawaii for spring break, but now that schools are out they are just going to go down to the beach for a couple weeks instead. I'd be saving that money and hunkering in at home because she has a profession where she has to work to get paid, will probably be exposed to COVID-19 patients at some point, and if she's out of work from it no money is gonna get made while she's sick.

Most have disability insurance. But usually takes a month to go into effect (might be some legal issues to resolve). Most physicians can survive a month. But cardiology is not a non-essential profession. She will be NEEDED pretty much every day.

Sorta noticed people don't delay having heart attacks at the most convent time .

Routine...annual...semi-annuals might be rescheduled.

 

[forestdepth]

Our educational system is broken, trying to prepare everyone for college while creating a stigma for those who might pursue a skilled labor job. There's a lot to be said for a solid vo-tech program and don't get me started on revamping high school math to be useful in some way...

Mississippi is decades behind in this regard but things are changing, slowly but surely. I’ve hired maintenance techs, millwrights, toolmakers that easily gross over 6 figures in a LCOL area. I’m not in Mississippi any more but I would say we are just a few years away from work based learning programs and apprenticeships that start in high school so they can catch up with the rest of the country.

 

[KentuckyDawg13]

I work in data science (business intelligence) and we are trying to obtain real-life data models versus the incomplete/obscure repositories that are available via CDC/etc. The problem with most of the data we are receiving is how incomplete it is and formulas are being utilized that affect decision makers. It's all smoke and mirrors currently.

 

[KentuckyDawg13]

Yep, Ford's truck plant here in Louisville KY has been shut down, have a bud that works there.

 

[jblailock]

Weren't we just freaking out over all of the college kids going to the beach for Spring Break?

It's going to be a rude awakening for a lot of the single income physician families. One of the other volunteer soccer coaches at my kids' school is a stay at home dad whose wife is a cardiologist. They were going to go to Hawaii for spring break, but now that schools are out they are just going to go down to the beach for a couple weeks instead. I'd be saving that money and hunkering in at home because she has a profession where she has to work to get paid, will probably be exposed to COVID-19 patients at some point, and if she's out of work from it no money is gonna get made while she's sick.

 

[My Bru]

I work in data science (business intelligence) and we are trying to obtain real-life data models versus the incomplete/obscure repositories that are available via CDC/etc. The problem with most of the data we are receiving is how incomplete it is and formulas are being utilized that affect decision makers. It's all smoke and mirrors currently.

So, why are there people out there (and on this board) pretending that they have all the answers? Demonizing other people for their opinions and what shoulda coulda been done? Seems to me that no one knows ****. The biggest problem with this virus is the unknown and no one, around the world, was prepped.