Coronavirus Forces World's Largest Work-From-Home Experiment (bloomberg.com) 29
Thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, working from home is no longer a privilege, it's a necessity. From a report: While factories, shops, hotels and restaurants are warning about plunging foot traffic that is transforming city centers into ghost towns, behind the closed doors of apartments and suburban homes, thousands of businesses are trying to figure out how to stay operational in a virtual world. "It's a good opportunity for us to test working from home at scale," said Alvin Foo, managing director of Reprise Digital, a Shanghai ad agency with 400 people that's part of Interpublic Group. "Obviously, not easy for a creative ad agency that brainstorms a lot in person." It's going to mean a lot of video chats and phone calls, he said. The cohorts working from home are about to grow into armies. At the moment, most people in China are still on vacation for the Lunar New Year. But as Chinese companies begin to restart operations, it's likely to usher in the world's largest work-from-home experiment.
That means a lot more people trying to organize client meetings and group discussions via videochat apps, or discussing plans on productivity software platforms like WeChat Work or Bytedance's Slack-like Lark. The vanguards for the new model of scattered employees are the Chinese financial centers of Hong Kong and Shanghai, cities with central business districts that rely on hundreds of thousands of office workers in finance, logistics, insurance, law and other white-collar jobs. One Hong Kong banker said he's going to extend an overseas vacation, as he can work from anywhere with a laptop and a phone. Others say they are using the time typically spent wining and dining clients to clear their backlog of travel expenses. One said he's shifted focus to deals in Southeast Asia.
That means a lot more people trying to organize client meetings and group discussions via videochat apps, or discussing plans on productivity software platforms like WeChat Work or Bytedance's Slack-like Lark. The vanguards for the new model of scattered employees are the Chinese financial centers of Hong Kong and Shanghai, cities with central business districts that rely on hundreds of thousands of office workers in finance, logistics, insurance, law and other white-collar jobs. One Hong Kong banker said he's going to extend an overseas vacation, as he can work from anywhere with a laptop and a phone. Others say they are using the time typically spent wining and dining clients to clear their backlog of travel expenses. One said he's shifted focus to deals in Southeast Asia.
been done in the USA (Score:3)
When Sandy hit about a decade ago NYC was virtually closed for a week or two. Most people worked from home. Same with some of the subway workers' strikes. The ones in the last 10 years or so people just work remotely and not a big deal anymore
Re:been done in the USA (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure it has been done in the USA and many other countries and generally works very well.
Then...
IBM and some others decided to turn back the clock and put an end to it and demand that everyone sits at their desks at a corporate site 9-5, 5 days a week.
That's progress... or not? YMMV.
Re: (Score:2)
At least some of the companies going back from remote work to mandatory trips to the office were doing so at a time when they wanted to get rid of employees. So productivity may not have been the driving force there.
Wrong. (Score:1)
Not everyone is a computer worker. Garbage men cannot do their job from a computer. Beat cops have to walk the beat. Symphony musicians have to practice together. A store clerk has to be at the register. Bakers have to make their bread in the oven. Etc.
NYC is not full of coders and webmasters.
Re: (Score:3)
"NYC is not full of coders and webmasters."
Exactly, and this is where I think San Francisco/Silicon Valley's reality distortion bubble is a huge hinderance. There are still a lot of jobs that need physical doing. Robots are not doing skilled trades work, or on call in the ER, or waiting tables, or checking people out at the supermarket (OK, the last one is being done poorly now.)
When you live in a place like SF/SV where the vast majority of "work" involves coding away on your sticker-laden MacBook Pro, and
Not easy? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Obviously, not easy for a creative ad agency"
I see a creative ad agency as one of the... easiest... to work from home.
Try doing it with a manufacturing plant, delivery service, or restaurant.
Re:Not easy? (Score:5, Funny)
"Obviously, not easy for a creative ad agency"
I see a creative ad agency as one of the... easiest... to work from home.
You don't understand. A very important part of the creative process is that people have to see you being creative. How are people going to know you're creative if you're stuck at home where people can't see your Apple products, colorful and sugar laden frozen "cofffee", and your haircut that makes you look like a raider from Fallout? Do you really expect someone to be able to work and come up with things as vital to society as ad campaigns in conditions like that?
Re:Not easy? (Score:5, Funny)
You win the internet this morning.
Re: (Score:3)
Creativity is generating novel and useful solutions to problems.
Now as a software designer, I *have* worked solo from my home in the past and you can do that job that way, although it's not ideal. But the thing is in my field it usually becomes clear pretty quickly if a brainstorm is paying off, because things start falling into place.
I imagine advertising isn't like that. You could easily spend a week working on an idea that has an obvious problem. In fact from time to time such bad ideas [youtu.be] still manage t
Re: (Score:2)
That ad triggered a few people who are apparently professional offense artists.
Better examples include "clean coal" using "16 tons" as a theme song.
Re: (Score:3)
Plus my Mom makes me leave the basement and says that going to work is "good for me".
Re: (Score:3)
Tell your mom to think of the rest of society and take one for the team.
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Total burn.
I don't think we're totally ready yet (Score:4)
There are a few forces that I think are preventing work from home for most people. First, you really do have a potential "class" issue where people who need to be at work are very different from those who don't...and this can be anything from restaurant workers to doctors and teachers. I can see a lot of resentment breeding from saying, Oh, yeah, the office...well I'm a "creative" so I don't have to come in." -- vs. the person who may be doing just as demanding a job but has to work a shift where they're physically present.
The second is still control, in 2 flavors. The first flavor is the micromanaging 1950s boss that wishes things could go back to the way they were when people sat in an endless field of identical desks with typewriters and they could physically oversee you working. We're seeing this making a return in the era of Google style open office floor plans with cafeteria tables instead of personal space. Flavor #2 is this collaboration fantasy that the management consultants are taking from startups and selling to normal businesses. They're selling this "digital transformation" fantasy that sticking everyone together in one big room and making them stare at each other is going to generate the next multi-billion dollar idea. Unfortunately, no one has told them that 85% of workers are completely disengaged with their work and have no desire to go skipping merrily through the next sprint with their collaboration-buddy.
I think we're going to be stuck in a hybrid mode for quite a while. Personally, I like the ability my employer gives me to work from home a reasonable number of days a week, balanced with some physical presence. I have 2 kids and a pretty hectic activity schedule, so I'm also happy with the ability to work the odd hour or two at non-standard times so I can do something during the day. If we can just push for flexibility and a healthy boundary between your work and personal life, then I think we can make what we have work for a while, until the Star Trek replicators replace the need to staff physical locations.
Re: (Score:2)
First, you really do have a potential "class" issue where people who need to be at work are very different from those who don't...and this can be anything from restaurant workers to doctors and teachers. I can see a lot of resentment breeding from saying, Oh, yeah, the office...well I'm a "creative" so I don't have to come in." -- vs. the person who may be doing just as demanding a job but has to work a shift where they're physically present.
About as much resentment as one spouse making a lot more money than the other. Which is why it doesn't happen.
Re: (Score:1)
There are a few forces that I think are preventing work from home for most people. First, you really do have a potential "class" issue where people who need to be at work are very different from those who don't...and this can be anything from restaurant workers to doctors and teachers. I can see a lot of resentment breeding from saying, Oh, yeah, the office...well I'm a "creative" so I don't have to come in." -- vs. the person who may be doing just as demanding a job but has to work a shift where they're physically present...
Not really a good argument, since it already applies today. Don't like coming into an office where you need to be physically present? Then perhaps you need to find a new job instead of breeding resentment. I don't like not being paid a million dollars for my job. I can either pointlessly bitch about that and breed all kinds of resentment towards millionaires, or I can go do something about it. Same applies for the "non-creatives" who are chained to their physical job all day. Don't like your job anym
Made coffee at home (Score:2)
Congress should do the same (Score:3)
They should spend little, if any time in DC. The upsides are being closer to their constituents and further from K-street lobbyists.
50 cent army (Score:2)
Looks like China will have to scale their censorship army. Who's gonna read through all that newly created virtual office-chatter traffic?
They should do this for the flu (Score:2)
The coronavirus is less serious than the flu. Should everyone stay at home & telecommute every winter/flu season?
The media reporting on this coronavirus outbreak is typical of what our media has become today: Every publication clamouring for attention to bring in revenue from advertising, often from Google. They don't care if it's fair, proportionate, balanced, or true, as long as they get their page views & keep the money rolling in. There's got to be a better way to do news.
Re: (Score:2)
The scope of the flu virus is well known. The number of coronavirus patients is increasing exponentially and we don't know when that will stop. That's much more dangerous and demands many more precautions.
Hysteria Forces World's Largest Work-From-Home Exp (Score:2)
There, FTFY.
As other posters have noted, the flu is an order of magnitude worse, but nobody is shutting down cities for that.
food delivery drivers are the new infection vector (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Food deliveries restricted to pancakes and pizza.
It's the only thing we can slide under the door.