topic Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread in Off-Topic

The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:09:44 GMT

(jf the Community Managers want to shift this thread elsewhere feel free but thought I'd start it here.

As am Asthmatic I requested to work from home and it was agreed as 99.99% of the work I do can be done from a laptop as I 'do IT' for a large organisation but it looks like most people that can have now been instructed to work from home across the organisation.

By the sounds of it the measures might stay in place for 18 months, think I might go stir crazy if that's the case as it is already a tad frustrating as I'd normally go and see someone at their desk if I needed to collaborate with them on something.

Anyone else working from home and want to share their thoughts?

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

pgn — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:24:02 GMT

Working on a laptop is all well and good - but at the office, I have a docking station with a nice dual-display setup, necessary for teleconferencing and sharing material with others on the call, whilst being able to reference other material on the 2nd display.

I miss the second display when working off the laptop at home all day.

Having to use PC audio can be limiting as well.

Early days yet, I'd love to see the ergonomics report on how I work at home vs in the office

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Cleoriff — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:27:32 GMT

Fortunately I am retired now, so nothing of any value to add to your thread @Anonymous

Having said that, there has been a request for retired nurses to return to work. In my case that won't be happening anytime soon.

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:42:48 GMT

@pgn wrote:
Working on a laptop is all well and good - but at the office, I have a docking station with a nice dual-display setup, necessary for teleconferencing and sharing material with others on the call, whilst being able to reference other material on the 2nd display.

I miss the second display when working off the laptop at home all day.

Having to use PC audio can be limiting as well.

Early days yet, I'd love to see the ergonomics report on how I work at home vs in the office

Yep, got a dual setup myself in the office with a nice beefy i7 based desktop with 16GB (similar to my own system but it's got a 9th Gen i7, 32 GB RAM and a GTX 1660 graphics card but alas no room for a dual-screen setup but am ok with single screen gaming.

I have to use an i5 based laptop with 8GB RAM with work's Windows 10 image on (I have no input into what gets baked into the image but if can bog a machine down and the fan in this thing has been whistling all day even though it's well ventilated, when am allowed to go back into the office after all this is done think I'll be negotiating to see if the Boss will let me buy some extra RAM for it.

I've connected it to cheapo makeshift KVM which consists of a USB switchbox so I can use my mouse and keyboard and an HDMI switchbox to use with my own monitor.

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:43:54 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:
Fortunately I am retired now, so nothing of any value to add to your thread @Anonymous
Having said that, there has been a request for retired nurses to return to work. In my case that won't be happening anytime soon.

You always add value @Cleoriff

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

sheepdog — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:49:37 GMT

Been working at home for the best part of 10 years now. The odd trip to an office when needed as basically the stuff I was doing meant I was the only person who knew so an office thing was more annoying being in it and having to put up with the noise let alone the side conversations. Overtime/weekend working does become more relaxed and sometimes enjoyable to do as there is no added pressure from being in an office with management vultures around.

Well the key to working from home is to make sure you are separated from the rest of the house. I'm fortunate in that we converted the garage to my office so there is no real distraction. Apart from the washing machine in the other part of the conversion but thats what earphones are for! The other part is that you need to be disciplined and not go off and do other things. Keep a routine and literally do your hours (within reason). No eating at your desk at lunchtime unless absolutely necessary! I go off and watch tv or go out shopping.

Also get yourself a good chair. Spend money on it as you will never regret it.

Over the years I've gone from a laptop with having an additional screen shared by kvm to doing this last year after getting a new work laptop

but the upper left one was a bit fussy with power so I bought a proper 27" one (and for fun had 5 going but back down to 4 screens now). If you think that's excessive, I have to work with 4 different remote desktops plus email and other things going. Think that setup shown used a couple of usb3 hdmi adapters and the hdmi port but the current one uses usb-c which the monitor powers the laptop and daisy chain links to the small monitor. Somewhere - and its an aladdins cave of cables and other 'parts' - behind the screens is a usb switch so I can use the keyboard/mouse with my own PC. Which does have the ability to do connect 4+ monitors....

Other tech - I've mentioned many times I dropped the landline and gone 4G which has been incredibly more reliable than landline. The bonus being that I use VOIP/SIP as a backup to the mobile phone though I must point out that I do still have access to the house's landline/broadband as a backup which is connected via homeplug as well. So unless the battery runs out because the mains power outage is taking ages, I'm always connected to the outside world in someway. Pro-tip: always have a backup system in place even if it means temporarily relocating. Trust me, I've done that more than once.

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:17:03 GMT

Yes yes boys you've all got nice toys!

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

gmarkj — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:25:42 GMT

Very jealous of that lot!
I used to have a dock station with 2 monitors running plus the monitor screen, but had to give that back (boo!) so only using 1.
Currently in the office (but have just been told that will be at home tomorrow) and only using laptop screen - not fun trying to do everything on a 14" screen when used to being on a 20+" external screen.
At home have a very old monitor (think it is a 17") so will use that but am looking at getting a better, bigger one (21 or bigger).

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Cleoriff — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:58:23 GMT

I just love all the cats @sheepdog

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Marjo — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 10:49:59 GMT

Great thread @Anonymous - it would be nice to see some supportive messages and ideas on the community for those who are working from home. I am one of them too.

Sounds pretty simple but for me having the radio on in the background is super important so I don't start feeling like the walls are closing in. Also having regular video calls and virtual team meetings with colleagues I think is super important, even just to catch up or have a virtual breakfast together and discuss the tasks of the day. It is much easier to fall out of the loop on what's going on with other teams when isolated at home.

Cool cats @sheepdog

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

ComaChameleon — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 23:32:42 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:
Fortunately I am retired now, so nothing of any value to add to your thread @Anonymous
Having said that, there has been a request for retired nurses to return to work. In my case that won't be happening anytime soon.

They want to do the same here. So putting the high-risk-groups on the front line...

I hope all the polititians get an idea of who is the most important and set the wages higher now.

I would be VERY glad to work from home. It's way safer then working with potential patiens 😞

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Martin-O2 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 15:06:19 GMT

Brilliant thread @Anonymous! It's going to be a big adjustment for a lot of people so I think a place to share tips is a great idea.

From my personal experience I've found having a dedicated work space at home really helps. Weather it's a desk somewhere in the home or just being in a different room to where you usually relax it helps you get your work cap on and keep work and personal separate even though they're happening in the same place.

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:24:35 GMT

Well, three days in and it's going ok.

Don't have time to feel lonely as the calls through my laptop don't stop as people are being sent home department by department so I've been helping them link laptops to their Wi-Fi and sorting out problems connecting to various systems and the boss and my colleagues are in touch via Instant Message.

Am not normally a lunch person but I have been moving away from my desk and having something while I've been working from home though a couple of warm all Butter Croissants (with some addtional butter) and a mug of Tea probably isn't the best choice, damn tasty though!

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

sheepdog — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 23:12:17 GMT

Definitely make time to get away from the desk even it means standing up and looking out the window. Good for the posture as well as your muscules get to remember they have another function!

Sudoko is strangely a nice way to take your mind off the screen though try Kakuro if you want something along those lines to challenge you (paper versions of course).

You might start finding yourself discovering a new hobby with the extra time you suddenly find yourself with. Or a musical instrument or three

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Cleoriff — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 23:14:12 GMT

@sheepdog wrote:
Definitely make time to get away from the desk even it means standing up and looking out the window. Good for the posture as well as your muscules get to remember they have another function!

Sudoko is strangely a nice way to take your mind off the screen though try Kakuro if you want something along those lines to challenge you (paper versions of course).

You might start finding yourself discovering a new hobby with the extra time you suddenly find yourself with. Or a musical instrument or three

WOT? No cat videos @sheepdog ?

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

sheepdog — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 23:20:41 GMT

@Cleoriff oh yeah but moved onto Huskeys and Malamutes at the moment. I have no idea how that happened either

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 23:05:57 GMT

Such is the demand from people who have just been handed laptops the boss asked who wanted to do overtime this weekend.

I politely declined because while I wouldn't normally pass up extra cash, it's been so busy and I'll admit it's been a bit of a mental adjustment for me so am absolutely cream crackered.

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

pgn — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 06:55:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Such is the demand from people who have just been handed laptops the boss asked who wanted to do overtime this weekend.

I politely declined because while I wouldn't normally pass up extra cash, it's been so busy and I'll admit it's been a bit of a mental adjustment for me so am absolutely cream crackered.

Funny how life goes on for the boss, regardless of the mayhem around him/her. 😖

Re: The 'Working from Home' support thread

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 19:34:01 GMT

@pgn wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Such is the demand from people who have just been handed laptops the boss asked who wanted to do overtime this weekend.

I politely declined because while I wouldn't normally pass up extra cash, it's been so busy and I'll admit it's been a bit of a mental adjustment for me so am absolutely cream crackered.

Funny how life goes on for the boss, regardless of the mayhem around him/her. 😖

Hmmmm

Not going into detail but suffice to say, when this is over I'll be dusting off my CV I think.