Depending on which expert you trust, 25 to 40 percent of the U.S. workforce works from home. Many, if not most, public school students learn – or do not – remotely. Usually from home.
Some people like it. They say that they are more productive and that children are better (if they accept that they have parental input). And that staying home is likely to get or spread COVID-19 among family members. Others say that certain tasks cannot be done properly and effectively from home. And that their children are denied their right to good (as in non-zoom) education. Some who view schools as an educational, partial day care industry cannot wait for their beloved offspring to return to the classroom. Families that include teachers who appear to be more vulnerable to the virus than the children they share the air with have very mixed emotions.
The federal government apparently has one of the best work plans for pandemics. And it has made serious efforts to vaccinate frontline workers who are unable to do their work from home. In contrast, schools follow a wide and often conflicting series of plans. Some had students back and forth between their classroom and their living room. In some places, governors or state education officials make the school or homeschooling call.
What the federal government is doing is critical to people interested in the next in the world of work. Before the coronavirus was hit or recognized, a number of federal agencies focused on work-for-home operations. Like reducing or eliminating it. Part of that was the drain-the-swamp campaign. Part of that was to tackle federal unions that have successfully pushed counting programs. Extended union / worker rights, up to this time last year, were rent-free neighborhoods in federal buildings. Trade unions say the efforts were aimed at protecting workers, including non-members, and enforcing legal contracts. Officials from the Trump administration believed that the previous counting transactions, which were pushed mainly into the House by Democrats, were short taxpayers paying civil servants salaries. The fact that the leaders and many local leaders of all the federal / postal workers’ unions endorsed Democrat Joe Biden on Trump probably did not help.
Now that it looks like the end of the pandemic tunnel, many operations – from schools to social security offices – need to rethink plan B. Do they have to go back to the office / school? And how? And when? In the US with 50 states, there are numerous different plans working side by side. Or in land-for-county conflict. The effect of the risk reward factor is actually rocket science. Plus a great dose of reality and horse sense.
For a change, the government can actually take the lead in the stay-at-home or return-office movement. This could be critical for society at large in the immediate future and for decades to come. Federal News Network’s Nicole Ogrysko recently reported on the new attempt to decide the next step.
In the past, in both recordings and individual conversations, we talked to or heard numerous feeds about the pros and cons of working from home (no traffic, good breathing air, etc.) versus the loss of contact with colleagues ( not to mention customers) and the absence of the wisdom-of-the-crowd effect when you are home alone in your night or PJs, or you watch children watching their teachers on a screen.
Of all the readers I have heard from, I think only a few have said that they want or need to return to the office to do their job properly. And keep their sanity. The vast majority say they do not want to go back, certainly not during a five-day office term. So, what’s going on with you? How do you quit? Where should Uncle Sam as an employer, and the school systems, if our investment in the future (and sometimes babysitter) go from here?
Almost useless factoids
By Alazar Moges
It is estimated that 3 million shipwrecks were spread across the ocean floors across the planet. Some of these wrecks are thousands of years old and can provide precious historical information. A shipwreck by nature is a testament to trade and cultural dialogue between people. It also functions as a time capsule that gives a complete snapshot of life on board during sinking.
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization