Who's still working?

My transit job has actually settled into a much improved state for now.

All single passenger scheduled door to door trips.
No changing vehicles, driver swaps etc...same vehicle for the whole shift.
No fares, so no hassling over fares.
If a driver can’t do a shift, the shift just disappears, so no hassling over filling shifts.
Less clusterfuckery, so the radio is quiet.
Hours cut by 5-10 hrs a week, but wage increased by ~30%, so less work for about the same pay.
Much less coworker and passenger interactions, which is wonderful.

It took awhile to get to this point, but for now work has been way better thsn normal. Thank goodness.

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Originally Posted by ill-advised strategy

My transit job has actually settled into a much improved state for now.

All single passenger scheduled door to door trips.
No changing vehicles, driver swaps etc...same vehicle for the whole shift.
No fares, so no hassling over fares.
If a driver can’t do a shift, the shift just disappears, so no hassling over filling shifts.
Less clusterfuckery, so the radio is quiet.
Hours cut by 5-10 hrs a week, but wage increased by ~30%, so less work for about the same pay.
Much less coworker and passenger interactions, which is wonderful.

It took awhile to get to this point, but for now work has been way better thsn normal. Thank goodness.

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Keep on keeping on.

I was very lucky as I managed to save the job. My company has closed two quarantine offices and all conferences are held online

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Originally Posted by riser3

You don't have a second monitor or small TV at home that you plug in? I've been WFH for twelve years and have always run a monitor plugged into the laptop as a second screen.

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My employer finally came around to letting us take equipment home, so brought a 28" monitor home to supplement the laptop. Since we are in a small house, I take it all apart and put it in a closet at the end of the day. No big deal and much more productive when I can have multiple documents open full size.

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Originally Posted by glademaster

I'm sorry to hear that, but it doesn't surprise me at all. I'm not pleased with the fact that Inslee lifted the ban on construction here. Shit is going to flare back up again big time here.

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I don't know that I agree. Construction is being allowed to continue in WA starting today but I don't believe it allows for new starts, only continuation of existing jobsites that were shut down. Oregon, California, Idaho and other states never shut down construction and are seemingly doing fine, provided proper steps with regard to safety and physical distancing are observed.

The agreement brought to the governor included the plan linked below. This plan was developed through a consortium of Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, Associated General Contractors, International Union of Operating Engineers, Association of Washington Business, Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, and Building Industry Association of Washington. It involves best practices for safety training and implementation and is supported by both the trades and contractors.

We've been operating through this with work on projects deemed "essential" with partial crews, due both to lack of other projects that were shut down and the need for social distancing. We've not experienced any issues other than a masonry contractor on one of the jobs that wasn't cooperating with face coverings or distancing. They were kicked off the job within two hours of arrival which, in turn, slowed us down as they needed to complete some work before we could completer ours. Other than that, no issues.

One project we were waiting for, a hotel, was suspended with the initial shutdown but restarted on April 20th. The reason they were allowed to restart was having made the case that their framing and sheathing was weathering and would suffer spoliation from exposure. The State let them proceed, provided they met the safety requirements in the link. This was an exception but I'm sure there are others around the state that received similar consideration. The real losers in the initial shutdown were residential contractors, and owners, where homes were stalled with people stuck between moves and so forth.

There is some risk with the restart of construction but, if other states are evidentiary, I don't believe the risk is particularly high and your prediction of things flaring up big time is without merit. The world keeps turning.

https://www.seattlebuildingtrades.or...quirements.pdf

Attachment 326556

We are still going strong in the bridge construction world. I have over 250 guys in the field scattered over the west. Social distancing seems to be working well for us so far (knocking on wood). Lots and lots of hoops to jump through but we are working through it and keeping our people employed.


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^^ And yet, the Washington Department of Transportation shut down all work other than safety related projects or pressing maintenance work. I never understood that. Of all work in construction, road building is one that involves great social distancing. Everyone is in their own equipment, isolated from all others. It's very easy for workers to maintain distance and yet the State shut them down. That makes no sense to me.

Me too, luckily for us (my company and my employees) Washington is the only state that has decided this. Every other state has been pushing through on construction. I went out on the jobsite Friday night and I have to say it was pleasant to see actual work being done. Not to mention the traffic was light and virtually no drunk drivers out since the bars are all closed (the biggest safety issue we have during night closures).

Exactly on the traffic. What a great time for road construction! With limited traffic, timing is perfect.

No, i am not.

I'm "working" from home, but it's pretty unproductive. Engineering support for a production shop doing special processes, the majority of my job is firefighting with random shit that pops up, which is difficult to do remotely. I have decent access to email and some of the systems I use, but a lot needs to be done through virtual machine which is so overburdened I can't actually get on during normal working hours. Glad to have a paycheck, but it's a little stressful to feel so unproductive.

Montana never stopped construction. But then again we have had very low infection rates. Job sites were being very picky about stacking subs on top of each other and going with much smaller crews on site.

The weather here is very nice for late April, may hit 78 today. I am remaining busy but without the fervor of spring last year.

Seems like some sense of despondency even among those who continue to work.

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Originally Posted by unitofstuff

I'm "working" from home, but it's pretty unproductive. Engineering support for a production shop doing special processes, the majority of my job is firefighting with random shit that pops up, which is difficult to do remotely. I have decent access to email and some of the systems I use, but a lot needs to be done through virtual machine which is so overburdened I can't actually get on during normal working hours. Glad to have a paycheck, but it's a little stressful to feel so unproductive.

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I just started a new job at the very beginning of this. I have worked from home many years at another job, so I understood it, but this is a new gig to me, and more customer facing. Been really challenging now that you can't go see clients. not much work yet for me as I don't have a list of clients. Compound that with the fact that my last work from home gig, the kids were at school and the wife at work. Now? Everyone is home.

I know i am the right person for this job, the interview process was lengthy and i was picked out of about 10 other applicants. They kept me on, knowing there would be a shift in how things were done. Feeling unproductive, trying to do training videos all day is beginning to wear on me. Hang in there everyone. I too am glad to have a paycheck.

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Originally Posted by GoldMember

^^ And yet, the Washington Department of Transportation shut down all work other than safety related projects or pressing maintenance work. I never understood that. Of all work in construction, road building is one that involves great social distancing. Everyone is in their own equipment, isolated from all others. It's very easy for workers to maintain distance and yet the State shut them down. That makes no sense to me.

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It is situationally dependent on the task. Lots of stuff can be done with a good amount of distancing, while other tasks (forming and pouring concrete) is done in very close proximity. Shared power tools is definitely a thing. There is also a lot of work that happens in tight quarters. We have a job in the BART transbay tube that is mostly shut down, because the ventilation system essentially blows the air from one end of the job to the other, across everyone in there. Other than putting everyone in scba, there is no way to deal with that. Pipeline and trench work is very similar with forced air.

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Originally Posted by ill-advised strategy

My transit job has actually settled into a much improved state for now.

All single passenger scheduled door to door trips.
No changing vehicles, driver swaps etc...same vehicle for the whole shift.
No fares, so no hassling over fares.
If a driver can’t do a shift, the shift just disappears, so no hassling over filling shifts.
Less clusterfuckery, so the radio is quiet.
Hours cut by 5-10 hrs a week, but wage increased by ~30%, so less work for about the same pay.
Much less coworker and passenger interactions, which is wonderful.

It took awhile to get to this point, but for now work has been way better thsn normal. Thank goodness.

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Glad to hear they're taking care of you. Overall sounds pretty good right now, and relative job security.

My test was negative, that's good I guess. We have pretty good accuracy on ours these days. I'm still coughing a bit but good to know this isn't the just the beginning of something really bad.

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Originally Posted by beaterdit

Glad to hear they're taking care of you. Overall sounds pretty good right now, and relative job security.

My test was negative, that's good I guess. We have pretty good accuracy on ours these days. I'm still coughing a bit but good to know this isn't the just the beginning of something really bad.

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good to hear beaterdit...Stay safe.

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Originally Posted by DJSapp

It is situationally dependent on the task. Lots of stuff can be done with a good amount of distancing, while other tasks (forming and pouring concrete) is done in very close proximity. Shared power tools is definitely a thing. There is also a lot of work that happens in tight quarters. We have a job in the BART transbay tube that is mostly shut down, because the ventilation system essentially blows the air from one end of the job to the other, across everyone in there. Other than putting everyone in scba, there is no way to deal with that. Pipeline and trench work is very similar with forced air.

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Yes but I think there's a lot of other work along the line of straight building and paving of roadways that got shelved. The kind of work where they need radios to communicate. Social distancing in a lot of that work isn't an issue. I suspect that this provided a good excuse while dealing with Tim Eyman's initiative that gutted much of the transportation budget.

Some of it may be related to site logistics(i.e. transport/from the job site in the era of no carpooling).

I know from some of my contacts in Colorado that they ran into social distancing issues because prior to Covid, they didn't allow any single occupancy vehicles on site. A carpooling/ridesharing plan had to be submitted and approved before we issued a permit there. Our CMO would reject proposals that had an onsite vehicle:worker ratio that wasn't adequate. And we had the resources to go out and enforce that shit (for better or worse, I don't have a dog in that fight).

I don't have any evidence that was part of the thought process in WA, but it was something that they had to confront and address in my previous jurisdiction.

Happy I still have a job. I am new guy on totem pole. 7 weeks in with new company. Been having monthly town halls with management since Covid restrictions put in place. Management is and has been very optimistic and honest. Today's call was less than pleasant, but completely understood at this point. They let 12 go from various biz units. Then came the second choice. Reduce workforce by 40% or ask everyone to take a pay cut (well they didnt ask but.), 4 tier scale based on salary $0-60K 5%, 60-100K 10%, 100-150 20%, and 150K+ 25%. This is for 3 months only. They waited as long as they could so they would only have to do this once.

I will state that the 2 owners (husband and wife) have been taking no salary since the start of this and plan to continue to do so until this mess is over, all other senior management has been taking a 50% pay cut since the start. They only asked employees after they had done all they could. I commend them for this. To me it shows they get it and care. I also like the pay cut instead of losing 1 in every 4 employees. I think i made the right choice taking this leap, i see a bright future for this place as I think they will weather the storm better than many and have opportunities to pick up the pieces of other businesses not so lucky.

Hope everyone is keeping their hopes as high as possible.

Got an email from my director today saying we'll be continuing to work from home until at least 5/18 and quite possibly longer.

My company has announced voluntary layoffs, with involuntary sure to come afterward. They're saying at least a 15% reduction in workforce will be needed but I suspect it will be considerably higher when all is said and done.

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Originally Posted by The AD

Got an email from my director today saying we'll be continuing to work from home until at least 5/18 and quite possibly longer.

My company has announced voluntary layoffs, with involuntary sure to come afterward. They're saying at least a 15% reduction in workforce will be needed but I suspect it will be considerably higher when all is said and done.

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I suspect that my job will remain mostly remote forever (thankfully), aside from client meetings and some in person training since im new when this all is over, but i expect minimal actual "office visits".

I also suspect that when hiring kicks back in for all companies that there will be many opportunities for remote work. Especially tech sector.

WFH is boring as shit, but its awfully nice to hi-5 the kids, kiss the wife and go for a quick Moto-x ride in the middle of the day.


Still working and planning for team expansion about 30% in the 3 months.

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Originally Posted by DJSapp

It is situationally dependent on the task. Lots of stuff can be done with a good amount of distancing, while other tasks (forming and pouring concrete) is done in very close proximity. Shared power tools is definitely a thing. There is also a lot of work that happens in tight quarters. We have a job in the BART transbay tube that is mostly shut down, because the ventilation system essentially blows the air from one end of the job to the other, across everyone in there. Other than putting everyone in scba, there is no way to deal with that. Pipeline and trench work is very similar with forced air.

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I assume you considered and cannot obtain N95s or N95 cartridges on half masks for the foreseeable future.

In Oregon, road work continues on. A little bit of strategy about what projects would require close proximity work and coordation with contractors on schedule though.

My employer announced the mission of no lay offs and chose a 12 month 3% salary reduction and suspension of 401k match instead. They also gave an extra half week vacation per year through 2021 which does nothing for me but I think a good move on their part for those who will benefit from it.

Also noted no employee has to come back to the office until they are comfortable doing so but will begin phasing in the middle of May for those who want to.