Any thoughts on when offices can open in SF? (homes, school)

[cheezeburger]

Looks like tech is being conservative in their timeline but what about offices (eg finance) that want workers to return ASAP? City of SF doesn’t seem to have a timeline for when nonessential office workers can return yet... does anyone know? Or is it going to be the last thing to open once we are all vaccinated

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by cheezeburger

Looks like tech is being conservative in their timeline but what about offices (eg finance) that want workers to return ASAP? City of SF doesn’t seem to have a timeline for when nonessential office workers can return yet... does anyone know? Or is it going to be the last thing to open once we are all vaccinated

Having worked in both Financial Services and Tech, I am not surprised that the former is requiring employees to return. That industry is much more old school in terms of remote working, working from home, etc. I had to have my butt in seat 5x week during work hours. There was a lack of trust overall and a feeling that if you weren't there you weren't working (nevermind that I often had early calls with Europe and late calls with Asia that I had to do remotely, along with lots of PowerPoint deck writing that I did during evenings/weekends). Not at all surprised that Financial Services is going back to the old way of doing things and that they're valuing the mighty $$$ over the safety/well being of their staff.

Tech in general is completely different. Much more egalitarian culture and trust/empowerment has always been part of it. I only came into the office 3x week before COVID and even then had flexible hours to deal with the commute. Many of my co-workers already worked remotely on a permanent basis. I think the remote trend is here to stay for many tech companies, especially since this can be a retention tool to employees (work anywhere) and they can pay workers less in many cases.

[davdaven]

Offices can begin reopening with restrictions as part of the state's orange (3rd) tier. SF is currently in the red (2nd) tier. Assuming a given county can meet requirements for a minimum of 3 weeks, they can progress to the next tier. Theoretically SF offices could reopen soon, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. SF likes to take things slow. With people typically taking time off around the holidays, I don't think things will really pick up until January even if SF enters the orange tier in the next couple months. I don't work in finance but do have a job where I'm expected to be sitting in an office 5x/week (no trust I guess?), and even my employer is not bullish on reopening its offices for everybody.

[SFBayBoomer]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Having worked in both Financial Services and Tech, I am not surprised that the former is requiring employees to return. That industry is much more old school in terms of remote working, working from home, etc. I had to have my butt in seat 5x week during work hours. There was a lack of trust overall and a feeling that if you weren't there you weren't working (nevermind that I often had early calls with Europe and late calls with Asia that I had to do remotely, along with lots of PowerPoint deck writing that I did during evenings/weekends). Not at all surprised that Financial Services is going back to the old way of doing things and that they're valuing the mighty $$$ over the safety/well being of their staff.

Tech in general is completely different. Much more egalitarian culture and trust/empowerment has always been part of it. I only came into the office 3x week before COVID and even then had flexible hours to deal with the commute. Many of my co-workers already worked remotely on a permanent basis. I think the remote trend is here to stay for many tech companies, especially since this can be a retention tool to employees (work anywhere) and they can pay workers less in many cases.

Think of it from the customer's point of view. I think it is very important that anyone who handles customers' private information not work from their homes, that they instead work on company computers in full view of co-workers and supervisors and input data directly onto a screen where it then disappears from the representative's view after that screen is complete . You should not have the ability to write data on paper where you can access it later.

I am glad that Financial Services will go back to the "old way of doing things." We customers also need to be able to visit in person, just as we already can with banks (or some banks, anyway.)

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by SFBayBoomer

Think of it from the customer's point of view. I think it is very important that anyone who handles customers' private information not work from their homes, that they instead work on company computers in full view of co-workers and supervisors and input data directly onto a screen where it then disappears from the representative's view after that screen is complete . You should not have the ability to write data on paper where you can access it later.

I am glad that Financial Services will go back to the "old way of doing things." We customers also need to be able to visit in person, just as we already can with banks (or some banks, anyway.)

True, but not everyone working in Financial Services handles customer information. I work in a support function where it is very seldom (if ever) I come into contact with customer data. It is no different when I went into the high tech area.