Pinch punch it’s 1st Jan
2020 is over and I wasn’t a fan
Covid is still with us and as virulant as ever
We’re keen to be vaccinated to rid us forever
We’re missing our families especially at Christmas
And longing for hugs – we miss them and they miss us
The boffins have vaccines to give us immunity
So we can once again live in community
Working from home will soon recommence
At school, our children will be tested with our consent
It’s a big year for our kids with important exams
But testing as usual isnt right, it’s a sham
They’ve had so much disruption and it’s so unfair
It’s time for governments to change and declare
A different assessment based upon their work
Let’s show understanding, and don’t be a jerk
2020 has at last come to an end
This year ahead can help make ammends
So with good cheer we raise a glass
And wave goodbye to 2020 with a kick up its arse
Tag: remote working
I was thinking about the new month on Friday and always have a race to be the first to say “pinch punch”, especially with my cousin, and I begin to start dreaming about this in context of the current Coronavirus crisis and here’s the result. I hope you like it.
Update .. Added video here https://bit.ly/Trust-Pinch-punch
Pinch punch it’s the 1st of may
The days are flying by, dissolving away
Covid-19 has kept us locked down
And sadly for many they’re wearing a frown
The frustrations are plenty, reaching out for response
Call volumes are soaring, cant meet their wants.
Staff are furloughed, unable to work
They’re being sent home but not to shirk
The questions keep coming, but nobody is there
Automation could help but it’s relatively rare.
Businesses struggling with too few staff
The calls go unanswered, are they having a laugh
Wait times growing lengthy running to hours
We just need something processed to feel empowered
First choice is the smartphone to connect and reach out
But it’s hard to feel valued when you mess us about.
Your site says no contact, you’re all in turmoil
You’re not on your own, we are all going to boil
Nobody is winning, we are all coming last
We need you to help us and please do it fast
Instead of a human perhaps use AI
To automate process with a robotic guy
And when it’s all over, we would embrace IT
Mundane to the robot for access and speed,
And human to human, as its best, we’d accede
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There are it seems, hundreds of different job categories And I dare say that with all the subcategories an order of magnitude more.
The location at which your work is conducted does vary enormously upon the services you are providing, for example in the retail space with the exception of online services it’s very much a brick-and-mortar location and a face to face engagement, therefore, the work location is defined. However, for large swathes of other workers, the location is completely flexible, especially if all you require to carry out your work is a computing device, and telephone capability, plus of course an internet connection.
But it’s not always about what’s possible, because there are so many other factors to consider.
Working in a suitable environment covers a multitude of possibilities, such as having somewhere to sit (or stand) comfortably for several hours, somewhere to sensibly locate your computer, and of course you’ll need nearby power sockets. Decent lighting is also really helpful, as is natural daylight for many. Your location (home say) could be shared during the working day with others which could present challenges to the other or all parties. Some people struggle to work without having others around them, we are after all social creatures! So it’s far from straightforward for many.
Operationally, we know that the advent of cloud services has played a significant role in enabling remote working, but of course, there’s still hardware involved and hardware does occasionally fail, or when coupled with software, get its knickers in a twist and do weird things, causing you to be unable to fulfil your work commitments. Whilst software can usually be triaged and remotely brought back into service, hardware can prove a little more challenging. There are many moving parts to any business including its people, and dispersing the workforce does pose a whole bunch of new challenges, which are surmountable, but not always easily. If you’re able to travel relatively easily to an office location, then it’s an inconvenience to get problems resolved, but more remote workers could find this rather more disruptive.
Given that this is not an exhaustive look at the issues associated with managing a dispersed workforce, it does give us some ideas of the considerations when planning, especially when putting a business continuity plan in place.
So whilst many people have been remote office workers for some time, rolling out a blanket solution isn’t without considerable challenge.
I’m pretty certain that the current covid19 crisis has caught many businesses completely unprepared and realising that it’s not just a technology play.
If I can be of any assistance in your planning or implementation phases, please just shout
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It’s not so easy to sit comfortably over a coffee while reading emails or browsing websites in places like Starbucks since Watchdog pointed out how easy it is for fraudsters to hack into your laptop. The convenience of these wifi hotspots has become such a normal part of our everyday lives that it’s hard to give up, so it’s tempting to trust the computer firewall and lapse into a false sense of security again. Read more at BBC web site and http://www.geid.co.uk
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Many of us were “gazing out of windows” at home yesterday feeling empowered by the snow….What empowered by the snow?
Many years ago, folks would have simply not been able to work at all in weather conditions like these because they could not GET TO WORK, and businesses would have lost thousands of hours of productivity and £££££s as a result. But like me, many folks are location independent, and work is no longer a place that you go to, you simply work wherever you are, and for many people this means a room at home. It could equally mean a quiet corner for an hour in Starbucks 
Flexible working offers a new paradigm to businesses around the globe – take presenteeism for example ( a phrase coined by the BBC I think), whereby people returning to work before they are properly recovered from sickness, infect other members at work – resulting in further lost productivity and more cost ££££££….Now the ability to work remotely allows folks, recovering from illness, but not actually too sick to work the ability to be productive without infecting their colleagues
Remote working – has it’s benefits and (I’m certain) it’s detractors too – what do you think – rather be in the garden building snowmen?
Graham Bunting -The Partner Catalyst 
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