As the title states, I have been recalled from furlough. I am very happy to be going back to work, and my boss has informed me of the new safety procedures. I am however a little hesitant. Anybody else here currently working at your works location and not from home? Curious about how other people feel about it. I am lucky that my city is not a “hot spot” for Covid with fewer than 200 cases, but still concerned none the less.
10 Likes
Good luck!!!
I’ve been told that in the coming months, some of us may get furloughed 1 day a pay period (with no pay). And then there may be some lay offs after Sept as well… That’s got me nervous…
Anyway, I am glad you have your job back, even if you are worried about going back with the virus issues.
I worked from home for 9 weeks, and just went back Monday of last week. Yes, I am nervous. I wear gloves anytime I touch paperwork someone else gave me. And, everyone is wearing masks. But, I am also tired of all of this.
Maybe we can be overly paranoid too. I don’t know…
3 Likes
I’ve been going into our office at least once a week for a while now. It seems our employees have gotten into stride with remote work, so I’m honestly not sure we’ll ever have an official “OK everybody back in the office on date X” from leadership.
In my personal experience, it’s pretty much the same as before, except remembering to don a mask when walking around. But that’s easy when there’s only ~10 people in a building meant for 200.
I’ve been at work every day since lockdown started. Our company has been producing more than ever (we were also producing disinfectant, for example, over and above our normal products). Working in IT, I had to be in the office every day to ensure that the other back-office workers could work from home.
A lot of our work could be done at home, but some tasks, such as physically resetting firewalls when the VPN locks up can only be done on site. 2 of my colleagues have medical conditions that put them in a higher risk category, so they worked from home and the boss and myself were on-site.
We had disinfectant available and we were already in a separate building and just the 2 of us, so we could keep our distance most of the time.
I have asthma, so I haven’t been wearing a mask at work, I can’t breathe when I wear a mask for more than a few minutes, I only really wear a mask when I go shopping once a week for about 30 - 40 minutes, by the time I’m out of the shop, I’m gasping for air.
6 Likes
This is something I wouldn’t have even thought of. How people with asthma would deal with having to wear masks. Apparently, wearing masks and gloves is part of our safety procedures at my work. I go back tomorrow and I am not sure what to expect really. Covid has truely transformed our society.
1 Like
Be sure you use clean gloves after you touch anything
1 Like
Good luck. I have been one of the lucky ones…I retired on November 29th just before COVID hit so staying home is basically my job now!
6 Likes
Lucky you 
3 Likes
Ive been working through this whole ordeal. The company I work for as taken things very seriously and followed the suggested procedures. They require face masks, have an access monitor that checks employee face ID and temp at the entry point and wont unlock the door unless everything is good. They have maintenance go around and spray all door knobs, etc twice a day and have a sanitizing company come in every other week to everything. All cubicles have been moved so everyone is at least 6 feet from one another. I feel relatively safe.
3 Likes
I have been working throughout Covid in an Amazon warehouse since our business closed for Covid. The earliest we are allowed to open is early July, this has yet to be confirmed though.
Wearing a mask is fine but does make you hotter if doing something physical. People who can’t wear masks are wearing face shields.
The social distancing takes some getting used to. Standing 2mtrs apart is not natural and the urge to pull your mask down when you speak to someone was intense for me at the beginning 
I found being at work safer in a way as it is a controlled environment with rules and people monitoring. Out in the street/in public is a different matter with people doing whatever they feel like. I was in hospital a few weeks back for a couple of days and they had a fraction of the Covid procedures in place than at work. For example the nurses did not wear masks in the reception outside the ward and only put them on if they remembered when entering the ward. Consultants and people taking me for scans etc did not wear masks. I suppose the Hospital is under less commercial pressure not to get shut down.
I’m sure you will feel fine about it soon as you get used to the new norm! And there are some bonuses too! No colleague bad breath moments and if you get your lunch stuck in your teeth no one will know!
4 Likes
I feel your concern completely. I just started working on Monday after being furloughed since mid March. So it was nice to have a job again. And we are taking crazy measures. We’ve spent the last three days getting ready for customers on Thursday. We do have a lot of cases down here in the Bay Area, so I am nervous for sure. I’m also older so that adds to my anxiousness. And I’ve gone through cancer. So it’s definitely not something I decided lightly when they said we could come back. I’m still on the fence honestly, three days in. But to give them a fair shake again we are doing so much. We have sanitizing stations, we have n95 masks, we have gloves, we have plexi shields, etc etc. Fingers crossed.
1 Like
I just looked at the figures for Germany. Unemployment has risen from 5.3% to 6.1% from the end of last year to May - from 2.3 milion up to 2.8 million. A further 1.06 million are on reduced working hours (subsidised by the government for 80% of the salary, up to 2,000€ a month).
1 Like
The unemployment figures for July are up around 635,000 year-on-year, but still hovering under the 3 million mark at 2.91 million. But the Agentur für Arbeit (Department for Work) says that the numbers aren’t caused (purely) by Corona, as fewer companies employ new workers during the summer period, when most are taking their annual leave.
You also have the end of training/schooling so people are suddenly finished with their education/apprenticeships and looking for work. The market usually picks up again in late August, early September.
The agency said that the heavy use of the governments offer of short-working hours (the government will cover the first 2,000€ of people on reduced hours/furloughed) has helped keep the unemployment situation relatively stable. In May there was a record high of over 6 million on reduced hours, for July the number has dropped to 191,000.