dbd33

Today I heard of the first instance of someone moving because of the Coronavirus. "They're never going to open the office again, it'll be remote working forever now, I may as well sell up and move somewhere nice before everyone else does". It's a thought that has crossed my mind but this is someone actually doing it.

scrubbedexpat091

Next step for companies, hmmm do we a Canadian working from home doing this job, or can be outsource to a cheaper country.

dbd33

Companies unconcerned about customer service; Bell and Lowes, for example, have long since outsourced their call centres and many computer systems use "cloud" storage which allows locating the data in the cheapest place in the world this week. I don't know that there's much margin in outsourcing more computer jobs, I've worked on lots of in-sourcing contracts and generally, so long as the workers are paid hourly and have no benefits, they're actually cheaper in Florida than Bangalore and no more expensive here than they would be in India. Companies outsource to, say, Ireland, not because it's cheaper but because the cost is the same and better expertise is available.

The garment industry may be another story..

dbd33

I think this a well written piece on how the current government came to make such a balls up of the pandemic: https://www.newstatesman.com/2020/07...OJkEQKvq373vQk

scrubbedexpat091

True. Tech jobs do seem to be growing in Vancouver with various companies. Makes me wish I was techy type....ha ha but then I find most technology utterly boring in regards to how they work, so probably wouldn't work out well.

Some companies like Purolator have gone a step further and make you deal with their stupid robot assistant help before even letting you get to a human, that is hands down horrible customer service, their stupid robot isn't capable of providing help, asks over and over what you mean, silly thing they have.

Maybe the goal is to frustrate people so they stop trying.


7/11 had to cancel slurpee day this year due to COVID

dbd33

Chick-Fil-A have had that for years. I was never able to drawl enough to order a sandwich.

scrubbedexpat091

I've never been patient enough to wait in their long line.

Zoe Bell

have to admit that Ben and i are mulling this over. We live in the city for the ability to walk everywhere and be close to restaurants and the like

now the appeal of going out is reduced and works has proven that it can be done remotely for both of us......the thought of more hobby space is appealing

DigitalGhost

I think depending on the industry in which you work, I wouldn't count on remote work always being a possibility. Most of the jobs I've seen advertised recently are still trying to recruit for people who can work in their local area and I work in the tech sector which would likely be at the forefront of any home-working revolution, especially considering that on-premises data centres are starting to become less and less common. A lot of businesses will no doubt be doing reviews once they return to normality to figure out how much all the recent home working has cost them in terms of productivity, support and business continuity.

Jerseygirl

We have been at our house for the last 18 months. Initially it was because our daughter was ill and she moved in for several months. Then we were on holiday for approx 3 months...which took us to the beginning of this year. We decided to stay here because we thought there was less chance of getting the virus, although from what I understand there has been very few cases in condos. Although we are down by the lake, we miss being in the city and intend to spend the majority of our time there once this is over.

Danny B

This must be true if it came from the Texas Medical Association...

Atlantic Xpat

My employer - headquartered in the UK but with a global footprint - has just told us that we'll most likely all be working from home until the end of the year, save for business critical roles where measures are already in place to mitigate risks. Since I rarely go into our local office anyway, working from home has been the norm for me for 5 years or so. I do expect some colleagues who have extensive commutes elsewhere in the world to be happy to continue to work from home. In time, I could see some roles becoming permanent WFH and at that point, sure why do you need to work in the burb's or centre of a city & incur the cost when you could move the the country. The problem of course is connectivity. Not so much fibre-to-the-home in the boonies...

Shard

That's an excellent graphic.

scrubbedexpat091

Based on the amount of traffic and rush hour more or less back to normal in Vancouver area, I would say most are no longer working from home.

Anti-mask is moving to Canada, well its always been here just on a smaller scale so less videos surface.

Shard

This is worth watching if you're in the Covid Schmovid camp...

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https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/07/h...ntl/index.html