To think life will be pretty much normal by early 2021?

[itsaweddingone]

I hope we are! A colleague said today (he has no extra knowledge or info) that he can't see us being back in the office before 2021.

Do you think Covid will be mostly behind us by then or we will still be living with restrictions?

I work for the nhs and it was hinted at this weekend that we won’t be going back to normal office ways of working for a long time. 18 months is often dropped into conversation but without any actual official conversion being had. I think I’ll be WFH for a fair few months to come. I wouldn’t be shocked if I didn’t go back to the office this side of Christmas.

Not meaning to bang on about restaurant covers lol but I think any owner would be happier to reconfigure their business model in order to stay open and stay in business, not necessarily pushing up prices.

Many can't afford to do that. Restaurants operate on pretty tight margins as it is, and require a full house at least at weekends in order to get by. If they're having to reduce their covers by 50%, while retaining the same overhead costs, then that simply won't be a viable option for many of them and sadly quite a few will go out of business.

I do think the Wagamama "canteen" style has gone forever though

"Forever" is an awful long time. Not sure we can make such sweeping predictions on current evidence.

This is yet another very divisive issue in the UK, probably all over the world: pro v anti lockdown.

We had to do this immediately when we got told we were working from home - i had assumed that everyone would have had to carry out a DSE assessment but of course they wouldn’t! that was naive of me!

I'm hoping so.

I hope it will be largely back to normal by then. Certainly more normal than now. There will doubtless be a lag in certain areas, e.g. there isn’t much filming going on at the moment, so cinemas may delay reopening beyond early 2021 - I wonder if awards season (Oscars, etc.) will go ahead?

However my company seems to be aiming to keep office workers WFH for the foreseeable future. I’m actually a bit scared that their timeframe for us all being in the office as normal currently seems to be “in 1 or 2 years” - presumably this is just the worst case scenario.

No, I think they are correct. I originally thought we might be going back in September when everyone was saying June, but I know think it won't be till at least January if there isn't a second peak and there isn't a winter lockdown.

Thank u...1st bit of sense i have read

Oh, and you're all forgetting a no deal Brexit, which will make lockdown look like a walk in the park.

Keeping positive then riceuten

May as well just top myself now

But will Devon and Cornwall open by then, we may have international travel, full time work and school, but we still need to shield Devon and Cornwall based on a number of other posts!

Universities seem to want to be far from normal so that will effect my family greatly if DD drop out.

I've been thinking a lot about my current public sector workplace and I just don't see how we can return safely.

At HQ, we share our building with 4 other companies. We have a shared entrance, shared stairs, shared lifts. Who knows what these other companies will be doing in terms of H&S, if anything at all?

And each floor is open plan, with lots of desks very close together but a hot desking system - so many more staff than we have desks for.

We have open plan kitchen areas and 3 toilets each for the males and females (we already argued this wasn't enough).

Then there are the local offices which are customer facing, so you've got maybe 20 members of the public coming in every day - who knows if they have the virus or not? The work of our local staff is not just reception work - we have to be up close with the customer, helping them with paperwork etc.

Some of the local offices are in busy high streets or even shopping centres. Some other local offices are in offices buildings shared with other companies.

Some staff are out in the community - visiting schools, colleges, workplaces, prisons, hospitals etc.

Its going to be a bloody nightmare keeping us all safe. So my thoughts on what they may do are one of the following options:

1, tell us all to come back to work and cross our fingers - the unions wouldn't accept this and the HSE would probably step in

2, tell us all to work from home forever - some could do this, those doing community work couldn't

3, a blended approach - but even part time in the office will have the risks outlined above

4, buying new premises so we are more spread out - I don't see this happening. They won't want to spend money!

5, dismissals / voluntary redundancies

With the sheer number of people who've flouted rules, laws and guidance right from the weeks before lockdown, I fear that "normal" will be a long way off.

If people don't wash their hands, don't catch coughs/sneezes, continue to spit, continue to get into eachother's personal space, etc then it'll just be wave after wave, lockdown after lockdown.

People continued to go on holiday, to Liverpool football match, to Cheltenham races, despite having symptoms - you really can't cure that kind of gross stupidity and selfishness.

BBC is saying universities will be moving to online teaching only 2020-21. Manchester and Cambridge first to confirm.

This will inevitably affect some students much more than others - those who don't have lovely spacious rooms to study in, with full tech and reliable broadband, supportive parents, a knowledge of what's expected of them, and the confidence to contact tutors, student support, etc via Zoom or Teams or similar. And those studying medical subjects, courses needing fieldwork ... And those with additional needs ...

So sad.

The university where I teach has said we need to teach online AND in person from September. We are not online teaching only. I’m hoping I personally will be able to continue with online teaching as I’m in the shielding category and students have given positive feedback about my online teaching so far. Students in the hardship category were loaned brand new laptops. We are doing all we can in an impossible situation that isn’t ideal for anyone.

Surely lectures are utterly shite things that do little for everyone involved in them, moving them to online is sensible, makes it more likely hung over students make it.

The tutor groups, classes, workshops, practicals etc. is where the actual productive interaction happens, not in the lectures. If those go, that's where the real problems for students will be.

BBC is saying universities will be moving to online teaching only 2020-21. Manchester and Cambridge first to confirm.

Don't know about Manchester but Cambridge isn't quite moving to online teaching only. Lectures will be done online but they are hoping that tutorials and other smaller group work can be done in person. They've also said their decisions could be reviewed depending on what the advice is.

My husband has been told not to expect to be back in the office this year. That’s just his team though who don’t benefit massively from being in the office (they work solely on computers and the team is spread across the world) so they will be last back, staff in other teams who benefit more from actually being the office will be back relatively soon. So life for us will be ‘different’ for the rest of the year!

Perhaps not normal as we knew it before but I can’t wait to feel like I’m really living rather than just existing again.

I know lots of people are absolutely loving lockdown and spending time with their families but I don’t have kids and me and DH are both still working, so we don’t really have any of the positives. Apart from our jobs ofc.

If we can up our game in terms of hygiene and precautions then I’m ready to come out of lockdown ASAP. I’m ready to take my chances with the virus now because to me this kind of life is utterly pointless.

Seminars and small group teaching as well as tutorials are currently also happening online via similar software to Zoom. I’ve taken part in these as both a tutor and as part of staff training and they’ve worked very well.

My university proposes all lectures are online in September and that most small group teaching scenarios go ahead in person with social distancing observed. Libraries will be open under restricted hours. Practicals where social distancing can be observed will go ahead.

In terms of the tuition fees, we’ve been working harder than ever (personally 8am until 11pm plus in the night sometimes) and I don’t think it’s fair to demand a reduction when we are still doing our jobs. We’ve had to essentially run two forms of teaching at no notice and prepare for two or three teaching scenarios next year as well as adapting all of this year’s end of year assessments.

Of course, all of our plans could be up in the air if the government don’t allow us to reopen campuses. In terms of “student life”, of course it’s going to be disrupted if pubs, clubs and other venues are closed. Again, that’s not the teaching staff’s fault, it’s the epidemic.

There is no ideal scenario right now. Entirely online and we risk alienating the economically deprived and it’s impossible for some subjects to obtain the practical experience they need. Entirely in person and we risk the health of the most vulnerable students and staff, essentially discriminating against them.

Then of course there is the fact that almost everyone is ill with some form of “Fresher’s Flu” from Late September to the end of January. Under current guidelines, it will be an endless merry go round of 14 day isolation, Covid or not.

A lot of the university life and experience will be missed which is why a lot of kids apply to go there

Which is exactly why DS is now seriously thinking of just not bothering. He can get a workplace position that gets him to a professional qualification in less time than the Uni route. He was intended to do a Maths degree followed by a career in finance/IT, but his second choice has always been to get a trainee job towards Chartered Accoutancy which can then be used to get a career in finance/IT. The only thing that appealed about Uni was that he could fly the nest and make lots of new friends in a different city (he's a bit introverted at school/home). The thoughts of studying at home or moving to Uni and having to study locked in his room just don't appeal to him at all. The thoughts of racking up £50k of debt for the privilege is crazy when he could get a job for the same qualification and earn along the way and end up qualified with no debt. I think Unis are seriously going to regret making hasty decisions as they're going to see their student numbers plummet.

Seems nearly one fifth of students will choose to defer if courses go online only. Can't say I blame them, but in addition to the steep fall-off in lucrative international student enrollments, it's going to be a massive blow to the unis' finances.

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/20/uk-universities-facing-760m-hit-one-in-five-students-plan-defer

I think Unis are seriously going to regret making hasty decisions as they're going to see their student numbers plummet.

I can assure you the decisions are not being made in haste. Those in charge are in regular contact with the Government and their Advisors (such as Zoom Meetings with Patrick Vallance).

We are aware that our sector is in crisis and the government will not bail universities out. Universities are not entitled to any help. Some will close. Many of us will lose jobs. But it’s not our fault. Our hands are tied to a large extent and we have to operate safely and legally under the Government’s guidelines.