To think some have been given the nod?

[whatnow41]

DH works in an industry that has close links to both healthcare and hospitality. Since March he has noticed a pattern of certain very large customers (national chains of pubs or big brands) seeming to know and respond to lockdown and tier information a few days in advance.

In March I was working as a manager for an organisation that supplied call centre workers for the NHS Covid line. We definitely had some kind of a nod. We were told to get as many people as possible WFH in the 2 weeks before lockdown was announced. Literally getting brand new staff in, trained in a day, and out the door again to WFH.

I now work for a call centre again within a very key industry. Beginning of last week, despite our whole call centre being key workers, we began prep for WFH. The management have always said we can't support staff well enough to support customers on a WFH basis due to tenure. 95% staff have less than 3 months as it's a new site.

The positioning statement from our ceo last week was that we were just doing some business readiness planning "in case Boris announces increased levels of restrictions".

Now on the BBC news channel Boris is warning restrictions may be increased.

Some people get the nod, don't they?

anne you're taking a common sense approach though. The government want full national lockdown.

If you look at this map, my "hard hit" area of london has had 41 deaths with covid since March, we're supposed to be one of the hardest hit areas.

Stop talking sense, as the Talking Heads would say! 😁

The government have the Act in place for two years and I think dont even publish their rationale for Tier numbers.

Leia "I would expect many large companies to have a pandemic business continuity plan, tbh."

Agree.

Doh...ONS map link

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/deathsinvolvingcovid19interactivemap/2020-06-12

It's foresight. Nothing more. If anyone was given advance notice it would leak in two seconds. It usually does anyway! I moved my entire team to home working two weeks before the first lockdown. That gave us time to ensure all equipment and systems were up and running, anything needed was purchased etc. Nobody gave me the nod. It was bloody obvious what was coming.

I don't think it's the nod - I think it's obvious the way things are headed so it's good business planning.

I work in the electricity industry. The company has consistently reacted ahead of public government announcements throughout (as in masks were given out for personal use in the summer, offices were shut a few days ahead of the March 2020 lockdown).

This is partly due to being a nationally important industry, so we have to anticipate, assess, plan and react to risks ahead of time and I understand there is team dedicated to this. You can't run a power station and sit around with a thumb up your bum waiting for things to be clear.

The rest is due to electricity being one of the industries that consult with and are consulted by the government (as are many industries). Don't take this as arrogance, boastfulness or privilege - it's a fact and necessary.

Also, it's been kind of obvious the whole way through.

It makes the government look so incompetent to spring things on the people with a last minute u turn. Wouldn't it be better to show signs of having some kind of a plan if they, indeed, do.

All those who are saying they were told to WFH prior to lockdown- wasn't that the advice, though? Or am I remembering wrong? I seem to remember the advice early march being "You should WFH if possible" and then it changing to "Everybody must WFH unless you are a key worker" type advice.

More worrying is the influence large Tory party donors such as Tim Martin of Wetherspoons have on government policy, especially during a pandemic.
Pubs were the first to reopen after first lockdown/EOTHO anyone?

@HibernatingTill2030 - I don't think so. The lockdown measures came in gradually and it was when it was announced the schools would be shut that it was clear a full lockdown was on the cards. I work in a business that always baulked at people working from home so it was a big deal that we did so before the govt announced it.

I’m not involved in any Industry but I’ve kept my eyes and ears open and managed to preempt everything in advance. It’s not hard

[quote wowfudge]@HibernatingTill2030 - I don't think so. The lockdown measures came in gradually and it was when it was announced the schools would be shut that it was clear a full lockdown was on the cards. I work in a business that always baulked at people working from home so it was a big deal that we did so before the govt announced it.[/quote]
I honestly can't remember anymore!
Perhaps some companies saw the way the wind was blowing and decided to set up WFH (cynically I would think probably not for the protection of their workers, but to make sure that their staff wouldn't get sick and have to be off...)

I know businesses who have been ahead of the government. Sadly it's not been hard.

Of course they do

It's normal practise to engage with industry leaders. It ensures good preparation, without telling the general public who are likely to "make the most" of loose restrictions while they still have them

I know of someone who pays to join Zoom calls with a person known as Mason Mills who rumours say is Dominic Cummings, I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all and would never dream of paying to do it myself but she does seem to know things a couple of days before they happen.

This would imply some level of planning, organisation, and effective communication by the Govt. So very very unlikely!

Fortunately many people and companies can see which way things are going and make contingency plans. This populist Govt likes to float ideas by briefing journalists for days/weeks in advance to gauge public response and to take the edge of serious announcements. If you follow lobby journalists on Twitter you can usually make an educated guess about what is going to happen.

My family went into semi-lockdown about 10 days before the March lockdown. Many others did too, infection rates went down more quickly as a result. This was also true about families‘ Xmas plans, although 5 days was initially permitted we had already decided 1 day was far less risky.

@HibernatingTill2030 - you're right if the timeline I found on Wikipedia is correct. It's funny how we don't remember these details. Once it's happened, it's happened and you have to deal with it I guess. I do remember thinking that closing schools meant we were going into a full lockdown. I also think the gradual shutting of things/advice given was instead of the shock of telling us we were locking down in one fell swoop.

@annevonkleve if it gives you comfort to think that government departments and big companies do not know in advance and helps you sleep better at night then that is fine you worry less than those in the know.

Yep. A family member here works for the government and closely with the police. We were told everything that would be announced ,a day or two early. For each announcement and lockdown

Plenty of us were ringing alarm bells and shrieking at the top of our lungs about the coming disaster on here back in early February. We were labelled Dementors and alarmists.

Funny how quickly things spiralled. Hopefully we gave the nod to those reading between the lines to start preparing and accepting the coming dramatic shift in our lives.

The mere hint that we would be in the same or worse position a year later was met with being labelled scaremongers and revelling in the gloom and doom. 😬

That was a bunch of us on here with no affiliation to government, so I suppose other rational thinkers who had a sense of the way things were going would be able to make the call that certain announcements had to be made at some stage. ✌🏼

Yes. Our boxing day pub meal was cancelled (entered t4). When the pub called us to refund us, they said they were prepping for Jan lockdowns. I'm sure some get the nod.

Back in Feb, a major organisation were recruiting for extra cleaners for surfaces, door handles etc on 6 months contract but likely to renew.
Same organisation sent as many workers home to WFH early March and said it was until January at least.
I think they saw the signs and were being prepared rather than had the nod.

Yes & No, head teachers certainly don't seem to be getting much warning.

And if anyone is looking for one of these mysterious 'nods' - here it is: I predict another lockdown within the next two weeks, schools closed, etc.

It makes sense for them to let the NHS, food industry, emergency services, etc know. A friend who works in the NHS told us in July that they'd all been told that no-one could take any holiday from October onwards. The government knew it was all going to ramp up again, but were still officially giving out the message that we'd got through the other side and things would improve. My Dad's a retired policeman and has friends in the force who were told in advance about pending lockdowns.