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Have you stopped working in quarantine?

My feeds on social networks look quite specific: most of the “friends” are either IT specialists or B2B managers. So, for the last 2 weeks I have not seen posts from beloved and working communities, because they have disappeared into a stream of monotonous posts of three types: nagging about the difficult life of a remote worker and discussions about a remote worker, discussion of the coronavirus and each sneeze of “experts” about him, stories about fears and buckwheat. If at first it gave a feeling of some kind of community, solidarity and unity in the face of a terrible enemy, now it has turned into an informational noise and is simply incredibly annoying. However, the brain of an unfinished analyst makes you look further than momentary panic - namely, in life after the abolition of all restrictions. The probable future is so-so, largely due to our behavior.

Disclaimer. The article was written by an employee under the heading “Free Microphone”, therefore, there was no review and approval. The opinion of the company may or may not coincide with the opinion of the employee. Anyway, we are censors so-so, but RegionSoft CRM developers are excellent.

I have a certain advantage over most of my friends who have switched to a remote site: I have been on it for 5 years now. And now I’m not afraid to write on the employer's blog that switching to a remote site was difficult: having left the office, I was left alone with a laptop, unlimited and uncontrolled Internet and an excellent cafe across the road, which means Ihhhhhh! - you can watch YouTube, finally watch a couple of TV shows, cover yourself with books and read them, dine in a cafe, on the way from which to run to your favorite store. Buzz! Well, it’s about the same as when my parents left and left me for a couple of months with my grandmother — freedom, will, an uncomplicated childish feeling.

Fortunately, the first sobering kick flew in before the employer noticed it: I just saw a bunch of letters warning about tasks whose deadline was about to expire. “Well, it’s 24 hours in a day, and you can sleep some other time,” I decided and sat down for releases, content plans, advertising, and other tasks. Close perfectly, of course, did not work out - lack of sleep, stress, diverse tasks have done their dark job. It was possible to get out, to avoid reproaches of conscience - no. So ended the first month of udalenki. More of this did not happen again - more than 60 months the flight is normal.

What is happening now?


Our society and our employers have never encountered mass telework (remote work). Yes, there were separate super-advanced companies that built partially or fully distributed teams, there were individual employees who received a credit of trust for remote work. In the regions, for the most part, the farmer has always remained an object of surprise, which they surrounded and asked how it is possible with the dumb question “Are you a slacker?” In eyes.

But everything changes when the coronavirus arrives. Companies and employees fell into a state of stupor: someone quickly switched to a remote place, someone gave the employees the right to choose, the rest froze waiting for an official order from the authorities to temporarily transfer everyone to work from home (which may not come out). 

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In fact, a state of uncertainty has developed, which is complicated by the fact that the entire information field is filled with conflicting and ambiguous information. And this information distracts absolutely everyone from work: from ordinary workers and students to top managers of companies. Everyone is trying to find some calming information to exhale and start working. We are all in a state of cumulative stress: from fears for life and health, from fears for work, from misunderstanding the prospects and, most importantly, the timing of distance work. 

All of us today are a little this desperate cat.

Guys, such a mood is a disaster. The epidemic will end, we all will leave it alive and healthy, return to the company, but the most valuable thing will be lost - time. Because - admit, from home (and in the office) we began to work in a completely different way. Meanwhile, the environment that has formed around the problem of telecommuting for some forced period is like a separate viral wave. 

Self-isolation has become not only a necessary necessity - it has become a fashion trend. And this is an extremely wrong message. Instead of figuring out what a “remote” labor crisis will bring to each company, calling on experts and gathering really valuable advice, the media and services are engaged in active PR. I must admit, their PR-services work just fine and creatively, but this is not what the employees who are in a perplexed state need today. The message should be connected with the fact that you need not just to go home, but to go home and work from home even better than from the office so that the company can lose at a minimum. Now the responsibility lies with each of us. And yes, it’s not “hurray, I'm home!”, It’s “oh, I have a change of office environment for the time being.”    

This is not “cheers, I'm home!”, This is “oh, I have a change of office environment for the time being”.    


Media exploits the topic (Esquire came out with a cover of a similar theme), online media and telegram channels make messy information that is easier to get confused than finding some kind of rational "average" link.  

On the one hand, such an information wave with the features of a flash mob is very well. Firstly, everyone is informed, secondly, more people can reconsider their habits and somehow protect themselves, thirdly, people know that they are not alone, they are in a state of literally global community, they are calm and set in a positive mood. Finally, the load on medicine and doctors is really reduced - and this, perhaps, is the main thing.

So, to whom and why is it better to stay at home?


On the gif you can see how a responsible decision to stay at home affects the spread of the disease:


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Interview in Telegram inspires

Continuing the conversation. Everything seems simple and obvious. 

However, where are there without excesses. Alas, the merchandise with a coronavirus theme is already coming out, the stars of show business are promoting and building themselves into socially responsible individuals, the coronavirus is becoming a fashion, kitsch, part of popular culture. Everything was mixed up in the minds of people and brands: isolation of people who were ill and those who came into contact with them, self-isolation of people who came from countries with a high risk of infection, and total quarantine in countries with a critical situation. If you are in this information stream, then, going to work and even just from home to the store, you feel a little guilty antihero who is almost ready to destroy humanity. Extremely unpleasant, destructive sensation.

Characteristically, most of those who call to stay at home are people who can work remotely with almost no loss. Meanwhile, most companies in the real sector of the economy cannot afford voluntary telecommuting, this will cause significant damage to the already falling profitability. 

In this regard, I like companies and enterprises that have demonstrated their ability to protect employees (since it is difficult for them to go away without a centralized solution).

Quite positively and instructively.

Some service companies do not forget to relax those who stayed at home.

Promo codes of services and companies are pouring in from all sides, company employees will promote offers - well-coordinated work of online services is going on. This, of course, additionally encourages employees to distract at home for these services, to give priority to them, and not to work. 

An offer from Rambler, which can be seen not only in official publics.

At the same time, the professional community is actively discussing the situation and in these discussions there are several main obvious trends that, alas, for the most part expose the managerial helplessness of leaders.

If a person can be taken to a remote place, then he is not needed in the office either. The blatantly erroneous, short-sighted statement, which only says that the head seeks to catch employees, is not ready to trust them.

The employee does nothing at home, he does not need to pay.Managers should make sure that employees work on tasks in the usual way and report on it at the end of the day (or sprint). This is important for both the manager and the employee - the usual maintenance of work discipline. 

From the discussion in the near-group

Another judgment about the remote workers

After leaving the remote mode, you will need to lay off. I can give almost a 100% guarantee that almost every team will have weak links, which worked quite normally in the office, but did not work normally from home. However, this is not a reason for dismissal: first you will need to deal with the causes of such changes, to understand how work will continue in the office. Yes, this is unpleasant, yes, business is losing money, but you need to understand that we are all in a force majeure situation and each of us lives in her own way, someone is hard-pressed and works twice as efficiently, someone is lost and cannot quickly cope with yourself and external factors. 

Alas, it’s not only the media that force the topic of remote work - there are examples of overtly unpleasant public relations specifically on the problems of professional employment and possible job loss. Here, for example, an advertisement for one of the channels in a rather popular telegram channel. Pure water lies and clickbait - I think, on Habré it is not even necessary to explain why. But such a statement may well lead to depression, detachment, depression of the employee. I urge all colleagues who read this article not to do so, to look for more elegant ways to advance.


At the same time, employers should understand that their employees are waiting for those for whom hiring in times of crisis - an era of glorious headhunting. I chose the least catchy ad, although I had to see similar offers from serious figures in the HR market.


However, such opinions of employers, statements of various specialists do not arise out of the blue. Again, several factors play a role.

  • The employees themselves are compromising themselves: constant correspondence under the posts is conducted in the tapes, people post photos with their feet on the laptop and a glass of wine, with beer, Lego and other joys. In most cases, these are staged photos for show-offs, simple boasting and all these people work from home in normal mode, but the impression is completely different.
  • Promotional codes for online entertainment, digital libraries, etc. are distributed everywhere. A giant list of films that need to be watched during quarantine goes on runet. It also creates an atmosphere of general relaxation and idleness.
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So, before panicking from the prospects of telecommuting and working in a crisis, ask yourself the question: “Who benefits from all these rumors and statements?” 


The cover of the cute special project OZON (marketers were well oriented, a great time for online trading). Come, see what's inside.

And inside - a test in which only one question is devoted to work, and even then in what wording of the answers! Do you think you will like to read such a list of “cases” to a nervous and inflated employer who, for the first time in his life, takes the office to a remote location and has hundreds of thoughts and concerns about this? 

Let me give you an answer to the question from the cover.

What to do while you are at home? On weekdays - the same work as always. Friends, if you are entrusted with distance employment, if you are paid wages, you are at work!


What will happen?


You and your employer are now more than ever a united team - it has no choice but to trust you, you have no other way but to let it down. You need to understand that behind the background of information about the epidemic and general tension (it’s too early to talk about panic in Russia and even if it’s not necessary at all), ordinary social and economic life is unfolding. And she is in some kind of crisis. Already now it is possible to predict that ...

  • ... prices for products, gadgets, cars have grown and will remain (well, maybe they will roll back a little, but certainly not to the level of the beginning of 2020) - which means that our income with you will somewhat depreciate.
  • ... some companies will not survive such turbulence and specialists will come to the market who will become competitors in the search for work and who may turn out to be better than us, who gave slack and slack in a difficult time for the company.
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  • ... some employees who have shown themselves to be good at remote work and satisfied with work in such conditions can start “bidding” with the employer for the right to leave for permanent remote work, thereby changing the usual office structure and existing business processes and procedures.

We will truly return to a new business reality, and the restoration and adaptation will require resources and time. If you lose time now and run out of resources, it will be bad. And the word “bad” is an optimistic assessment, pessimistic also begins with the letter “p”.   

What to do?


Keep everyone in their places :-) And this is not a joke and not a call for quarantine violation - this is advice: whether at home, in the office, in the country, continue to carry out all your official duties in full, be disciplined and honest with the employer. I have some tips on how to achieve this.

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Yes, the world we will return to will be different, crisis, difficult. While there is no clarity when we can do this, there is too much variation in expert estimates. Most likely, the changes will roll back pretty quickly - it is common for a person to quickly forget troubles, this is how the protective system of our memory works. Therefore, the main thing now is to do what you have to: work from home and in the office, try not to jostle in crowded places, use disinfectants, take care of relatives, do not go to work with a cold or a light SARS. Then you can save both work and the human face. We will earn the rest!


If your company wanted to implement a CRM system and now the time has come to do it, we are ready to help you: we have several thousand successful remote deployments and training of our desktop functional RegionSoft CRM . Just leave your data in the form and order a free online presentation - our managers work in any situation and at any time , we are an experienced team.

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