News   Jul 15, 2024
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Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (nCoV-2019)

Welcome to March. Many "Return to Office" plans were to kick in today (or next Monday). Some have been pushed back a bit to April.
The government just announced a minimum three days in the office per week will start April 4 (the first Monday of April).


This seems in line with what I have seen elsewhere. Most businesses are offering limited work from home of two days per week for now, and they may reduce that to one at some point in the future. I have seen business say three or more work from home days per week, though I noticed many of those are businesses which hired heavily in the past two years and don't actually have the physical space to have everyone in the existing office anymore, and they will need time to consider moving or keeping it permanent, tough either way, they will keep the same absolute number of employees going to the office and they will share desks with a larger pool of workers.

Barring a new variant, I expect 60 to 75% of commuting to be back to normal by May 1, and Maybe 75 to 80% by July 1.
 
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My wife and I have not heard of RTO from either of our companies. My company's office reno should be done by now, and I expect next week's (monthly scheduled) all-staff will touch upon RTO. Last month they said the reno was going well, but furniture delivery was delayed.
 
My wife and I have not heard of RTO from either of our companies. My company's office reno should be done by now, and I expect next week's (monthly scheduled) all-staff will touch upon RTO. Last month they said the reno was going well, but furniture delivery was delayed.
Oh yeah I've heard of this too from a friend in the same boat. Their employer decided at the re-shutdown in January to renovate the office, thinking it would take a month or so, but it was only after the contractors gutted the office did they find out about all the supply chain issues to get the new stuff they already bought and paid for to redo the office. My friend said management recently made a coment that they may have to go back return to the office with a "bring your own chair" situation, and didn't know for sure if that was a joke or not!
 
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Supply chain and production issues still loom. We had thoughts of getting a room renovated a year or so ago but simply gave up. We weren't willing to pay upfront and stockpile material just so we were guaranteed it would be around, or having a room half torn apart only to find out something was no longer available. I've been waiting several months for pieces for a drill press jig and finally settled for something kinda-sorta close off the Internet just to get it done.

I was in at a car dealership today and one of the sales guys said they were told today they can't order 2022 models after this Thursday, and 2023 ordering won't start until about August.
 
My employer is imposing 3 day/week office attendance starting after March break.

I think we're probably done with COVID restrictions for now, but am 50/50 that we will see a similar situation crop up next winter,
 
I was in at a car dealership today and one of the sales guys said they were told today they can't order 2022 models after this Thursday, and 2023 ordering won't start until about August.
That may not be production/supply chain issues though, but rather overstock.

Manufacturers may have taken the fall 2021 rise (after a huge decline) in car sales as a return to normal.
 
Supply chain and production issues still loom. We had thoughts of getting a room renovated a year or so ago but simply gave up. We weren't willing to pay upfront and stockpile material just so we were guaranteed it would be around, or having a room half torn apart only to find out something was no longer available. I've been waiting several months for pieces for a drill press jig and finally settled for something kinda-sorta close off the Internet just to get it done.

I was in at a car dealership today and one of the sales guys said they were told today they can't order 2022 models after this Thursday, and 2023 ordering won't start until about August.

I work for a railing & staircase builder. I know a lot of contractors are not only having supply issues, but are short workers because a lot workers are still testing positive for Covid and have to isolate. Same goes for automovitve compaies, factories all over the world are still dealing with covid outbreaks. My cousin works for a part supplier for GM in Guelph. They have workers testing positive, which meas cancelled shifts and production lines shut down. We are just going in a circle right now. If a new more contagious variant pops it's ugly head up, we will be back to square one. ( lockdown)
 
really,which automotive brand ?
Hyundai.
That may not be production/supply chain issues though, but rather overstock.

Manufacturers may have taken the fall 2021 rise (after a huge decline) in car sales as a return to normal.
If you wander around probably any car dealership lot, you will see that overstock isn't the issue. I don't know about current North American auto manufacturing, but the imports have all of their inventory in the hands of their dealerships. The days of a large parking lot somewhere storing hundreds of vehicles is long gone, unless they are in transit. The manufacturers want them off their books. There is a Toyota dealer not far from here that has a big sign in the window saying 'yes, we are open', in spite of the fact that, the last time I went by, there was absolutely nothing in the showroom and maybe three or four vehicles in the lot.
 
I'm flying to the UK in late March. It seems silly that we need a rapid antigen test on the return trip. But I had no choice so have booked with a travel clinic for GBP65. The clinic's online order form was a little weird, after asking for nationality it wanted ethnicity. I just put English, because that's what I am. I wonder why that's important.
 
In the US, they also ask about ethnicity when making a testing appointment.
I wonder why? I suppose they want evidence that certain ethnicities are more or less likely to get tested or to test negative or positive? If I had to explain my ethnicity I'd say I'm English, but I think in the USA and UK testing offices what they really want is skin colour.

Here's Canada's ethnicities. In true Canadian style of trying not to offend we allowed a generic "Canadian" answer, essentially spoiling the sample.

 

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