Working from home

So for the first time in my life I’ve spent a full week working from home. I did the odd day or two semi-frequently in my previous job, but to be honest I only really did it towards the end of my time there and it was because I wanted any excuse to not go there.

It’s been weird and also not weird. My manager and I have had daily video calls. We seem to have adapted. The work itself hasn’t changed at all. It’s been nice to potter around the garden before starting work.

I don’t think my new employer’s business will be affected much if at all by the country shutting down. Most of our clients are public sector (councils and hospitals) and should continue to function, and some of our funding is from government R&D grants. Probably the biggest risk is that the Managing Director is about 70.

I wonder how things would be different had I still been at my old job.

I don’t think the same is true of my previous employer at all. Their customers are mostly small businesses or individual entrepreneurs who’ve secured a chunk of money. I can see investment for those types of projects drying up pretty quickly. My ex-employer also has the disadvantage that they won’t be able to use the government’s scheme for helping with 80% of their salary bill should they have to suspend or cut back on operations, because a large percentage of their workers aren’t salaried due to being contractors in Russia. I might be experiencing a certain amount of schadenfreude with that. I always got the impression that their profit margins were quite small as well.

Overall I’m glad to not be there anymore.