Confinement (voluntary or not), online work and projects

Dear Kiron
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us

In my house several users can use the internet simultaneously without any problems (uploading and downloading)

I believe there is a difference between Canada and Portugal

Dear Kiron,

One tip is to use a cable internet connection as apposed to a wifi connection as you do not get the same drop off's in connection that you get using wifi.

You may not notice it due to buffering of data stream or using packet data protocol applications but with wifi it happens more often that not.

Also ISP do data throttling especially in areas with high bandwidth use. This is usually done at their Network Operation Centre (NOC) in order to balance traffic across their network. As a result the ripple effect can cause a slow down in broadband speeds.

The reason for this is product segmentation by the ISP. When DSL was first rolled out there was only one speed, fast. But in order for ISP to increase revenue, they started offering different packages and different prices.

Nowadays it is about triple, quad play services and these increases the demand on bandwidth. If you use IPTV then this significantly decreases the amount of available bandwidth.

So it is true to say that multiple devices connected to the same pipe will slow down each other by fighting for available bandwidth.

Daire

I do not have any issues with internet access YET. But I see that there may be a general slow down as the traffic increases. The service companies may start rationing. Video conferencing and such requires significantly more capacity than email transmissions.

Dear Peter
Thanks for sharing your question

"One thing that has not been addressed here yet - the cost of the home office"

Companies and / or organizations since 2008 are, more and more, "getting rid" of their fixed costs.
Today workers (a large part) are outsourced.
In crisis situations, they can terminate contracts with body shopping companies
In normal situations, they do not mind paying the difference between contracting directly and contracting on an outsourced basis.
The principle to be applied in the future will be the same

This is actually starting to add up for me, Peter, but thankfully as an independent consultant I can write most of these expenses off. Since the pandemic broke I've had to acquire:

1) Higher internet bandwidth
2) A green screen
3) A better computer headset
4) A drawing tablet for my PC
5) Two standalone LED lamps to improve room lighting

And I'm pretty sure the list won't end there...

Kiron

Dear Peter,

What I do see is more people becoming self employed and subcontracting as organizations policies become about reducing the amount of permanent employee they have as they do not have to pay employer social service tax, pension and other benefits such as health and dental.

Just like Software As a Service and cloud technologies organizations are increasingly seeing people as resources (see previous posts about that definition and topic).

As a result the establishment of a home office would come out of the 'employees' pocket and not the organizations. The employee may not even be paid per hour but based upon the completion of a specific task or project.

Daire

Dear Peter
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us

I am not surprised that companies that provide internet services will take advantage of this situation by creating differentiated "service packages"

Dear Daire
Thank you for sharing your opinion with us

What you mentioned is really a possibility

I have been observing this trend over the last ten years or so. It provides opportunity in exchange for the risk especially for the experienced professional - not so much for the trainee and the lower level employees.

There are many companies which are now operating as "temporary service providers" (bums in seats). They sell the services, provide professional insurance coverage, some administrative duties and then recruit the independents to provide the service (I use one).
I've been operating as an independent contractor since 2000 but have some reservations as to sustainability
.
Way back corporations determined it was more effective to bring everyone under the same roof - economy of size if you will - and increased productivity through collaboration, integration, better communications, etc. IT has addressed many of these but not all. There will be some experiments but ultimately I think there will be a gradual return to normal - with specific exceptions.

Security will become a major consideration as will costs.