Corona Daily 323: Blue Jeans

Four years ago, travelling in the Moscow metro, I noticed something defying probability. The compartment had about twenty Russians, old and young, men and women, and each of them was wearing blue jeans. Different shades of blue, but blue jeans nonetheless. I, a foreigner, was in blue jeans as well. This was a place where thirty years before, blue jeans were a smuggled product, available only on the black market. More than Marx and Lenin, blue jeans have brought more equality in the world. From Bill Gates to a homeless man, everyone wears denim. Torn garments are usually associated with beggars, but torn jeans can be a fashion product.

In the last six months, I have not touched my jeans. Nor have I seen anyone wearing them. Before discussing the pandemic’s impact on blue jeans, a few words on their history.

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Jeans are almost 150 years old. The pants made from cotton were invented by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss in 1873. Levi Strauss, now a recognizable name, went from Germany to New York. He was a trader of cotton cloth. Jacob Davis, a tailor, was his customer. Jacob specialized in making utility items such as blankets, wagon covers, and tents. Customers, particularly miners, needed sturdy clothes that could withstand rough conditions.

The trousers Jacob made were named after Genoa in Italy, a place where cotton corduroy called jean (or jeane) was manufactured. Genoa exported that cloth across Europe. In the French city of Nimes, French weavers tried to create an identical product, but couldn’t. The fabric they produced became known as de Nimes (from Nimes), better known now as denim.

Jacob wanted to patent the product, but had no money. He discussed the idea with Levi Strauss who liked it. The two men jointly received a US patent for Jeans.

They used an organic dye with a distinctive blue called Indigo. It was produced from a plant indigofera tinctoria native to India, source of the dye’s name. By the end of the nineteenth century, a synthetic dye was produced, but it retained the natural indigo colour.

In the USA, the bestselling brands were those that the buyers considered cool. In the 1920s and 1930s Jeans and Hollywood gained popularity in tandem. Jeans were positioned as the uniform of the lone cowboy, synonymous with the romance and promise of the American West. In the 1950s, jeans became a symbol of youth rebellion, when James Dean wore them in his super-popular movie Rebel without a cause. Because of their association with youth protest, jeans were briefly banned in schools, theatres and restaurants.

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After the end of the cold war in 1990, jeans became available and acceptable universally. The annual demand for jeans was in billions. Levi Strauss, Wrangler and other brands moved the production out of the USA and Europe. The labels now tell us they are made in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lesotho and other poor countries.  

Outsourcing helped the American companies to not only reduce their costs dramatically, but also to outsource moral responsibility and legal liability.

People eating pork and beef rarely know the conditions at the slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. Similarly, we the jeans-wearers seldom know the environment at the factories making jeans.

Tomorrow, I will write about the Lesotho garment factories and discuss who in the jeans supply chain has suffered the most in the pandemic.

Ravi

Corona Daily 324: Pills by Post

The pandemic has brought in a welcome change for women in the UK, and it is likely to last beyond.

In Europe, most planned abortions in the first ten weeks happen when the pregnant woman takes two pills. The first pill, mifepristone, stops the hormone that allows the pregnancy to continue working. The second, misoprostol, is normally taken 24 to 48 hours later, and encourages the womb to contract to pass the pregnancy. After four to six hours the lining of the womb breaks down, causing bleeding and the loss of pregnancy.

UK's 1967 abortion act still requires the physical presence of the woman at a clinic to comply with the law. Not doing so is a criminal offence, in theory liable to life imprisonment under an ancient 1861 law. In the 1960s, no abortion pills existed, only surgical procedures.  

English women with unwanted pregnancies have been taking appointments, visiting the clinics. The first pill was administered in the clinic; the second taken at home.

Women in Northern Ireland were in a worse state. Abortion was decriminalized only in October 2019. Even after that, they needed to come to England for abortions. In the coronavirus lockdown, the only way was to take an eight-hour ferry ride from Belfast to Liverpool. In England, after taking the pill in the presence of a doctor, many of them couldn’t afford overnight accommodation. They would take another ferry, risking miscarriage during the trip home.

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Fortunately, during the pandemic UK approved a rule change. Now a woman can phone or video call a doctor or nurse. The next day, she receives the abortion pills in plain packaging to ensure privacy. More than 90,000 women have ended their unwanted pregnancies by taking both pills at home.

Abortion is in any case a stressful business, irrespective of the circumstances behind the pregnancy. Visiting an abortion clinic in that stressful state is unpleasant, particularly if anti-abortion activists are protesting outside the clinic. English women were forced to take the first pill at the clinic’s convenience. Now, it doesn’t matter. Many working women planned the abortion on the weekend.

Abortion is time-sensitive. A delay can make a legal abortion illegal. The tele-medical abortion has made the process efficient by cutting down the appointments and physical travel. At home, the woman feels more comfortable, and can be surrounded by her loved ones if she so desires. Even before the pandemic, the second pill and the abortion happened at home. So whatever risks that existed have not changed due to the tele-call to the clinic.

The change has reduced the burden on the health services, and also the risk of the pregnant women getting coronavirus. The pills- by- post legislation was introduced for 18 months, but now all stakeholders are planning to make the change permanent.

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In the USA, abortion is a political issue that must be opposed by the Republicans and supported by the Democrats. Some states allow it, others don’t. Like the North Irish women, American women may have to travel to another state for an abortion. In July, a Federal court allowed medical abortions at home. Trump administration plans to appeal this in the Supreme Court.

In India, with large-scale abortions of female fetuses in the past, the laws are stringent. Chemists are reluctant to stock abortion pills because of excessive regulation. The one good thing India did was to declare abortion as one of the 20 essential health services on 14 April. This allows abortions in clinics or hospitals even during the pandemic. It will be a long time before pills can be posted to Indian women in plain packages.

Ravi

Corona Daily 325: Don’t be a Mule

Despite the pandemic threatening huge unemployment, some people managed to get new jobs in the last six months.

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Alma Sardas, 21, worked as hotel staff in Fort Worth, Texas. She lost her job and income with the hotel closure. Through Ziprecruiter, she was lucky to find a work-from-home position. She would become a ‘virtual assistant’ to Hermann Ziegler, a businessman in Hong Kong. Ziegler interviewed her on Zoom. She was hired, and she received $4590 in her account. More money would be transferred; she should keep her salary and expenses, and transfer the rest to the Hong Kong Company’s vendors.

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Denis Newton, 21, lost her job at a fitness center. She sent her resume online to several places. A woman interviewed her at length. Denis started working as a “Local Hub Inspector” in May. Every day she received boxes carrying Apple watches and laptops. Her job was to open them, check for damage, and mail them to the foreign addresses sent by her employer.

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Soon Alma and Denis felt suspicious. When they started asking questions, their employers disappeared. The police told the young girls they were used as money mules.

A “money mule” is someone who agrees to share their bank details with a criminal. The criminal deposits cash in that account, and asks to send it to other accounts. The mule is paid for offering the service. It is not important if the duped person was aware or not aware of the criminal activity. Letting your account be used for purifying illicit money or laundering it is a criminal act.

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Organised criminal gangs can earn big money through drugs, human trafficking, counterfeits, terrorism or cybercrime. Cybercriminals, with banks and ATMs as the targets, loot a mind-boggling $1.5 trillion annually. One mega-attack linked to the Lazarus group resulted in withdrawals from 12000 ATMs in 28 countries in a preplanned two-hour time frame. Not all the mules withdrawing cash from ATMs were aware of the criminal connection.

For criminals to hide their tracks, the tainted money needs to move through the financial system to disguise its origin and ownership. Finally, the laundered funds are re-introduced into the legal economy, or invested officially in assets. The role of money mules is critical in this “cleaning” operation. This week SWIFT has issued a 28-page report called “follow the money” that offers interesting details.

Indians talk about converting “black” money into “white”. Black money is simply unaccounted money, usually in cash, hidden from tax authorities. It may or may not be associated with crime. The money mules discussed in this article, knowingly or unknowingly, assist criminals.

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People who have lost jobs, students and the poor are more desperate to earn in coronavirus times. Since April, online HR scams have soared 295% and money laundering 609%. Internet dating, e-commerce, reshipping, loans, unemployment benefits, lottery are the main vehicles used. Scams have occurred everywhere - USA, UK, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand. In Singapore, money mules can be fined S$500,000 and jailed up to 10 years. In the UK, even young students can be banned from using the banking system and jailed up to 14 years.

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Never give your bank details to strangers. Close your dormant bank accounts (they can be used without your knowing about it). Be cynical about job offers where everything is online. A person you have never met offering to send money to your account, whether lottery or inheritance or charity or gift, say NO. If you are already targeted, speak to your bank and report to the police.

Remember there is no such thing as quick money.

Ravi

Corona Daily 326: Soap Story

Agnes Pockels, born in 1862, was an intelligent, hard working German girl. She had a passionate interest in natural sciences, particularly physics. She would have loved to study science at the university, but in those days, girls were not allowed to attend universities. Agnes had to take over the domestic chores, and take care of her parents. Her younger brother Freidrich, being a boy, joined the physics faculty at the university. Agnes would read his textbooks and any other science literature he brought home.

Agnes spent much time in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning with various oils and soaps. While working she stared at the sink every day, and wondered why the grease moved across the dish when she added soap. Without formal training, she conducted experiments on her own, and wrote a paper that she sent to a British scientist. In March 1891, the letter was printed in the journal Nature, with a footnote from the British scientist introducing her as “a German lady, who with very homely appliances has arrived at valuable results.”

Agnes Pockels became the founder of “surface science”, which tries to understand how one thing sticks to another-including viruses. Agnes’s kitchen work contributed to the world’s understanding of how washing and soap work.

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Neither Pears nor Lux will ever tell their consumers that soap is made of ash and animal fat. This combination surprisingly cleanses things. The soap has pin-shaped molecules that look like sperms. The molecule has a water-loving (hydrophilic) head, and a water-hating (hydrophobic) tail. The heads get attracted to water, and the long oily tails to fat and grease. Whenever the soap molecules come in contact with dirt, muck or oil, the tails work like street cleaners that take away the muck, then are easily washed away by the water.

Viruses and bacteria have delicate membranes. The soap molecules’ hydrophobic tails attempt to evade water, in the process they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of viruses and cause them to disintegrate. It does the same to the novel coronavirus. The longer you rub hands with the soap, more complete is the destruction of the virus. People are sometimes worried about sharing soap bars. But the shared soap bars are safe, because they execute the same function of dismembering the viruses.

Mere water can’t do this. Sanitisers are also not as effective as soaps.

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Historically, cleaning has been the preserve of women. Dove, Pears and Lux exclusively used female models. ‘You want to be attractive? Use Lux’ the ads said. Though the soap companies didn’t talk about viruses, the aspirational brands were designed to improve cleanliness and skin complexion.

As you know, the term soap opera describes the serials on radio and television. In the 1930s, they started on radio. Aired in the afternoons, they were enjoyed almost exclusively by housewives working in the kitchen while listening to the drama on radio. Considering the target audience, soap manufacturers were the sponsors of those serials. Hence, soap operas.

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A Canadian health officer has given good advice on the level of care during handwashing. If you have been chopping chili peppers or jalapenos, and after that need to put your contact lenses on, how carefully would you wash your hands? It’s a good habit to always wash your hands like that.

Ravi  

  

Corona Daily 327: Women are Superior Handwashers

Sheona Gillespie, a marketing manager in Dusseldorf, Germany went for a soccer match two weeks ago. She reports seeing something extraordinary: A queue for the men’s bathroom. A long serpentine line with 40-50 men waiting outside the Men’s at the beer garden. In normal times, Sheona’s husband manages to go to the toilet, return to order the beers, and finish a glass, by the time she comes back from the loo. Pandemic can turn the world upside down; it can make men wash their hands in the restroom.

All available research shows women are far more diligent than men in handwashing. They are twice as likely to wash their hands at toilets than men. (Could that be a reason why twice more men are dying of Covid-19 than women?) Different reasons have been offered. Traditionally women prepared meals, cleaned the house, changed diapers, activities that require washing hands. In the bathrooms, women come in contact with toilet seats, making them more conscious of germs. Men, on the other hand, want to feel macho. “Optimism bias” (meaning things like Covid-19 will happen to others, but not to me) is more prevalent among men. Women are generally concerned about family and home, men more about employment and finances.

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The world is surprisingly full of non-hand-washers. Only 27% of the world population has consistent access to water and soap. 3 billion people have neither at home. In rich countries, where both are plentiful, fewer than 50% use them after using the toilet. About 1.8 million children under age 5 die every year from diarrhea and pneumonia, the top two kid killers. Handwashing with soap has been shown to save 1 out of 3 kids from diarrhea and 1 out of 5 kids from pneumonia.

A well known French study interviewed 64000 people in 63 countries and asked each if they agreed with the statement: “Washing your hands with soap after using a toilet you do automatically.” The highest score was 97% in Saudi Arabia, perhaps a surprise for many. China was the last with 23%. (US: 77%, UK: 75%, Russia: 63% and India: 60% answered in the affirmative).

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When is handwashing essential? The three most critical activities are: Before eating food, before preparing food and before leaving the restroom. After using the toilet, no matter where and for how long, hands must be washed with soap. Restroom is a place germs love the most. Ideally, handwashing is also recommended after blowing nose, coughing, sneezing, touching animals. In covid-19 times, before leaving the house, after entering a house, and after touching public surfaces such as door handles or shopping trolleys.

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The Johns Hopkins video above shows the WHO technique of handwashing. It is fairly elaborate. For a 20-second handwash, the song ‘happy birthday’ two times, or your national anthem can help. If you are a bad bathroom singer, you can count 20 seconds as follows: one one-thousand, two one-thousand… till twenty one-thousand.

Touching the wet tap (faucet) after washing may nullify your effort. Better to use a towel or tissue to turn the tap off. Nails should be trimmed short. Artificial nails or nail polish may make washing away of germs impossible. WHO asks health workers not to wear rings, jewellery or nail polish. Liquid soap is better than a bar soap. Bar soap is all right as long as it is not kept in a wet dish. Water and soap are always better than a sanitiser. If sanitiser is a must, it must contain at least 60% alcohol.

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Tomorrow, I will write why using soap in addition to water is important, and the origins of soap washing.

Ravi

Corona Daily 328: Dr Ignaz Semmelweis

It may shock readers to learn our ancestors 200 years ago were not in the habit of washing hands. Neither were the doctors and surgeons.

The handwashing history begins with Ignaz Semmelweis, a bald, mustachioed Hungarian doctor. In the 1840s, many new mothers were dying from childbed fever. Even in the best hospitals, they could fall ill and die shortly after giving birth. Dr Semmelweis, working in Austria’s Vienna General Hospital, was intrigued and decided to find the cause. In the maternity ward staffed by male doctors, the number of new mothers dying was double that in the ward staffed by female midwives. This was a puzzle in itself.

The doctor tested several hypotheses. He even wondered if male doctors examining women was such an embarrassment as to cause fever. After meticulously ruling out various hypotheses, he found a possible culprit: the dead bodies. In the mornings, doctors always helped students perform autopsies. In the afternoons, the doctors and their students visited the maternity wards and delivered babies. Midwives didn’t conduct any autopsies and never left their ward. Semmelweis inferred the doctors were carrying some particles from the cadavers to the new mothers. Doctors didn’t scrub their hands between patient visits as they do today.

In 1847, Semmelweis implemented mandatory handwashing for the male doctors and students. He prescribed a chlorinated lime solution to wash hands and the instruments. The mortality rate in the male doctor ward plummeted.

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In 1850, Semmelweis presented his handwashing findings at the prestigious Vienna medical society. The medical community rejected his logic and science. In those days, the medical science trusted the “Miasma theory” that held all diseases such as cholera and the plague were caused by bad air. The doctors listening to Semmelweis also believed he was blaming them for the patients’ deaths. The heavy criticism resulted in the Vienna hospital abandoning mandatory handwashing.

Semmelweis published a book in 1861 offering evidence of the connection between handwashing and mortality. The book was widely condemned. He suffered acute depression and was admitted to a mental asylum. Shortly thereafter, he died at the age of 47.

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In the 1850s, the Crimean War was fought between Russia on one side and the Ottoman Empire, UK and France on the other. Florence Nightingale, later known as the founder of nursing, served as a manager and trainer of nurses during that war. She was the other handwashing champion. The mandatory handwashing instituted by her during the war reportedly brought down mortality rates from 42% to 2%.

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Dr Semmelweis’s work led to Louis Pasteur developing “the germ theory of disease”. Surgeons began scrubbing in the 1870s. But it took more than 100 years, and a string of food borne outbreaks and infections for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) to announce hand hygiene as an important way to prevent the spread of infection. The first guidelines were issued in the 1980s. Washing with soap was recommended in 1995. In January 2000, the Medical University of Budapest was renamed the Semmelweis University in honour of the man universally condemned in his time for his handwashing theories.

In August 2008, the Global Handwashing Day was established. It is observed on 15 October each year. 

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(P.s. More on handwashing tomorrow.)

Ravi

Corona Daily 329: Rule of Six

England has a festive atmosphere this weekend. Large groups of drinkers have gathered in bars, pubs and restaurants in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Portsmouth and Leeds. Triathlons were held on Saturday. Music and loud conversations could be heard at Saturday’s all-night parties. At the time of writing, London’s West End is packed with thousands of people, young and not sober, singing and dancing. It is difficult to find an empty table in Soho.

The English are celebrating their last day of freedom. In a few hours, from midnight, Boris Johnson’s “Rule of Six” comes into force.

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Johnson made two important announcements this week – the “Rule of Six”, and “Operation Moonshot”. He said rules had become complicated and confusing, and government was simplifying them.

How many people can gather outdoors? Six. How many indoors? Six. Simple enough. This is the UK government advice. However, UK is not one but four nations. They are not involved, or evolved, but devolved. What Johnson says applies only in England. In Scotland, children under 12 don’t count (in England, they do). Because Wales has its own mind, the rule of six allows 30 people outdoors. Northern Ireland allows 15.

What is the social distance? It is 2 meters, except in Wales, where children under 11 are exempt. From tomorrow, England specifies a distance of “1m plus”. It means where you can’t keep a 2 m distance, do something extra – like wearing a mask, or washing your hands for 60 seconds.

Indoors, six is a limit, but Scotland and Wales don’t count children. Scottish and Welsh children possess immunity that English and Irish children lack.

This doesn’t mean you will see only six people on Oxford Street tomorrow. The rule of six applies to households, a single or those forming a social bubble. Englishmen are fair and thorough. So every rule has exemptions. The limit doesn’t apply to schools, colleges, offices or other workplaces. Up to 30 people are allowed at weddings and funerals, but without dances.

If a group of 12 friends or family wants to eat out, they must sit at different tables and pretend not to know one another. The waiters are tasked with measuring temperatures and taking contact details of customers. Now they must keep an eye on the group size.

Waiters and shop assistants, by the way, are not required to wear masks. Police officers are also exempt, given it will interfere with their ability to serve the public.  

It is important that the novel coronavirus understands all these nuances.

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Breaking the new rules attracts fines. First time, you are fined £100. A promotional discount of 50% is offered if fine is paid within two weeks. The fine keeps doubling with each offence, the second time £ 200; third time £400 until you reach £3200, the cap. Covid marshals will be guarding the streets, and police are authorized to enter premises to enforce the rule of six.

UK is a law-abiding nation. Only its Prime Minister is entitled to break the law on international treaties signed by him.

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Operation Moonshot is that Prime Minister’s pet project. UK will spend more than £100 billion (equal to NHS, England’s annual budget) to reach 10 million tests every day. (Currently 350,000 a day). That way, every week the whole kingdom will be tested. The results available in 20 minutes will allow everyone to let the “negatives” in, and the “positives” home. The grand plan was presented by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), with no involvement of scientists or health experts. (BCG alone can ensure the £100 billion are quickly spent). The only shortcoming of this fantastic project is that the testing technology doesn’t exist.

Ravi

Corona Daily 330: Office on Deathbed

For most white-collar jobs; offices, office towers, specially designed city centers were already unnecessary for the past twenty years or so. In the nineteenth century, steam power brought machinery and workers to factories. Offices were created for paper work – records, ledgers, vouchers, memos, invoices, files to record a company’s transactions and its interactions with outsiders. That required office employees to conduct the paperwork in one place.  

There is little evidence proximity of workers improves collaboration or innovation. In the last decade, I have visited several offices that are graveyards with employees staring at their respective screens. Their co-working silently in a super-expensive property made no financial sense. It continued as a matter of inertia, because companies had signed fifty-year leases, and because a company is part of a customer-supplier-employees jigsaw puzzle.

I will offer an analogy to explain what I mean. In Europe and USA, divorces are common, so are remarriages. In a society where a large percentage is divorcing, anyone can remarry at any age, because the available pool is large. In India, with a low divorce rate, the pool available for remarriage is tiny. Through inertia, people continue to carry on even through unhappy marriages.

Covid-19 managed to send companies, their customers and suppliers online in one go. With everyone working from home, the long overdue experiment has been conducted, and appears to be successful; judging by how little international trade was affected even during lockdown.

The novel coronavirus has compelled the most conservative parts of society to go online. Who would have thought judges and advocates will run trials sitting at home?

Take the case of banks. Why do banks require large office buildings? Only if their retail and corporate customers are not savvy enough to conduct the operations online. Accounts can now be opened without going to banks. In India, a person can prove his identity online by pressing his thumb on a biometric device at home.

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True, at times employees will need to interact physically. Brainstorming in person may be preferred. But lavish all-employee offices making everyone endure the daily commute is not an answer. People can meet in a small office, and take turns. Or they can meet in Starbucks or McDonalds and the company could pay for the coffee and big Macs.

Technology is advancing so rapidly that in five years time, a near-perfect simulation of an office is predicted.

Commercial property owners are very afraid. This fear is quantified by the crash of the shares of most realty companies.

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Governments will have to play the catch-up game while the concept of office stays in the ICU. The current labour laws and tax laws assume people are in physical offices. Job ads such as “eligibility: only EU citizens can apply” will become outdated once work becomes remote. Income taxes are based on physical residence. What happens when a Brit moves to Dubai and works for the British employer? In the USA, tax laws vary from state to state.

Most countries still specify maximum number of office hours per week. How will they be measured? Should the employer compensate for the employee’s (home) workplace? Equipment? Pay for airconditioning and heating? If the employee injures himself at home while working, who covers the expenses? If companies begin selling office buildings, and terminating leases, what happens to the city center design? Its cafes and restaurants?

Governments can’t run away from these issues by urging workers to come back to offices. The death of offices as we know them is inevitable. The world must start planning for the office-less future.

Ravi  

Corona Daily 331: Big Brother is Recording Everything

Half a year of working from home has resulted in many surveys. On an average, WFH employees worked 48.5 minutes more every day, and the number of meetings went up by 13%. Internal emailing has increased. These are the quantitative findings of a large survey that covered 3.1 million employees from 21000 companies from 16 big cities of the world.

How could they organize such a large survey in a lockdown era? Very easily. All the data was procured online through an official surveillance software.

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Many companies ask employees to have their webcams and microphones on all the time. In some cases, employees must check-in thrice a day. In the name of IT security, employers are downloading surveillance tools into employees’ homes, computers and phones. If an employee uses a company laptop, the monitoring is considered absolutely legitimate. In other cases, employees’ consent is sought. Fearful of losing jobs, employees are permitting all demands made by their salary payer.

ActivTrak, HubStaff, Time Doctor, Teramind, Awareness technologies and other companies are unashamedly marketing their surveillance products. These apps monitor, time track and control employees- the twenty first century equivalent of Chaplin’s Modern Times. Their customer base and earnings have shot through the roof this year.

InterGuard can be installed on employees’ computers secretly. It has a brilliant feature of creating a minute-by-minute timeline of every website and app viewed by the employee, classifying each into ‘productive’ (e.g. company website, customer chat), and ‘unproductive’ (e.g. Netflix, YouTube). The system generates productivity scores, and ranks employees based on the scores. During an employee’s browsing, if the software comes across suspicious words, such as jobs, vacancies, LinkedIn, the employee’s superior immediately receives an alert.

InterGuard can record all emails, messages and keystrokes. It has a provision to take pictures of the employee every five seconds. The boss can sit and literally watch a movie of what his underling did during the day.

Zoom had an “attention tracking” setting that alerted the meeting host whenever an attendee focused his attention elsewhere. After thousands of complaints, Zoom recently removed it.

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Pragli app’s default setting sends an alert every day at 9 am. “Time to go to work!” Pragli monitors keyboard and mouse uses. If either is inactive for more than 15 seconds, the employee’s status changes from ‘active’ to ‘idle’. With that idle status visible to everyone, any boss can immediately start a video chat. One common question reported by many workers: “What are you working on exactly?” In a normal office, an employee could lie, here he can’t. Whatever he is working on is recorded minute-by-minute.

One unnamed employee (understandably most feedback is anonymous) said when she leaves her room briefly; she can hear the voice of her boss through her computer asking where she went. Another overwhelmed and exhausted employee said: ‘I am not working from home. I am living at work.’

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As if this was not enough, the employee is asked to attend game nights, lunchtime chats, company happy hours, and other teambuilding activities and events. During and after work hours, he is bombarded with the latest covid-19 advice, what he and his family should and shouldn’t do. This falls under employee welfare. The company website says “We are online 24/7”, making employees wonder if it applies to them individually.

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Corporations were based on the military model. That is why they have hierarchies, spans of control, superiors and subordinates. Conservative companies believe in monitoring and controlling, rather than trusting their staff. With physical control gone, insecure bosses become more insecure. In offices, there are ways and times to avoid your bosses. Unfortunately, that seems impossible now.

Ravi

Corona Daily 332: Chief Remote Officer (CRO)

The coronavirus pandemic has given birth not only to new words, but to new job titles. Companies have started advertising for a “Head of Remote Work”. Quora, the Q&A social platform is seeking one. Sixty percent of its employees confirmed they would rather work from home after the pandemic is over. HP (printers that don’t work) with 60,000 employees, has established a team of ten senior executives to handle this job.

Facebook has posted an ad for: Director, remote work. Facebook has offered the choice of working from home to all its employees. As I mentioned in an earlier article, FB will adjust their pay depending on the cost of living of the location where they are physically based. Director, remote work is an important strategy post. It will transform the company into a remotely working one.

The person must be a strategic thinker, perhaps with an HR background. Must be a skilled communicator, and adept at technology. The strategy may include writing guidelines for reducing the number and duration of meetings, managing time zones, coordinating with legal and tax people to resolve issues for digital nomads, planning online events to keep the company culture alive. Should the company have set working hours? Should there be an online gym?

The FB ad expects the person to understand distributed and virtual teams, to be an outstanding relationship builder, and a change agent. 15+ years experience in leading people teams and remote workforce is required.

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GitLab is an interesting case study. With 1304 employees in 68 countries, GitLab has been a remote company since 2011. It doesn’t have an office as such. Darren Murph, its Head of Remote, has created a Remote manifesto.

The company hires from all over the world instead of from a central location. The traditional recruitment usually happens on nationalist and racial lines. GitLab has no set working hours. It focuses on work and results, rather than the hours put in. It has replaced verbal explanations by writing and recording knowledge and processes. Most communication is expected to be asynchronous (emails, voice mail) and not synchronous (phones, zoom). Fast and reliable internet is generally all that is needed.

GitLab is worth studying in detail for people who wish to apply for a Head of Remote job.

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GitLab or Facebook are essentially technology companies with young employees.

I feel there is a key difference between the pandemic related work-from-home culture, and the Remote Working culture. They sound similar, but they are not.

In the last six months, most companies are trying to convert the physical workplace into a virtual one. Older employees above 40 have experienced the corporate environment of well-dressed people, water cooler gossip, the daily ritual of commuting, and a sense of a corporate family, with all attached joys, stress and shortcomings. Yes, they may enjoy avoiding traffic, more time with the family, but on the whole, converting them to remote workers is not easy. Just like the Eastern Europeans who grew under communism found it difficult to alter their mentality after its collapse. Tomorrow, I will talk about why many workers-from-home are suffering currently.

Remote work is here to stay. It will probably be the single most dramatic transformation caused by the virus. As technology advances and spreads further, working remotely will become the norm. In one hundred years from now, office buildings will not exist. That revolution will happen with the young. Those who are happier to stare at a screen and interact virtually.

Ravi