Remote work tug of war continues

[yuna628 9,687]

22 minutes ago, Boiler said:

For some reason NPR seems to be focussing on childcare recently.

 

They like complaining about the cost, well if you want quality child care, qualified staff etc it is not going to be cheap.

 

Looking at the bigger picture if you do not need staff to be on site why would you pay them local US wages to work remotely when you can pay people much less to work even more remotely?

 

I would have thought the logic would be that there will be a world wide wage for a given remote job.

Was at my dentist last month, and was greeted by screaming kids running through the halls. Basically there seems to be no available childcare facilities that are accepting new kids this year. All booked up with waiting lists (hearing the same thing going on at all the schools in town). He started letting his staff bring their kids in for the summer because no one could afford what rare places were open in the next state over.. prices too steep. He joked about opening his own daycare in the basement.

[Dashinka 24,645]

2 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

Was at my dentist last month, and was greeted by screaming kids running through the halls. Basically there seems to be no available childcare facilities that are accepting new kids this year. All booked up with waiting lists (hearing the same thing going on at all the schools in town). He started letting his staff bring their kids in for the summer because no one could afford what rare places were open in the next state over.. prices too steep. He joked about opening his own daycare in the basement.

I can see that being a big deal especially with a lot of remote workers returning to the office and in need of childcare.  Makes it tough for those that are not able to work remotely, although I suppose a lot of patients wouldn't mind having dental work done online.

[Boiler 45,740]

5 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

Was at my dentist last month, and was greeted by screaming kids running through the halls. Basically there seems to be no available childcare facilities that are accepting new kids this year. All booked up with waiting lists (hearing the same thing going on at all the schools in town). He started letting his staff bring their kids in for the summer because no one could afford what rare places were open in the next state over.. prices too steep. He joked about opening his own daycare in the basement.

I have seen this so many times in so many different cases. We must have high standards! A long list of requirements, here staff to children ratios, inspections etc etc. Well guess what that costs a lot of money, and then we get the cost complaints, well usually with NPR someone else needs to pay.

 

I wonder if the Dentist needs a license to operate like that? I could see it getting tricky of for example he lets his staff taking it in turns to keep an eye on the children.

 

I do know a little bit about Child Care operations and that the profit margins are very small, to operate you need a long waiting list as you need to be at close to 100% occupancy.

 

Similar situation with elder care. Both are labour intensive operations which are difficult to outsource. 

10 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

I can see that being a big deal especially with a lot of remote workers returning to the office and in need of childcare.  Makes it tough for those that are not able to work remotely, although I suppose a lot of patients wouldn't mind having dental work done online.

I think I have seen Operations being partly conducted remotely?

[yuna628 9,687]

19 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I have seen this so many times in so many different cases. We must have high standards! A long list of requirements, here staff to children ratios, inspections etc etc. Well guess what that costs a lot of money, and then we get the cost complaints, well usually with NPR someone else needs to pay.

 

I wonder if the Dentist needs a license to operate like that? I could see it getting tricky of for example he lets his staff taking it in turns to keep an eye on the children.

 

I do know a little bit about Child Care operations and that the profit margins are very small, to operate you need a long waiting list as you need to be at close to 100% occupancy.

 

Similar situation with elder care. Both are labour intensive operations which are difficult to outsource. 

I think I have seen Operations being partly conducted remotely?

I wondered that too, and thought the whole situation ridiculous. But I know he's kind and just trying to help his employees. When it comes to kids, I'd have high standards... which is why I'd watch kids myself instead of doing daycare, but I know that's not possible for everyone. Raising kids takes money... huge amounts these days.

[Boiler 45,740]

3 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

I wondered that too, and thought the whole situation ridiculous. But I know he's kind and just trying to help his employees. When it comes to kids, I'd have high standards... which is why I'd watch kids myself instead of doing daycare, but I know that's not possible for everyone. Raising kids takes money... huge amounts these days.

 

My assumption is that there are multiple motives, I would put this in the reality vs legality category. Not a problem until it is and then he can most likely just stop.

 

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that there is always something they can get you with, if they want to.

[Neonred 3,579]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

Was at my dentist last month, and was greeted by screaming kids running through the halls. Basically there seems to be no available childcare facilities that are accepting new kids this year. All booked up with waiting lists (hearing the same thing going on at all the schools in town). He started letting his staff bring their kids in for the summer because no one could afford what rare places were open in the next state over.. prices too steep. He joked about opening his own daycare in the basement.

My daughter is a pediatric dentist and will be having twin girls in December.  A while back someone asked her if she had been looking for daycare.  She thought it was too early to look.  To her surprise it has been a real challenge to line up daycare for February or March next year for two.  She briefly considered a nanny until she found out it would cost her about $80k a year.  She was on a few wait lists until a few weeks ago.

 

I suppose at a pediatric dental office having your kids running around would be no big deal.  They just blend in.

 

 

[Neonred 3,579]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

 

I think I have seen Operations being partly conducted remotely?

Dental?  Ok, you have my attention.  I'm interested.

[Boiler 45,740]

Just now, Neonred said:

Dental?  Ok, you have my attention.  I'm interested.

I will look later, I think this was some sort of surgery where the expect was on hand remotely and maybe some of the instruments were remotely controlled?

[Neonred 3,579]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

 

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that there is always something they can get you with, if they want to.

Many years ago the state (or maybe the county) inspector came to my office to do a routine inspection regarding waste.  How it was handled, disposed of, documentation, etc.  Back then we all used the old fashioned X-rays that were in a cardboard wrapper and were developed on site.  Inside the package next to the film was a piece of lead to limit the radiation past the film.  I was asked how we disposed of it as there was no set rule at that time.  Being the smart a** I am I told him I threw it into the Gulf of Mexico.  It is the truth.  At the time I was melting it down and making fishing weights.  WOW, the look on his face.  He wrote a long paragraph in his report, but I never heard anything about it.  I thought for sure there was going to be a problem.

[Neonred 3,579]

7 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I will look later, I think this was some sort of surgery where the expect was on hand remotely and maybe some of the instruments were remotely controlled?

Probably some in hospital oral surgery.  I imagine the cost of any required equipment would be prohibitive for an average dental practice.

[Boiler 45,740]

Many moons ago when I had dealings with the Health Inspector, I actually know him personally so it was mainly a chat, he would need to write us up on something, a poster or something to justify his visit, we had no problems but some of the stories about other places.....

 

A lot of his experiences were not shall we say not PC in the current climate.

[Dashinka 24,645]

1 hour ago, yuna628 said:

I wondered that too, and thought the whole situation ridiculous. But I know he's kind and just trying to help his employees. When it comes to kids, I'd have high standards... which is why I'd watch kids myself instead of doing daycare, but I know that's not possible for everyone. Raising kids takes money... huge amounts these days.

I think we are getting close to a parity point again where either parent staying at home to watch the kids might be cheaper than paying for daycare.  Of course there are other cultural factors involved, but cost is a big factor.

[TBoneTX 45,649]

42 minutes ago, Neonred said:

at a pediatric dental office having your kids running around would be no big deal.  They just blend in.

Especially if her insurance covers equipment barreled into by destructive youngsters.

[yuna628 9,687]

36 minutes ago, Neonred said:

My daughter is a pediatric dentist and will be having twin girls in December.  A while back someone asked her if she had been looking for daycare.  She thought it was too early to look.  To her surprise it has been a real challenge to line up daycare for February or March next year for two.  She briefly considered a nanny until she found out it would cost her about $80k a year.  She was on a few wait lists until a few weeks ago.

 

I suppose at a pediatric dental office having your kids running around would be no big deal.  They just blend in.

 

 

It was really awkward having your teeth being drilled while hearing kids screaming and running down the hallway, poking heads in the rooms and giggling. Thought to myself, this is just silly. He explained of course, and I felt bad for him. Just hope he doesn't get in trouble.

 

22 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

I think we are getting close to a parity point again where either parent staying at home to watch the kids might be cheaper than paying for daycare.  Of course there are other cultural factors involved, but cost is a big factor.

Overall I think working from home is something a lot of employers should be able to offer if the job can truly be done from home. It's an attractive offer to parents that are struggling with childcare. There's nothing terrible about it if the person really is doing their job of course. They save money on food, gas, and travel costs too. I have had some times where I've had to remind him he's working overtime or gotten so caught up in working he's not taking time to relax, but overall he feels so much more productive than going to the office.

[Dashinka 24,645]

2 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

It was really awkward having your teeth being drilled while hearing kids screaming and running down the hallway, poking heads in the rooms and giggling. Thought to myself, this is just silly. He explained of course, and I felt bad for him. Just hope he doesn't get in trouble.

 

Overall I think working from home is something a lot of employers should be able to offer if the job can truly be done from home. It's an attractive offer to parents that are struggling with childcare. There's nothing terrible about it if the person really is doing their job of course. They save money on food, gas, and travel costs too. I have had some times where I've had to remind him he's working overtime or gotten so caught up in working he's not taking time to relax, but overall he feels so much more productive than going to the office.

Personally I enjoy the change of scenery by going into the office as I stated earlier even though when working at home, I tend to work longer hours and can be a bit more productive, but I do value face-to-face collaboration at times.  I think for the most part in many areas we will end up in a hybrid situation.