It's Time for Everybody to Work From Home, the Washington Post Tells Employees

[brooklynite]

Source: Washingtonian

The Washington Post has sent a memo to all its employees encouraging them to work from home if possible in response to the novel coronavirus crisis. The soft quarantine begins Wednesday and will last at least through the end of the month, Post Publisher Fred Ryan told staffers in a memo Tuesday.

The Post, like many other DC-area outlets, had already asked journalists who covered CPAC to work from home for seven days out of an abundance of caution after a CPAC employee tested positive for the virus. The Post has already canceled nonessential travel for employees and all WP Live events for March. It has also canceled office tours.

The news organization nonetheless intends “to continue our operations at full scale even with this change in employee locations,” Ryan says.

Read more: https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/03/10/its-time-for-everybody-to-work-from-home-the-washington-post-tells-employees/

---

To All Washington Post Employees,

The Post leadership team has been closely monitoring developments in the response to the coronavirus crisis, and how it may affect our essential mission to serve our readers and assure the well-being of our employees. We have decided to begin encouraging (but not mandating) employees to work from home if your role and equipment needs make it practical to do so, starting tomorrow through the end of the month. We intend to continue our operations at full scale even with this change in employee locations. As we get more information from the CDC and local officials, we will continue to evaluate this position, and will let you know if further changes are deemed necessary.

This decision will likely generate questions about workflows, how best to work from home and more. Vice President of HR Wayne Connell will be sending out a communication shortly addressing some of those questions, and department heads will follow up with their individual teams to help everyone better understand the expectations and their role during this time. We will continue to take every precaution to help mitigate any spread of covid-19 to our employees while maintaining the operations that serve our readers around the globe.

[IronLionZion]

1. We're about to find out which meetings could have been emails after all

it fine for journalists and many office workers but this really screws hard the other types of workers who can't. Just today some douchebag was bragging about getting his groceries and stuff delivered to his house and I thought about the delivery drivers visiting sick people's homes. Hospital workers can't work from home. And many other types of labor jobs will have to tough it out or lose their wages.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. Yeah, if everybody could work from home,

we'd all be doing it. Most working class jobs have to be done in person. People in service jobs will just be out of work with no pay, most likely.

[EarthFirst]

4. I'm a residential mason by trade...

If I’m not laying block; I’m not getting paid.

[NurseJackie]

6. Emails or conference calls...

[IronLionZion]

8. If you are a nurse

I had this conversation with a nurse friend recently. She says some doctors could work remotely through videoconferencing depending on the case, but nurses must always be there in person right up close to the highly infectious patients.

[Hekate]

2. KnR

[raccoon]

5. How are janitors supposed to do that? Nt

[RobinA]

7. I Work In A

Psychiatric hospital. No working from home for me. And if you stay home but are asymptomatic you better use your vacation time! Even if possibly exposed. Real team players, my employer. A government entity.