Like the previous posted have said it is a long process. Just because they can not do it does not mean they can not do it in the future.
Home Dispatching
- Thread starter RaimOutage
- Start date
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
Dispatching from home wasn't created to speed up the end of the pandemic nor was it created to get the ball rolling on outsourcing. It was put into place so that dispatchers could be spread out and reduce the risk of getting COVID in the OCC. Has nobody here given any thought to what happens to an OCC if somebody knowingly or unknowingly brings COVID in and it spreads like wild fire? That airline will be in some big trouble. Right now it is a good solution for those who want to continue to work and still quarantine/distance themselves from others. It's completely optional as well, those who want to do it can and those who do not want to do it don't have to and can come into the OCC. SkyWest put the safety and well being of the OCC first and everybody views it as some terrible thing.... 
Dispatching from home wasn't created to speed up the end of the pandemic nor was it created to get the ball rolling on outsourcing. It was put into place so that dispatchers could be spread out and reduce the risk of getting COVID in the OCC. Has nobody here given any thought to what happens to an OCC if somebody knowingly or unknowingly brings COVID in and it spreads like wild fire? That airline will be in some big trouble. Right now it is a good solution for those who want to continue to work and still quarantine/distance themselves from others. It's completely optional as well, those who want to do it can and those who do not want to do it don't have to and can come into the OCC. SkyWest put the safety and well being of the OCC first and everybody views it as some terrible thing....
What? Management taking a proactive approach to keeping employees (with specialized skills and critical for the operation) safe during a pandemic? Must be a cover up for taking our jerbs!
manniax
Well-met in the Ka-tet
Dispatching from home wasn't created to speed up the end of the pandemic nor was it created to get the ball rolling on outsourcing. It was put into place so that dispatchers could be spread out and reduce the risk of getting COVID in the OCC. Has nobody here given any thought to what happens to an OCC if somebody knowingly or unknowingly brings COVID in and it spreads like wild fire? That airline will be in some big trouble. Right now it is a good solution for those who want to continue to work and still quarantine/distance themselves from others. It's completely optional as well, those who want to do it can and those who do not want to do it don't have to and can come into the OCC. SkyWest put the safety and well being of the OCC first and everybody views it as some terrible thing....
There are other solutions besides having part of the office dispatch from home. I know of at least one major that has their backup facility open and a lot of people working out of there, with no going back and forth between the two groups. As with Skywest, it was all done on a volunteer basis, and is expected to continue until there's an effective COVID vaccine. I suppose that working from home might be better for people at high risk of getting COVID complications, but in general I think it's much better to be working in a facility where backup is around you, readily available, and you aren't dependent 100% on phone and internet connections in order to communicate. Most of the time, working from home probably works fine. On a day from hell...maybe not. Also, when you're in an office environment, if there are computer or phone issues you normally have other desks you can easily switch to...which is probably not the case at a home office. I have admittedly never worked from home. Perhaps there are contingency plans for all of these events. However, I really doubt any home office has all the resources available that you have at a regular NOC.
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There’s valid arguments on both sides, but as is the case with many things in life, they can end up being used for other than the intended purpose.
Intentions may be good now, but down the road, we may not be able to say that about what this can/will be used for.
If you give a mouse a cookie, comes to mind.
Intentions may be good now, but down the road, we may not be able to say that about what this can/will be used for.
If you give a mouse a cookie, comes to mind.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
They have a backup which is used, and they made a second makeshift OCC on the otherside of the building as well. All of them are cleaned regularly. Remote was put into place so that if they had to quarantine people they could without hurting the operation. If say, hypothetically, somebody in the OCC was around a family member who tested positive and needed to quaratine they could simply work from home instead of having to sit at home and not work for two weeks costing them valuable vacation/user hours or resulting in little to no pay. I think it's a good thing.
Just so wer are clear since I know everybody hates the non-union heathens in St George, no that doesn't mean they expect somebody who tests positive to continue working. It's just an option if somebody gets put in a tight spot. They really, truly, are putting everyones best interest first and I think they deserve some credit for that.
manniax
Well-met in the Ka-tet
It's possible to clean a facility and then keep using it if someone working there does test positive. It's happened at ARTCC's numerous times already.
This particular argument reminds me of the, "It's just as safe, plus it will save money!" argument that Jeppesen was using when trying to get the regulations changed to allow for contract dispatching for US carriers.
As I said before, I think "work from home" dispatching might be preferable to certain individuals at high risk for serious complications if they were to contract the COVID virus, but I think that splitting up the NOC and using a "costly backup facility" is a much better option in terms of resources and safety.
This particular argument reminds me of the, "It's just as safe, plus it will save money!" argument that Jeppesen was using when trying to get the regulations changed to allow for contract dispatching for US carriers.
As I said before, I think "work from home" dispatching might be preferable to certain individuals at high risk for serious complications if they were to contract the COVID virus, but I think that splitting up the NOC and using a "costly backup facility" is a much better option in terms of resources and safety.
flygirl142
Well-Known Member
That's a good feeling when you work for a company that does.
This is exactly why ADF has long lobbied against home dispatching. Because it would be the first step in allowing operational control to be outsourced. Jeppesen is making it clear they are trying to not only go in this direction, but actually be the company that provides this service. I also believe this is one reason why airlines are going to other vendors to replace their flight planning tools, because other companies are just providing software, and are still leaving it to the airlines to provide that operational control.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
How is home dispatching the first step to outsourced dispatching? In a world which outsourcing dispatch exists you could still outsource to Jepp or whoever and have all of the flights released from their own OCC. Being at home or in an OCC really makes no difference and I don't see how it has anything to do with outsourcing. I'd be more worried about the current abilities of AI than I would a dispatcher taking a computer home so they don't get sick.
Nobody is coming to your house right now. The Feds don't want your cooties, I promise. Pinky promise.
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manniax
Well-met in the Ka-tet
I don't know about this - if there was an accident involving one of your flights and you were dispatching from home, I think the feds would be VERY interested in looking at your "dispatch from home" setup, to the point of wanting to review your internet history and perhaps the computer you were using as well. They would likely do the same thing if you were dispatching from your company's NOC, but at least in that case you wouldn't have to worry about them taking your personal computer away from you until the investigation is complete.
who'swho
Don't hesitate. Penetrate!
I presume the dispatchers working from home are using company issued computers which doesn't really change much. I know that's the way my company has proposed going about it. In which case, that doesn't change a thing vs working in the office.
Not sure about flynryan, but company’s plan was to require webcam to be on.
I don’t want the company having a camera in my home, on, for 10-ish hours a day.
who'swho
Don't hesitate. Penetrate!
I would not volunteer to work from home but in my shop they have discussed having half the shift work from home. They have not mentioned having a camera on at any point. I completely understand what they are trying to do by spreading everyone out and I can also understand that some are more nervous than most about this pandemic. That being said, I really don't think this is the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" for turning our job into a contract position. The FAA really likes the idea of a company employee fully invested in the safety of their own company's operation. These are unusual times and we're all just trying to find a way through it.
Side note, we have a good portion of the non-dispatch OCC groups working from home and precisely zero of those groups have been contracted out. So there's that.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
There isn't anything they gain from your home, at least not with the way we do it. Dispatching from home is done on a company issued computer, connected to a company VPN. They can review whatever data they want remotely, they can even login to the computer remotely if needed. You can't dispatch from home without submitting a photo of your "setup" and signed paperwork. I think the most that would happen is they'd suspend your ability to dispatch from home until the investigation was over, and I think that might only be if they suspected working from home was a contributing factor to whatever happened. It's never happened obviously so who knows, but I really don't see anything that can be gained from entering the dispatchers home.
There are no webcams, and that would be a total violation of privacy to force you to have a camera on. Yikes.
Obviously never got that far outside of Skywest, but I know that’s what people were being told when they were selecting their testers.
flynryan692
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure I fully understand, are you saying they wanted to use webcams at SkyWest? That's completely false, and I was one of the very first to test this. I never heard anything about having webcams on.
No, I was referring to home dispatching never got that far outside of Skywest.
Can we save the political, racist infused names for COVID-19/Coronavirus to ourselves, please?
