Coronavirus - New Zealand
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Whinny says it was pressure from him to move to L1 that got us there
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The sacrifices made by so many of us has been huge. It’s tough seeing on the news or online guys who have worked their whole lives in one job all of a sudden finding themselves unemployed. I’ve been lucky enough to keep mine although I’m still at a reduced pay level.
Hoping that will return to normal soon.
Has been an interesting time, looking back still not sure what to make off the whole lockdown experience. -
@Virgil I think a lot of companies are looking to use it as an excuse to cut costs and lay off staff. That isn't really a criticism either, it's hard to do and the opportunity arose so some took it. I've managed to keep everybody employed but it is costing me, hopefully only short term.
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Virgil I think a lot of companies are looking to use it as an excuse to cut costs and lay off staff. That isn't really a criticism either, it's hard to do and the opportunity arose so some took it. I've managed to keep everybody employed but it is costing me, hopefully only short term.
Yep I’m pretty sure most of the businesses that have gone under were in trouble to begin with. Many others in tourism etc though you can understand.
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@Snowy Tower Insurance (acquired Youi last year) are apparently laying off about 100 people, yet are going to 'refund millions' to customers due to lack of claims made during lockdown...
But yeah, plenty of businesses may have been sailing close to the wind before, and the lockdown was the final straw.
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy Tower Insurance (acquired Youi last year) are apparently laying off about 100 people, yet are going to 'refund millions' to customers due to lack of claims made during lockdown...
But yeah, plenty of businesses may have been sailing close to the wind before, and the lockdown was the final straw.
So would they have been better keeping their staff and not refunding, or were they culling dead wood? Trained quality staff are hard to find, shit ones are easy.
Each business has to decide that. This gave them a chance was my point.
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy Tower Insurance (acquired Youi last year) are apparently laying off about 100 people, yet are going to 'refund millions' to customers due to lack of claims made during lockdown...
But yeah, plenty of businesses may have been sailing close to the wind before, and the lockdown was the final straw.
So would they have been better keeping their staff and not refunding, or were they culling dead wood? Trained quality staff are hard to find, shit ones are easy.
Each business has to decide that. This gave them a chance was my point.
Great PR exercise too, refunding customers ( me one of them) car insurance for a car they didn’t drive for 5 weeks..
Makes the other insurance companies look shit too -
@Virgil said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy Tower Insurance (acquired Youi last year) are apparently laying off about 100 people, yet are going to 'refund millions' to customers due to lack of claims made during lockdown...
But yeah, plenty of businesses may have been sailing close to the wind before, and the lockdown was the final straw.
So would they have been better keeping their staff and not refunding, or were they culling dead wood? Trained quality staff are hard to find, shit ones are easy.
Each business has to decide that. This gave them a chance was my point.
Great PR exercise too, refunding customers ( me one of them) car insurance for a car they didn’t drive for 5 weeks..
Makes the other insurance companies look shit tooI'm getting refunds on some insurance, not all. So yeah, it will be interesting to see who fronts up.
The most interesting one for me is Southern Cross. A "not for profit" organisation that saved $50 million by people not going to the doctor. How many hypochondriacs do we have in this country? I know heaps that the first port of call for a sniffle is the GP.
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy Tower Insurance (acquired Youi last year) are apparently laying off about 100 people, yet are going to 'refund millions' to customers due to lack of claims made during lockdown...
Youi are giving customers 15% off their car insurance per month due to less usage.
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Siam and isnt Aussies economy tanking too, collateral damage of the virus all round.
I dont agree with some of how things transpired, but pretty happy about where we are right now.
Yeah I think everyone is in for a stressful year.
Which country did best is a bit like 2 double amputees arguing over whose surgeon had the sharper knife.
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Virgil I think a lot of companies are looking to use it as an excuse to cut costs and lay off staff. That isn't really a criticism either, it's hard to do and the opportunity arose so some took it. I've managed to keep everybody employed but it is costing me, hopefully only short term.
A convenient time to trim off dead wood that's for sure. Also a good time to re-organize and try to improve efficiency and ultimately profitability
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@canefan said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Virgil I think a lot of companies are looking to use it as an excuse to cut costs and lay off staff. That isn't really a criticism either, it's hard to do and the opportunity arose so some took it. I've managed to keep everybody employed but it is costing me, hopefully only short term.
A convenient time to trim off dead wood that's for sure. Also a good time to re-organize and try to improve efficiency and ultimately profitability
If the last 3 months have shown us anything, it is that many face to face meetings are utter fucking tripe.
Additionally, productivity is King when the shit really hits - and, therefore HR can suck my balls that I don't smile enough for their liking.
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@Snowy yeah thats what I was alluding to, I expect they were probably looking at ways to tighten things (cull the useless ones of the Youi staff and some of thier own) and Covid have been a prime chance.
Thing is, while some insurers may have had good results over that period, not all did...plenty of cars/trucks were still stolen (I know right, people breaching lock down rules) plus were more incidents on home/contents/burglaries in business premises etc
I think some businesses have found they can operate more efficiently too (plenty from home instead of offices - we are moving into a new office building in September I think...) I know of one that operated on less staff over L3 & 2 with similar level of income...who are now restructuring
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@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
cull the useless ones of the Youi staff
I called them for a quote a year or two ago. It was several hours of my life that I will never get back and they were expensive.
Personally I think just use a broker for insurance.
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@NTA said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@canefan said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Snowy said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
@Virgil I think a lot of companies are looking to use it as an excuse to cut costs and lay off staff. That isn't really a criticism either, it's hard to do and the opportunity arose so some took it. I've managed to keep everybody employed but it is costing me, hopefully only short term.
A convenient time to trim off dead wood that's for sure. Also a good time to re-organize and try to improve efficiency and ultimately profitability
If the last 3 months have shown us anything, it is that many face to face meetings are utter fucking tripe.
Additionally, productivity is King when the shit really hits - and, therefore HR can suck my balls that I don't smile enough for their liking.
I don't see long haul travel of short meetings coming back anytime soon. I also thought flying across the world to take a meeting then fly home always sounded so inefficient
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@Mokey said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
If being an island and 5m population made beating the virus so super duper easy, how come Ireland has 25k cases and over 1600 deaths?
2 different political systems on the one island with no desire to put up a physical border again
Lots of contact with the UK one of the major epicentres of the virus
Ski holidays in Italy and France at the moment the virus took off
3 hours flight gets you to multiple destinations in Europe. 3 hours flight from NZ barely gets you to Australia
Cheltenham horse races at the time the virus was taking off
Not only flights but also ferries into Ireland/NI
Population density higher in Ireland than NZ
Socialising in pubs is what the Irish do, much more so than in NZAnd so on. It's a great achievement, but don't be turning into a smug self-satisfied Kiwi now please!
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@canefan said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:
I don't see long haul travel of short meetings coming back anytime soon. I also thought flying across the world to take a meeting then fly home always sounded so inefficient
Was visiting a mate of mine on the weekend - was a mentor to me 20 years ago, and the whole time since about 1998 has worked remotely in central NSW - even on dialup. He never saw the point of work junkets and agrees with your point above: things are going to change.
Particularly once companies see the budget savings.