Is IT support for companies "essential services"

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#2447397 26-Mar-2020 17:42

Our company supports major essential services, so we have obtained "Essential Services" letters from our clients.

I have 3 so far, all signed by directors,etc - customer staff with Authority

If your customer cannot provide an "essential services" memorandum, don't visit !!

Also been advised to carry our contractor ID cards that have been issued to us by other major govt depts (ADHB, etc).

Of course, remote access trumps all 🚳

freitasm

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#2447436 26-Mar-2020 18:10

I think this is pretty clear:

Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll

Businesses operating non-essential services must shut down their premises. These businesses can continue to operate with staff working from their own homes. If this is not possible, these business must close their operations.

People's sense of self-importance is not "essential".

CMTechNZ

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#2447438 26-Mar-2020 18:13

nztim:

1101:

https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/essential-businesses/

"Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll"

So if a server/network goes down, we can go onsite .
There will be no one there.
The risk is CONSIDERABLY less than going to the supermarket

There risk IS LESS than going onsite the earlier Mon/tues/wed, because there is no one there .
Hands up who refused onsite work the 2 days before the lockdown . Lets have some sanity please .

People are out riding bikes for pets sake .

What does P*** me off is those who didnt bother to test their remote access & vid conferencing etc untill today . Yes , Im getting those calls .
And those who wait till now to want to fix ongoing issues they were warned about ( had a few of those) .

My remote into work has decided to turn to crap today :-(

edit : I live alone , but I fully understand those who dont want to risk their family's safety .
A personal choice I guess

As @freitasm has said, you are not paid enough to go put yourself at risk, you have to eat for survival you put yourself at risk to get food for survival. Yes that would be less risky going into a server room at a client but that is not the point

FYI I rebooted a not essential clients server and got it back up and running via iLO today - if you put the ways and means in place prior, the need to go onsite reduces

Just went out for a walk along Westhaven Drive and decided to come back as there are so many people out walking and bike riding it was hard to maintain the minimum social distance. More people than usual at this time of day. I think going into an empty building to troubleshoot an essential piece of hardware would be much less risk.

I think applying common sense and risk assessment is in order. Yes, if it can be done remotely, of course it would be done remotely. We are discussing tasks that would need to be done on-site when all other options are exhausted. Not everything can be done remotely as we all know.

Behodar

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#2447441 26-Mar-2020 18:20

freitasm:

I think this is pretty clear:

Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll

Businesses operating non-essential services must shut down their premises. These businesses can continue to operate with staff working from their own homes. If this is not possible, these business must close their operations.

People's sense of self-importance is not "essential".

The way I interpreted 'critical support' is 'if this work NEEDS to be done so that the business can continue'. I didn't interpret as 'only for defined essential services', as I think that that'd use the actual word 'essential'.

So it's perhaps not perfectly clear. But I know that for my own position I'm not going to be going into the office.

CMTechNZ

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#2447443 26-Mar-2020 18:21

freitasm:

I think this is pretty clear:

Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll

Businesses operating non-essential services must shut down their premises. These businesses can continue to operate with staff working from their own homes. If this is not possible, these business must close their operations.

People's sense of self-importance is not "essential".

So if payroll can't do their job because the UPS decides to s**t itself we can tell everyone there will be no pay for the next 3 weeks. Good luck guys.

Behodar

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#2447446 26-Mar-2020 18:22

1101: People are out riding bikes for pets sake .

That's explicitly listed as something you're allowed to do.

freitasm

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#2447450 26-Mar-2020 18:23

CMTechNZ:

freitasm:

I think this is pretty clear:

Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll

Businesses operating non-essential services must shut down their premises. These businesses can continue to operate with staff working from their own homes. If this is not possible, these business must close their operations.

So if payroll can't do their job because the UPS decides to s**t itself we can tell everyone there will be no pay for the next 3 weeks. Good luck guys.

I think it's pretty clear it's allowed. Why you are even raising it?

"Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll"

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freitasm

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#2447451 26-Mar-2020 18:24

Behodar:

freitasm:

I think this is pretty clear:

Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll

Businesses operating non-essential services must shut down their premises. These businesses can continue to operate with staff working from their own homes. If this is not possible, these business must close their operations.

The way I interpreted 'critical support' is 'if this work NEEDS to be done so that the business can continue'. I didn't interpret as 'only for defined essential services', as I think that that'd use the actual word 'essential'.

So it's perhaps not perfectly clear. But I know that for my own position I'm not going to be going into the office.

That's correct and that's what is in my post.

awojtas

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#2447452 26-Mar-2020 18:24

Remember your company doesn't need to shut down, even if you don't support any essential businesses, you just need to work from home. Don't go onto any premises:

"Do I need to shut my business if it isn’t on the list of essential services?
At Alert Level 4, you must close your premises, but you may operate your business remotely (eg with workers working from home) if you are able to do so."

(source: https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/essential-businesses/)

Behodar

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#2447463 26-Mar-2020 18:26

freitasm: That's correct and that's what is in my post.

So it is! Things are blurring together a bit :)

freitasm

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#2447464 26-Mar-2020 18:27

awojtas: Remember your company doesn't need to shut down, even if you don't support any essential businesses, you just need to work from home. Don't go onto any premises:

"Do I need to shut my business if it isn’t on the list of essential services?
At Alert Level 4, you must close your premises, but you may operate your business remotely (eg with workers working from home) if you are able to do so."

(source: https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/essential-businesses/)

As per the source: "Businesses operating non-essential services must shut down their premises. These businesses can continue to operate with staff working from their own homes. If this is not possible, these business must close their operations."

CMTechNZ

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#2447466 26-Mar-2020 18:28

freitasm:

I think it's pretty clear it's allowed. Why you are even raising it?

"Critical support services to ensure businesses and workers can continue working from home are considered to be essential. This includes functions such as IT and Payroll"

Exactly my point... it is allowed. It was the other guys saying it wasn't allowed.

networkn

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#2447493 26-Mar-2020 18:57

Good Lord, I think we have covered every eventuality at this point. Asked and Answered.

Anyone not smart enough to understand at this point, should not be in charge of anything critical, let alone IT :)

I vote the topic closed :)

CMTechNZ

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#2447512 26-Mar-2020 19:27

networkn:

Good Lord, I think we have covered every eventuality at this point. Asked and Answered.

Anyone not smart enough to understand at this point, should not be in charge of anything critical, let alone IT :)

I vote the topic closed :)

So everyone agrees then?

You will be allowed to go onto a non-essential businesses site to repair a critical piece of equipment. If you choose to or not is your choice.

Intravix

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#2448834 28-Mar-2020 13:38

Far out... this thread is frustrating to read, like most posts on here and Reddit about the lockdown. Can people not take emotion out of interpreting a written statement and apply logic? I hope to god there are no judges in here. Certain people keep responding as if they are arguing with somebody, but it turns out they weren't.

By the way, I work for a telco and may have to go onsite (data centres/exchanges) if #*#@ hits the fan to keep the network and a large section of the economy running. Are people insinuating that because I work for a telco I'm all of a sudden "paid enough to expose myself and household to Covid19"?

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