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Health

CDC masks pointers may improve threat of spreading Covid at work and in public, scientists say

CDC mask guidelines could increase risk of spreading Covid at work and in public, scientists say

People without a mask are walking in Times Square in New York City on May 19, 2021.

John Smith | VIEW press | Corbis News | Getty Images

The CDC’s new mask guidelines could actually increase the risk of Covid-19 spreading in public spaces and workplaces, scientists from a leading group of infectious diseases said Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly reversed their mask guidelines for vaccinated Americans last week to say that vaccinated people will no longer need to wear a mask indoors or outdoors in most settings. Officials said they changed their guidelines in part because research shows the vaccines offer very high levels of protection against the disease of Covid-19 and spread it to others.

“There is no debate about this fact,” said Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, who sits on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, at a news conference hosted Thursday by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. However, the agency’s announcement created widespread confusion and frustration because “it was unexpected and lacked the necessary context for implementation by the state and local health community,” he said.

Duchin is the society’s liaison with the CDC’s Vaccination Committee. The company represents leading specialists in infectious diseases in the USA

“There was no information on how the guidelines could be used in practice, particularly in relation to the inability to check vaccination status,” said Duchin. The CDC also did not provide guidance on whether people should continue to wear masks in areas with high transmission rates or low vaccination rates, he said. “What the CDC did, however, was not optimal and gave the wrong impression that the mask mandates were being lifted.”

Doctors across the country and federal health officials continue to stress that only vaccinated people are safe to remove their masks. The new mask management was misinterpreted as the end of the pandemic and mask mandates, which puts the local health authorities in a very difficult position. States in the United States took the news as a cue to facilitate mask mandates. Texas Governor Greg Abbott used the new guidance to justify signing an executive order that threatens the fine for local officials and communities for not dropping mask requirements.

Duchin said that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people are likely safe outdoors without masks, but they are not indoors.

“Now the risk of Covid-19 spreading in crowded indoor spaces with unvaccinated people and especially with poor ventilation is increased,” said Duchin. While the CDC’s scientific basis for the change is “solid,” Duchin said ending the mandate for inner masks “could lead to increased risk in public spaces and workplaces with avoidable spread of Covid-19, mostly among the unvaccinated spreads. “

Vaccination rates vary across the country, and the majority of those vaccinated are older adults. Large subgroups such as younger adults remain unvaccinated.

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, who also spoke at the briefing, said research has shown that up to 3% of Americans have been told by their doctors that they have some level of immunodeficiency, which puts them at an increased risk of being exposed to Covid be.

“Millions of people fit that bill, and we literally have very little data on whether the vaccine works in them,” Marrazzo said. “There is a real reason to be careful and interpret the guidelines carefully.”

The scientists also said people need to acknowledge that there is uncertainty about the future course of the pandemic, the effects of emerging variants, the duration of immunity, and the potential for a Covid-19 resurgence.

“The Covid-19 outbreak is by no means over, there is still significant uncertainty and there is still significant disease activity,” said Duchin.

If someone is fully vaccinated and doesn’t have other conditions that threaten their community, and if the rate of Covid where they live is relatively low and the vaccination rate is high, Marrazzo said it would be “100% okay, pretty much anywhere without one. ” Mask.”

Marrazzo added that despite being fully vaccinated, she will continue to wear a mask around the house as vaccination rates in her community are not even 50%.

“If I knew we were seeing really notable decreases in hospital stays and symptomatic illnesses that may be related to Covid and that have a very high vaccination rate, I would probably go without a mask, but I won’t see this anytime soon,” she said.

While nearly half of all people in the United States, 160.2 million, received at least one shot, Marrazzo said only 4.6% of the world’s population did the same.

“People need to be aware of what’s going on and watch out for vaccination rates, look for the involvement of these new varieties and think about being ready to get things going again,” warned Marrazzo.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the press conference was hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

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Business

Raytheon to chop workplace area by 25% because it embraces hybrid work

Raytheon to cut office space by 25% as it embraces hybrid work

Raytheon Technologies is leveraging the hybrid work model to reduce its footprint and foster a more inclusive workforce, CEO Greg Hayes told CNBC on Tuesday.

After working from home for more than a year, an experiment sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, the company plans to cut a quarter of its office space and only welcome employees to the office when needed.

“What this pandemic has honestly shown us is that you can be productive in different work environments,” he said in an interview with Jim Cramer about Mad Money.

Around 100,000 people worked remotely during the pandemic, according to Raytheon, who employed 181,000 people worldwide as of December. Raytheon intends to reduce its 32 million square feet by 25%, or 8 million square feet.

That doesn’t mean the end of personal work at Raytheon, an aerospace and defense giant based in Waltham, Massachusetts. Hayes sees worker involvement as an opportunity to maintain the corporate culture, but saw an advantage in eliminating daily trips to campus.

“I still think you have to be in the office occasionally,” he said. “You have to build up social capital, you have to build this team esprit de corps, but you don’t have to commute an hour every day to be productive.”

Raytheon is also focused on achieving diversity goals, and Hayes believes that a model for working from anywhere will be the key to the work-life balance that many women demand.

During the pandemic, women’s participation in the labor force fell to levels not seen in decades.

“We’re going to give people flexibility, and that’s going to be very helpful in terms of customer loyalty as well,” said Haye. “When I think about the goals we have about diversity that are trying to keep young women in the workforce, that kind of flexibility is absolutely necessary.”

Raytheon stock fell 1.37% on Tuesday to close at $ 85.38. The stock is up 19% this year.

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Business

Suggestions for asking for a month of distant work

Tips for asking for a month of remote work

In addition to on-site yoga classes and ergonomic desks, companies may have a new wellness initiative in store that gives workers annual remote working hours.

Remote working has proven popular with many workers. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 54% of employees say they want to continue working from home after the pandemic has ended.

But that probably won’t happen. Far more companies are expected to switch to hybrid work arrangements this year to get the best of both work environments – flexibility with an office environment focus, less loneliness and less commuting.

However, a hybrid schedule of three days in the office and two days out of the office does not allow for any of the greatest benefits of the work-from-home program: the extended workcation.

Workcations – and their lesser-known cousin, the wellness sabbatical – are blurring the lines between work and vacation. You are sure to work, but with a better view. Research shows that it can be a therapeutic change that complements the regular vacation time rather than replaces it.

Is annual remote working the norm?

“A block of time is an interesting concept,” said Lynne Cazaly, a workplace specialist and author of “Agile-ish: How to Create a Culture of Agility.”

She said the idea might be attractive during certain times of the year (summer, yes, but also during snowy winters), school holidays, and other “difficult times of the year”.

If you don’t offer these evolving advantages, there is a competitive disadvantage.

Lynne Cazaly

Workplace specialist and speaker

Short duration of remote working would also allow employers to compete with companies that are introducing perpetual flexible working arrangements, Cazaly said.

“Many leading indicator companies – like Spotify, Twitter, Square, Unilever and Atlassian – have declared that their employees can work from home forever,” she told CNBC. “Corporations … know that there is a growing war for talent … if you don’t offer these evolving perks, there is a competitive disadvantage.”

Just take a look at google. In an email to employees last week, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that employees would now have four “work-from-anywhere” weeks (of two) to give “everyone more flexibility on summer and vacation travel.” to offer.

Less pandemic-style problems

The problems many employees have had while working from home over the past year – such as isolation and lack of social interaction with coworkers – are less likely to be encountered with short-term stays away from the office.

In fact, workers who use time to travel can improve their mental well-being instead of harming it, said Susie Ellis, CEO of the Global Wellness Institute.

“Academics have actually studied the wellbeing effects of sabbaticals, whether it’s the traditional one-year academic variant or a sabbatical lasting a month or more,” she said. “Research shows [they] Decrease people’s stress, increase general well-being, and help people be more creative. “

Google announced last week that 60% of its workforce will be working in the office three days a week, 20% in new office locations and 20% from home.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Employers’ concerns can also be manageable. According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 68% of executives said that employees should be in the office at least three days a week to maintain the corporate culture once the pandemic has subsided. For employees following this schedule, one month of remote work equals the requirement of 12 additional external days per year.

Additionally, moving to hybrid schedules could make the old way of working (with everyone in the office) and pandemic-style work (with everyone online) a thing of the past, said Cazaly, adding that a mix of “people here”, there and everywhere it is where it is “now”.

Will it work for your industry?

While some industries cannot simply work from home – retail, construction, entertainment, and healthcare to name a few – Pew’s research has shown that the majority of workers in these industries:

  • Information and technology: 84%
  • Banking, finance, accounting, real estate, or insurance: 84%
  • Education: 59%
  • professional, scientific and technical services: 59%

Yet another obstacle awaits you in these sectors – the buy-in of corporate governance. From Facebook to Google, tech industries are embracing the flexible work trend, while the titans of banking have begun publicly rejecting it.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said last week he wasn’t a fan of the work-from-home trend, while Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon described it as “a divergence we’re as soon as possible to correct “.

Jaya Dass, managing director of the Randstad recruitment agency in Singapore and Malaysia, warns employees to perform a “reality check” before requesting remote work opportunities.

“It is not that easy to collaborate and discover work results in a remote environment as it sounds,” she said. “If your manager has not performed as expected over the past year, he may be waiting for you to return to the office to assess whether remote work is the variable factor affecting your work.”

At the same time, Dass noted that it would be inadvisable for companies to unnecessarily reject annual employee remote work requests, as otherwise “they could run the risk of losing their trust and loyalty to the company”.

Tips for annual remote work

1. Don’t wait

When is the right time to ask about annual remote work? “Now, now, now,” Cazaly said, adding that some companies may resort to pre-Covid labor practices over time.

2. Do your research

Check your employee handbook or speak to someone in human resources to see if your company already has a remote working policy, said Amanda Augustine, career coach with resume writing service TopResume.

“If there is no such directive, don’t let that stop you,” she said. “Instead, look online for messages from other organizations – ideally competitors, companies with similar traits, or that your CEO admires – that have indicated that at least some of their employees will be allowed to continue teleworking after the pandemic.”

3. Be strategic

Take your manager’s personality into account when deciding how to start the conversation.

“If your boss prefers direct people, schedule a meeting with a clear goal: ‘I want to schedule a time with you to discuss extending my remote work,'” Augustine said.

Use video chat to request annual remote work hours to assess your employer’s body language, advises career coach Amanda Augustine.

Alistair Berg | DigitalVision | Getty Images

If your manager is less direct, bring up the topic in your next one-on-one interview. Either way, make sure the conversation is over video and not over the phone, Augustine said.

“That way, you can observe your manager’s body language and assess whether your proposal is well received,” she said.

4. Equip yourself with data

Through research, explain how remote working can be a win-win situation for you and your employer.

“Studies have shown that companies offering work flexibility options can reduce employee burnout, increase retention rates, decrease absenteeism, improve productivity, and improve overall work morale,” said Augustine.

Cazaly agrees, “Organizations know that happier employees stay more engaged, productive, and longer.”

5. Show that you are a hard worker

Although remote working has shown productivity gains over the past year, companies can decline short-term remote requests if they fear employees will not be working efficiently away from the office, Cazaly said. To combat this, show that you have a great work ethic and are committed to your role, she said.

Augustine calls this sharing “Your Professional Profits”. Remind your boss of the goals you’ve met or exceeded since working from home, she said.

6. Prepare for objections

Eliminate possible objections from your employer before bringing your case forward. Upgrade your WiFi, buy a new router, fix lights for video calls, and buy noise-canceling headphones, advised Augustine.

Then reassure your managers that you will be available during your absence and that you will not compromise on quality work, said Dass of Randstad.

If companies don’t move, try another option

If employers decline a one-month request, ask to combine two weeks of remote work with two weeks of vacation time.

Kristen Graff, a Singapore-based sales and marketing director, negotiated with her employer to spend a month in Hawaii this summer, with time evenly split between vacation and remote work.

“I know I’m probably the exception, but I didn’t want a four-week vacation,” Graff said, adding that one of the things she wanted most was “a change in the environment … from a productivity standpoint Inspiration “was. “”

Graff said she would be interested in an annual period of remote work, but she believes the idea “really depends on the person”.

“It takes a lot of self-motivation,” she said. “You have to work or you will ruin it for everyone.”

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Business

Automaker Stellantis plans for workers to work remotely more often than not

Automaker Stellantis plans for employees to work remotely most of the time

The logo of Stellantis, the fourth largest automaker in the world, which will start trading in Milan and Paris following the completion of the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA, will be at the main entrance of the FCA Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy on January 18, 2021 to see.

Massimo Pinca | Reuters

DETROIT – When Fiat Chrysler employees, now Stellantis, get their expected returns in offices later this year, they will do so with a new company and a more flexible work schedule.

The automaker is launching a hybrid work initiative called “New Era of Agility”. The goal is for the majority of the company’s employees to work remotely most of the time. This includes 17,000 employees in North America, the majority of whom work in the Detroit area. Shannon Dziuda, director of special human resources projects for Stellantis North America, told CNBC.

“We want the decision in a facility to be deliberate, based on what works best for individuals and the company, and to support the health and wellbeing of the team,” she said during an interview on Friday.

As part of the plan, the company expects employees who combine remote and in-office work to do an average of 70% remote and 30% on-site work, she said. The division is a guideline, not a mandate, according to Dziuda. This does not include hourly manufacturing workers or employees who must be physically present in laboratories or elsewhere to do their job.

The decision to create such a program was made after the company received feedback from employees, many of whom have been working remotely for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Dziuda said. Similar announcements from General Motors and Ford Motor follow. However, GM and Ford have not published percentage guidelines.

Stellantis is planning a four- to six-week pilot trial for around 450 employees at the company’s North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, starting in October. After that, Dziuda said, Stellantis will make changes to work areas and offices to meet the expected needs of all employees working on the new hybrid planning.

“The pilot will tell us what additional changes we may need to make to space, both physically and digitally,” she said.

The schedule for employees returning to offices is based on local and state regulations, but Dziuda said Stellantis currently plans to bring them back in late 2021 and early next year.

Around 15,000 people, including 12,000 employees, work at the North American headquarters and the technology center. About 10% are currently in the facility because their work requires them to be in the buildings.

Stellantis, like other companies, believes that its flexible work policy will help attract new employees.

“We want to be able to retain our top talent and attract new top talent and diverse talent,” said Dziuda. “As we know, a diverse culture leads to better innovations.”

According to a recent Prudential survey of 2,000 adults who were able to work from home during the pandemic, 87% want it to be possible after their coronavirus risk subsides.

Stellantis was formed in January through a $ 52 billion merger between Fiat Chrysler and French automaker PSA Groupe. Its CEO is Carlos Tavares, former CEO of PSA. Its chairman is John Elkann, who held the same position at Fiat Chrysler and is a descendant of the founder of the Italian automaker Fiat.

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Business

Offshore wind agency to work with researchers and sort out blade waste

Offshore wind firm to work with researchers and tackle blade waste

This file photo taken on July 31, 2018 shows workers checking the quality of newly manufactured wind turbine blades at a factory in China.

AFP | Getty Images

A collaboration between science and industry is expected to focus on recycling fiberglass products, which could ultimately help reduce waste from wind turbine blades.

In an announcement on Thursday, the University of Strathclyde, based in Glasgow, Scotland, said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Aker Offshore Wind and Aker Horizons.

Among other things, the trio will work together to scale and commercialize a laboratory-developed process that involves recycling fiberglass-reinforced polymer composites used in wind turbine blades.

According to the university, the system focuses on the “heat recovery and post-treatment of glass fibers” from glass fiber-reinforced polymer composite scrap with the end result “glass fibers of almost virgin quality”. The idea is that with this system the composite waste can be reused.

“This is a challenge not just for the wind power industry, but for all industries that rely on GRP materials to manufacture and manufacture them,” said Liu Yang, head of the Advanced Composites Group at the University of Strathclyde, in a statement.

“Maintaining and redistributing the energy contained in the fibers is critical to moving towards a circular economy,” he added.

What to do with wind turbine blades when they are no longer needed is an industry headache. This is because the composite blades can prove difficult to recycle, which means many end up in landfill at the end of their lifespan.

As the number of wind turbines on the planet increases, the problem becomes even greater. According to Strathclyde, blade waste could reach 400,000 tons per year by 2030.

In recent years, a number of companies in the industry have tried to find solutions to the problem.

For example, last December, GE Renewable Energy and Veolia North America signed a “multi-year contract” to recycle blades removed from onshore wind turbines in the US.

In an announcement at the time, GE Renewable Energy said the blades would be crushed at a Veolia North America facility in Missouri before being “used as a substitute for coal, sand and clay in cement factories in the United States.”

In January 2020, the Danish wind energy giant Vestas announced that it wanted to produce zero-waste wind turbines by 2040.

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Politics

Biden and Suga Agree U.S. and Japan Will Work Collectively on 5G

Biden and Suga Agree U.S. and Japan Will Work Together on 5G

WASHINGTON – President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged on Friday to work together on the rapid development of 5G communication technologies to prevent any of the leading Chinese companies from dominating the global market. This is a symbolic first step in propping up an alliance that collapsed during the Trump administration.

The deal was one of the pre-negotiated results of a foreign leader’s first personal visit to Mr Biden’s White House in three months, during which he spoke only by telephone or video conference with his colleagues overseas. For Mr Suga, just appearing in the rose garden with Mr Biden – where the President originally and incorrectly called him “Yosi” instead of “Yoshi” – was evidence that he had managed to maintain Japan’s most important international relationship despite one of the two most difficult presidential transitions in history.

“Our commitment to meet in person shows the importance and value we both place on this relationship,” said Biden. “We will work together to prove that democracies can still compete and win in the 21st century.”

However, the subtext of the meeting responded to China’s influence and aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific and beyond – which Mr Biden sees as one of the main challenges of his tenure. And it was a cautious dance, with Japanese officials not embroiled in tensions with Beijing over Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the rapid rift between the western open internet and a Chinese government-dominated closed internet.

At a moment when Mr Biden has drawn lines in the sand – promising to compete with the Chinese government where he can and confront them where he must – Mr Suga tried, unsurprisingly, every sense of rivalry to water down.

Mr Biden said the two countries would “work together” in a number of areas, including “promoting secure and reliable 5G networks,” a technology that promises to revolutionize the speed and convenience of high-speed cellular connections in factories and hard drives . to reach rural areas. It’s also a technology that the US has been virtually absent from while one of Beijing’s leading companies, Huawei, has cabled large parts of Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East with the support of the Chinese government.

Mr Biden’s advisors have warned that if the United States does not engage allies in a race to catch up, national security results could be catastrophic: the world’s internet traffic and conversations will continue to flow over Beijing-controlled circuits. Aides said Japan and the United States would spend $ 2 billion on a joint project to develop alternative approaches – a remarkable change from the 1980s when they viewed each other as strong technological rivals.

The new Washington

Updated

April 16, 2021, 7:40 p.m. ET

“Japan and the US are both heavily invested in innovation and looking to the future,” said Biden. “This includes investing in and protecting the technologies that maintain and sharpen our competitive advantage, and that these technologies are determined by common democratic norms that we both share – norms set by democracies, not autocracies.”

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Suga carefully followed his script when speaking of “China’s Influence” and said, “We have agreed to use force or coercion to change any attempt to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas and countering intimidation to others in the US region. “Later, Mr. Suga made direct reference to Taiwan at a time when the Democratic Island, still considered a rogue province by Beijing, was repeatedly inundated by Chinese warplanes.

He did not issue any warnings to China, simply saying that the two leaders agreed to the “importance of peace and stability” of the strait. It was a language deliberately coined 52 years ago when President Richard M. Nixon and Prime Minister Eisaku Sato issued a statement in which the Japanese leader said that “maintaining peace and security in the Taiwan region too Japanese security is important for peace and peace. “

When the two leaders asked questions from reporters, Mr. Biden was asked about gun controls after another mass shooting that killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. Earlier in the day, Mr. Suga – whose country bans the holding of almost all guns and reports some of the lowest gun crime rates in the world – offered condolences. In the rose garden he stood in silence when the president called for a ban on assault weapons.

Mr Suga then asked his own domestic question about whether Japan would cancel the Olympics this year, due to be held in Tokyo in July, when many public health experts have argued that there is no safe way to move forward in the face of the coronavirus.

“I told the President about my determination to make the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games a symbol of global unity this summer,” said Suga. “President Biden has again expressed his support for this determination.”

The Biden administration has also urged the Japanese government to make new greenhouse gas emissions pledges with the United States to meet the net zero target by 2050. According to two government officials, the White House has asked Japan to cut emissions in half from 2013 to the end of the decade.

Officials had hoped Japan would announce an end to funding for the development of coal-fired power plants overseas on Friday, but Mr. Suga made no such public commitment.

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World News

Girls, 86 P.c Absent From Jordan’s Work Pressure, Are Left Behind

Women, 86 Percent Absent From Jordan’s Work Force, Are Left Behind

AMMAN, Jordan – Marwa Alomari’s compassionate and patient style made her a popular English teacher who filled her classes in Irbid, Jordan with eager students and her free hours of private tuition.

As a college graduate, she received up to $ 3,000 a month, far more than most other Jordanians.

But after she married an army officer and moved in with his family, he began to get annoyed that she was paid more than he was. Although she contributed to the household with both money and housework, he and his family discouraged her from work and the marriage almost collapsed, she said.

“I was absolutely convinced that I would not stop, but at some point I found no support and just got tired and gave up,” said Ms. Alomari, 35. “I cooked, cleaned and gossiped with women again. And that wasn’t my ambition. “

Her story mirrors what is happening across Jordan – a small Arab monarchy that has been an unwavering ally of Western countries – where women’s status in terms of labor force participation, health and politics has declined for years, and even behind more conservative countries in the US remains region.

For the past 10 years, the country has been at the bottom of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which highlights gaps between women and men in employment, education, health and politics.

After large increases over the past three decades, more women than men have graduated in the country, and women also have higher literacy rates.

Nevertheless, according to government data and the latest Global Gender Gap Report, 86 percent of women in the country are inactive. According to the World Bank, this is the highest rate in the world for a country not at war.

In contrast, Western Europe has moved and continues in the direction of gender equality the most, followed by North America.

And the effects can be felt far beyond the economy.

“As long as women are absent from the labor market, they are not represented in public,” said Asma Khader, president of the non-profit group Sisterhood is Global Institute in Jordan. “Top officials are afraid to make decisions in favor of women because society is conservative. But I believe if there are real economic reforms, women will be empowered and challenged. “

With its close ties to the West, an outspoken queen, female MPs and police officers, Jordan has long had the image of a relatively progressive kingdom in a conservative neighborhood. Recently, however, some golf neighbors have seen an increasing number of women-run startups and changes in labor legislation that have resulted in growing opportunities for women.

In Jordan, the head of household is usually defined as a husband unless he is dead, missing, or has lost his citizenship. This gives him sole guardianship over children, with authority over matters such as travel, citizenship, and opening bank accounts. In Saudi Arabia, due to the recent changes, at least in theory, women could also be viewed as “householders”.

Traditional attitudes, discriminatory laws, lack of access to public transport and wage differentials are hindering the advancement of women in Jordan.

The November elections to the country’s 130-seat parliament were testament to the declining role of women. Turnout was low and female candidates lost heavily. Women did not occupy a single seat beyond the quota of 15 female legislators, compared to 20 in the previous parliament.

Sara Ababneh, assistant professor of politics and international relations at the University of Jordan, said the problem extends beyond the elections.

“Sometimes we talk about women’s representation – we say there should be more women ministers,” she said. “But we never talk about universal rights and real political empowerment.”

Recent research by the World Bank has shown that men in Jordan are paid up to 40 percent more than women for the same job in the private sector. In the public sector, the gap is 28 percent.

The employment gaps – 53 percent of men are employed compared to 14 percent of women – are almost twice as high as in neighboring countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The traditional roles in Jordan are enshrined in laws that distinguish between the rights and duties of women and men. There is no law that prohibits gender discrimination in the workplace. And while the constitution provides that “every worker must receive a wage commensurate with the quantity and quality of their work”, there is no right to equal pay for women and men.

For Muslims, who make up the majority of Jordan’s nearly 11 million population, marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance issues are governed by Sharia or Islamic law and are decided by Sharia courts rather than civil or military courts. For example, under Sharia law, women can inherit property, but daughters receive half as much as sons.

And during the Arab Spring a decade ago, many women and human rights defenders attacked a parliamentary committee for breaking its promise to include the word gender in Article 6 of the Constitution, which aims to ensure equality for all Jordanians. It states: “There must be no discrimination between Jordanians with regard to their rights and obligations on the basis of race, language or religion.”

Despite the obstacles, some women have managed to be successful in their careers.

Jamileh Shetewi is an exception among Jordanian women in every way. She grew up with her eight siblings and parents in a mud-walled one-room house and spent her childhood picking tomatoes, eggplants and bananas with her four sisters on hot and shadowless farms.

The odds were against them.

She dropped out of school at the age of 17 and married at the age of 18. As a young farmer, she was paid $ 3 less a day than the men she worked with from 1997 to 2002 and had to cook for them on top of her job.

She decided to go back to school and did her PhD. in archeology. Today she heads the antiques department in the Jordan Valley region.

“Yes, I defied all expectations,” said Ms. Shetewi, 50. “I fought and destroyed the culture of shame.” But without changing laws and perceptions, most women will not be able to move forward.

“I didn’t care what people had to say and I said to my husband, ‘I need your support to make our lives better,” she said. “We are not the enemy. Believe that a country without half of its population can reform and prosper? “

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World News

Google speeds partial workplace reopening and places limits on distant work

Google speeds partial office reopening and puts limits on remote work

Google, one of the first major U.S. companies to send employees home due to the coronavirus, is setting new guidelines for remote working to expedite plans to get employees back into the office.

With millions more Americans being vaccinated every day, Google is accelerating reopening plans in some parts of the US on a voluntary basis ahead of the September 1st returns deadline, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. Due to vaccine availability and a downward trend in Covid-19 cases, offices will reopen in April in limited capacity.

“It’s now been a year since many of us have worked from home and the thought of going back to the office could provoke different emotions,” Fiona Cicconi, Google’s new HR director, wrote on Wednesday in a company-wide e- Mail. Cicconi advised employees to get the Covid-19 vaccine but said it was not mandatory.

If employees want to work remotely for more than 14 additional days per year after September 1st, they must officially apply for this according to a separate notice labeled “Need to know”. You can apply for up to 12 months under “the most exceptional circumstances”. However, the company can call employees back to their assigned office at any time, the message says.

Google is preparing for a major reopening in September, with employees expected to show up in person three days a week. The company takes a different approach than industry peers like Facebook and Twitter, who promised to allow most remote work to be indefinitely.

In a statement emailed to CNBC, Google confirmed the memos, adding that “permanent moves are still on hold for personal reasons”.

CNBC first reported in December that Google has abandoned the idea of ​​remote working and expects workers to live “within the commute” of offices.

Cicconi wrote in Wednesday’s email that staff will be returning to redesigned offices where owners can bring their dogs. She said the planning work was led by the company’s Real Estate and Workplace Services groups.

“The offices won’t look exactly how you remember them, but our great REWS teams are doing their best to make you comfortable, including providing meals, snacks and amenities where possible,” said Cicconi. “We’ll even welcome our Dooglers back.”

Cicconi warned staff to “remain vigilant to prevent another wave of the virus,” adding that Brazil is “having significant difficulty” with rising cases.

Those employees who left the Bay Area during the pandemic to reduce stress and perhaps save money may have an incentive to return. In one of the notes on Wednesday, the company said it could adjust employee salaries based on where they work.

Axios previously reported on Google’s plans to have some employees return in April.

Look now: Google is extending remote working until September 1st and rejecting permanent remote working

Correction: This story has been updated to take into account that employees who wish to work remotely for more than 14 days per year after September 1 must submit a formal application. In an earlier version, the circumstances that would require application were incorrectly characterized.

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Business

How a lot does it value to work in Bali, Croatia, Jamaica and Barbados

How much does it cost to work in Bali, Croatia, Jamaica and Barbados

Google may call people back to the office, but many other companies – not to mention entrepreneurs – continue to advocate remote working.

From Croatia to Barbados, destinations offer very different experiences to foreigners looking to work on new shores. The weather is usually better (excluding hurricanes) and the cost can be cheaper (excluding imported goods).

But life isn’t an Instagram photo, warned a digital nomad who spoke to CNBC Global Traveler about living and working abroad.

Bali, Indonesia

Name: Jubril Agoro
From: Chicago

After more than a decade of living as a digital nomad in Thailand, Colombia and Africa, Agoro came to Bali in December 2020. He chose the Indonesian island for one reason: the people who live there.

“The people of Bali are some of the friendliest, calmest ghosts I have ever met,” London-born Agoro told CNBC. “Plus, the cost of living here is about a quarter of what I paid for a similar lifestyle in Miami.”

Agoro and four members of his team run a travel documentation company called Passport Heavy out of a large mansion manned by a cook, a personal trainer, a housekeeper and a mansion manager.

“We have all of these people so we can really work efficiently and not really have to go,” he said.

Agoro gave two examples of monthly expenses remote workers can expect:

1. Budget or solo lifestyle

  • Nice apartment – $ 500
  • Scooter – $ 70
  • Gas – $ 10
  • Eat out – $ 300
  • Gym Membership – $ 40
  • Entertainment – $ 200
  • Weekly massages – $ 7

2. “Six-digit” lifestyle

  • Villa – $ 1,000
  • Improved motorcycle – $ 170
  • Gas – $ 20
  • Eating out – $ 600- $ 700
  • Nicer Gym Membership with Group Classes – $ 150
  • Entertainment – $ 1,000
  • Weekly massage – $ 30

Although Bali is still closed to international tourists and there is no official program for remote workers, there is a community of digital nomads in Bali, some of whom arrive on investment visas or at the invitation of the government, Agoro said. Others are finding ways to circumvent immigration regulations, the Singapore digital newspaper Today reports.

Shipping isn’t ideal (“there’s no Amazon Prime”) and can be expensive, said Agoro, who paid $ 85 to get a replacement credit card shipped from the US. Nevertheless, he loves Bali’s balanced lifestyle and its reserved manner.

Ubud, Uluwatu and Canggu are popular with remote workers in Bali, said Agoro, who chose Canggu for its “many cafes, beach clubs, great internet, fantastic restaurants and gyms.” [and] Yoga studios. “

Courtesy Jubril Agoro

“You can’t tell the difference between someone who has $ 10 million and someone who has $ 482 in their bank account,” he said.

He warned people not to get “bogged down” by Instagram highlights and said most remote workers “sit on laptops and tweak things … work just as hard as people around the world.”

Agoro originally planned to stay a year but will likely stay two, he said.

“I’m like most people who come to Bali,” said Agoro. “I’ll stay here as long as I can because I’m living my best life.”

Barbados

Name: David Esposito
From: New Hampshire, USA

When his employer switched to remote working for the whole of 2021, Esposito decided to apply to live in Barbados even though he had never been before.

Seeing “a golden opportunity”, he applied for a 12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp, a process he describes as very straightforward. The application took no more than 15 minutes and it was approved about 10 days later, he said.

He arrived in February 2021 and lives in an “amazing Airbnb apartment” in Atlantic Shores, a residential area on the south end of the island. He said the people (“super accommodating and friendly”) and the island itself (“beautiful”) were the highlights of life there.

Esposito, a consultant to a software company, lived in Manchester, New Hampshire before moving to Barbados.

Courtesy David Esposito

However, island life in Barbados isn’t cheap, Esposito said.

“Having lived in Boston and Denver outside Barbados, I did not find the same level of ‘sticker shock’ that many warned me about my arrival,” he said. “Rental rates are similar to what I’ve seen in the US, but taxes on imports are high!”

Food is “expensive as hell,” Esposito said, and items aren’t always available. He also relies solely on taxis for left-hand drive problems, problems with drunk drivers, the unpredictability of local buses, and rental prices.

“I’ve seen what it costs to rent a car – no thanks,” he said.

Esposito said he arrived with no expectations, but the only thing he wasn’t prepared for was the local attitude towards dogs that are not considered pets.

“I was definitely not ready for all of the sideways glances, avoidance, and aggression that I experienced while walking my dog,” he said.

Even so, he said he would “like to stay here as long as possible – it’s a wonderful place!”

Croatia

Name: Melissa Paul
From: Southern California

When Croatia started accepting digital nomads in January, Paul was the first person to be accepted into the program.

She came to Croatia in 2014 as a marketing consultant for the wedding and event industry and lived on the island of Krk near Rijeka, an experience that she found “too remote”. Paul now lives in a house she bought in the mountain town of Labin in western Istria.

The Croatian program, which allows stays of up to a year, works for so-called “slowmads” who prefer to “visit a country slowly over many months rather than jumping from place to place,” said Paul.

Courtesy Melissa Paul

“I’ve learned how cold, lonely, and strange things can be when they’re not prepared,” she said. “Now I know what I need to be comfortable.”

Paul names Croatia’s safety, technological infrastructure, and beauty – including its beaches, islands, waterfalls, and national parks – as some of the best aspects of living there.

“Add to that the friendly people, the handicrafts, the delicious, high quality, locally grown gourmet products like olive oil, wine, truffles, pasta, honey etc … it’s an incredible place to live,” she said.

Paul describes Croatia as “massively cheaper” than her former home Los Angeles. She estimates that $ 1,000 to $ 1,500 per month ($ 1,180 to $ 1,770) is a “good standard of living.”

By owning her own home and car, she pays less than $ 950 a month for utilities, groceries, gasoline, health insurance, coffee, and a few dinners, she said.

Last year, more remote workers moved to Croatia due to Covid-19 and political turmoil caused by the last US presidential administration (the latter known locally as “Trump Refugees”), Paul said.

Courtesy Melissa Paul

A two-bedroom apartment in smaller villages costs less than $ 450 a month, she said. This could more than double in coveted city centers like Zagreb and Split.

The only thing that is expensive: food that gets more expensive during the tourist season, Paul told CNBC.

Aside from missing her parents in Maryland, Paul finds no challenge in living in Croatia, even though she wishes she had learned Croatian and Italian before arriving.

“The lifestyle is wonderful and in normal, non-covid times the ability to travel regularly to neighboring European countries is amazing,” she said. “I’ve learned to use the time difference to meet appointments and go to the beach in the afternoon for a swim, a long walk in the country or for a cozy coffee with friends.”

Many remote workers on their way to Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain stay longer in Croatia because “they fall in love with the country like me”.

“If anything, I would say that the longer I stay, the richer my life gets,” she said.

Jamaica

Name: Sheryl Nance-Nash
From New York

Nance-Nash’s little house on Long Island, New York, was fine before the pandemic because she often traveled to work.

“With the pandemic, that immediately came to a standstill,” she said. “I started going crazy and really felt cooped up.”

She moved to Robin’s Bay, Jamaica in September 2020. Even if life gets “normal” again, she assumes that she will continue to live in Jamaica for at least part of the year.

One of Nance-Nash’s primary clients is that anyone can work from home (previously they didn’t), and she uses Zoom and WhatsApp to conduct an interview for her work as a travel writer.

“Now that I’ve done this remote thing, I can’t imagine staying in one place 24/7!” She said. “Life is short; I want to enjoy every minute.”

Nance-Nash and her husband live in Robin’s Bay, Jamaica, an area she describes as rural and off the beaten path.

Courtesy Sheryl Nance-Nash

“I literally stare at the ocean all day while I work,” she said. “I hear the waves. It has done wonders for my health – mentally and physically.”

Nance-Nash lives in a house she built with her husband, a Jamaican national, in a rural part of the country. Life there has “adapted” and is fraught with internet and electricity problems, especially on stormy days during hurricane season. The grocery store is 30 minutes away.

“Paradise is not perfect!” She said.

The costs are mixed. Imported products like groceries can be high, while local groceries, alcohol, and transportation can be inexpensive. Long cab rides can cost as little as $ 5. “However, you probably have other people in the taxi.”

“I’m going to a wonderful place for a mani / pedi that includes some hot stone pampering and a glass of wine, and it’s about $ 35,” she said. “I certainly didn’t understand that in New York!”

Unlike other Caribbean islands, Jamaica doesn’t have an official remote worker program, and Nance-Nash said the process of staying is difficult but worth it.

“The beauty, the rolling hills, the mountains, the sea and the tropical greenery were more breathtaking than I imagined,” she said. “Seeing this every day means feeling incredibly blessed.”

Read more about working remotely

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Health

Behind Closed Doorways, ‘the Problem and the Magnificence’ of Pandemic Hospice Work

Behind Closed Doors, ‘the Difficulty and the Beauty’ of Pandemic Hospice Work

Hanane Saoui is used to death. Sudden and slow deaths. Painful Deaths and Peaceful Deaths.

This year was different.

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed Ms. Saoui’s work as a hospice nurse in New York. Security measures created physical distance between her and her patients and even separated some of her hospice colleagues from their clients’ homes last year. It deprived families and caretakers of opportunities to grieve together, and faced hospice workers familiar with death with astonishing levels of loss.

Despite the pressure, Ms. Saoui and other staff continued to give comfort and even moments of happiness to dying patients and their families.

“You sit down and listen,” she said. “You express your fear, you express your feelings, and you guide them and tell them what to expect.” After a patient died, she added, “I want to hug family members a lot, but now I can’t.”

Instead, Ms. Saoui said, “I pray and do the best I can.”

More than half a million Americans have died from the coronavirus, and many have died in pain, isolated from their families. Ms. Saoui contrasted these conditions with what she called a good death: “peaceful, pain-free, at home and surrounded by loved ones.”

While the nurses continued their personal home visits, some chaplain, social work, and therapy sessions went online as the families preferred. By August, most of this care was returning to face-to-face visits, but with strict precautions, including temporarily wearing full PPE and being six feet apart whenever possible.

Although the vast majority of Ms. Saoui’s patients did not have the coronavirus when they entered the hospice last year, challenging restrictions were placed on all patients and caregivers. Hospice home care can last for many months, and workers often develop close relationships with patients and their families.

However, the pandemic has left fewer occasions for families – and hospice workers – to grieve in person at funerals or memorial services. For over a year, the size of these gatherings has been strictly limited by many states in order to contain the spread of the virus.

When hospice patients die, their caretakers often work with their own grief and loss in weekly staff meetings and meetings with colleagues who share the same customer. These staff meetings are now online, but the loss of holding each other on and shedding tears has hit hospice workers deeply, said Melissa Baguzis, a social worker who specializes in pediatric cases. She has developed her own ways to deal with the loss of her young patients.

“I’ll take a moment, light a candle and read your favorite book or listen to your favorite song,” she said. “I have my own time for her. We are connected to their families, but when I am in their homes it is their grief and I will support them. In addition, I have to come to terms with my own loss. “

The hospice workers at MJHS Health System, a nonprofit based in New York and Nassau Counties, are as comfortable about death as many Americans are not. But the pandemic has placed an additional burden on her and her patients, said Ms. Baguzis. “We all share each other’s grief now more than ever,” she said.

Rev. Christopher Sigamoney, an episcopal priest who is a hospice chaplain, said he tried to be there for his patients “despite their frustration, anger, hopelessness, depression and fear”.

He often told the patients’ family members that it was “okay to be angry with God” because their loved ones were lost. But he said the death of a beloved cousin from the coronavirus changed his understanding of his work.

Father Sigamoney and his family could not be with his cousin, a retired doctor from India, during the three days she was hospitalized on a ventilator at the end of her life. He and a handful of relatives said “a few prayers” at the funeral home, but virus restrictions prevented them from having a “proper burial” or sending the body home to India.

“I didn’t really understand when people would ask, ‘Why me and why my family?'” He said of the time before his cousin’s death. “Now I’ve asked the same questions. I said to God, ‘Now I’m angry with you and I hope you can forgive me. ‘”Father Sigamoney said he was slowly recovering through prayer and helping his patients.

Last month, Josniel Castillo was hooked up to a series of medical equipment and monitors, surrounded by his parents and a variety of stuffed animals, when Javier Urrutia, a music therapist, and Ms. Baguzis entered his cramped bedroom. Despite his deteriorating health from a rare genetic disease, it was a happy day. It was Josniel’s 11th birthday.

Mr. Urrutia started “Las Mañanitas”, a traditional Mexican birthday song. Josniel’s mother and father, Yasiri Caraballo and Portirio Castillo, took part. Frau Caraballo wiped away her tears. They were “tears of joy” because she did not expect her son to be 11 years old.

She asked for a different melody and played the tambourine when Mr. Urrutia joined “Que Bonita Es Esta Vida”. They sang the last chorus together, part of which can be translated into:

Oh this life is so beautiful

Though it hurts so much sometimes

And despite his worries

There is always someone who loves us, someone who takes care of us.

Afterward, Mr. Urrutia said that most of the people “do not know what is going on behind closed doors, both the difficulty and the beauty”.

This year there was “a lot of pain and suffering in countless houses, it cannot be denied,” he said. But in hospice work, he said, “You also see all the heroes out there doing the simple things in life and looking after each other. The husband takes care of his wife or the mother takes care of her son. “

“Dying is part of life,” he added. “Only living things die.”