City Matters: Putting Manchester in the running for Zoom Town, USA | City Matters | unionleader.com

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Partly cloudy. As low as 10F. Wind NNE at a speed of 5 to 10 mph.

Partly cloudy. As low as 10F. Wind NNE at a speed of 5 to 10 mph.

Mike and Sara Veilleux talk about their cats, Stella and Pete, working remotely from home as they hang out in Manchester.

While working remotely from their home in Manchester, Mike and Sara Velex and one of their cat Stella are sitting at their workstations.

Sara Veilleux showed off a custom Lego computer stand, which her son Quincy, 5 years old, uses when working remotely from home in Manchester.

I wrote this column at the dinner table.

Like millions of Americans, I was exiled to my Manchester home due to the coronavirus last winter.

From here, I worked hard for months in the dirty placemat. After the quarantine zone was relaxed, I would venture into the almost empty office of the union leader every week.

I'm not sure why I returned to 100 William Loeb Drive until I received a recent email about hypothetical research by marketing companies.

The email stated that Manchester is a "tough city for working from home."

Researchers scored 150 cities based on three categories: community and safety. Housing and living expenses; health and weather-Manchester scored 69 points.

Sixty-nine years old-about high school D+. There are no sports or extracurricular activities in Manchester. Many universities rejected the letter.

Smart pants, the most acclaimed city-an ideal Zoom-town in the words of researchers-Gilbert, Arizona, pop music. 243,000. The Phoenix suburbs scored 91 points.

The research is flawed. Many of these involve events outside the home. For example, whether you are working at Millyard or at home, crime is a crime. The weather is the same.

Therefore, for my research, I found some remote Manchester workers. We have developed our own ratings based on relevant data, which makes Manchester one of the Zoom Towns in the United States.

With higher education, high-tech and financial companies, Manchester can easily transition to remote work.

Consider Fidelity, which has 5,700 campuses in neighboring Merrimack. It includes remote work. Workers in remote areas have five days of "relief" in 2020, and this year's five days of "relief" tends to make a worker in pajamas work hard.

It provides up to US$300 per month for childcare and a one-time bonus of US$300 to pay for household expenses such as office furniture and Internet access.

Mental health is great. The company provided an online book club and hosted a Christmas party (within the company) with John Legend as a guest.

Fidelity value preservation consultant Ntate Ncala said that the company allowed to work at home before the pandemic, but he rarely stays at home and prefers the friendship in the office.

right now?

"I won't say I want to go back," said Enkara, who lives near Memorial High School. "I look forward to establishing new ways for us to conduct business."

Of course, your company may bring various benefits to remote workers. However, if family life is frustrated, work life will be toxic.

For Mike and Sara Veilleux, there is no problem. They sat side by side in the corner of the living room of the north end house. She works in procurement at Southern New Hampshire University and has three screens on her workstation.

Mike, who works at York IE Consulting, has two screens.

They are about 6 feet apart. They have earplugs and headphones that can eliminate distracting calls from each other.

The cat huddled in the chair between the workstations exudes a quiet breath.

Every morning, the couple will refer to their schedule to decide who prioritizes the work space.

"We are doing juggling," Mike said. If she receives an important Zoom call, he will unplug the laptop and slide to the corner of the house.

U.S. Census data shows this collaboration, which states that the divorce rate in New Hampshire in 2019 was 8.2%, while the national divorce rate was 7.7%. The census considers that the difference is not statistically significant.

Ncala also has a remote wife who is an executive of a venture capital firm.

At the beginning of the quarantine, both were working on both ends of the dining table. Not a good idea.

"She is very enthusiastic. Sometimes her voice is a bit loud." He said. In the end, they reached a friendly separation of working spaces.

Now he has a room of his own in the basement.

Last month, Comcast announced that it will provide gigabytes of wifi speeds for home users.

Company spokesman Marc Goodman said that Comcast is the only Internet service provider in the country that offers such speeds to residents.

Mike and Sara Veilleux upgraded, but added mesh routers to extend wifi coverage to the home.

Ncala said that his basement provides a better wifi signal.

At the same time, Comcast makes it easier for lower-level workers to find jobs. Anyone who receives any government assistance (such as housing, food stamps, or school lunch) is eligible for a basic Internet package for $9.95 a month.

Everyone I talk to has questions about children, especially during the quarantine period because schools are closed and daycare services are unavailable.

Ncala has a son in eighth grade. He goes to Manchester school, which is remote for most of the school year.

"I will be frank. This is a challenge for my son," Enkara said. He will be distracted by games and mobile phones. He said that on the positive side, his father had already known the boy’s teacher and had a little inner feeling about his son’s school time.

Last week, Manchester School began to return to a mixed model.

The Veilleux family is 5 years old. They must add him to work during the isolation period.

"Those three months were cruel," Mike said. They enrolled him in Webster School this fall, but the mixed school model did not work for them. He is currently studying full-time in a private kindergarten.

It is important to be able to leave work and clean up the brain.

Ncala said he used to do this on the way home from get off work. "This is a time for reflection. Now, my introspection is from the basement to the kitchen." He said. When the weather is good, outdoor work cannot be solved: there is too much glare and the WiFi signal is weak.

This winter, Mike and Sara Veilleux were walking nearby, where they met nearby companions and their dogs.

But even for patient New Englanders, it is not so easy now.

Sara said: "It's snowing and it's almost impossible to walk on the sidewalk."

The downtown area and Mild provide countless coffee and lunch opportunities. Fidelity has two buffet restaurants.

But the choice is limited at home. Veilleuxes live in residential areas and have no nutrition within walking distance.

Food trucks would be great, Sara suggested.

In fact, Manchester planning officials have done an excellent job of strategically placing key elements within walking distance of almost every Manchester resident.

Kimberley Desir, manager of Fidelity, a resident of Manchester east, is only 20 minutes away. At least when the weather is good.

She said: "I have learned to make coffee by myself."

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