[Misc] Working from Home - Have we seen a sea change ?

[Kinky Gerbil]

If you Run a company, why would you spend potentially thousands on paying to get covid ready when there is a chance that the gov would put the town in a local lockdown?

I can’t imagine it’s cheap or a cost some companies with little Gov support can afford.

Plus you then have the message of fear still being pump out about killing granny?

 

[beorhthelm]

im surprised how dismissive people are of the auxilary jobs around offices. those sandwich shops, cafes, also the cleaners, office managment jobs, are very valuble to many many people employed.

 

[Norman Potting]

I have WFH since 2008. I cannot deny that I do miss company as I worked in offices and generally enjoyed all of them.

 

[jamie (not that one)]

I think flexibility has been a long time coming and C19 gave a lot of employers the evidence they were perhaps too scared to try and find themselves.

 

[jamie (not that one)]

I have WFH since 2008. I cannot deny that I do miss company as I worked in offices and generally enjoyed all of them.

Working from home is great and I've done it for a number of years myself. I had to learn to force myself to do more social activities otherwise I was just driving myself mad in the house all the time.

Going to the office is like going on holiday. Loads of people around, more interesting conversation than I get out of my dog and afterwork drinks every day because I'm only in town for a week. Love it!

 

[Weststander]

im surprised how dismissive people are of the auxilary jobs around offices. those sandwich shops, cafes, also the cleaners, office managment jobs, are very valuble to many many people employed.

Some appear to want those businesses and livelihoods to be obliterated, to ‘punish’ the Government and any entity that owns an office freehold in Brighton or London.

Some warped thinking about.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Some appear to want those businesses and livelihoods to be obliterated, to ‘punish’ the Government and any entity that owns an office freehold in Brighton or London.

Some warped thinking about.

Some of the same people who claim we needed to work as one during covid.

 

[keaton]

im surprised how dismissive people are of the auxilary jobs around offices. those sandwich shops, cafes, also the cleaners, office managment jobs, are very valuble to many many people employed.

I don't think people are being dismissive. Anyone losing their job is sad news. but for people who are able to work from home balancing time and money spent travelling to an environment that in almost all cases is less nice than your home along with increased risk to C19 versus a cafe/deli near your work is a no brainer. At lot of those places will close anyway even if people return to offices because people will be less likely to visit them

 

[Grombleton]

Given the nature of my job I can literally do it anywhere I have an internet connection, so WFH isn't too much of an issue in terms of actually doing the job. I did it for years being self-employed.
However, like many i do miss the interaction. Whilst there are currently only 2 of us in the department we still have interactions from other businesses in the complex (we have an office in Littlehampton, as opposed to traipsing it across to Lancing) so the social side of things has been hard. Additionally, there are times that its easier to collaborate on things in person as opposed to over the phone, or on Teams.
We agreed even before lockdown that we would be flexible with our work - start/finish early if we need, or split the time - as long as the work is done and the clients are happy. We're probably looking to go into the office twice a week, depending on what we're doing, meetings, childcare arrangements etc.

It's definitely saved money, saved time and meant I can get my physical health in order...even if my mental health has taken a battering.

 

[Weststander]

im surprised how dismissive people are of the auxilary jobs around offices. those sandwich shops, cafes, also the cleaners, office managment jobs, are very valuble to many many people employed.

.....

 

[Weststander]

Some of the same people who claim we needed to work as one during covid.

Or want foreign travel by flight to be a thing of the past. A ‘green premium’ emanating from a killer disease born in a disgusting Chinese market.

 

[Pavilionaire]

With all the time / money saved working from home will we be able to attain - nationally - the holy grail of a universal 3-day weekend?

As an accountant with my own practice it is rare to find staff who want to come to an office and work full-time Monday to Friday, however the problem with getting two member of staff to cover the working week is that it is hard to find people who want to work in an office on Fridays.

It would appear from this thread most people are looking for a 50/50 split between office and WFH, but running an office is a cost and I can't see many employers willing to run a half-empty office on a long-term basis. I think smaller office hubs in small towns and villages have a bright future, and how many empty bank / building society buildings could be repurposed for this need? Almost every high street round here seems to have at least one such building.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

It annoys me that the likes of the CBI and the government are pushing for people to stop WFH. I've worked from home on and off for years - it's very common in the IT industry. Even before Covid I was only in the office a maximum of two times a week. A lot of my time is spent in virtual meetings with people from Canada and the US and so where I am makes little difference. I suspect my team have suffered slightly from WFH but they now have the option of working in one of our datacentres and that seems to have improved things. Equally many of them have enjoyed the flexibility. I know the ones that have taken the piss and they are under improvement plans with a view to getting rid of them.

Thankfully I have a very forward looking employer but I have worked for companies that the senior managers / directors hated WFH. I'd suggest those companies aren't worth working for. Some of them even advertise on their website that they can help customers with the technology to allow their staff to work from home !!!! I read a report last week that said one of the most sought after options from job candidates is the option to work from home. Hopefully this situation has dragged UK business into the 21st Century. Those that don't are likely to see the best candidates go elsewhere ..... and rightly so.

 

[A1X]

im surprised how dismissive people are of the auxilary jobs around offices. those sandwich shops, cafes, also the cleaners, office managment jobs, are very valuble to many many people employed.

I don't see anyone being dismissive of them. However I don't think I should put myself at risk to keep them in a job, anymore than I should try and stop firefighters losing their jobs by setting fire to my house.

 

[keaton]

This thread seems to be slipping into a familiar left/right or at least pro v anti government in some people's minds. I'm sure all views would be the same if for example the was a labour government suggesting people give up free time and money and increase the risk to their health to prop up miners or steel industry workers

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I don't see anyone being dismissive of them. However I don't think I should put myself at risk to keep them in a job, anymore than I should try and stop firefighters losing their jobs by setting fire to my house.

Isn’t it all a knock on ?


If a shop shut it no longer needs insurance etc, which then affects those jobs?

 

[maffew]

With countries like Barbados offering a new 1 year work from home visa, anyone think their employer might buy into that? Work from anywhere is the next step. I could have been in Barbados since March and my company would be no better or worse off

 

[A1X]

Isn’t it all a knock on ?


If a shop shut it no longer needs insurance etc, which then affects those jobs?

That's as maybe. But industry has constantly changed and adapted itself over the years, this is another crisis which people will have to work out a way out of. People claiming we should go back to offices with this reasoning are, I'm afraid, sounding not dissimilar to the Luddites.

 

[blue'n'white]

I'm retired so it doesn't really affect me apart from the fact that I used to drop my wife at the station in the morning then go back and hunt around for a car parking space to wait for her in the evening.
She likes the WFH though - we've bought her a decent desk and a larger monitor for the surface pro she's got and she gets on with her work during the day quite happily. They have a team meeting every day where any problems can get aired and a number of meetings during the week on Teams. A friend of ours works in a different department in the same office and has been told that he may be expected to go in one day a fortnight starting in the autumn but my wife has been told that her department will be the last to go back and not to expect anything until possibly next year. As it turned out not going in to work in the office has saved her a few weeks annual leave as she was going to take time off for when I had a hip operation but she was able to look after me without taking any time off so she has loads of annual leave (nowhere to go but that's another problem. . .).

 

[keaton]

Isn’t it all a knock on ?


If a shop shut it no longer needs insurance etc, which then affects those jobs?

People will spend the money saved on other things?