Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home

I suspect one of the main reasons people get behind the vile likes of Farage is they're working from home and have plenty of time to surf the Internet and be brainwashed by his followers (and Russian bots). I've seen it with outwardly very sensible people.

So bring it on

Disingenuous. He knows how productive WFH can be as he earns most of his money doing Cameo videos from his kitchen table.

On my few days in the office I used to attend meetings and use the library. So I was hardly ever at my little desk in a remote corner. I can remember a colleague asking me if I had a clue what happened in the office and I said no, I wasnt interested in office politics. Just getting the job done. She gave me a pitying look. But then she was 20 years younger. I suspect that people who love office working need an audience to see how hard they are working (or appearing to work).

For decades people did WFH. Particularly working class women who did piece-work, external laundry, external childcare, tailoring and being seamstresses at home.

People can still take that option as they are self employed.

It is the corporate companies who want onsite workers.

Absolutely this!

Balance between expensive office space and less efficient homeworkers.

With increased redundancies, companies have more space available onsite. Productivity wise, the majority of companies want their staff onsite. They lost ground in the post COVID era but it is clear the momentum has shifted back.

Ultimately the employer should decide. There will be increased opportunities for those onsite.

As mentioned, if someone wants control of their own destiny, self employment is the way forward,

Farage is an idiot.

Until recently wfh was restricted to some very specific types of roles. Typically people being paid for contracts or piece work with very clear deliverables, or high level workers with proven track records - this group were often hybrid.

Covid is what pushed people in numbers, and workers have demanded that they have a right to wfh, and I think many workplaces have tried to accommodate. It does seem like there can be benefits in terms of things like work life balance.

What they are in fact finding is that productivity goes down, among other things.

That's got nothing to do with WFH, and everything to do with staff shortages.

If you ring my organisation, your call will go through to the relevant person's mobile, whether they're in the office or WFH. We haven't had desk phones for years. And even if someone was loading the dishwasher, they can still hear their phone (no different to being stood at someone else's desk in the office?)

For decades people did WFH. Particularly working class women who did piece-work, external laundry, external childcare, tailoring and being seamstresses at home.

They were often the only options for women who had young children at home.

It's not new!

The industrial revolution created jobs at home and in it's demise, others disappeared.

In the technological age, many more industries were created and many can be done from home and this increases in the post-technological age.

The idea that WFH is relatively recent is false.

If the only way of knowing if people are doing their jobs or not is to do next to them, then better ways to measure things are required.

Are you comfortable with ageism, misandry and generalised statements re race generally?

Given 40% of economic growth since 2000 has been women's economic inclusion, you wonder how the UK economy will weather the reverse of that situation when women are excluded by being forced back to the office?

When I was at university and studied sociology back in the 90s I remember there was a theory that women were a"reserve army" of workers. So basically when hard times come, women can be sent back to the kitchen. Maybe that's what he had in mind. Nigel being a bit of an unevolved fossil of the 90s himself .

(Source: www.gov.uk/government/news/women-key-to-unlocking-growth-says-minister-for-women-and-equalities)

Adding learning and development to this - there is so much that’s missed out when you WFH.

To be fair, I would have gone into the office and put my child in nursery if I possibly could have - working at home with a toddler absolutely destroyed me. Different if they had older children, of course.

I think it’s up to employers but I can see we need a mindset shift change to get this country back off its knees. I really think it would help people get out their bedrooms and back to working with people . There’s a huge mental health problem with young people and yet friends at work can be a real support . We don’t want a generation who can’t cope with life outside the home . Productivity in this country is terrible and we have no growth at all . A big help would be if large employers offered crèche facilities as the cost of childcare / pet care is extortionate. I think the idea of going back to work needs exploring . A lot of jobs can’t be done from home and this puts them at a disadvantage when recruiting if employees only look from wfh jobs .

Absoluetely. 100% the DWP.

I think in some ways wfh is being used to cover up what is a real problem which is lack of affordable, suitable, housing in a reasonable distance to workplaces, and a housing market where people can't afford to sell and move closer to a new workplace.

Similarly with schools - even older kids in many cases seem to need to be collected from school and delivered elsewhere, which makes little sense. But it's how the larger system has been set up including not enough local school places.

😂 ok

this is a good example of the weakness of informal written communication/ discussion.

To clarify - I am not saying people shouldn’t work from home. I do myself. But I am trying to say that does have many costs. And on a societal level costs add up to consequences.

Does that mean we should ban it - no of course not
But she would pretend like there no issues with WFH? - again no of course not

Can you link to any research on WFH and mental health?

I am also curious that if you think people get more done in the office, why do companies even offer WFH as an option? Surely most companies want to maximise profits?

I think you'll find the increase in MH issues isn't related to people WFH who are doing so happily and with MH benefits.

There are numerous non-WFH jobs for people to seek employment in if WFH is a problem for them. The majority in fact.

I don't think Farage needs to have any input into this, it's up to workplaces. And of course some some jobs it works well.

But I do think, as much as workers love it, that it's a problem in many workplaces. It's a problem because people take the piss, because it's not as easy in many industries to measure results as people seem to think, because it's increasingly difficult to treat employees differently because you know some are not up to wfh, and because its simply much less effective in terms of building skills, teams, mentoring, and so on.

That's why many workplaces are wanting people back, not because they are worried about sandwich shops going out of business.

I don't really have time for the whining about it. Swathes of people have no option but to show up at work, the (often better paid) people who think it's some major injustice if they can't wfh seem clueless about how annoying and privileged they seem.

Because when they phone the local council and get put in a queue, they assume it's because people are skiving wfh. They don't realise the low levels of resource in the first place, and don't realise call handlers can take more calls and are more likely to stay in their jobs if they don't need to commute.

For decades people didn't work from home and life went on. WFH is relatively recent. Humans can adapt back to onsite working. Everything is life is habit.

I agree with you 100%!!