To be so glad WFH became a thing (and to absolutely hate anyone who tries to curtail its availability)

I can see the huge benefits of WFH, especially for parents with young DC to manage, and/or for established adults in their 30s/40s/50s who already have a social network established, in that they can work far more productively at home and save on commuting costs and time.

That said, though, I think WFH must be incredibly isolating for younger adults who might not have an established social network where they are living. It really depends on an individual's circumstances surely? I have such happy work memories from my 20s - straight out of the office into the pub, made loads of friends through work, ready made social life etc etc. I can totally see why WFH is ideal for those juggling family life and caring responsibilities but I don't think it's necessarily right for everyone at every stage of life.

Do you know why there is an 8 hour day?

Employers used to routinely make people work for much longer shifts. Limits to work days were in large part in response to workers rights campaigns and advocacy - that was deemed long enough for workday that an employer could afford to pay an amount that could support a person to live, while also allowing workers to have reasonable home and personal lives.

Employers are generally paying for your time. If you work less, they will then want to pay you less. No one wants to pay a full days wage for 4 hours of work.

Get a grip Dad. Honestly, you're just looking like a twat considering you're arguing the over-reach point about 2 pages ago that someone WFH could be a real reach of GDPR breach if their partner popped in and said bye and gave then a kiss.

Which very likely didn't even happen in the 1st place.

Go and eat your tea mate.

Exactly what exactly? I'm not sure this is the 'Gotcha' you think it is.

Anyone who is not invested in a job or doesn't care can share details. No NDA, etc., will stop that, but I'd say Ted is less likely to share work details than someone who overheard or saw they shouldn't have seen, down the pub or in their own social circle. Six degrees of separation becomes a real thing when it's data that shouldn't have been shared.

So basically as well as working full time WFH enables woman to carry on doing all tbe domestic work as well. Thats handy.

Before WFH did you attend the customer service surgery and wait your turn for your confidential 10 minute 1-2-1 appointment? Because if you didn't, you have no basis whatsoever to likening a customer service agent working from home instead of in a large open-plan office to a GP.

I have WFH 100% since 2017. Moved to a new job in 2023 also 100% WFH. Until recently I would’ve have 100% supported it….
then I had something happen which got out of control. You could argue company culture is the reason why it couldn’t be tackled.

i managed a team of 9 in a busy department. Most of my team were fantastic.

i had one guy who was never really comfortable being managed by a woman. But we got by. He had an old-fashioned attitude to his job (eg didn't trust excel formulas, he would still add up a row of numbers “just to check”). Getting him to embrace automated tasks was difficult, even when I told him it was to allow him more time to branch out more (which it did - our company was growing massively and he wanted to be part of that growth). I couldn’t keep track of how slow he was being as I couldn’t see him not trusting agreed process. He was lying about how long things were taking and overriding automation. He took on new work and became stressed because he couldn’t manage his time. He wouldn’t let go of the old ways, nor would he let go of the new responsibilities. He was overworked through his own stubbornness and mistrust of excel formulas!!

then things got really nasty. When he was angry he would call women in my team and scream and shout at them. Every time I pulled him up on it he denied it. My word against theirs. HR were useless. My boss was useless. He then claimed all the women collaborated to make up lies about him. I was furious. Still no support from HR. They said it could go either way…, he is relying on the ability to deny it every time and the women are all being shouted at, or the women are all lying in collaboration. HR said there was nothing they could do.

I was sure had we all sat in an office it would be completely impossible for him to continue this behaviour. He definitely had a problem with anger towards women. 121 teams calls were an easy way to continue to shout at women until they cried. I was trying to protect my team with no support from my boss or HR. It was a stressful time. i hated the fact we all WFH as he could bypass all behavioural norms. I was really stuck and I couldn’t believe he was getting away with it.
I mentioned it to a friend who said, next time he does it tell them to record it.

when he finally did it to me, my friends words popped into my head: I recorded him on my iPhone. His language was disgraceful. Swearing, sexiest slurs etc, Massive massive error. Without looking into the implications I reported it to HR thinking I had the key to solving this with the recording. I ended up sacked for recording someone without their consent.

I wouldn't consider myself to be bitter or pathetic. I am in tune with the number of people I know who are 'WFH' and abusing their position

Exactly.

So the cleaner and the outside contractor have the same glimpse of a screen that a partner may have of a WFH individual.

So not much.

And okay, they wouldn't be bound to the same policies as a low paid employee or contractor.

But the low-paid employee or contractor would be much more likely to pass on information they glimpsed on a laptop if it was beneficial to do so because their job wasn't all that great and not invested in wanting to keep it, than a partner of an employee privy to confidential information who would be potentially risking their loved ones employment.

And that would only be if the sharing of the information was beneficial in some way to the person sharing it so they were actively looking for it/passing it on.

What would your choice be between a one-to-one with a Dr or a DR and her partner?

Come on now, be honest. If it's not the first, I'm sure you'd be happy to screenshot your medical records and post them here, since it's not an issue, or just share a few work-related emails involving another person? My guess is that you'd not be happy to do that, and I'd not either. It'd probably lead to you getting the sack, depending on your job.

Mishandling sensitive, confidential information has sent people to their graves, but it's okay; my complaint was resolved.

It's the same argument over and over again: you can't pick and choose which parts of a policy we want to uphold.

I know this is a far cry from the initial question about WFH, but it shows that many people just aren't suited to it and are willing to die on the hill to prove a point.

And this is from someone who works from home, hotel rooms, coffee shops across the UK, would I ever conduct a work call in a coffee shop- not a cat in hell's chance - would I do while driving down the motorway on my own?- yep.

I will never take a job that requires me to be in the office for 5 days a week unless it pays significantly above market.

People who get bitter about others who are able to wfh are really pathetic.

The people who bitch about it are envious.

I will never return to working in an office again

wfh has enabled me to get a very well paid senior role that would have previously required me to relocate to London.

it’s a geographic equaliser

I have WFH 100% since 2017. Moved to a new job in 2023 also 100% WFH. Until recently I would’ve have 100% supported it….
then I had something happen which got out of control. You could argue company culture is the reason why it couldn’t be tackled.

i managed a team of 9 in a busy department. Most of my team were fantastic.

i had one guy who was never really comfortable being managed by a woman. But we got by. He had an old-fashioned attitude to his job (eg didn't trust excel formulas, he would still add up a row of numbers “just to check”). Getting him to embrace automated tasks was difficult, even when I told him it was to allow him more time to branch out more (which it did - our company was growing massively and he wanted to be part of that growth). I couldn’t keep track of how slow he was being as I couldn’t see him not trusting agreed process. He was lying about how long things were taking and overriding automation. He took on new work and became stressed because he couldn’t manage his time. He wouldn’t let go of the old ways, nor would he let go of the new responsibilities. He was overworked through his own stubbornness and mistrust of excel formulas!!

then things got really nasty. When he was angry he would call women in my team and scream and shout at them. Every time I pulled him up on it he denied it. My word against theirs. HR were useless. My boss was useless. He then claimed all the women collaborated to make up lies about him. I was furious. Still no support from HR. They said it could go either way…, he is relying on the ability to deny it every time and the women are all being shouted at, or the women are all lying in collaboration. HR said there was nothing they could do.

I was sure had we all sat in an office it would be completely impossible for him to continue this behaviour. He definitely had a problem with anger towards women. 121 teams calls were an easy way to continue to shout at women until they cried. I was trying to protect my team with no support from my boss or HR. It was a stressful time. i hated the fact we all WFH as he could bypass all behavioural norms. I was really stuck and I couldn’t believe he was getting away with it.
I mentioned it to a friend who said, next time he does it tell them to record it.

when he finally did it to me, my friends words popped into my head: I recorded him on my iPhone. His language was disgraceful. Swearing, sexiest slurs etc, Massive massive error. Without looking into the implications I reported it to HR thinking I had the key to solving this with the recording. I ended up sacked for recording someone without their consent.

Its the people who purposefully dont work from home that spoil it.

My colleague agreed to have her granddaughter who is 2 stay over during one half term week last year. She didn’t awnser the phone once to the team shes working with during this week and refused to give her number to customers (and refuses a work mobile or to have her laptop hooked up to take voice calls). As such - the team in the office had to take an extra 20 enquiries or so because she did not pick up.

She came in and laughed about how she just jiggled her mouse and spent SO much LOVELY time with her granddaughter. It was a complete piss take.

Shit like this is why nobody trusts home working! Who could blame a boss for putting restrictions in place when things like this happen.

You're missing the point. to (try and) prove a very, very weak argument. Ted, who sits next to me, is part of my business and is covered by my company's policies; they adhere to our company NDA's, ICO, GDPR, etc policies/guidlines. My insurance covers me if Ted goes on a bender. Much like a junior Dr would be in a hospital performing his/her job for that business, they have privileges, need to know information. Your partner does not.

As for cleaners, ours come in every day. She asks if I need my work area cleaned. We have a policy on which information is left out 'in view' in our office and which is locked away, whether paper or laptops. She works for us, so she has a legitimate reason to be in our office. She is bound by our company procedure.

The exact same if we have to use an outside contractor.