what's the obsession with "getting back to the office!

[Bells3032]

I get some people want to return to the office and i think they should have a right to. but i don't get the obsession that we "MUST" return to the office. Honestly, my DH and I have both been working from home. I am a public sector, he's private. his office have just started return but don't seem to be enforcing it much and they've also announced their best two years of profit ever.

I get some people e.g. those doing passports or probate etc would be much easier in the office as access to paperwork but my job is 100% computer based and I am far more productive at home.

1. no long commute so less tired plus less likelihood of being late.
2. no "nattering" in the office
3. no time wondering round looking for a desk in the morning and ending up with an inappropriate desk space because we are short. I have a proper desk and chair at home so less back pain
4. no trying to find meeting rooms - just hop on zoom and there everyone is
5. no spending time queuing for the toilet etc
6. less sickness as people not picking up bugs on the trains etc
7. they can sell some real estate or not pay as much rent

What actually would be the benefit to me or my employers to me returning to office? What is with the obsession? Could someone explain to me WHY I should return to the office?

I'm civil service and moved from full time in the office before March 2020 to full time homebased during the pandemic. Made the switch okay, seem to have got my job done for the past 18 months. We're now moving to 'hybrid' by default, where all formerly office people have to come in at least 20% of the time, or more where the role/circumstances require it, such as to attend a meeting, or work on a project.

I do my own casework, and have a handful of local colleagues doing their own casework. It's quite nice seeing them for a chat if we coordinate to be in on the same days, otherwise I travel in to the office and sit at a desk by myself and can easily talk to no-one else all day. Small talk in the kitchen maybe, but I don't directly work with any other team in the building. So insisting we do that for the sake of it seems a bit pointless.

Oliver Downden at the tory conference today:

"The Conservative Party chairman has told people to "get off their pelotons and back to their desks". Speaking at a Fringe event at the party conference, Oliver Dowden said civil servants needed to lead by example and get back to offices."

He can fuck off, a peleton is more than my monthly take home salary and I've been working from home not on furlough. Where I work is none of his business.

Money.

People aren't handing over money to private train companies or buying lunch from Costa. Demand for rented office space has waned meaning prices need to drop.

@givemushypeasachance

Oliver Downden at the tory conference today:

"The Conservative Party chairman has told people to "get off their pelotons and back to their desks". Speaking at a Fringe event at the party conference, Oliver Dowden said civil servants needed to lead by example and get back to offices."

He can fuck off, a peleton is more than my monthly take home salary and I've been working from home not on furlough. Where I work is none of his business.

haha you are my hero. it's exactly this that i am talking about (also CS here). I honestly can't see a single benefit to me going back to the office bar maybe some socialising but i socialise fine without the office

I wasn't aware that there was a "must" get back to the office but whatever wfh-ers think the service levels are just not as good as pre pandemic

In my job just in the past week I have had issues with poor phone quality of people obviously not in an office, not actually being able to speak to someone because she works at home which means a waste of time exchange of emails for something that could be explained by a conversation in a couple of minutes and waited endlessly in phone queues because "covid"

It's a huge drain on the overall economy trying to get back to normal

Maybe civil servants don't have customer contact but huge numbers of people do

They want people to go back to the office because we are a capitalist consumerist economy that relies ENTIRELY on us buying stuff we don't need

Apparently we all hoarded about 24 billion last year and an extra 9 billion of debt was paid off

Making us very naughty according to the cunts who own the shit we don't buy

I can totally understand that it’s preferable for the individual who is working from home, but I do think that it can be extremely difficult for other members of the family who are trying to live their lives. I hate being at home when DH is working there.

So from my point of view I really wish he’d go back to the office for a couple of days a week.

I hear ya! We are on enforced 2 days a week back in the office and I hate it for all the reasons you've outlined and more. I'm way more productive at home. I can totally see how for some people / teams / roles physically being in our office would make more sense, but for me personally, absolutely not, its totally fricking pointless. And I'd forgotten how much people chat chat chat, constantly, I had to put earbuds in last week to drown it out. Whilst doing work that didn't require me to speak to anyone else in the building, which I could have done better from home!

I’d also add that just because people say they are more productive at home, it doesn’t follow that they always are.

A lot of people who own corporate office space will be Tory members/donors and they'll be telling the Govt that they don't want their office blocks to become redundant millstones so please chivvy the workers back to the offices pronto.

2 days in the office
Definitely was less productive than at home
Did nothing on my core project
Came down with cold, suspect colleagues who had colds
Now Being very unproductive

Yep. Money. The government need everyone out spending.

I’ve found I get more done at home. Everyone wants to catch up on the days in the office and I find myself saving bigger jobs for quiet days at home where I won’t be interrupted! I do think we should be paid a working from home allowance if we’re saving the company money in real estate though.

Money.

Working from home was great for me and I won't be going back more than one day a week. There really is no need.

I suppose working from home isn't suitable for everyone- those new to the role who beyond formal learning would pick stuff up from being around experienced colleagues; those who are perched on their beds in shared houses; those who live alone or struggle with their mental health. Surely a hybrid is better as it offers both a chance to spend some time in the office with face to face interaction and chances to develop, and the convenience of working from home. Before any says well those people can go in anyway, sure, but probably pointless if no one else is in.

The question I suppose is what's best for organisations, and how do they balance that with what people want when that differs. I guess you should get back to the office a few days a week as they are proposing as its not all about you?

Everyone’s different though. I am also CS and I hate working at home - endless phone calls and Teams meetings rather than speaking to people nearby when something needs to be solved quickly. I don’t have space for a desk at home and am working from the dining table. I miss my desk and chair in the office. Some days I’m too busy to get any fresh air, whereas my short walk & train commute was great to clear my head.

Ive noticed we are not a functioning as a team anymore.
Previously when we were all in the office everybody mucked in and helped each other out. For example someone would say that one of their cases needed picking up from school and taking to a contact centre. We would sit round a table and divvy up jobs and support .That has stopped. Team spirit has eroded. People are just interested in their ciwn case load which is a shame because we worked better when we were together.

I honestly don’t know what they’re banging on about , people are back at work!

Suffering all the bus cancellations due to the HGV driver shortage, worrying whether you’ll get into a fight opening a window to keep ventilation going, and if you drive, running the “will I be able to get any petrol today” gauntlet.
Oh yeah, its just bloody great !!

I noticed a DT article on this was edited to remove the figures about how many staff are currently working in Whitehall. Perhaps the government ought to get their own house in order!

It's all about the money. Coffee shops, office / commercial building rent, the high street. A lot of Tory donors and members have their fingers in the sort of pies that require us (Joe Public) to spend money a lot of us can't even afford. Of course they'll dress it up as anything else but this is what it comes down to.

@BristolBaker

I honestly don’t know what they’re banging on about , people are back at work!

Suffering all the bus cancellations due to the HGV driver shortage, worrying whether you’ll get into a fight opening a window to keep ventilation going, and if you drive, running the “will I be able to get any petrol today” gauntlet.
Oh yeah, its just bloody great !!

I noticed a DT article on this was edited to remove the figures about how many staff are currently working in Whitehall. Perhaps the government ought to get their own house in order!

Erm yeah that's what they're saying, they want civil servants back in the office to set an example.

Exactly, first they need to get rid of mandatory masks (whilst we're walking around but not when sitting, I mean, why?!), one way system nonsense, and the ubiquitous yawning, empty, unlit, roped off areas with heaped piles of desks and chairs - FGS, set them back up so we can use them then we won't need to book a desk!

Please give me back my own properly set up desk and workspace ...

I do like being in the office, but a covid office is a fairly miserable place to work.

Someone in the government has lots of shares in Prett.

I have absolutely no intention of going back to the office. I work much better at home. We use internet calling so phone quality is same except that there's no one wittering on in the background. I'd have to be threatened with redundancy before I agreed to go back. And then I'd look for another job anyway that was full time wfh.

I think it works well for self motivated middle-aged people. However we do possibly have a responsibility to the younger generation to give them support and a learning environment which only really happens face to face in the office.

Also most of our staff are less productive at home regardless of what they claim.

Money for property portfolios - which feed into our pensions

Also some uni lecturers are being told they can work at home if they like (Scotland). I do think some jobs really do need to be face to face.