Why do companies seem to hate wfh and flexible working?

[numenor]

I really don't understand it so many companies bringing in stringent return to the office policies and curtailing flexible working.

I'm a single working mum and really couldn't work without these things and I don't think I'm alone in that.

What is it about these things companies don't like 🤷‍♀️.

Surely it's a good thing to encourage work and to be able to hire the best candidate

I think big part of it is that it was all working find until junior staff started. I love wfh and I'm thriving in my job because I appreciate the flexibility. But I see that it's not this best thing for junior staff. They are missing out on a lot of mentoring experiences.

I've recently started to manage two recent graduates and I've ended up doing a daily teams call just to keep them on track with their work, make sure they don't have any blocks. I was meeting them weekly and one in particular seemed to just be sitting around because they hit an issue they couldn't solve. That kind of thing didn't happen in the office.

My company is fine with mostly home working although it's a massive company and they couldn't physically fit us all in the offices every day anyway.

I wfh 3 days a week. It's easy to tell if someone isn't doing any work though as we are monitored on the number of customer interactions we do (customer services job) so if someone is slacking they get pulled up.

I’ve wfh since my first proper job so over 15 years now, I feel there’s a lot more wfh options now, obviously not as much as during covid times. But still a decent chunk.

In my organisation it’s been bad for overall staff development e.g. bringing younger trainees through, and for overall team working. If everyone was so much more productive as they claim, it would be staying. No amount of micromanaging middle managers or whatever you want to blame would be allowed to outweigh a genuine productivity improvement if it was really benefiting companies. So it obviously isn’t.

I know people who 'wfh' a 7.5 hour day and in that time, drive the kids to and from school/ cook the dinner/ clean etc and get paid the same as their colleagues who sit working that entire time.
Yes managers should see a difference in work outcomes but nothing is ever said/ done.

I'm an employer and generally I like it. I like that it makes people happy and more efficient and it saves them a ton of money and stress.

But it really comes down to the person. Some people like the idea of wfh but in reality literally do nothing. We hired someone and she did next to no work for 2 weeks and thought that it was okay because she hadn't lied about about it when we asked and had been honest. She thought it was fine to say, "Sorry, my neighbour knocked on the door so I was chatting to them for an hour" "I ended up going Christmas shopping for 3 hours" etc. She had 10 yrs previous experience of working in an office, but none work from home.

Other people I could leave for 3 years and check in with them and they'd have been carrying on no problem. But not everyone is like that. You spend longer listening to their excuses and their promises to do better than either of you spend working, and it makes good people leave because they don't want the burden of carrying other people who are doing nothing and getting paid the same. And when you don't let some people work from home because they do nothing and they know that's the reason, they never stop going on about it and other people are questioning why that person isn't allowed to work from home.

Then you repeat that 20 times because you have a lot of staff, and it quickly becomes easier to just not for a lot of companies.

If it's a call centre they have no chance of skiving
I keep seeing people posting about that and I don't think a lot of people realise how monitored we are

My log in and out time has to be exact as does my break and lunch. Lunch is 30 mins not 31 or 32. Our screens are recorded, calls are recorded. If I go to the toilet I have to click a code. If I want a drink I have to click a code
If the doorbell goes I can't answer it
I can't leave my desk unless I've clicked a code and that's monitored too as is our time between calls

In my department we are just busy, and short staffed. Working as hard as we can and it's physically impossible to skive

That's not normal though, only call centres do that to their staff.

What do you mean by "don't even bother to manipulate their teams status"? Surely if they're away from their desk they can't make it look like they aren't unless they had a something moving their mouse?

My job is similar. It shows up when you're "available" for calls and if you go into unavailable you get pulled up on it immediately, also if you let a call drop that gets recorded against you too.

Because it's not working for them. Most companies would be very happy to not pay for their employees office, electricity, wifi, computers, stationery, coffee etc... if they're calling people back in it's because they're looking at the data and seeing that people are people are so much less productive at home that it's worth the enormous expense of funding an office.

There might be many reasons a business is finding it detrimental, from financial loss to lack of cohesion. Most businesses will probably have several concerns. Pisstakers are definitely a problem, but probably employees having very little contact with one another is a bigger issue. Manifests in things like junior staff not having someone on hand they feel comfortable enough with to ask simple questions, or work being duplicated because nobody's really sure who's doing what anymore. Doubt fulltime wfh will come back tbh, we've had a missive global experiment with it and if we've all decided it doesn't work it's unlikely we'll give it another go for a while. Some level of part-time wfh, compressed hours and flexitime may well hang on.

@sunseaandsoundingoff I know, I was replying to a post about customer service
Most customer service if you're ringing them are a call centre

I've been WFH since long before covid. It's a privilege, not a right. Far too many take the piss.

I'm not surprised at all. My very loud neighbour was telling his toddler that Daddy is working now, 30 miss later daddy is playing toddler in garden for a few hours instead of working.

My manager a few others love to use company time to commute in as theyvdecided ro move out of London, they say they are doing work on their commute yet my manager couldn't even approve a 200 word update in 4 days so I had to submit it or miss the deadline...there are no excuses she isn't that busy we all know she isn't.

Utter piss take.

You only need to look at the threads posted here in 'work' normally called 'need a wfh job' or something like that. The poster normally says they are a mum with small children so need a wfh job how do they get one 🙄

Are you asking for a friend?

Yes exactly they could have something moving their mouse. It's also not mandatory to be on teams. On busy days I log off or appear offline or away all the time because I don't want to chat and just get on with my work. Something like that. But they are away for 60 mins three times a day or some shit like that.

Im not so sure that people should be openly saying that they can do their job from anywhere. If you can do your job from anywhere what is stopping companies from outsourcing the work to cheaper countries?

as far as wfh and flexible working goes if it is working for the companies they would embrace it, who wants to pay for real estate when you can get your work force to provide it themselves.

Piss takers and lazy bastards have ruined it for everyone.

This! ^ I know a few people who go to the hairdressers, and have their mates around for coffee, and piss around on message forums,... (and yes, look after toddlers) when they're supposed to be working.

I also know of three different people who run Youtube channels - and do filming for it for 10 to 15 hours a week in their 'work hours.'

Of course, some people who work from home, do work quite hard from home and do fine. But there are too many that absolutely swing the lead. It's no wonder the managers want them back in.

If a team who largely work from home are under performing, the manager brings them all back in, and performance goes back up, is that not properly managing output though?

Flexible working is one thing - completely manageable with appropriate record-keeping and gives people work-life balance - E.g flexitime, part-time, term-time, compressed hours etc, all flexible and manageable, employees get a benefit, employers get all the expected hours worked - win win.

Working from home - license to take the piss. I'm not surprised employers hate it.

This is so interesting because my BIL works in a factory on a production line, and a guy opposite him wears a headset and takes calls for BT!

I can't imagine they'd be happy if they knew he was working a different job, while talking people through their dodgy internet connections.

Haha no, I don't do office work. Maybe they appear away to get on with something without being disturbed? Unlikely I know but you never know 😁

AHEM!

How to make Teams stay green in 2024?

Teams will change your status if your computer goes idle or into sleep mode, switching you to 'Away. ' To avoid this, go into your system settings and adjust the sleep mode to “Never” or extend the idle time. You can also use apps that simulate mouse movements to keep your computer active.18 Aug 2024

I’ve worked from home for 20 years. Key difference is that I’m self employed and so if i’m fucking about and slacking off, I don’t get paid.