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

Pre-covid, if you needed time for an appointment or WFH it was a luxury not an expectation. I work with some very entitled graduates because of it...one said to me last week..."can you imagine having to go into the office 5 days a week" - yeah mate, imagine...a world pre-covid!

I've just joined a new team which only requires staff to be in for 40% of the time. I've really struggled to get to know people, there is no distinguishable team culture. It's been tough and the working environment is pretty miserable

I just saw someone on another thread advocating buying a device to do exactly that.

I WFH 4 days per week as do the rest of the 30-strong team. We don't take the piss. We work hard and productivity went up during Covid (and stayed there). Our company treats us really well. Why would we take the piss and risk losing our WFH contracts?

Employers and employees still have to follow the law: https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working

Because a significant proportion of people take the piss and don’t work the hours they are supposed to

Is there any evidence it is a significant proportion? It certainly isn't among my peers.

Except some don't.

I think I have seen examples of this. Junior staff wfh can be underperforming, not because they are not trying hard, but because they are not learning as much ‘by osmosis’ from seeing their colleagues in action, potentially fearful of asking questions quickly enough and it taking longer for senior staff to notice if they’ve misunderstood a task. Senior staff believe they are more productive but in general seem more stressed and I think it could be because they are picking up the slack for their junior colleagues so they see their increased personal output without seeing the overall impact on the team (and their colleagues individual development). I’d be interested to read this source if you could find it.

I think this is your answer!

I heard this very thing on Call You and Yours today (as I was driving to see my MIL who has just been moved to palliative care and thankful that I have the flexibility to do so - I worked well into the evening to get stuff done).
They also talked about how junior staff are managed. |

It's hard for the new starters to mingle and network if no one is in

They should be allowed a lunch break! As long as it's not an all day boozy lunch and they get their work done I wouldn't mind that as a manager

Bums on seats 9 to 5 = people working for short sighted micro managers. They are wrong. You are productive or not.

In my experience there is far more time wasted in the office than WFH. Lots more social chatting and coffee breaks.

"On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive and work one more day a week. These same remote workers are up to 47% more productive than office workers according to a Stanford study. In a workweek, those who work at home are more consistent, work more hours, and get more done".

The amount of stuff people on MN claim to do while working (taking and collecting kids from school, laundry, cooking a meal from scratch, taking the dog for a walk, going to the gym, reading a book, looking after a toddler) and saying that as long as the work is done, no one cares that it took 2 hours, makes me wonder what they did all day in an office and why it's even a ft job. One poster was apparently doing 2 (well paid) "FT" jobs that took about an hour a day each!

My job is practical, so probably different from majority of wfh jobs. I rarely get to wfh and some people work at different speeds but my seniors could absolutely tell the difference between 1 or 2 hours work and a full day

I mainly wfh with a very flexible boss who hardly checks up on me because she says trust is important. She said I didn't need to come into the office on regular days, just when I needed to which depended on events. I had been in hospitality for 20 years with structured start, breaks and end times and struggled when I moved over to this job with massive guilt if I took a proper lunch or put the washing out. Unless I was seated on my desk for 8 hours I felt like I had taken the piss. Though when I do events I can work a 12 hour day. When I do go into the office I am stopped so many times by different people who want to chat about something or another and felt like I wasn't doing enough then either and ended up doing more hours when I got home. However, I have found that the networking side is so important and it has left me feeling isolated from the teams. So much so that I asked her if she would insist I come in on regular days.

It depends on how long their lunchbreak is supposed to be, surely?

If it's half an hour, they shouldn't be going out to lunch with people as they'd never be back at their desk on time.

Work more hours? Why are they working more hours if wfh means they are getting more done due to less distractios? Surely they get all their work done and more in their contracted hours because they aren't being distracted. Otherwise if you are working more hours then it's no different to being in the office.

I only go in once a week but I havent had that issue. But my new organisation use office days effectively and use things like teams chat etc well too

It's the piss takers.
It's not that as a manager you can't manage it, it's that is such an absolute pain in the neck. And it's meant our organisation had to recruit more HR people just to handle the need to tackle them.

They're abusing the trust and letting everyone else down. It's such a shame

The patriarchy.

my company are remote, flexible, forward thinking and as diverse as possible. I appreciate it hugely as a mum.

All the senior managers who travel/attend meetings are middle aged men. They are attempting to address the balance and expectations for the future and it’s great.

Not all.

My workplace embraces flexibility and flexible working with all offered the choice of wfh, hybrid or in person.

Check out the charity sector lots. We are far from alone on this.

my company switch to remote working, many other companies do it aswell. All my friends also lots if the wfh and only go to office one or twice a week. I dont know any company who eager to go back full time. So its not all companies the same. Lots of them also prefer wfh

It really won't.

Not all employers are idiots.

Inept managers who only feel in control if they can actually see an employee, and who judge performance on being present rather than quantity and quality of work actually done

Its a lot easier to see when people are struggling, have ad hoc conversations which pick up on issues, train people, have collaborative meetings, develop strong working relationships, mentor people, give juniors exposure to senior people etc
Most of the direct advantage of WFH are for the employee rather than employer (other than possible costs savings in property etc) - although indirectly having happier employees/possibly more choice of employees benefits the employer
So my job entails evening calls/meetings- wfh i can do this after child's bedtime/dinner etc and have a life- before this i had to stay in office potentially and miss home stuff- makes no difference to work as i did the meetings anyway but makes me happier