It's not just Alan sugar and people like him who have their own agenda though is it. People are inherently selfish and don't care what is happening to the wider world as long as they are ok.
People wanting a better work/ life balance don’t need to be described as having an ‘agenda’. You make it sound like it’s a bad thing. The difference between the business barons with their agenda and people wanting to work wfh, is that the Alans are trying to force other people to change their behaviour for their (barons) benefit. Those of us wanting to wfh are not trying to force anyone else to do anything.
It's all very well saying 'I love whf' but that because it suits you.
Good lord, we’re not wanting to work in a way that suits us are we? How terrible.
Employers are laughing all the way to the bank now they don't have extra costs of premises/heating/etc.
Employers have been laughing all the way to the bank for 300 years. Time we had more say.
Their staff are essentially looking after themselves, and using their own resources to do so.
We’ll have to see if the costs outweigh the benefits.
Meanwhile service based shops and restaurants etc are in danger of disappearing from our town centres and many people won't be able to work at all.
Service based shops will have to go where they’re needed. If they’re not needed then the answer isn’t to force people to have a worse quality of life to artificially prop them up.
Many of my friends want to go back to work. Having your home and office in the same space is not conducive to good mental health for many people.
It is conducive for many people. My mental health has been better than it’s been for years. Many others have said the same. Including 9 out of 10 people working from home www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-working-lockdown-coronavirus-office-grant-shapps-boris-johnson-a9693051.html
Lots don't have the luxury of a separate space in which to work, or even a quiet space.
No, but lots do.
Salaries will go down, pensions will be diminished, claims for mental health, back problems, stress will go up. Companies won't need their workforce to be in the uk and will outsource it to cheaper places.
Catastrophising. You’ve no evidence any of that will happen. London weighting maybe yes. But good people will want good jobs and employers will want to attract good people.
Outsourcing has already happened. It’s not worked well in some cases. Has in others.
It's all very well saying well I've done that, prefer this, so let's do it this way from now on,
Yes if something is working well, let’s keep doing it. I’m not seeing the flaw in this logic.
but you are eroding the opportunities for our young people and future generations. Our young already are at a disadvantage of not being able to afford to leave home because property and rent is extortionate, now they have to work at home on their bed or the kitchen table with their parents too.
Yes I can see that could be difficult. There are still lots of shops and businesses that young people are working in disproportionate numbers. Young people in office based jobs may need a balance. I’m not saying everyone should be forced to wfh. But those that want to, should be supported to do so.
People can't be free in their own homes, the non working have to tiptoe round the working so they can be efficient and professional, children have to 'be quiet' because mummy/daddy are on a zoom call or making a telephone call.
People with young children will still need childcare. But the added flexibility of wfh helps many with these arrangements and can still help w/l balance.
So yes, let's have a shift in work/life balance. Let's find a solution that allows more flexibility for those who want or need it. But let's not pretend that a shift to home working for all is, or ever will be, a good thing for our country as a whole.
Clearly not all. But for many more than originally thought it may be. The ‘country as a whole’ will adapt and change, just as human behaviour, communication and businesses have been doing for centuries.