Government should advise 'work from home if you can' - plain common sense

[swabthenose]

I'm not talking about furlough, or people who are unable to do their jobs from home. I'm talking about office jobs where people have successfully worked from home for months and months with no decrease (and some increase due to no commute) in productivity. Surely it's plain fucking common sense for the government to say 'work from home if you can' and stop encouraging people back to offices?!

All this talk of a lockdown except offices and schools - why offices?! Why is the government so determined to keep all the worker bees in the group working environment when it's not necessary? Yes I know, save the sandwich shops, but tbh if people are working from home then local businesses are going to get a boost instead AND the public transport will be less crowded. Home working at least part of the time is the future, and trying to swim against the tide during a global pandemic seems pretty dim even for our shitshow of a government.

I can do my job from home 100%, forever, and while it could be done from anywhere in the UK it couldn’t be farmed out to India because it requires precision of language, and has to be done at certain hours. But because part of the business I work for has a vested interest in getting people back into offices – we sell things to commuters, basically – we’re all being encouraged back in. They’re not making it mandatory, more begging and cajoling and doing ridiculous things like laying on free breakfast buffets to encourage us to go to the office – mmm, a delicious covid croissant social, don’t mind if I don’t.

I do get how awful it must be if you’re at the start of your career or unable to work at capacity or in a house share or bedsit or lonely or any one of a number of reasons why WFH might not be ideal, but I think being dead or causing someone’s death or suffering the long-term after-effects is a bit more awful, on balance.

I'm applying for jobs and wanting to go into the office. Dh has retired, and trying to work with him needing the computer, or watching TV, or looking for something in the study would be a nightmare. I want the contact with other people.

My work have essentially done this. Call centre staff and others who were struggling are back in. The rest of us...there isn’t a timeline. On one level I’m desperate to be back a few days a week for the social aspect but I accept it’s common sense that I’m not until flu season is over.

Our company has 'welcomed' us back - City of London..... we're the only company in a very well known building near Bank station who has come back as all the other companies still have their employees working from home.

They're keen to point out they don't want to 'force' people to come back, however unless you have an underlying health issue or live with someone who has one, you're expected to be in the office...... They've kitted it out with plastic screens between desks, every other desk is out of use..... one way system... hand sanitiser.

What I don't get is..... the majority of us travel in using public transport.. I have a 50 minute train journey and then a 15 minute tube journey - The train is practically empty, but the tube is quite busy, lots of people not wearing masks, or people wearing them under their nose - or, pulling them down to their chin to tell their friend what plastic surgery they're having next (that was Mondays journey).

And then you get to the office and mix with.... 50+ people easily per day? Yet we can't have more than 6 in our house at all.

So a job I've been doing really bloody well for 6+ months at home.... not dropping the ball at all..... I now have to come into the office and increase my risk of catching something - Why? Seems utterly, utterly pointless....

Schools going back, universities restarting and workers going back to the office even if you don't need to was too much too soon imo. We are paying the price for that now and will continue to.

@cochineal7

It is not just the local sandwich shop. It is the big City landlords (Canary Wharf etc) whose property portfolio devaluation would have a massive financial impact. On very few very rich people (who also happen to be large Tory donors).

Not quite true. Most of us who pay into to a typical UK company pension scheme will be affected if property firms like this go bust.

Almost all of the schemes Invest in companies like this, along with other like Airlines, Electrical, rail, large chains etc. Pensions are investments; if their choices fail, your pension pot will be decimated.

@Petitmum the government in Wales want 30 % of the work force to work from post covid to reduce transport pressures and encourage people to spend more money in towns rather than in cities. Seems like a sensible plan to me.

YANBU at all, OP. The fact that the government wants to put people’s lives at risk, just so that companies selling stuff that people don’t really need can stay afloat, says everything about its warped priorities.

I completely agree. But then you have employers like my boss who thinks that 2 employees he's got (me and another bloke) need to be in the office because otherwise we are not doing our job at home. My boss himself doesn't come to the office, he works from home:) but I have to drive 40 min just to sit in front of the laptop that i bring from home! Where I actually have a proper office (unused bedroom with a desk). Oh, and also i work in a very industrial area where there are no sandwich shops or any other places to buy lunch from, so i genuinely don't understand the logic.

I've done my job from home for six months now. I'm more productive and less stressed. No way I want to go back until the office, and I won't do it until I'm forced to. BTW when I do have to eventually go back there I'll be very reluctant to spend money in sandwich shops and so on: firstly, the concern of catching Covid through unnecessary interactions, and secondly, making my own lunch has proved to be much cheaper and nicer.

@eurochick - I wasn't clear. By "permanently" I meant every day of the week for the foreseeable future rather than forever. I just feel that the trainees (and young people generally) are having to adapt a disproportionate amount compared to many others. There's no way

@eurochick - I wasn't clear. By "permanently" I meant every day of the week for the foreseeable future rather than forever. I just feel that the trainees (and young people generally) are having to adapt a disproportionate amount compared to many others. There's no way

@eurochick - I wasn't clear. By "permanently" I meant every day of the week for the foreseeable future rather than forever. I just feel that the trainees (and young people generally) are having to adapt a disproportionate amount compared to many others. There's no way

@eurochick - I wasn't clear. By "permanently" I meant every day of the week for the foreseeable future rather than forever. I just feel that the trainees (and young people generally) are having to adapt a disproportionate amount compared to many others. There's no way

@eurochick - I wasn't clear. By "permanently" I meant every day of the week for the foreseeable future rather than forever. I just feel that the trainees (and young people generally) are having to adapt a disproportionate amount compared to many others. There's no way

I’m on mat leave but DH has gone back in 3 days a week. His company have a parking space for him (v central London Office) but I need the car for school runs so instead they pay for an uber for him both ways. He wears an N95 mask for the uber trip and wears the mask in the office when he goes to the kitchen or the loo but he doesn’t need to wear it when he’s in his own individual office. He is also the only person working on his floor other than a cleaner who sanitises the door handles and other frequent touch points every hour.

Although he has been working from home throughout March-August it’s really not viable anymore, we are in a 2 bedroom flat with 3 kids, including a 4 month old. He was working in our bedroom but I need that room for the baby’s naps etc and his sleep was awful with working in the bedroom half a meter away from the bed.

Nobody should be forced back into the office but everyone’s situations are different and people should be able to make decisions for themselves.

Yanbu. My company has told everyone who can wfh to stay at home for the foreseeable.

I really really miss the office. It’s much easier to do my job in person than remotely. I miss being able to help my team succeed easily - it is a struggle over zoom. I miss all the social stuff, going for lunch together etc. I miss the commute which created a clear line between work and home.

BUT there is no way that putting a thousand people back into a building to work makes any sense at all while the virus is still out there. It wouldn’t be the same. We’re so much better staying home as much as we can do our kids can stay in school and other nice things about life (restaurants, yoga classes and the like) can continue to operate.

People just need to stop being silly and stop thinking about themselves for half a minute.

I've been back in the office for about 6 weeks and hate it. I'm less productive because I have to be at my desk all the time - no break rooms, have to eat lunch at our desk or leave the building.

I work on an industrial estate and the only shops nearby are big supermarkets and I don't go to those. So no businesses benefit from me being back. I hate the noise and would rather be at home.

whoops, posted too soon.

Was about to say - there's no way doing your whole training contract from home is comparable to the normal experience but the trainees can hardly complain given the circumstances. Also, as I said, the tubes are currently very quiet as far as I have seen, and our office (and I imagine most law firms) is very Covid secure so I don't think there's much chance of catching it by working in an office as things stand. Obviously, there's no way we can go back to how it was before, with everyone cramming into lifts etc., for the foreseeable future, but I like the current balance.

Whilst this would be a great idea for people on an individual level, and is very logical, it would have significant consequences on the city centres:

• businesses trading there that rely on commuter trade would struggle and then downsize or go bust,
• companies would need smaller premises and so downsize, leading to reduced rental income for landlords, (some companies may even relocate away from the centre as there's no need to be there anymore),
• with lower demand, the value of property in the city centres would fall which could lead to lower rental rates all together (bad for landlords) or many people who live near the city centre or own property there finding themselves in mortgages where their property no longer covers the cost of the debt (very bad for them and potentially the banks),
• transport would be hit heavily with rail and bus services likely losing money over time or even having to be renationalised to keep them going.

Or current model of working requires people to go to large offices in the city centres. We could change it but it would require time, money and a motivation to do so. The current Government wouldn't be happy to invest that time, money and energy into it especially as many of the donors and backers will be wrapped up in things like office-rental in city centres.

. All anyone is doing right now is keeping the lights on.

Generalising much ?

This is certainly not the case for us. We have been working in internationally dispersed teams for well, a decade at least. We have had a steady improvement in the tools available to remote working.

WFH is no different to sitting in an office connecting with others via computer.

There are always spaces open on the team. There is a global shortage of people with the right skills and qualifications. Apprentice schemes and location blind recruitment and still we could do more with more people.

@BlueJava

Schools going back, universities restarting and workers going back to the office even if you don't need to was too much too soon imo. We are paying the price for that now and will continue to.

Nothing to do with holidays, pubs and parties then?

@Iamnotthe1

Whilst this would be a great idea for people on an individual level, and is very logical, it would have significant consequences on the city centres:

• businesses trading there that rely on commuter trade would struggle and then downsize or go bust,
• companies would need smaller premises and so downsize, leading to reduced rental income for landlords, (some companies may even relocate away from the centre as there's no need to be there anymore),
• with lower demand, the value of property in the city centres would fall which could lead to lower rental rates all together (bad for landlords) or many people who live near the city centre or own property there finding themselves in mortgages where their property no longer covers the cost of the debt (very bad for them and potentially the banks),
• transport would be hit heavily with rail and bus services likely losing money over time or even having to be renationalised to keep them going.

Or current model of working requires people to go to large offices in the city centres. We could change it but it would require time, money and a motivation to do so. The current Government wouldn't be happy to invest that time, money and energy into it especially as many of the donors and backers will be wrapped up in things like office-rental in city centres.

But that "current model" ruined lots of smaller towns etc when all the jobs were centralised in a few big cities. Why was it OK to ruin lots of smaller towns but it's not OK to ruin a few large cities??

@user1497207191

I agree. Personally, I'd rather have a more localised model with more working from home (although I wouldn't benefit as a teacher). It would make smaller areas into community hubs again with stronger small businesses and boost property prices in those areas.

However, it would negatively affect many, including some active donors to the Tory party and, as such, is never a move that they will take willingly.

Going back to what I said earlier, many parents are using this opportunity to not pay for childcare as they say they can do it themselves and work. I don't believe anyone can do one well without the other suffering. It also means not only coffee shops, sandwich bars, pubs and the high street all suffer but also childcare businesses such as nurseries, childminders and nannies.
It all has a knock on effect too. You may care about any of this if you are wfh but it creates difficulties in the future for your children's opportunities and for what we all have left as an economy at the end of all this.