SERIOUSLY??? People may quit if forced to work from home, Rishi Sunak warns ?

[R2221]

No Mr Sunak. Working from home saves me 2 FUCKING HOURS of daily commute + rush hour stress + travel costs.

I work from home now. I am more productive, less stressed and happier.

Maybe we need a referendum. See what 52% of people want ?

From an entirely selfish business perspective our shop is really missing the office workers! Also it's gonna speed up the death of the high street massively if an end to the plague doesn't mean a return in footfall

Also are people aware these coffee shops etc also employ people that need to feed their families , if you loose whole industries you have a lot of unemployed and a larger welfare bill - think who pays that

It is completely soul destroying being at home 24/7. You become lonely, isolated, unfit, unmotivated

There will be some adjustments in attitude needed (another reason why the powers that be are really keen to push back).

If working practices are going to change, then maybe employers also need to wise up, and adapt. Have strict policies about out of working hours contact. Setup email systems to queue email until an employees work hours. That sort of thing. Embarrassingly easy from a technical POV.

I wouldn't hold my breath though.

I'm just about to start a new job, and fear the onboarding might not be good due to WFH.

I'm in Pharma so we've been recruiting a lot this year. I was chatting to a colleague who started this year and she said the onboarding went much better than she expected. If you're joining a decent sized company that's any good they'll have put some thought into it. Hope it goes well!

@User133847 which is why I put for some its great for others it isn't clearly showing that there are two sides !!

I agree! It’s alright for people who are cushy and settled. Rest of us who have moved jobs don’t know anyone.
Also how long do you think it WILL be before WFH jobs are outsourced? The last laugh will be on the side of companies , always, we workers just get fucked from every angle

I always assumed working from home meant that you'd basically be living upstairs from your shop.

I love the separation of work life and home life

Also it's gonna speed up the death of the high street massively

Maybe not a bad thing. Consider it a humane death ?

The high street as was is gone. Because the entire artifice of society it was built on has gone. That's not to say shops and the like will necessarily disappear. But their setting might change dramatically.

Despite all the blacksmiths, farriers, breeders, trainers, vets, coachbuilders, stablehands, saddlers etc that relied on horse drawn transport being massive, we still got the motor car country we are.

Wrong here Rishi - I'll quit if I have to go back to the office.

I think they just want us back spending in city centres so the commercial landlord donors don't go bust

OP has disappeared now she realises the world isn't all about her 🙄

I sort of manage some clinical staff who are wfh and doing a lot of lone working clinically. More and more issues are arising with competence and confidence and there isn't enough supervision going on. It's getting worse as time goes on as people seem to think they can do what they like and no one is watching.

@ComtesseDeSpair

I’m also getting very sceptical of this universal view pretty much everyone now seems to have that they’re so much more efficient working at home than they were in the office. Every time in the past year that I’ve had to make contact with my bank, a utility company, an insurance company, the council, or the customer service department of just about any organisation, I’ve been treated to a recorded message telling me that I need to be patient during this difficult time as staff are working from home and have had to adapt their ways of working to suit, so to expect long delays. If everyone’s being so much more efficient, why aren’t customers experiencing a better service?

Absolutely this. Customer 'service' has been a complete joke this past year. Sure, not all of that can be attributed to WFH, but a lot can.

Some people in certain roles may indeed be 'so much more productive' WFH, but I think a lot of people tell themselves this simply because they prefer WFH and want it to stay.

Good for you.
I hate working from home.
You are stupid if you haven't grasped that there's a spectrum -some liking it, some not. Some preferring to go back to the office, but still work at home 1 or 2 days.

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

Also are people aware these coffee shops etc also employ people that need to feed their families , if you loose whole industries you have a lot of unemployed and a larger welfare bill - think who pays that

Some local coffee shops here have been saved by the lockdown, and a lot of school run parents who previously commuted and bought their drinks elsewhere.

They now grab a coffee and sandwich on the way back from school, and go back home.

Yes, you CAN make your coffee at home, but you always could.. and carry your own flask, and your own pack lunch.

The vans and shops that used to sell at the train station are now at the schools, in the local "beauty spots" to catch the covid-walkers (exercise only being a thing of the past apparently)

Whole industries will have to adapt and change. Like they always do. Your local sandwich shop in central town already suffered when a Tesco metro opened and people went to buy food there... some adapted.

So many "I'm alright Jack" replies on here
Our John Lewis is closing, Betty's are closing one of their tea rooms in York, the trains that run past my house are empty, city centres are dying, but hey, as long as you can work from home, order everything you want online and enjoy your insular lifestyles then the rest of us don't matter.

So many "I'm alright Jack" replies on here

Isn't that what makes Britain Great ?

Town centres without lots of offices etc are the ones that have already suffered over the past couple of decades of "centralisation" and ended up with nothing but charity shops. That's the future facing the bigger towns and cities which have been kept vibrant due to the office workers. People, both workers and politicians, need to be mindful of what can happen to vibrant High Streets when there is no major employment (other than shops and bars etc) in the centre.

So many "I'm alright Jack" replies on here

you mean all the people who didn't care about mental and physical health of people struggling but forced to work in offices and unhealthy work environment when they did not need to? Let alone the commute...

Indeed.

We can speculate on the impact, but back to the original point made by Mr Sunak, I still think that the majority of people would not quit if wfh 100%. I don't think that too many employers are actually proposing that as obligatory in any case.

Perhaps if his reported view about the Covid response in September had not been the one Mr Johnson followed, the high street would be in a better position than it is now, as there would not have been no non-food shops in November but for a shorter period in October.

RampantIvy

what about people who never got a chance to go to the gym, visit their charity shop etc, but now might have a chance to have a life since they can WFH?

You didn't care too much for them did you?

I do honestly find it startling that many people don’t seem to realise the economy is interdependent. If the sandwich shops, Retailers, train companies etc go bust, the jobs go with it. That’s more people on benefits, less people able to buy the thing your company makes putting your job at risk.

You may be at home permanently...without a job if all the jobs relying on your office staying open from dry cleaners to the make up counter at Boots closes.

@DGRossetti

It is completely soul destroying being at home 24/7. You become lonely, isolated, unfit, unmotivated

There will be some adjustments in attitude needed (another reason why the powers that be are really keen to push back).

If working practices are going to change, then maybe employers also need to wise up, and adapt. Have strict policies about out of working hours contact. Setup email systems to queue email until an employees work hours. That sort of thing. Embarrassingly easy from a technical POV.

I wouldn't hold my breath though.

I'm really quite sick of being told that because I don't enjoy staring at the same four walls every day with no real life interaction means I have an attitude problem.

Your lovely shared space idea will cut no ice with my employer due to security concerns. We aren't allowed to log onto a shared WiFi system of any kind.

I have no extra time for hobbies or friends because everything takes so much longer due to crap broadband, colleagues not responding in a timely fashion, documents not being available.

All the reasons why I've moved jobs to one where I can be in an office.

I have been a lecturer and know many who still are and I really seriously doubt that - speaking into a void, little opportunity for meanigful interaction with students or colleagues plus all the other reasons many people in other kinds of jobs dislike. I don't think you're in the right job if as acollege lecturer you would prefer the current situation

I also work in 3rd level eduction and spent several months teaching online. I loathed every second of it - and I normally love teaching. It was soul destroying and there were times I was almost at the point of tears because of how frustrating and inhumane it is.

I agree with you that any educator who says they prefer this mode of 'teaching' is doing so because they enjoy not having to commute and like being able to lie in in the mornings. Similarly, any uni which says 'online education offers the same quality of experience as f2f' is doing to because they want to save money and/or encourage students to sign up. Nobody who really understands education would say online learning is anything more than an emergency stop-gap. One which hopefully we won't need for very much longer at this stage.

@JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil

I do honestly find it startling that many people don’t seem to realise the economy is interdependent. If the sandwich shops, Retailers, train companies etc go bust, the jobs go with it. That’s more people on benefits, less people able to buy the thing your company makes putting your job at risk.

You may be at home permanently...without a job if all the jobs relying on your office staying open from dry cleaners to the make up counter at Boots closes.

and I find it startling that you don't seem to realise many businesses will benefit, whilst others might not, that's true. They might have to relocate. People have to adapt.

The biggest threat is the LOCKDOWN, not people working from home and having more free time.

For more office workers, the only option was online shopping.. no time for anything else.

So many "I'm alright Jack" replies on here sad
Our John Lewis is closing, Betty's are closing one of their tea rooms in York, the trains that run past my house are empty, city centres are dying, but hey, as long as you can work from home, order everything you want online and enjoy your insular lifestyles then the rest of us don't matter.

Absolutely. It’s so short sighted too. And so much of it is because people on London salaries who are making these decisions didn’t like their commutes and long hours they get in return for the higher salaries. Fuck the rest of us.

I will without a doubt be quitting if forced to work from the office again.