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.

Well good for you. Although you could maybe have just chosen a job that didn't involve a 2 hour commute so get the same effects?

I hate working from home with a passion. I've become seriously depressed by the lack of social contact (yes, this is worse because of lockdown) and it's a challenge to get myself out of bed every day. Plus my job is significantly harder done virtually, so I have to work longer hours just to get the same amount done. If my company say I have to work from home any longer than I have to, my resignation letter will be in straight away. In fact, if restrictions continue much longer I'll be looking for a job I can do out the house anyway.

It is true that not everyone likes working from home all the time, but Sunak has a major agenda in forcing us back onto the hideous trains, drinking over-priced coffee, having crappy sandwiches from the shop for lunch and keeping office buildings viable etc.

YABU for believing what works for you works for everyone.

@ComtesseDeSpair

Many of my junior colleagues who live in houseshares have been living and working in their bedrooms 24/7 for the past year, and haven’t had the opportunity for what Sunak correctly identified as the spontaneous moments which benefit your career - such as a chance conversation with a senior director at the coffee station or the opportunity to attend a meeting you hadn’t previously been invited to. Not everyone’s priorities are spending as little time at work as possible and not having to pay for childcare; and not everyone has the luxury of a comfortable space to work at home.

This.

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?

OK. So YOU won't quit.
Just because you're happy, doesn't mean everyone is. It amazes me that so many people think their perspective and experience is universal and is the same as them.

@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.

And it's impossible for you to conceive that your situation is not unique and other people may find it untenable to wfh ?

For some people, working from home means living in work. It does not work for everyone.

@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?

Exactly! And won't be long before the company realises how much they can outsource even more and the smug WFHs find themselves with no job.

I really don't much like working from home, I wouldn't take a job based around it permanently.
People are going to have different views on it.

If your life was so crap, why take a job with a long commute? No one is forced to eat crappy sandwiches or drink coffee from multiple coffee shops. It’s just a habit. It’s not Rishi Sunak’s doing.
I know many office workers who are very keen to go back to the office. They have had enough of working alone in a bedroom, it’s not what they signed up for. Human contact is necessary for wellbeing and if you live alone and work from home it can feel very lonely.

I hate working from home. My commute is a half hour walk. I miss my colleagues. I don't have a big enough flat to have a home office so I do not want to work from home in the long run. I would probably feel completely different if I had a long commute and a lovely, quiet home office!

I commute for 2 hours a day and I'm keen to get back to the office ASAP. I'm lucky enough to have plenty of space at home to work but it still gives me zero motivation and feels unprofessional.

DH and I have worked from home for years and I think (some) people are confusing WFH in regular times to WFH in shitty lockdown times. 18 months ago a lot of friends/family were jealous we WFH.

No commute so we’d wake up pretty leisurely around 7:45 and go for a walk/run in the morning and pick up coffee and pastries on the way home. We could run errands at lunchtime and often ate lunch out locally. It was great for getting appointments, we could always see a doctor, dentist, optician etc. Clock off in the evening and no commute meant the time was our own so we’d go to the cinema for an early showing or pop in the local pub for a glass of wine. DH likes swimming so he would often go at lunchtime/early evening.

It’s really hard to remember that life was filled with so much before and working from home wasn’t some kind of prison sentence that it is at the moment.

Same with my DH, saves a 3-4 hour daily commute & £600 p/month in petrol working FH.

And anyway, if people quit, others will take those roles.

This smacks of 'my Tory mates who own all of the office buildings are losing money' to me.

I much prefer to WFH - to the point that I'm already planning to quit when we are asked to go back to the office.

@user1497207191

I'm sure lots of university lecturers would like to carry on working from home, but most students want a return to lecturers and face to face tutorials so don't want their lecturers to WFH.

Same applies with all kinds of employers. For some, WFH has been a sticking plaster to keep the organisation operating at some level, but isn't viable for the long term.

As a university lecturer I can tell you that I, and many, many colleagues (not all, but the majority) have been desperate to get back onto campus. I don't quite know why you think lecturers in particular might want to stay at home. WFH has made our jobs much, much harder.

Mr Sunak and his colleagues/Tory donors will have major shares in Pret/Itsu/Costa and all the other currently floundering premises in city centres. Of course they want us back in our offices.

Nah. I hate being so isolated and barely talking to anyone all day, it's shit. I'd rather be inside of my workplace.

Just to add, we did have a proper office set up which is separate from our living space which no doubt makes a huge difference. It’s not for everyone but neither is traditional office working. I certainly would never go back to working in an office but there is no right or wrong imo.

Nope
I’ve wfh for many years. I have no desire to ever return to an office. Horrible places. Hate them with a passion. Life is so much better working via videoconference.

I love wfh. I hope my company keeps it

@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?

Fully agree. Likewise, virtually everything I've had to deal with from HMRC to utility firms and internet shops have been a very inferior service when trying to contact them to speak to in person. I've even had problems with some automated websites (i.e. updating Sky or Virgin subscriptions) where the system has been unable to deal with pretty simple things and getting resolution by contacting them has been next to impossible. Not to mention all the online "chat now" functions that have been "temporarily suspended due to covid".

Firms are really going to struggle and lose customers if they can't get their customer services levels back up to an acceptable standard as customers will walk to their competitors. The excuse of "due to covid" won't wash forever.

My DH loves it, my DD hates it and can’t wait to get back

WFH saved me a 2 hr commute (1 hr each way). My colleague saved a 30 min commute

I work at the dining table. My colleague lives in a flatshare and has to work in her bedroom unless her flatmates are out.

I sit on an office chair. My colleague sits on her bed or on the sofa.