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.

This just sums up so many people’s attitudes over the past year. Absolutely no interest in other people’s lives and thinks everyone thinks like them and is in the same situation.

I moved jobs in the pandemic. I haven’t met anyone; I’ve met by boss very briefly back in the summer. I’ve formed close working relationships with people whose height I don’t know, who I have never seen from the chest down. On the whole it’s been ok, but I’ve suffered from not being able to ‘read the room’ and have been unable to work out individual interpersonal relationships. That has been a big disadvantage.

I can’t wait for the office to reopen; but I don’t think I will be in full time. Maybe a couple of days a week.

Have worked in the office throughout and it's kept my colleagues and I sane.

I do WFH sometimes but it's a choice I have and great for concentrating on certain projects but not something I would do full-time out of choice.

@whetherpigshavewings

It's a free country. People can quit if they don't like it.

There's no lack of interested and suitable candidates to take their place.

It took the pandemic for employers to finance and understand the benefit of WFH, it's not going away any time soon.

We might ALL be able to relocate to cheaper areas, and either have a much lighter mortgage or a much bigger property. Bet the locals won't like that either

Who's going to buy all the houses everyone moves from?

I have worked from home for about 4 years it works for me because
a) I have a sppacious home office with my computer chair and lots of other stuff I need
b) when I have finished working I shut office door and go and live in other rooms I never need to put my office away
c) I had already factored in extra heating etc and have all supplies I need
d) we live in a large enough house so even when home schooling there was another room for DD to work in that wasn't kitchen or her bedroom
e) my social life was never based around work friendships or office banter
f) work travel was limited to collecting stock and taking parcels to couriers post office

however lockdown still changed some things I didn't met clients outside the house because of parts of retail and auctions being shut (I work in antiques online) my income dropped as unable to get stock etc

Now I can easily see that for some like OP saving time and money on commuting is a big plus and she can WFH easily safely and without distractions

but I can also easily see that many people live in accommodation too small for even an office corner never mind office room so everytime they want to eat or watch TV or even cook they might have to try and find space to put work stuff away, there is no room for a desk or ergonomic chair, maybe they only have a room just imagine what it does to your back your morale your physical health working with a laptop on your pillow as your bedroom isn't big enough for a chair and table
or you have to work in same room as kids home schooling and the wifi is not good enough and you have nowhere for confidential phone calls as you can't sent your kids to bed everytime you have to phone and you can't go to bedroom either as they need supervised
even without kids it could be you and a partner trying to work at opposite ends of dining table in kitchen/ living room but different hours so no reception space and have to be silent when not working
never mind the lack of mentoring etc

Surely anyone with even half a brain can see it's swings and roundabouts and for some people it is wonderful like OP for others it is dire verging on mental breakdown stuff and for others it is in between

@TheOneWithTheBigNose

Sure. But equally, people will quit if they can't work from home. What's to say more will quit if they have to work from home? He has an agenda, that's all.

I loved WFH even without kids.

Much more efficient, not dealing with other people's noise, smell, fighting over the temperature, not being interrupted. Could pop out for a coffee first thing, work, then have a life.

It's much easier to find the time to meet friends, go to the gym, do your hobbies, meet people and make friends, when you can concentrate on your workday and THEN get out of the house.

As soon as lockdown is over, it will be all available again.

@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.

Are you really so self obsessed that you cannot fathom that some people may feel differently to you?

he's as one-sided and closed-minded as all of them. £27bn on roads including tarmacing over some beautiful parts of the country for pointless bypasses. Either covid reduces traffic (we can hope) or everyone says 'fuck the climate' and drives more, in which case the roads will further increase traffic.

your kids are screwed as long as you keep voting this lot in. Not that anyone else might be much better.

Childcare providers do struggle and will continue to do so as parents are not using wraparound services so much. Now they are at home, they do not need it.
As for people using local businesses more, I don't see that in my social circles. Most of my friends and DP may pop out to the local sainsburys but they wouldn't go in and queue up for a costas during the week. Most who wfh are too worried about leaving their screens for too long unless their manager thinks they are not working hard enough. Wfh shouldn't mean leisurely strolls around the high street either.

Surely the key word here is forced.

Pre-pandemic I worked from home 1 or 2 days a week and while I miss face to face conversations, wfh full time is okay for me.

Some colleagues are in flat shares, working from their beds or desks squashed into their rooms. They get disrupted by flatmates moving around, their wifi can’t always deal with 6 people wfh, etc. If they were forced to wfh post-pandemic, I’m sure some would quit and find a job out of the house.

Also, this is literally the first thing i have seen from any member of this hideous government acknowledging that being stuck at home all the time might not actually be all that great. I don't think most of them, being in jobs where they actually go out and about and see people IRL, have any comprehension whatsoever of the damage this prolonged isolation is doing to people.

I'm with you OP, the commute I had was atrocious and working from home has made me happier and healthier than ever. Of course I'm sure there are people that want to go into the office and yes they may quit but to state it to imply it's the only outcome is incredibly disingenuous and the ulterior motives are obvious.

Interesting that the article fails to mention that one of the businesses stated asked their employees and a whopping 6% said they wanted to go into the office full time with most preferring to work from home full time and about a third preferring a combination.

It's a shame that some of the services, utilities and insurance type companies aren't more productive wfh, dreadful service in the past year from most

I hate WFH i much prefer the structure of the office and seeing my workmates; It has been my saving grace going in to the office everyday during lockdown.

My DH has just today accepted a new job offer because he can’t stand working from home nor the prospect of having to long term. Neither of us can - for us personally we need the separation between work and home life.

DH can not wait to get back to the office. He can't as his work don't currently have one (they have outgrown their old building and are due to move to a new site later this year).

He is fed up of working from home. He's unable to switch off and walk away. So he's doing longer hours. They used to lock the doors at 5.30pm.

He also misses the social interaction. He sees people all day long on zoom but its just not the same. He likes the ability to home work occassionally on his terms when it suits him but not full time.

I do think it will prompt some people to look for different jobs according to whether they are home/office based.

I have an older colleague who quit last year as she felt so lonely WFH and decided to seek a customer facing job for interaction. Other colleagues are loving WFH.

My office has just announced its plans for the future - the office space is going to be made smaller and people are being grouped into three - those who can WFH fulltime, those who can WFH but also work in the office up to two days a week if they like and those who need to be in the office fulltime. I think that's a good way forward.

@DGRossetti

Worth noting that when chancellors talk about "the economy" they mean the bit that makes their mates rich. Not necessarily the bit you happen to be in.

At the moment they are the same, of course. But as people on here are saying, with technology, there's a brave new world out there.

There may be a brave new world in terms of technology. It's not going to help the train and bus drivers, the people who work in the derided cafes and sandwich shops, the people who've invested their life savings into opening their own independent cafes and sandwich shops. The people who are employed to work in those equally derided offices blocks - the cleaners, caretakers, facilities managers.

I tell you what, let's give all supermarket workers, nurses, doctors, firemen and dentists the opportunity to work from home shall we?

@TubeOfSmarties

Also, this is literally the first thing i have seen from any member of this hideous government acknowledging that being stuck at home all the time might not actually be all that great. I don't think most of them, being in jobs where they actually go out and about and see people IRL, have any comprehension whatsoever of the damage this prolonged isolation is doing to people.

Yes, I have a couple of people on our grad scheme working for me, in their early 20’s. Both live in flat shares in London. I’ve had both on the phone a few times in tears as they just can’t cope with it. They’re in their bedrooms almost 24 hours a day. Everyone who works for me has struggled in one way or another with enforced full time home working.

Op I think you are only seeing this from your point of view!
What if you live in a tiny house with 2 other adults all trying to work from home? What space do you expect there is for setting up 3 work spaces in a normal house?
Are there children in the home? Just imagine trying to work in an open plan house with children playing in the background! Handling sensitive paperwork and issues with teenagers or children around. The issues are endless?
Who has a desk and monitor and space for it at home? Not everyone! A few years ago when I shared a house I'd literally be working from my bed on a laptop. That would be awful for back and neck.
What about people that live alone, they would literally see no-one!
Not everyone is the same!

I’d quit if forced to WFH full time. 3 days in office, 2 at home or even 1 at home which is what I was doing pre-Covid would be good for me.

I agree it's horse-shit. I think Sunak's primary motivation for saying this he's concerned that the City of London will basically be a ghost town post-pandemic. But ultimately, business doesn't give a shit what the Government thinks or prefers, they'll do what's best for their own interests.

Surveys I've seen on this topic suggest that the majority of people would quite like a 50/50 home/office option. So I think companies will downsize premises and invest more in remote working technologies.

For some businesses it won't be viable, particularly for those with issues around telephones.
Some people won't won't to work from home, some will. Up to the employer however and also important to think about the economic impact.
Lots of small and large businesses rely on the footfall of workers.

There may be a brave new world in terms of technology. It's not going to help the train and bus drivers, the people who work in the derided cafes and sandwich shops, the people who've invested their life savings into opening their own independent cafes and sandwich shops. The people who are employed to work in those equally derided offices blocks - the cleaners, caretakers, facilities managers.

That wasn't quite what I meant. I'm looking forward to the two track economy the powers that be have twigged can be delivered when we stop using cash. The UK being especially ripe for a nostalgic repeal of the Truck Acts.