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Original poster

To think WFH is stupid on its own?

92 replies

zafferana · 09/12/2021 09:31

To be clear, I think WFH again is stupid anyway and we have to just live with this fucking virus, but with everyone going out to bars, clubs, theatres, etc, what is the point of telling people to WFH again? It will just damage the economy and I doubt it will do much to stop the spread of Covid if everyone is still out partying and Christmas shopping.

London was HEAVING at the weekend, which WFH will do nothing to alleviate. I'm so sick of these stupid rules now. Before we could all get vaccinated, fine, we had nothing else did we, so WFH, SD, etc made sense, but now I think it's all stupid. We're going to get new iterations of this bloody virus every six months, so how about we sort out the NHS, since that's the perennial excuse for all these irritating rules, and then let people make their own judgement call on what they consider safe to do. And if you choose to get unvaccinated, on your head be it.

OP posts:
HangingDitch · 09/12/2021 11:56

@sundaydayisnotmyfundayday

it just feels a bit like the absolute bare minimum action, doesn't it?

Not sure I agree about WFH wrecking the economy though, why would it? I am far more productive when WFH than when having to commute an hour or more a day

It wrecks parts of the economy that rely on full offices and people commuting - coffee shops, sandwich shops, bars near offices….
user7514254 · 09/12/2021 12:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RobotValkyrie · 09/12/2021 12:40

WFH hurting the economy is a silly argument.

WFH certainly reshapes the economy, but all that disposable income gets spent one way or another. And not having to commute increases overall productivity. At a macro-economic level, it's a win. Even if some businesses do suffer.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 09/12/2021 12:50

Instead of a 15 minute each way commute I now do a couple of extra hours a day. I'm not sure that I'm getting any benefit out of WFH - more work, no work life balance.

QuestionableMouse · 09/12/2021 12:52

I wish I could work from home but unfortunately I have to go in and have customers coughing, sneezing or shouting at me. Not fun.

TuftyMarmoset · 09/12/2021 12:59

Actually it makes perfect sense to me to introduce wfh. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing to reduce the risk. No one wants a full lockdown but wfh is fairly popular. It also means fewer people crammed into public transport at once. If I were going to meet 5 people at the office and another 5 for dinner then I’ve still halved the number of contacts by wfh which is a significant decrease in the risk of transmissions.

MatildaIThink · 09/12/2021 13:02

The "Plan B" announcement was done to try and distract from the multiple Downing Street parties during the lockdowns, it was not based on the impact it would have on Covid spreading, although it may somewhat help to slow the spread.

Chessie678 · 09/12/2021 13:12

@RobotValkyrie
But the timing at which people spend money is really important. If I shove all the money I would have spent on cafes into a savings account for a decade or pay off some of my mortgage it isn’t there to pay peoples wages etc now. People have saved more in the last year and while that has advantages in some ways it also locks up money out of circulation and probably increases inequality.

To some extent there is going to be a permanent restructuring of the economy to account for working from home (this was probably inevitable eventually regardless of covid) but the speed of the change will cause harm to people e.g loss of livelihoods and businesses. Those things can’t just instantly rebuilt. The chancellor certainly seems concerned about the impact.

And I say this as someone who loves WFH.

GoldenOmber · 09/12/2021 13:14

WFH hurting the economy is a silly argument.

No, it’s not. Économies get hurt by short-term shocks even if they readjust in the longer term. Fine for me to say “instead of that canteen lunch I’ll make my own sandwich and spend the extra on a film rental” or whatever, but if the companies providing the canteen lunches respond to that by making lots of people redundant, that on a large scale will affect the economy.

There are a lot of people who love WFH and I hope they get to do more of it longer term. I do wish though there was less of a fingers-in-ears “WFH is great for me, therefore it’s brilliant for everyone with no downsides whatsoever!” approach from a few of its bigger fans.

SirensofTitan · 09/12/2021 13:17

@RobotValkyrie

WFH hurting the economy is a silly argument.

WFH certainly reshapes the economy, but all that disposable income gets spent one way or another. And not having to commute increases overall productivity. At a macro-economic level, it's a win. Even if some businesses do suffer.

Are there statistics to back that up?

Is there any proof yet that all disposable income gets spent?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 09/12/2021 13:27

A lot of my disposable income is still spent - with Amazon so not really helping!

LaBelleSausage · 09/12/2021 13:27

If I'm in the office, I sit with my team. If we are all off with covid that's a huge issue for the company.

13 people have it at the moment in one team and we have just had to start a change freeze because of it.

So actually I completely understand why they don't want people going in to work as whole departments going down at the same time is not a good thing for the economy.

SirensofTitan · 09/12/2021 13:35

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

A lot of my disposable income is still spent - with Amazon so not really helping!
I suppose it would be a neutral effect if the people who lost their jobs through lack of spending by people not being out and about could be employed in the Amazon delivery chain somewhere.

There is some interesting research to be done on the economics of this, I'm sure it's already being done

maddiemookins16mum · 09/12/2021 13:37

I’ve had two of my team shouting at me today demanding to WFH, for ‘safety’, funny how they’re not worried about safety on their days off/nights out.

SuperHeroSweepStake · 09/12/2021 14:04

A small example of how WFH damages the economy is people not taking the train to get to work. Services were just stating to get back to semi normal where I am (suburb of major city, cross city train) and will now be ghost trains once again.

So rail company loses money, reduces services, reduces staff etc etc which damages the economy.

And I enjoy WFH but I do worry for the long term effects.

user7514254 · 09/12/2021 21:12

But it’s not mandatory to work from home, if you have to go in you can.

The pandemic had a higher effect on the economy and not just work from home.

JabNotInArm · 09/12/2021 21:17

I don't understand this argument that WFH = "holing up and spending nothing". I'd still go out most days for a walk and to get a coffee from the cafe in the park. Might get lunch there. I'd do more shopping online, granted, but also locally. Other than lunches my spending doesn't really reduce if the only change is WFH

KangSaeByeok · 09/12/2021 21:22

Well they've done the statistical modelling and it has one of the biggest impacts. What with all those people moving at the same time morning mixing with numerous other people, and then sitting together for 8 hours a day and all leaving at a similar time to mix with a totally different set of people.

But sure @zafferana off the internet knows better.

Lightswitch123 · 09/12/2021 21:25

Feels to me like civil servants once again want to be at home for school holidays.

Despicable

Taswama · 09/12/2021 21:34

I've seen various articles saying people just spend their money locally rather than in the city where they work.

But I'm sure I'm not alone in having nowhere local to spend my money. There is a petrol station, barbers, hairdresser and dog grooming salon on my closest row of shops, but no cafe or coffee shop.

The cafe in the local woods did takeaway in the summer of 2020 but shut completely in the lockdown in Jan - March this year. It is open again now at lunchtime but not early enough for me to get a coffee on my morning walk.

macon · 09/12/2021 21:35

I am 100% with you, OP.

Original poster
zafferana · 09/12/2021 21:59

But sure @zafferana off the internet knows better.

It's my opinion @KangSaeByeok. We have free speech in this country, so you are you're entitled to your opinion too. HTH.

OP posts:
CrumpledCrumpet · 09/12/2021 22:05

Imagine 10% of your close contacts are on a public transport commute, 40% are in the office, and 50% are social.

By WFH you’ve halved your contacts and your chance of getting/transmitting the virus.

All we’re trying to do is slow things down a bit, WFH is an easy way to achieve it with lower social and economic impacts than the available alternatives.

KangSaeByeok · 09/12/2021 22:09

@zafferana

But sure @zafferana off the internet knows better.

It's my opinion @KangSaeByeok. We have free speech in this country, so you are you're entitled to your opinion too. HTH.

We do indeed have free speech which is why I'm pointing out the ridiculousness of your unqualified opinion. HTH.
Original poster
zafferana · 09/12/2021 22:11

You don't know I'm unqualified @KangSaeByeok.

OP posts: