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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the government have lost touch with reality?

113 replies

AdamRyan · 14/05/2022 10:06

Johnson wants us all back on the office; meanwhile Rees-Mogg is waging war on the civil service, leaving snarky PA notes, telling them to get into the office and cutting 20% of jobs. I can't even imagine how low morale in the civil service must be.

At the same time my industry is finding it very tough to recruit and most applicants expect hybrid/remote working.

I think the government are seriously out of touch with reality here.

IABU - get into the office, workshy stay at home dossiers

IANBU - hybrid/home working is here to stay and they are being dinosaurs

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-cheese-coffee-wfh-working-home-b2078796.html%3famp

OP posts:
Binsk · 14/05/2022 10:08

They always have been out of touch, but yes, they should accept that hybrid/home working is here to stay and is actually a good thing. If people want to spend every day in the office let them, but myself and all colleagues who have the option to WFH do it 99% of the time.

ThreeFeetTall · 14/05/2022 10:15

But their aim was to create headlines, and they have succeeded. Job done.
What the actual policy is doesn't matter

Hospedia · 14/05/2022 10:18

They should accept that hybrid working is here to stay, provides employees with a better work-life balance (e.g., less time spent commuting), is better for the environment, and helps a lot of people remain in employment who might have been squeezed out otherwise (e.g., people with disabilities or long term health issues).

Original poster
AdamRyan · 14/05/2022 10:19

ThreeFeetTall · 14/05/2022 10:15

But their aim was to create headlines, and they have succeeded. Job done.
What the actual policy is doesn't matter

Why would they want to create headlines? What's the end goal of that?
I am a bit baffled by the wisdom of cutting 90000 jobs just as we head into a recession as well

OP posts:
manysummersago · 14/05/2022 10:20

I don’t know, to be honest.

I know everyone on MN insists they are much more productive WFH, but I’m not sure that this is the reality.

TarasHarp55 · 14/05/2022 10:23

What perfect timing, go back to the office whilst fuel prices soar......yeah makes sense that.

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2022 10:24

They want to create headlines so that people will get aerated about how they can't get a driving test or a passport, which lazy civil servants working from home can be blamed, for rather than talking about the cost of living crisis that the government is doing fuck-all about and can definitely be blamed for.

bedsidetab · 14/05/2022 10:25

Why would they want to create headlines?

distraction,

bedsidetab · 14/05/2022 10:26

I am a bit baffled by the wisdom of cutting 90000 jobs just as we head into a recession as well

i don't think they are cutting them just not replacing when they retire/quit. However there are probably staff shortages now so...

manysummersago · 14/05/2022 10:30

The passport / DVLA / insert own bugbear situation is infuriating, though.

rnsaslkih · 14/05/2022 10:31

WFH is a difficult thing. Obviously lots have been doing it. My dh is now hybrid but when he is WFH, he is chained to the desk and works very long hours, just as he would in the office. If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to get all the stuff done that clients need. On the other hand, I have a relative who takes WFH to mean work a couple of hours a day and get paid for a 35 hour week. Nobody really monitoring the situation and not a client facing role. So I am in two minds. Some people are efficient and dedicated when WFH and others are taking the absolute piss.

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2022 10:35

Indeed, so when questioned 'what are you doing about it?' the government answer shouldn't be 'cutting 90,000 jobs'. Or wittering on about snacking on cheese.

Kat1953 · 14/05/2022 10:38

YABU - they have never been in touch with reality

notagamer · 14/05/2022 10:38

One person’s “reality” is very different from another’s

Eatingpizza · 14/05/2022 10:38

There's probably a lot of conservative / donor money tied up in commercial property.

They are the conservative party. Their aim is not to run the country for the good of it's citizens, but to redistribute money ever upwards, while retaining power.

This will be a combination of distraction - so people focus on anything than the shitjob they are making of just about everything - and putting money in their's and their mates' pockets.

In two days, it will be something else.

Original poster
AdamRyan · 14/05/2022 10:39

Actually that makes more sense. I bet they have the same recruitment issues and rather than admit that they will pretend it's intentional. And probably try to persuade the gullible that the shitness of public services is an acceptable outcome of "tackling the cost of living crisis"

OP posts:
notagamer · 14/05/2022 10:39

90000 bought on to deal with pandemic
pandemic passed
makes total sense to me

NeedAHoliday2021 · 14/05/2022 10:41

Dh is a civil servant. He went into the office on Thursday and spent the day sat on teams calls because they cover the whole county and while everyone was in their office, they are in different offices. Going it was utterly pointless for him. Jacob also believes men shouldn’t change nappies of their own dc so I’m pretty sure he’s stuck in the 1950s and has no innovative bone in his body.

florafoxtrot · 14/05/2022 10:42

But how would Boris understand that WFH makes household logistics for your standard working family a bit easier? He’s got no experience of that set-up and has zero interest in finding out. Those that are inefficient WFH are the same people that used to swan around offices chatting, drinking coffee and not doing any work. They want people back in offices to pay large rents to Tory benefactors with huge property portfolios. Nothing more.

NothingIsWrong · 14/05/2022 10:42

I think individual people can definitely be just as productive working from home - but the softer side of collaboration, development of junior staff, creative problem solving and serendipity around finding better ways to do projects is much harder over Teams.

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2022 10:43

notagamer · 14/05/2022 10:39

90000 bought on to deal with pandemic
pandemic passed
makes total sense to me

Except a lot were taken on to deal with Brexit and as far as I'm aware, that shitshow is ongoing.

manysummersago · 14/05/2022 10:44

noblegiraffe · 14/05/2022 10:35

Indeed, so when questioned 'what are you doing about it?' the government answer shouldn't be 'cutting 90,000 jobs'. Or wittering on about snacking on cheese.

It doesn’t always seem to be linked to more people, though, and in some instances levels of bureaucracy can add to systems becoming unmanageable.

I am not commenting on whether or not that’s the case here. But I do know not everyone is as efficient WFH as they’d like to think they are.

cakeorwine · 14/05/2022 10:45

Tory Ministers WFH - Grant Shapps regularly appears on TV with his 'set of flags, red boxes and carefully placed books'.

Does Johnson think he is eating cheese and forgetting what he does?

I can see why people do hybrid. I do think that people who are totally WFH can be forgotten in the office - and people should come in a few times a week. Out of site, out of mind.

SaintJavelin · 14/05/2022 10:47

Working from home is here to stay.

I've just had a colleague hand in her resignation after her manager asked her to come back to the office full time, this demand wasn't signed off by our director and from what I heard yesterday there was a blazing row because the colleague is such a key team member.

Colleague has already got another job which is fully remote.

EvilPea · 14/05/2022 10:47

Surely government employing people is a good thing

they pay tax, they go out and spend money (more tax), buy things (more tax).

happy productive society.

my view is this and the threat of privatising the passport office is to keep people in line, don’t go against the government.
but I am cynical by nature