To think that since covid happened some businesses have 'got lazy and stayed lazy'

[Ilovechocolate87]

DH and i used to have an expression a couple of years back 'because covid' which we used when we thought a company was just using the virus as an excuse for not doing something properly or making unnecessary cutbacks.

But even now it seems that this is STILL continuing, but for no legitimate reason!

Some examples include;
-Our local bank shutting at 3pm...every day of the week.Crap for 9-5 working people like DH!

• No fireworks display at center parcs, which is a shame as it was really good and atmospheric over the lake.
• Soft play at our local sealife centre sitting there unused and wasted...such a shame as there is nothing wrong with it.
• Fitting rooms have been scrapped at sainsburys and asda (maybe elsewhere too?) so there is nowhere to try on clothes, resulting in either having to order online and have the expense and bother of posting it back if its not right (which it often isn't) or travelling to return it, neither of which are very good for the environment either, with all that plastic packaging and fuel!)

Has anyone else noticed that it just seems like SOME businesses/companies 'can't be bothered' anymore and are just doing the minimum possible? And the most frustrating thing is that as usual, they make the cutbacks, but the prices keep on going up!!

I never said you should return to work every day but if you can’t access phone calls from home then plainly something is wrong with the system.

Yes, something is wrong with the system. That her employer is in charge of making function, and so the problem should be solved by them facilitating a way for staff to take calls remotely, not by placing the onus on employees to address the inadequacy of the employer. It's neither realistic nor reasonable to expect people to alter their working arrangements to cover for their employer's failure to provide adequate communications devices.

Public sector just as bad. I need to obtain lots of documents at work which I could phone or pop in for. Now services that used to take five minutes are sending emails that promise a response in 28 days. It isn't a staffing crisis. I know these people personally and they're all still in post, working from home.

Obviously the fault is at management level but the civil service in general isn't built to be proactive. They abandoned ship when covid kicked off and they don't have the mechanisms to change back. It's all so very British and 'not my job'.

The customer service "ot may take longer as our colleagues wfh" is an absolute lie. It was for a very long time. It doesn't take longer because wfh, it takes longer due to more calls and no new staff!
And it damages people who wfh.

Yes- all my local pharmacies- in 4 villages all now shut at lunchtime for " deep cleaning"- lunchtime was usually their busiest time.

The end result (though not their fault) is that this person cannot effectively work from home. Therefore they need to return to the office and work from there most days.
If there aren’t enough desks for everyone, that will become a problem the employer eventually has to solve if it becomes obvious & embarrassing enough times.
But the employer will never resolve the overcrowding issue if employees respond by using it as an excuse to carry on working from home despite the fact they know it isn’t working from their “customers” point of view.

My Town has a population of over 34,000. Since the pandemic struck, we have lost ALL of our Banks. Barclays we’re the first to go, citing “reduced footfall in 2020”. No shit, Sherlock!

NatWest have followed, and finally TSB.
When I went to the main Post Office recently, to post a parcel, I queued behind a shopkeeper who was paying in a carrier-bag full of cash, which took absolutely ages. But what choice does he have now? The other nearest Banks would be a near 12 mile round trip with the time, expense and effort that would involve.

My GP Surgery still have the long Covid message you have to sit and listen to, which ends, finally, with “we are open, and we are here for you”. Yeah, if I can wait 2-3 weeks for an appointment for a GP! Not their fault, I know, I know.

I’m just tired of it all. And I’m actually sick with Covid right now. Bloody thing hasn’t gone away, has it?

The customer service "ot may take longer as our colleagues wfh" is an absolute lie. It was for a very long time. It doesn't take longer because wfh, it takes longer due to more calls and no new staff!
And it damages people who wfh.

Mmm, people have been very willing to believe this!

On pretty much every thread about wfh, there'll be people talking about how they've experienced terrible customer service since it became widespread since March 2020. But quite a lot of other things have happened in that time period that have also worsened customer service.

Organisations have had staff on furlough for childcare during school closures or having to look after children at the same time as working if they didn't. The majority of the population has had covid at least once and in many cases badly enough to need time off. These things created backlogs that many sectors haven't yet dealt with. NHS waiting lists soaring mean more people are off sick, and then there's also the labour shortage meaning that many vacancies go unfilled.

All of these things could potentially have a massive impact just by themselves, let alone in combination. But there are always people who are certain it's the homeworking that's the problem!

A lot of this is the lack of low paid staff due to Brexit. You can see services being lowered across the country due to “stopping immigrants” as we don’t have enough people who are prepared to work irregular shift patterns in low paid jobs, yet the government is still waging war on people turning up in boats. We clearly need a lot more low paid staff, or for prices to rise even more than they have to cover paying British people to take the unpopular hours/roles.

our sainsburys has reopened the changing rooms, but people complained, a lot. However they’ve got rid of a lot of check outs and replaced with self check out sections (this has happened in the last few months since covid) - so presume they’ve worked out how to shift the staff they have to manage.

teacos haven’t reopened their changing rooms, and have reduced the amount of clothing space - guess clothes aren’t a big seller for them.

I think most of the reasons why stuff has changed is lack of staff since covid

changing rooms need staffing
soft play needs staffing
banks need staff
gp surgeries need doctors

covid meant many migrants went back to their original country and didn’t return

yet the government is still waging war on people turning up in boats.

that’s decoy blame news, whilst people get angry about those people coming in boats, the government isn’t being blamed for the state of the country

although they’ve had to drop the

and stealing your jobs, keeping wages low…..

One positive I miss is booking sessions for Soft Play. One local centre is now "turn up on the day" which we did, to find there were two Birthday parties in session and no space for 90 minutes. We'll not be going back to that one again.

I think a lot of these issues are actually staff shortages issues. During covid a lot of people changed careers, started their own businesses, retired earlier, reduced their hours and a lot of people died (3 from my workplace did). Now that covid has settled down a bit where seeing the after effects of people on long term sick or leaving all together due to long covid and mental health issues.

Many of these issues are down to recruitment difficulties, although places will be trying to blame Covid instead of admitting thjs out loud. Interesting article in the Big Issue about it.

www.bigissue.com/news/employment/whats-behind-britains-recruitment-crisis

Many people dropped out of the workforce altogether during the pandemic, especially over-50s. There seems to be a few different reasons for this. Often it's health concerns - perhaps long Covid for some, inrease in mental health difficulties, long waiting lists for NHS treatment. Older workers were more likely to be first up to be offered furlough or fired because of Covid. Some may have felt financially secure enough that they just didn't want to get back on the treadmill. Those surveyed who were thinking about returning said that flexible working would be the biggest incentive to get them to return. Many employers are still slack at offering flexible opportunities.

The other bug reason is, of course, immigration. Hospitality and retail in particular were heavily reliant on EU workers. Many left, now there is a shortage. A lot of these places won't be able to afford to pay higher wages without passing the costs onto the customer. If the customer is not willing to pay then the business may not be able to continue operating. So it's either continue working with fewer staff and a less good experience for the same cost, or be fully-staffed and have to put your prices up.

My (expensive) hairdresser stopped magazines, coffee & a biscuit plus use disposable towels and gowns (!!) still. Wtf! I don’t go anymore as all the ‘perks’ of going have disappeared. I do need to find somewhere else to do my colour though now unfortunately.

Funny how it took them until Covid to realise that though 🤔

The end result (though not their fault) is that this person cannot effectively work from home. Therefore they need to return to the office and work from there most days.
If there aren’t enough desks for everyone, that will become a problem the employer eventually has to solve if it becomes obvious & embarrassing enough times.
But the employer will never resolve the overcrowding issue if employees respond by using it as an excuse to carry on working from home despite the fact they know it isn’t working from their “customers” point of view.

There's no therefore about it. And because you think there is, the entire way you're looking at this situation is wrong. People prioritise themselves, not how well their employer runs.

At present, it's an employees market, particularly for those who have skills. This means that those who are working have choices. They do not in fact need to cover for their employers failures, even if doing so would make the employer solve them (and the scenario you've come up with here isn't that, people could just as easily get told to go home, cope and only come in on the days when they have a desk assigned). Some of you just think they should, that's all, but that has nothing to do with the situation on the ground.

The reality is that employees, especially ones in demand, can increasingly enforce the conditions they want. This means that even if an employer thinks people are more efficient and the organisation will run better if they're on site, employees can and do respond with a yes, and. Because as we see in a lot of sectors, sufficient employees willing to do the job fully or mostly on site do not exist and aren't magicked up by the employer thinking the business will run better if they do.

The one that annoys me most is parcel delivery companies taking a photo of the parcel to ‘prove’ delivery rather than getting a signature.

If you parcel doesn’t turn up, and they claim to have delivered it, what does a photo of a parcel on a random doorstep prove? At least with a signature you had a name, so it gave you some clue where the parcel might be.

It's a combination of Brexit and Covid and the handling of both by gov and general population.
Uk 2020 was mass exodus when uk had something like million foreign borns less than before.
The wondering "well shouldn't that also mean less pressure on services". Not really.
For example bank loses 700 customers who probably needed to speak to them once a year. Fine. But if they lose 2 call handlers who each handle 700 calls a month... That's 16800 calls a year. That's why leaving staff matters more than leaving customer. Made up numbers but I hope it made my point🙈

You can pay cash straight into your bank account in any Post Office just need your debit card. Most POs are open till 5 and some open at 8am.
My dd is a doctors receptionist and she doesn't think they will return to pre covid in person appointments as telephone consultations are much quicker and easier for the gps, although that might be just our practice as they are struggling to find doctors to work in a full time/ part time regular basis.

"Your call is important to us so please do continue to hold"..................

The cafe at the leisure centre/swimming pool seems to be closed for good, which is a shame as no other way to get tea or coffee during endless swimming lessons.

Well most of them actually say it’s “ cos Covid “ so if it really is brexit they need to say “ cos brexit”. Also not sure brexit is an excuse for lame customer service ie ignoring customers and sighing when being asked a question. Or maybe that’s brexit and all the polite ones left !

The wondering "well shouldn't that also mean less pressure on services". Not really.

Yeah, that's what comes from seeing migrants as primarily a drain, rather than working aged people doing jobs. Perhaps the penny might drop soon.

There's a bakery in our city, they have stores in different towns and pre covid they would make sandwiches to order. During covid to avoid people waiting, they pre-made everything and put the sandwiches in fridges. Even now they're still doing it! So you either have whatever combination they've put together that day, or you wasted your lunch break going there because there's none that you'd eat. It infuriates me

Our optician couldn't offer my DC an appointment, despite it being 14 months overdue! No staff due to Covid. I hit the roof and, lo and behold, an appointment appeared.