To ask where all those who said that WFH would be good for business are now?

[ChampagnePuppy]

Sorry, sort of a rant.
I work in a small local foodie business in the South West. I know there is a cost of living crisis, but I also feel that WFH culture is killing us.
So many said that they would spend more in their local high streets now they were WFH but that seems to have stopped.
People are online food shopping and then not leaving their houses. Three local businesses announced they were closing this week, two bakeries and one restaurant. I can count five since Christmas which have folded.
I know a lot are feeling the pinch from gas and electric but a lot of people are just WFH, squirrelling their money away, saving and then saying 'oh that's a shame' on the Facebook posts when a business announces they're folding. Why not support them? I'm not talking about those on the breadline but those who are financially comfortable.
If you want a diverse high street, you have to support local businesses or we won't be here in a years time.

@FiddleLeaf thank you. I'm not like this usually, I'm just having a rant as I'm tired of the social media 'oh no, we'll really miss you' brigade when a business closes. If all the people who posted sad emojis had actually shopped their once a week, they might not have gone.

So you think because people WFH they've become shut-ins?
WFH doesn't mean you never leave the house, you know.

@ChampagnePuppy I haven't seen that post but I have seen others which say they have saved money but don't specify how. Perhaps they no longer need to pay for wrap around care since they don't have a long commute. I booked my DD's place at nursery when she was 8 weeks old and she will be going every day we are working. You cannot parent and work, you'll end up with the worst of both worlds, being a crap parent and a crap employee.

I used to spend a couple of hundred pounds a month on food and coffee when out at work. I absolutely will not be doing that when I go back as childcare and COL will cripple me and I cannot afford £10 a day on lunch. I will be taking my own from home.

Again, your anger is misplaced.

I work in my nearest city 2 days a week, the rest from home. As I'm only paying for my £15 a day train commute twice, rather than five times a week, I justify buying a coffee on one of my days in the office, and on one of my days at home. So WFH makes me spend more as I couldn't justify these treats before.
The problem is, I can only support chains because:

• in the city, only chains can afford the rent
• in my little home market town, all of the independent cafes open at 9am, but I need to be sitting down to have my coffee at 8am to get back in time for work. So I drive to a Costa 2 minutes away.

And then I'm only free again from 5.30pm, when all of the little independents are closed. So again, for anything I need, I head to Wilko, which is open until 6pm. Independents need to move with the times and adapt their opening hours.

I agree with all the comments about not being able to afford it - that’s just economics.

But I live in a large well-known commuter town in the SE and we’ve had three new bakeries/cafes open on or near our high street in the last 12m. And they seem to be doing good business.

Yes because British shop keepers are rude and entitled like you! You 100% represent the customer service mentality of your local shop. Rude, resentful, bitter and full of contempt for your customer! You think everyone else is beneath you.

I work from home and I buy from my local butcher btw but he’s just like you: rude, slightly hostile, moaner. I buy because the meat is local and good quality.

I buy from my local baker who is sure to keep me outside waiting 10 minutes past opening time despite seeing me and then serves me as if I'm doing him a favour by buying.

The local greengrocer sneers and walks off half way through discussions and it’s 3 times the cost of even organic supermarket veg but it lasts longer than any supermarket veg you can buy.

What is my crime? Living in a village but not being a born local. Being new to the area is a sin, apparently. I’m not even in the SW, I’m in Cambridgeshire so it’s not envy. They’re richer than me. People tell me not to worry. Once I’ve been here longer, I’ll be accepted and they’ll be nice as pie apparently.

No wonder Amazon can come in and wipe the floor with all of you.

@PandasAreUseless I agree with some of that but there's reasons for this.
1.) there's a recruitment and retention crisis. If we advertise for staff and we are already need them to work weekends then we have to compromise by offering 9-5 or similar. If we ask for people to work until 8 or 9pm we won't get any applications and people will leave.
2.) we also have children and so we can't stay open until 7/8pm as there is no childcare that provides those hours.
3.) retail is physically hard and so you can't ask people to be on their feet lifting and carrying stock from 7am until 9pm. Big shops can do it by offering split shifts but if we just need one individual to run a shift then we can't ask them to work a 12 hour shift.

Working from home works for me. The extra electric bills are more than compensated for by lower food costs and less spent on clothes. I spend much more in the local high street than I did, especially at the twice weekly market where all my fruit and veg now comes from.

I recognise it does not work for many other people and in many jobs, there is no choice but to travel to a place of work that is not your home or near to it. However, the genie is out of the bottle, and given the difficulties in recruiting staff in many areas of the economy, some potential employees and current ones have in a sense the upper hand.

I think high energy costs (because of limited investment in local energy sources and no proper windfall tax), Brexit and the poor Covid 19 response have harmed business more than some people working from home. Business rates are an anachronism that should have been replaced by one based on turnover many years ago. It does not lessen the pain for those who have lost business though.

That’s shocking @MarieRoseMarie - I can’t imagine being deliberately rude to someone for no reason let alone if it is detrimental to my business

@MarieRoseMarie good luck getting your local grass fed meat and local stoneground flour made loaf from Amazon!

I mean you've sort of answered this yourself. You just can't compete with the opening hours of chains and therefore have less custom. Here they all shut Sundays as well, I get staff need a break but when people are off and probably have the time to get a coffee and food seems ridiculous. You have to offer something chain's can't to remain competitive, and what is that if you're being honest with yourself?

As someone who works from home, I don’t save on childcare because I still have to work, I don’t save on utility bills because I’m at home all the time with my laptop plugged in, lights on when needed, heating etc. I don’t think WFH is killing the high street I think it’s the COL crisis and people tightening their belts! Why would I use my high street if I can get the same product for less, delivered to my door! I’m all for supporting small and local businesses but not if it’s going to cost me more!

@noworklifebalance I can... you reap what you sow. Customers are often awful. It's only when one of their little darlings gets a shop job before uni that they realise.

The change in WFH patterns has results in huge changes, with some winners and some losers. On a personal level for me it's enabled me to work remotely while being based at our family farm, as there needs to be someone here at various points in the day while my father is going to treatment. I'm still able to do a good job, and deal with a few things that come up from time to time.

We're a few miles from a small town. Decades ago it used to be a more prosperous thriving town, but in more recent years, well before COVID, it would be classified as a bit of a dump. Many local businesses were not doing well already and WFH makes it even worse. Interestingly though the one good coffee shop and tea shop are probably doing better than ever (my cousin in the police force tells me casual drugs is booming too). Change, with some winners but lots of losers.

I get what you mean. My local Facebook group is the same. Always moaning about the lack of shops but only using Waitrose and the big chain coffee shops.
Delivery has killed off what’s left of the high street.

I know a couple of people who manage to save a small amount on childcare by WFH because their nursery/childminder charges an hourly rate so if you can pick up at 5 instead of 5.30 or 6 then it makes a difference. My nursery charges by the half day though.

I don’t know anyone who works from home to avoid paying for childcare altogether. It would be quite a serious disciplinary issue at my job, my employee has a policy about it.

You can imagine deliberately rude to someone? Just keep them waiting unnecessarily, be sullen and act like they are doing you a favour. In PP’s case it was because she was not local.

I can see why your business has problems.

Cost of Living surely rather than WFH? Our disposable income did increase in lockdowns as we weren't paying childcare or doing anything outside the house, so I did start doing things like treating myself to a coffee when takeaway cafes were able to reopen. And we started treating ourselves to lunch from a bakery once a week. And I increased giving to charity.

But then all the costs came back. Still partially WFH but utility costs etc are sky high. We were spending £15-20 a week a year ago getting lunch from a local bakery once a week, a cake too, couple of takeaway coffees. We haven't done that since October as no longer have the income available.

Christmas December costs high
January MOT, car repairs and road tax
February so far two birthdays, half term treats

Looking forward to March when there'll be less going out

I think actually sometimes there is both external factors and things businesses can do to survive. In our local area lots of businesses complained when they trialled making a few streets pedestrianised because people couldn't park nearby, those that drove to the shops would stop going etc. Similarly I've seen businesses struggling in the expanded ulez zones or LTNs so I think visibility and passing trade often does play a part, especially for places that sell stuff like coffee or cake that you don't necessarily make a special trip out for.
Having said this I disagree with the things wfh allegedly saves on. Travel obviously but most people with young children would still need to pay for childcare and utility bills may well be higher if you're at home all the time. Plus I think the initial savings from travel will now not seem like a saving if that makes sense. After 3 years of not having to pay for daily travel, people's budgets will have naturally adjusted not to factor that in, as well as the in increased CoL.

Looooool.

You hate your customers as well. Of course you do.

I love it. You genuinely feel entitled to speak to and treat people however you like but are surprised there’s no loyalty to you.

Over to you, Amazon!

I don’t recall anyone ever saying it would be good for businesses like yours. I think everyone always knew it would be a disaster for your industry.
What was said at our work was that it would be good for ‘our’ business (less overheads/better work life balance etc). Selfish I know but that’s how businesses operate.

I’m sorry it’s a tough time for you business wise. Personally I still go to my local indecent cafes twice a week and spend £5-10 each time, either meeting a friend or working for an hour or so for a change of scene. I wfh one day a week and have one day off, generally go to a cafe both days. It’s not something I will cut out as it’s my social life and I really value it! Our local cafes are as busy as ever.

on the other hand, going out to eat in the evening seems to be a lot more expensive these days and I’ve cut down on that.

@IAmTheWalrus85 ours does too. £85 for a full day and i think £47 for a half day? Like everywhere, they've put their prices up because their last quarterly energy bill was more than the previous year! So I don't blame them. I blame the fat cat energy companies.

I regularly advise on hybrid working policies and I always recommend to clients that they include a provision stipulating that employees must have childcare during their working hours and to be looking after children when they are supposed to be working is a disciplinary offence.

I don’t wfh and I probably only go into town/ the high street a couple of times a year, it’s not convenient to go traipsing into town on a Saturday morning, pay through the nose for parking way further out of the town centre than is ideal and then have to trawl in and out of shops hoping one might have the thing I need and then queue for ages to buy it when I can just order things online. There are plenty of small and independent businesses who have adapted to the online business model, if some are unwilling to do that and want to be solely on the local high street that’s up to them but they can’t then complain when people don’t want to visit.