To wonder why companies are mandating RTO during cost of living crisis

[Roxinabox]

I don't understand the timing?

It's mor expensive than ever to live in cities. Rent and mortgage costs are way up, public transport prices are ridiculous, local places to eat lunch are more expensive, and salaries are down in real terms.

And now more companies are asking workers to spend more money returning to the office.

Why now? I half suspect it's a conspiracy to keep cities going as people are increasingly getting priced out of them!

It's seen as a way to prop up the economy from train fares to coffee shops so business chiefs are being encouraged by politicians

It's short sighted of course but that's politics today for you - an opportunity to decentralise would improve people's quality of life and help tackle sone climate change

My employer moved from one day a week to 2 days recently. To be honest this is what a lot of companies have been doing for a while. There has been a massive backlash but they don't care and are very blind sided by it. You just come in 2 days even if Jon of ur team are in and u sitting there knowing no one around. Some people left very quickly after it was announced. Lots complaining about more travel costs and additional childcare costs. Last year we got ZERO pay rise.

My employer is in a city and is a government body and I do believe it's to try and give the economy a boost.

It’s panicking managers having to justify their relevance.

It's not just now, though, is it? They've been pushing for well over a year. It was only a temporary solution during the pandemic. Many offices now offer working from home 2 to 3 days a week.

Because I'm my workplaces remote working isn't as good for the company. Dp ended it over 2 years ago apart from exceptional reasons.

I think it's because working from the office boosts the economy - if you're commuting, you're paying for petrol, or train tickets, or coffees, or lunch in the city etc.

I suspect it's coming from the government.

If mine ended it I'd have to leave. My nearest office is over 100 miles away and I'm not prepared to commute 😶

I our case the mangers are as put out as anyone - they don't care as long as the work gets done well

Sone people do work better in the office and if you have people like that who are also new then having more experienced people around really helps them

But blanket rules rather than situation appropriate seem daft to me and my boss and his boss

Because people take the piss and aren't productive at work when at home.
They still have to heat the buildings whether it's 3 or 35 people in.

Its not the company's problem you applied for a job miles and miles away from home and choose to eat lunch out...

We are still trying to negotiate even one wfh day a week in a job which could largely be done completely at home. The severe traffic congestion in my town is the main reason.

Yep. It's very lonely for me in the office - no one I work with directly is based in my location. Yet they blab on about how it's great for building relationships etc. Not when it's hot-desking so you're never with the same people two days running, and most are in the same boat so everyone has headphones in to communicate with the people they actually work with.

It's not great conspiracy, a lot of workplaces simply prefer their staff it do some of their work face to face.

I suspect that part of it is the first cohort of post covid graduates and apprentices have passed through the system and results are ..... not great.

A lot of early careers staff struggle to develop the required soft skills when a lot of senior staff are WFH.

Working in an office to hold meetings over Teams anyway is ridiculous.

Well it is a bit of a chicken and egg thing really.

I really appreciate the flexibilty of hybrid working and want to keep that, but it would be foolish to say there is no benefit to people being in the office - both to staff and the organisation.

I think organisations do have to try harder to help people see the benefit of coming to the office. We have a monthly all department meeting that has to be attended in person. Our director mkes it an event with a free "social" sandwich lunch beforehand and then we usally organise after work drinks (no compulsion to attend) in the evening.

It has been really successful to help rebuild those social connections and the newer and younger staff really appreciate it.

Not everyone finds it expensive.

Travelling a few days a week on public transport is cheaper on pay as you go than an annual season ticket, which you would need if working full time in the office.

Lunches don't need to be expensive - some people used to take in lunch from home anyway, and supermarket meal deals haven't increased as much as the likes of Pret etc.

There are aspects of being together in person that you don't get from WFH.

And it depends what life/job stage people are at. People with years or decades of experience of work are more likely to be confidently established in their working practices. What about young people just starting out? Cast your mind back to your 18 or 21 year old self - how would you have settled into the world of work if you'd been working remotely and never experienced the wider culture of working actually in the workplace? Plus the social aspects.

Likewise people's living conditions. Older people can be more insulated from increasing housing costs because they have or have nearly paid off their mortgage. And at the other end, many young people are in house shares, which isn't necessarily comfortable to be WFH from.

Exactly this. To both of these points.

Unless it was advertised as a wfh role, I don’t understand people who applied for a job with a nightmare commute and then complain about it.

Presumably most took city jobs because of the higher wages.

Unless you were employed in work from home role o didn’t see why people are so upset about being asked to do what they were employed to do. Covid was exceptional circumstances, but things have returned to normal
people should expect their employers to want them in the office.

if you were employed to work from home and now they’re demanding you come in then that’s very different, but I suspect it’s not the case for most.

Do people seriously think that individual employers are marking these decisions for the benefit of the economy? Don't be daft!

As a new recruit I worked alone in a lab or retreated to the library for peace and quiet

One of our recent recruits spends far more time at home than in the office but he is doing really well

I am not sure everyone learns loads from being in the office

Possibly a local issue, but in my area there is a significant shortage of parking since, following the pandemic housing boom, three large public carparks have now become blocks of flats.

Public transport is terrible here. The decision-makers for office working, are, of course, based in London and have no concept of areas where trains are one every two hours, assuming it is not cancelled. I'm not personally affected as I'm close enough to walk or cycle into work but it's causing enormous stress for those who live further out and can no longer find parking as they could pre-Covid.

I got a well below cost of living pay rise and lots lower than the people in my team. We're being moved back to the office 2-3 days a week whilst at the same time reduced our travel to other offices. There's almost no point going into my local office (£13.20 return paid by me) because most of my team is in another office (£120 return paid by organisation). But I'm banned from going to that office more than once every 2 months (usually once a month for in person 1:1s with my team). So I have to go into my local office at cost to me to have virtual meetings I used to have in person. Nope. Doesn't work for me. I've ignored it. I agree during a cost of living crisis shifting costs to employees is plain wrong. Especially employees who you screwed over at appraisal time!

I think it depends on the company and their links to politicians or political views. The company I work for are closing offices globally or reducing the size of them because WFH works well for us and we only really need a few spaces for client facing meetings and the occasional team get together.
We aren't politically aligned so no pressure to support the 'get people commuting and spending money' agenda and bottom line for us is that it's cheaper and more efficient to not be paying the overheads on floor space and associated electric/lighting/maintenance fees when we don't need them.

This^
This isn't about the current workforce, it's also about attracting the next generation in a labour shortage. New grads don't want to go to companies that are 100% remote as it's too difficult for them to learn the skills of the job by observing experienced workers and they feel they're "bothering" staff by having to call to ask things rather than just asking person next to them.
Companies are taking a long-term view about upskilling the next generation of workers and this is better done by some days in person absorbing everything going on around from experienced workers

Because WFH all the time was meant to be temporary during the pandemic - it just dragged on too long. I'm fed up of complaints from people in our department who chose to move to the arse end of nowhere and now have a long commute. Sorry you were never a contractual homeworker, you're not exempt, get to the office.