To think that Boots move to 5 days a week is a step back for workplace equality

[Vistada]

Boots HQ, a predominantly female workforce - has been told they are to be back in the office five days a week from September with no debate and no real solid reasoning (in my view)

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/boots-to-end-hybrid-working-for-office-workers/

I think the move to hybrid working is amazing for everyone, not just women, in terms of helping to achieve the work/life/parenting balance that has eluded us for so long, but we can't deny women shoulder this juggling act more.

I think this move, and any move back to 5 days in the office (where its really not needed) is a huge step back for workplace equality - and for a male CEO to enforce this just shows how out of touch he is.

Coders aren’t usually touching customer data. DH codes for some of the world’s biggest companies/banks. He’s coding the infrastructure and how the data is processed, not the data itself.

Agree with everything you’ve posted. The first time I had an enforced working from home job was because of lockdowns. It didn’t do wonders for my mental health but that was the lockdown, not being able to see friends and the fact my employer had a shite induction process. I’d just started working for them and they basically left me to it, which for some I realise would be great, but the problem was my job was supposed to be supporting managers, who wouldn’t reply to emails/Teams or phone calls. My colleagues were just as bad. Felt like I spent hours twiddling my thumbs. I didn’t even receive any feedback for the work I did. I was so miserable that I left after 6 months.

Compare that to my current job, which has been working from home since day 1 apart from when I went to pick up my laptop. Colleagues are in contact every day, managers reply to me and are grateful for my support, regular interaction. The days fly by. Plus we’re not in lockdown (thank God). It makes sense for the job I do to be fully remote as otherwise I’d be having to travel from Essex to Scotland (and everywhere else in between) every day.
I’m the happiest I’ve been in work for 5 years.

It's an interesting point. As more time passes, a higher percentage of remote and hybrid workers are going to be in roles that they've never done fully in person.

And therefore totally proving my point - you say women “allowed” their partners not to pick up the slack! Of course it’s the woman’s fault that he’s not pulling his weight!

My point is that SOCIETY NEEDS TO CHANGE - not the women. We need to get rid of the expectation that women should try to juggle everything, be the default parent/carer, etc. Change can only happen if everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Err, nope, his fault he's not pulling his weight, her fault she's letting him get away with it.

Shouting in capitals doesn't make your point any more valid. Explain to me how increasing flexible working opportunities for women so they can more easily manage the household and childcare is in any way progressive or a win for equality? The useless male partners are still doing nothing/less.

My point is that SOCIETY NEEDS TO CHANGE - not the women
Society is women. For as long as women insist on having babies with total douches and clamouring for wfh because it allows them to deal with laundry and pick up the kids, "society" won't change

It's the reduction in commuting time that makes the difference, not the actual working at home, apart from the fact it's quieter than the office. I save two hours a day on my wfh days (I'm hybrid) and I'm able to work an extra half an hour/hour at work and have more time for myself.

The reduction in commuting costs help. I think this is a big thing, if your income has been stretched by the CoL and inflation, lower commuting costs from remote/hybrid helps.

Important to realise that different workspaces work for different people, it should be ok to go into the office more if it works for you, that doesn't mean it is best for someone else, or vice versa.

And most likely will be automatised part of it so that the worker has to do minimum to avoid much of user errors

Do you really believe women 'actively' chose shit men to have children with?

If so, you must be a man. A shit man.

It's a fair point. I think that MEN need to change.

Not deliberately, but I do think society (including other women) sets them up to fail.

I never believed in the Disney fairytale. My marriage is a partnership, a contract. I did not become “his” by changing my name. In 20 years I have never ironed his shirts, bought his clothes, bought cards or presents for his family. We had been married for 7 years before DD came along, and it was on the basis that we were both parents and adults who needed to do our share. He worked away for the first 18 months of DD’s life. I didn’t break myself trying to keep on top of housework. He’s repaying that by being the default parent now, doing everything while I’m away half the week. Everything is 50/50 here.

His mother stopped working the day she married. It was absolutely clear from the start that I wouldn’t be doing that.

It seems lots of women fall into a “mothering” role fairly early in the relationship to “win their man”. It’s a mug’s game.

(I was on site 80% of the time during lockdown (NHS) and he did all the homeschooling etc.)

👏

(I didn’t change my name. My post may be confusing. It seems to be a challenge when I say husband and don’t use Mrs/share a name.)

oh dear.

What do you think you are achieving for women with your posts?

Have you stopped to consider you may have internalised misogyny?

Eh?

This forum is full of women burning themselves out, taking on the lion’s share of the domestic responsibilities while their men have seemingly nothing to challenge them but holding down a full time job. I’d hope, over time, that more women realise it doesn’t have to be like that and that our daughters/daughters’ daughters don’t fall into the same patterns. Feminism is about equality, is it not?

Do you think that telling other women that living their life differently from you makes them a mug?

Do you think you may have internalised misogyny? Most of us do, it's so ingrained in us, we don't see it.

Equality does not equal the same, otherwise things would not be equal.

Do you think you may have internalised misogyny? Most of us do, it's so ingrained in us, we don't see it.

no, I don’t. What have I said that makes you think I do?

(Struggling to see how having equality of earnings/career opportunities, childcare, leisure opportunities in a relationship is anything but a good thing…….)

Yes, but the point is that you don't really know them.

Seems that being a corporate drone is more important than a work life balance.
It's a shame, I thought post COVID society had turned a corner and recognised there is an hierarchy. Seems that work, the work identity is more important than a relationship and family. Work to place itself at the pinnacle of a person's life.
How sad.
Frankly disgusting.

Unless you’re at the office for 80 hours a week how is it taking priority?

Your posts come across as being critical of other women and their choices, and feeling the way you chose to live your life, is what all women should chose. I'm sure you don't mean it to, but it does.

Women don't need to be told how to live their lives or be told their choices make them mugs - not by men or other women.

It's hard to consider we have internalised misogyny, but unless you have been living in a bubble where there is no misogyny, you cannot escape it.