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.

Open plan offices are the bane of my life and like you say most places have been like it for years. My line of work is HR and even some of the organisations I’ve worked for/with have had HR in an open plan office: hardly ideal when you’re having phone or Teams calls about things that should be confidential! A big reason why I didn’t stay with those companies actually as I’m used to working in offices that were deliberately separate from the open plan sections because of the nature of the work we did.

Noisy environments to work in too.

If the bulk of the day is work orientated via physical commute and being physically present in an office. How is that not a priority. Considering 5-8 hrs is spent sleeping.
Flexible working combined with home office was a great way to place the world of work on a more equitable footing.

Not intentional, but I know a lot of women who sleepwalked into their domestic situations rather than made active choices.

Again, look how many women on here post about reducing their hours or giving up work for childcare because “it makes sense” due to their husbands being the higher earner. That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The number of dads who can’t possible look after their own children for more than an hour, let alone take time off when they are ill. Dumping it all at the mum’s feet. It feels like an epidemic and it’s 2024.

individual choices impact on the whole. And I’m not convinced they are always free choices.

Have had the exact same battles about HR in open plan!

What on earth has your post got to do with boot's decision to discourage WFH.
Typical Mumsnet strawman diversion.

Have you read the thread? We’ve moved onto how it is/isn’t a woman’s issue because WFH supports them as child carers……. I’m challenging that it has to be that way.

I'd argue that WFH supports the concept of a relationship and a family.

I certainly know despite being VSM my children and relationship are more important than an organisation.
It's quite obvious some view those ideals as a barrier to career fulfillment.

But have a look at your own 'choices' - do you wear make-up, high heels, colour your hair, wear jewelry, (including a wedding ring), wear skirts and dresses, tights, thongs, remove any body hair, get married, watch male sport that does not have equal women's coverage, etc.

Did you sleepwalk into any of those choices, and are they really free choices?

We are all making choices everyday, that have been influenced by misogyny, but it's hard to see it, as it's been their our entire lives. I include myself in that, it's really hard.

And back to Boots - this is another example of a misogynistic decision that will harm women much more than men, but women are defending it, because they don't understand that some women really need that choice, and now they won't have it.

Give women choices.

Never worn a wedding ring (don’t have one), had nose and ears pierced last year (in my mid-40s because I wanted something to mark an achievement that wasn’t a tattoo). Don’t wear heels or dresses/skirts, tights or thongs. Had my leg and underarm hair lasered off in my 20s as hormonal issues meant I was like a gorilla and I was uncomfortable with the itching. I don’t watch any sport. My hair has been bright purple for the last 5 years or so.

Appreciate my choices aren’t made in a vacuum, but I’ve made very few of the common decisions made by women that ultimately have negative impact on them compared to their husbands.

It's a workers market now and is predicted to remain one as the population ages so people can insist on WFH and if companies want to fill roles they'll need to adapt to that.

Not really what’s being seeing though is it. Workers being able to insist on WFH. 🤔

That is what I've been seeing yes. Despite articles like this with boots trying it on I don't know anyone being forced back into the office. Some companies try a mandate and everyone ignores it because managers know it will force good people out the door. Our company tried a 3 day a week mandate and quickly backtracked to fully hybrid.

You’ve already been given more than one example of roles going unfilled and companies having to backtrack on their insistence on a return to the office. I for one have already turned down a job offer because they wanted me in three days a week instead of the one I was doing. It just wasn’t financially viable.

There would have to be a huge shift away from WFH for workers to have to accept purely office-based jobs - and while WFH is still being offered as a perk to attract top talent, few companies will be able to take the risk of saying “We think we’re such a great draw that we don’t need to offer that.” So the shift doesn’t happen.

There are companies who don't want all their workers back!

As I said my SiL's company ( a major international Beauty Brand ) have sold 3/4 of their office space and completely shifted their work culture.

I wouldn't say that hybrid working is 'amazing' for everyone. The actual amount of time you are required to be in the office seems to vary from once or twice a week to once a month. There has been a huge effect on productively/customer service in my organisation - problems of communication within and between teams, inexperienced staff not getting the support they need and consequently making mistakes, mental health issues particularly with people who live on their own. Senior management like hybrid working and are reluctant to change back.

You don't have to justify having your ears pieced , it's ok to have them pierced, and as you say, you acknowledge that decision wasn't made in a vacuum, and you have been influenced by society.

It's ok you didn't want to look like a hairy gorilla, but also to think about why you might feel like that. Who told you looking as hairy as a gorilla wasn't ok for women?

How many men do you know who colour their hair purple?

Your last statement - it's sexist, honestly, it is, and I think you do have internalised misogyny. We ALL do, and because it's internalised, it's so hard to recognise it.

Even big companies like Boots have it - as demonstrated by this thread and the below:

Boots revises cost of two products over accusations of sexist pricing | Retail industry | The Guardian

Boots Accused Of ‘Straight Up Misogyny’ After Refusing To Make Morning After Pill Cheaper | HuffPost UK Life (huffingtonpost.co.uk)

It's ok you didn't want to look like a hairy gorilla, but also to think about why you might feel like that. Who told you looking as hairy as a gorilla wasn't ok for women?

Ironically, my husband now shaves his legs as it makes his cycling performance better.

It’s not overtly sexist to point out that lots of women (the majority?) make decisions that men never consider, such as changing name when they marry, applying for promotions or changing their working arrangements when they have children. My husband has certainly never been asked if he would be going part time if and when he had children. Nobody has ever wondered whether his salary would cover the cost of childcare. Have had comments about how “good” it is that he cooks and does washing and gets DD to school when I’m away (and often when I am home as well). As though he shouldn’t be able to do those things.

Assumptions have been made about me throughout the last 20 years. Engaged? Will be pregnant and off for a year soon. Pregnant? Will be wanting to go part time soon. Kiddy at school? Will be wanting time off for child sickness.

The society I live in is sexist. The decisions I make (usually) challenge that sexism.

I'd say be careful what you wish for. If jobs can be done wfh from anywhere, what's to stop employers hiring people cheap countries

They already can and already do.

That was tried. Many of those jobs have come back to the UK. Read up on the difficulties that were caused in practice.

I believe there is also tax implications and also data protection that some of it can’t leave the UK as easily.

But have a look at your own 'choices' - do you wear make-up, high heels, colour your hair, wear jewelry, (including a wedding ring), wear skirts and dresses, tights, thongs, remove any body hair, get married, watch male sport that does not have equal women's coverage, etc.

I used to be a member of a parenting forum with a guy who was constantly banging on about being God’s gift to feminism and an enemy of the patriarchy and so on. He once said he couldn’t really respect women who wore make-up, dyed their hair, shaved etc (his wife had multiple piercings so presumably jewellery was acceptable) because they were mindless slaves of the patriarchy. The irony was completely lost on him.

What exactly does that have to do with my post? Did you mean to quote some one else?

I manage to ignore my desk when I'm not working and use all my extra time getting out and about and doing more interesting things.

That’s a two-way street. I’ve recently been hired by an international company that doesn’t have a UK office. A few years ago I either would have had to relocate or simply wouldn’t have been a candidate in the first place.