If employers were mandated to allow employees to WFH unless there was a clear reason to need someone physically in a workplace

[OptimismvsRealism]

All the trains and buses at commuter time would be so much less hideous

Infections would be down

Diets healthier

Work life balance more serene

Why do humans always work against their own interests?

Transport costs would surely rise to recover losses though?

Not so great for the rest of us

Diets better how?

Some people prefer working in the office.

Tax cost to the government from the work from home tax allowance.

Local businesses and the economy.

If you want to work from home then find a contractually remote role.

YABU for many reasons.

But just one, the commuter trains would still be packed, they would run less frequently for affordability reasons If there were less commuters. .

Diets healthier

Hahahahha. I wish. I’ve put on stones after starting to WFH. The kitchen is always open at home.

But it would be yet another hoop for employers to have to jump through?
Id probably give up, lay people off and downsize than going through the bother of having to justify occasionally needing people that get paid to be there, there.

Well if everyone can just wfh then why do they even have to be in the UK. May as well outsource to a much cheaper location!

There should be a workplace bonus for everyone who would find it impossible to WFH!

I suggest £10 a day rising to £20 for weekends/BH and £25 for every night shift!

Or...

Obesity would increase as people not walking/moving so much.
Increased depression/mental health issues as people feel isolated and some people won't have any human contact
People loose their jobs such as bus drivers, caterers, cleaners etc are not needed.
Work productivity may be reduced at peak times eg school pick time

Like the call centres in India?

Well indeed - but at what point can other jobs be moved. I’m seeing it increasingly with accounting etc.

Neighbour disputes would rise ( as we see on threads here already due to the WFH crew taking exception to everyday noise)

Yep. We'll all be outsourced to Manila and Bangalore for 50% less wages.

But they’d have already done this if they could? It’s such a weak argument.

You cannot claim a tax WFH allowance any more.

Would we not end up with two tier employment? All those of us whose jobs CANNOT be done from home being disadvantaged by not being able to live the life of the WFH fraternity (school drop off/pick up, doing bits of housework while working, ability to have pets like a dog which need someone around) and yet being paid usually less? Because someone has to do those jobs, but who is going to want to, when they could find a WFH job?

How is it a weak argument? If employers could no longer have people on site and it all had to be remote, 90% of most larger companies could probably be staffed from overseas.

There's are reasons why the government encouraged people back into offices after covid

Supports the economy (thr transport networks/ the local deli/ the corner shop)

And from an employee POV it's not good for MH never to venture out particularly those who live alone. Those in abusive relationships need breathing space.

Both employees and employers benefit from being able share experience. How do young people learn a telephone manner if they never hear people on the phone and they are stuck WFH in their bedroom.

Young people who only interact with family and peers cannot be a good thing.

It seems you can still claim tax relief: https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

Just not having a blanket approach with no common sense would be my preference. We have hybrid and whilst there are perks, having to manage the wfh rota is such a pita when you’re not allowed consecutive days, part timers have to pro rata it etc.

id be so happy if everyone could just agree to not take the piss and act like adults. Flexibility should be there if the role allows it.

there’s quite a few who enjoy being in the office and others who’d clearly rather be at home eating healthily 😁 - as long as everything gets done and the expectations are reasonable on both sides, it should work.

my work don’t trust their staff and their approach to wfh makes that obvious. It’s in place because the bosses want to wfh themselves.

Most employers would manufacture a 'clear reason' for why all employees need to be in the office - a compulsory one hour stint on Reception, an in person meeting every Tuesday morning/4.30 Friday afternoon, a daily debrief, security reasons - if they want people in, then they will find a way around it.

There’s a huge disadvantage to those who are beginning their careers. How do they learn and develop their careers without direct engagement with seniors. How do they network with their cohort? My firm is incredibly flexible but wfh does have disadvantages.

I’ve also put on well over a stone as I move less. Yes it’s on me but I need to be far more motivated these days.

People forget that they do need to comply with their employer’s reasonable requests. And saying you can’t attend a monthly or weekly team meeting because you have a dog or need to pick children up isn’t really good enough imho.

To be fair OP what you want is already in place. Employees can request to work from home as a flexible working request, and the employer must consider the request and give a business reason for refusal.

What would you want to change about that?

I’ve wfh since my first job leaving school 15 or so years ago, I didn’t get the memo about healthier diets 😂
theres a decent amount of roles out there for people who want to wfh, a lot though do like the hybrid or fully office.

I don't see why it would need to be mandated.

If jobs can be done equally well at home as they are done in the office, then it is in employers' interests to have as many people work from home as possible. They save vast amounts on rent, utilities, insurance, security etc. And they have the added bonus of being able to offshore certain roles to overseas locations where labour is much cheaper.

If they're choosing to ignore all of those benefits in favour of bringing people into the office, it is because they believe that there are business reasons that make the extra costs worthwhile.

IT system can't be accessed out side the office - security reasons - that's as much an excuse as they'd need.

No need to faff with meetings or whatever- security