To think this is a surefire way to insist that everyone comes back into the office?

[Pleasebeafleabite]

Latest BBC News link today. If I was an employer and I was forced into giving staff compulsory four day weeks based on compressed hours, I’m be making sure they were doing them in the office.

Yet more unintended consequences

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gl5w83z7do

Wrong. I did far more, as wasn't constantly interrupted by people asking me stuff they could have worked out for themselves...

I work compressed hours over 4 days from home, I prob wouldn't if I was in the office as the commute would make for an even longer day.

I definitely work all my hours and all my work gets done.

That poster has said clearly that she's term time only...

Thank you.

I also don’t work Fridays, so if DH wfh that day we often go out for lunch together on his lunch break. We used to do the same thing when both in the city @Youcantellalotofthingsabouttheflowers is your mind blown? 😆

Productivity dropped during Covid because many of us (me included, I worked from home 50% of the time before Covid) were not only wfh we were juggling our children’s needs! I had three children that all needed to log onto google classroom and participate in lessons and one disabled child that needed round the clock care) I’m a great asset to the company I work for, did my productivity drop during Covid, absolutely, but not because I was working remotely, because I was juggling work and children and home schooling and medical needs.

editing to add wfh during summer is very different to wfh during Covid, in summer we can arrange wfh play dates so kids don’t get bored and take turns with having a house full of kids with other working parents, I can take the kids to soft play or days out and as long as there’s Wi-Fi I’m good to work!

In our case I think it was mostly because you don't get a 3 day weekend every week. You get a random day of the week that changes regularly. Occasionally you get hit the jackpot and get a Friday followed by a monday. 4 days off. Other weeks you get a Tuesday and Thursday which just break up the week weirdly and put you off kilter. We are also predominantly unable to work remotely, it's strange having less routine, not knowing who will, or will not be in on any given day.

We are back 50% of our time in the office which of course hardly anyone does.

I don't find wfh healthy for me so I now go to the office everyday now. I don't find my commute a waste of time I use it to read a book or do some of my personal admin which u woukd do at home anyway so I don't see it as wasted time. I also move more so it's been good for my health.

In the office I've built relationships with those who come in different teams and it's easier to ask then a quick question instead of messaging.

I get my work done in my hours so I'm not like some examples here where I end up doing more hours wfh.

But good things is it works best for everyone who does whays best for them.

It shouldn’t be a thing! How on earth are you meant to work with small kids running around? How can you be productive, be available and have your mind on the job when you are doing a full time job of childcare already? Let alone the effect it will have on the kids. As an employer I would never allow this.

Yes, I don't think people realise how dim it sounds to blame remote working for issues during covid. And tbf OP isn't the only one on the thread who's done that.

In our customer service teams we could see that productivity dropped during Covid

Probably fairly normal during a pandemic…

@Pleasebeafleabite if working from home, how do you manage to put the washing machine on, clean the worktops, run the vacuum round etc? if working then you should not be doing that? childcare should not be done when wfh! you wouldnt take kids to work! yet you still hear of people moaning that they need to wfh cos they cant afford childcare! Everyone should be back in the office now!

I apologise, I didn’t understand the abbreviation. That sounds like a good set up for everyone then.

Virtually every study that has looked into this has shown that open plan offices have a detrimental effect on productivity, performance, communication and employee satisfaction, yet employers persevere with it.

Let's be honest though, the anti-wfh sentiment has nothing to do with performance or productivity. It's driven by influential people who make money out of commercial real estate and haven't been able to divest from it yet, executives who feel they need people in the office to justify the lease they signed on an expensive office suite, managers who can't manage and don't trust their teams and extroverted employees who need to be around other people constantly.

We, as a society, really need to push past this idea that you must be miserable at work for 40 hours a week. Even the experts on productivity and efficiency suggest utilisation should be between 70% and 90% (depending on the industry), so this idea that people need to be physically doing something work related for their full contracted hours every day is nonsense anyway.

I have a woman on my team that works a 3 day week - yet every appointment is scheduled on a work day so she has to come in late/leave early.

The power should be in favour of the employee. Ever heard of unions?

It absolutely is crap managers. If staff have a clear remit, KPIs and deadlines, with monitoring and supervision appropriate to their experience and scope of role, this WFH productivity drop simply doesnt happen. Because managers who are performing in their own role spot when their staff are under achieving and address it appropriately. Unfortunately some managers, due to lack of experience or ability operate a solution looking for a problem approach.

It shouldn’t be a thing! How on earth are you meant to work with small kids running around? How can you be productive, be available and have your mind on the job when you are doing a full time job of childcare already? Let alone the effect it will have on the kids. As an employer I would never allow this.

How is DH doing a full time childcare job? I work 20 hours a week & I do try & help a bit with the dc but normally I sit on the sofa with DH fanning me & the dc feeding me bonbons.

I work in a school & my office is near a playground, I definitely down tools when the school kids are running around shrieking!

I was seconded out and worked remotely and part time for another boss for a couple of years

At the end of which he realised , when filling in paperwork , that I was part time

He never could tell from my output that I was part time and he couldn't see any difference between me and his local full time employees

People can only do so much thinking and creativity, and the full time workers did more tea breaks and gossiping to fill in the gap

Definitely wrong for my team. In fact the days we are in the office my team do less work with chatting etc. we also can work longer hours at home when we’re busy like currently, but can’t in the office as it gets closed at a certain time.

If you really distrust your team to this extent, you can always monitor their access to computer systems and make them do timesheets.

I wasn’t talking about you, I was replying to the poster who was complaining there is no wraparound childcare in Summer holidays so parents have no choice.

Firstly, I said kids and not small kids. That's important, because working parents of small kids are the ones most likely to have year round provision already. So actually, we're talking overwhelmingly about DC who are 5 plus. Nor did I say anything about 'full time'. There are situations where childcare exists but won't cover full work hours.

And secondly, you as an employer wanting holiday childcare to be available does not magic provision into existence. Well, unless you're an employer of a childcare company I suppose. You can be as outraged as you like, but meanwhile there are some areas where there's nothing at all and others where the provision is shorter hours. I don't need holiday clubs for childcare myself, but the ones in our area are all 9 to 3 or 9.30 to 3.30.

What this means is that in some cases, having the parent working and the DC never present is not one of the choices the employer has. They'd need to either get someone else entirely, which may not even be possible in this job market. Or they accept that the existence of DC and insufficient childcare means the worker is going to be looking after the DC sometimes or taking unpaid parental leave. The least disruptive option for all concerned often involves some time where the child is around at the same time as the parent working. As an employer, you might just have to suck it up.

Virtually every study that has looked into this has shown that open plan offices have a detrimental effect on productivity, performance, communication and employee satisfaction, yet employers persevere with it.

I would be interested to know whether the issue is open plan working as such which has been the norm for decades - or hot desking, where people feel they don't have their own space.

You use what would have been your commuting time, your lunch and coffee breaks and the time you would have wasted listening to Bryan tell you about his weekend in Snowdonia.

I’ve worked remotely for years with fully remote teams. I can honestly say they are the hardest working most trust worthy individuals I have ever come across. People are quite capable of slacking in an office. Employees who are empowered treated well and motivated produce the best results. Why on earth would this policy mean forcing people back to the office? It makes no sense.

Nonsense. If I go into the office, I get barely any work done as I’m too busy chatting.

I get loads done when I wfh.