To ask why employers will bully, stomp and bribe with lunch vouchers to make staff go back to the office

[Everythingisnumbersnow]

But won't in any way make the office a nicer place to be?

Hotdesk serfdom is real.

Just give people a space and treat them like humans?

Lots of businesses downsized their office space and now don't have the space to give everyone their 'own desk'

Fine then back off with the rto mandates?

Oh it's all a great community we SPARK ideas and collaborate!

With our noise cancelling headphones and soulless impersonal temporary drop down stations

Ds has to go into the office three times a week. He tells me it's because most firms rent their office space and it's to justify the fact that they're paying so they want people in.

You aren't talking about all employers here. You need to take this up with them really, is there a feedback mechanism you can use?

Yes and a lot of companies have financial interests in the commercial property sector

It's really sad we've missed an opportunity to free people in order to further enrich multimillionaires.

Did you end up WFH due to covid?

Do you work somewhere with private, personalised offices? That's a rare beast.

I think it's sad that people don't even want to leave their houses anymore.

I actually tended to beforehand because I hate the office and we never had sufficient desks. When I started work (this century, like) everyone had their own spot.

Yeah this.

Why is there so much resistance to hybrid working? It’s not line to pockets of property owners. I think about my teenage dds. I rally
hope they can go to work and aren’t cooped up in their bedrooms when they enter the workplace.

There's a lot of resistance to such a radical idea! 😁

you I assume have a canteen if they are offering vouchers? That’s good. I don’t get the angst over hotdesking it’s just a desk, are you saying you are getting in and there is no desk? And even if you do have headphones in you will surely interact ad you walk round the building, say morning to people etc. you aren’t all mute all day?

Managed properly, surely hybrid hits the sweet spot, and benefits everyone including the reluctant

I WFH and it's great - but I work for a company where it's the norm, flexibility is valued by everyone and we all get stuff done.

I've worked in companies where its hybrid, and people really did take the piss/do far less work on WFH days. It was common knowledge that you'd never get a meeting scheduled/get hold of anyone on a Wednesday or a Friday, which was terrible really.

The real problem is too many employers have been caught out telling porkies.

I've not only worked remotely, but setup remote working in a few roles. And yet the number of companies who insisted it was "impossible" for them to allow remote working.

Come Covid everyone pretty quickly discovered that "impossible" had been used as a fig leaf for "we don't want". Or, in more everyday vernacular "a whopper". One that could no longer be covered with a fig leaf of "therefore not even worth trying".

People may be stupid. But not that stupid.

With a vibrant WFH culture evolving, some employers really are struggling to fill some roles. And that is going to be a brake on any hopes the UK has of recovery.

Rather than flogging the dead horse of presenteeism, the more canny businesses will be (and have been) investing in training for managers on how to manage remote teams.

I use the horse analogy specifically. The concept of a daily commute now is similar to the concept of riding around on a horse in the first years of the motor car.

Because vouchers are cheaper than bugger office spaces.

Get a new fully remote job. They do exist.

Sunk-costs fallacy.

We resist it because transport is expensive unless all your staff live within working distance we need cars buses trains no-one I know can afford a taxi anymore home is easier quick to get to work your own toilet and kitchen heaven! And cheaper

So your contract was for hybrid working? Are they trying to make you go back to the office full time now?

Hybrid is best. You build closer relationships with colleagues, its better for people to have face to face contact and reduces the temptation to try and "manage" with no childcare for younger kids during working hours (all too common). I also think it means you can draw a clearer line between home and work and "leave work at the office".

But it gives people a bit of time/flexibility to do a couple of days at home where you can peg out that washing at lunch, reduce commute costs (and emissions therein) and focus on tasks where its nice to have peace & quiet.

I think 3 days in 2 days home or vice versa depending on role, is optimal.

Sorry OP you just sound like you don’t want to go back into the office (which is your prerogative).

There are offices to be paid for still.
Teams do collaborate better when together.
Hotdesking in a lot of companies was completely normal before Covid.
Unless your contract says WFH only unfortunately you have to go in.

Your company isn’t bullying you and I think it’s more how you feel about it.

Lunch vouchers - absolute monsters for suggesting it. How awful they want to give an incentive for you to come back in. 😂

Pension companies have huge investments in commercial real estate, which affects everyone with a pension.
My company (who own all their own real estate) squashed my department into ever smaller buildings and floors. Now on a Tuesday, you have no chance of sitting near any team mates due to the RTO and hot desking.

Commuting costs are continuously rising and for people who don't live in areas with good public transport, but don't earn enough to drive, it's rubbish and stops some sectors from being able to recruit from, employment short, areas. We were starved of jobs Up North and there's now no reason for that to be the case. Working from home also gives people with disabilities a good shot of gaining employment.

Completely agree - and I think it’s one of the reasons why we have such a mental health crisis and so much anxiety about talking to anyone too. Disaster.