Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home

[sally037]

Nigel Farage has doubled down on his attack on remote and hybrid working, calling it “a load of nonsense” and saying people are only productive when working face-to-face in the office. He argues we need an “attitudinal change to hard work” rather than focusing on work-life balance.

AIBU for thinking this idea is just bonkers and totally at odds with how most of the workforce actually wants to work now?

I can only think it appeals to the "pull the ladder up" generation. Don't give two fucks about anyone else as long as they are comfortable or those that are unable to wfh and want everyone else to be as miserable as them.

Then this would be a hybrid role which many if not the majority of wfh jobs are?

or choosing to work in a hybrid firm. WFH isn’t forced on companies it is a choice that each business makes themselves. It’s not a national mandate

They go hand in hand.

You literally just wrote humans can adapt back to on-site, ignoring those who cannot which are people with disabilities.

Every workplace does not consider those with wheelchairs or those who struggle with their mobility. You can become disabled at any age. Such groups still need to be able to make money and survive for obvious reasons.

Why are you choosing to believe they are not part of the conversation when they are likely one of the biggest groups effected if wfh wasn’t an option?

I agree to an extent, however, we also need to recognise that things aren't the same as they were years ago.

It used to be that people could reasonably expect to buy a home near their families in the area they grew up where they had grandparents or relatives nearby to lean on for emergency childcare. Young adults now are no longer able to do this because of the ridiculous inflation in housing costs, meaning they've no choice but to commute for longer and move to areas where they've no support network and no village. So while paying through the nose for childcare fees (because of rising costs and in some areas lack of funded childcare hours or childcare strategy) they are left to manage any short notice parental caring responsibilities between them. Which is even harder for single/widowed parents. They still need to be able to sustain a job to pay their rising bills and keep their family out of poverty.

Obviously some jobs will lend themselves better to wfh than others, but in those situations I do think companies SHOULD prioritise staff care since staff are their best resource and can't pretend people to perform the way they could have years prior. My child was sick the other day and thankfully I did have a grandparent who could step in for the morning so I could complete all my morning tasks, but then I had to be available to my child all afternoon and once they went to bed I continued working until near midnight to ensure I got through everything I needed to and that I kept myself right with my hours.

Thankfully I have a wonderful staff support system within our smt who are very flexible and who look to my performance, kpis and overall performance rather than the minutiae of how i (as a sensible and capable adult) structure my day. As a lone parent I'd have to leave a job if they couldn't work with my flexibly. You can't expect people to work like they are child free and parent like they're a SAHM at the same time. No wonder we're all burning out!

Or are we putting women further behind in society by expecting yet more of them? Why are we not putting the same expectations on men with children?

I wonder what my Farage Fanboy husband thinks of this. He is currently sitting at his desk in the house in his dressing gown with the radio on comfortable as can be. He'll have just enjoyed a lunchtime nap...

Most jobs are tracked, via KPIs, SLAs and Quality Assurance. If some jobs are not, that's a management issue, not a WFH issue.

But again, this is where more flexible workplace policies help support that. If a man is able to wfh then he's maybe more able to do cleaning on his lunch or do the school run or take in the grocery shop at lunchtime etc. All of which would otherwise predominantly fall at female feet.

The flip side to this is that more often than the reverse, women are disproportionately let down by men and left in single parent circumstances. I'm a lone parent- I don't have the option to lean on a man to do his fair share, nor does any other widowed person, person who's partner is ill/disabled/ works away.

This in spades 👏

People wanting to avoid their kids and cheat in peace making up tall tales about wfh.

no one’s stopping you from going into the office if you want, there’s just not going to be as many in the captive audience to listen to you witty tales while they get on with their work.

everyone’s being so absurd. I’ve only worked at one 100% remote role and it was extremely lean and efficient and the got every single bit of their time out of people.

We can expect all we want, but as it stands women do the bulk of childcare and domestic tasks and are usually still expected to work. Forcing people to commute into the office is going to make women break sooner.

Perhaps first get men doing their share, and then come for working from home?

Apart from the half a million civil servants they have control over and the possible implications to mental health.

For what it's worth i am completely in favour of wfh/ hybrid working

How could they do that? HMRC have no way of knowing how many staff work from home.

I thought he'd called for an end to the 'WFH culture' which is quite different to the end of WFH. That leaves it up to the employer to decide on the best option for the business.

Yes

It isn’t just about output.

We have young people who are now socially isolated because they never make friends in the office. Plenty of MNers who now feel stressed or anxious if required to go into a workplace,

Lockdown turned many people into anxious recluses and in some cases WFH had exacerbated it.

Young people and junior employees also miss out on the wider experience and learning that is gained from being in the same environment, hearing conversations , seeing how more experienced people handle things etc.

It’s lazy and simplistic to dismiss concerns about WFH as jealousy / grumpiness.

What is wrong with being the following:

1. OLD
2. WHITE
3. MALE

ABSOLUTLY NOTHING!

My dad is an old white male and one day, my husband and son will be old white males.

Should I start despising them now?

Yes, everyone who has a white male in their life-treat them and their opinions as if they are worthless. Use things they cannot change against them. Listen to anyone, anyone at all, who is not old, white or male. Despise your own family.

I sincerely hope people won't do this-apart from few self haters.

There is nothing wrong with white. There is nothing wrong with being old. There is nothing wrong with being male. In fact, hooray for all bloody three!

Slighlly off topic but still concerning Farage and Reform, he has been oddly silent about the hideous revelations in the Epstein files. Thought he was keen on protecting women and girls, doubtless only when it suits his agenda. He is in the files in connection with his dealings with Steve Bannon and pushing the Brexit agenda so my cynical self thinks it is no doubt connected to that. He has also been quiet about Mandelson which is odd given what a huge story it is. Anyway back to his latest bit of dog whistle, it is none of his business how companies and organisations organise their work forces. Maybe because he is such a shyster he thinks everyone else is like him and out to con and cheat.

I dunno about cheating, but I would be very curious about the gender breakdown of those opposed to wfh vs those in favour of it.

I imagine it would be more predominantly men being more willing to return to the office to avoid having to take ownership of more of the domestic load. It works be interesting to see if the stats back it up.

Nail on the head. Young and trainees are the worst impacted by WFH as they don't get the same "environment" and benefits of being around their more experienced colleagues on a day to day basis. Getting support/training via email or teams calls really is nowhere near as good as being sat on the next desk!

The trend in corporate culture is to go back into the office. DH company requires 3/5 days in the office and monitors this. Anyone young who wants to get on in their career is in more than this so they can learn and build relationships as well as work. If you were in a low paid admin job and happy to stay there 3/5 would be ok. But most people are keen and ambitious.

Well I’ve got some news for him. There has to be a work life balance for work to work! Sorry Nige but working isn’t the be all and end of peoples lives.

You're right there is nothing wrong with being old white or male. There is a LOT wrong with being an upper middle class, highly privileged, older, white male feeling entitled enough to dictate how everyone else should live and work with zero effort to really understand the lived realities of people in less privileged positions.

There are plenty of old white men who do that work to inform and educate themselves, they are generally not the ones telling everyone what to do with some sort of god given authority.

That is up to organisations to manage themselves.

It's not up to you or Farage to police that.

@MissAustenMadeAQuilt

There is nothing wrong with white. There is nothing wrong with being old. There is nothing wrong with being male. In fact, hooray for all bloody three!

Well said. It's an awful generalisation and completely unfair to tar an entire section of society with the same brush. By all means, lets rightly criticise the white old males who are indeed awful people, but we can't forget all the others. By making sweeping generalisations, it makes such people look stupid and dilutes their message. Yes, we need to call out EVERYONE who is in the wrong, whether male/female, young/old, white/coloured, but we can't do it by using lazy generalisations.

Most employers if everyone turned up to the offices- there would be no room. My workplace has hybrid working. Have 135 workers on the books but only 100-105 desks.

My workplace only has 25 parking bays. 4 are permanently given to colleagues who have mobility issues. The rest are rotated between the other 110 (rest walk or use PT)

It costs me £7 to park and £3 in fuel per office day.