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.

Farage …Don't give two fucks about anyone …full stop. Other than himself. He’s a worst shyster than that mendacious work shy Johnson. And still too many voters believe the lies. Desperation I suppose.

As if that cunt has ever done a day's work in his life.

There are numerous jobs available which aren't WFH. So they have a choice.

Exactly.

I look forward to all the future Reform government spending on the civil service and local authority estate so that pubic sector workers actually have an actual desk to go to. I'm not holding my breath.

That's great you've a sympathetic employer.
Not every disabled person is suited to WFH.
My DW has literacy issues and no digital skills and has worked as a cleaner for 42 years and due to her disabilities osteoarthritis,congenital leg condition,curvature of neck its getting harder.
Not everyone is at it.

Does WFH reduce the overall environmental load of working overall ?

Has anyone studied this (and if not, what in fucks sake are scientists doing with their time ???)

I'd be guessing that WFH is a boon to net zero ambitions. And we know that Farage not only doesn't believe in climate change, but thinks a polluted country is a sign of success. (Once you see footage of cold war soviet countries, you can see where his nostalgia comes from).

My employer doesn’t have a UK office, the nearest ones for me are Spain and Poland which is a bit of a trek. I might be persuaded to go to the HQ in Miami occasionally though if the company pay my travel costs.

Stupidity in some cases. I can't actually imagine myself ever being so desperate that I would ever vote for Farage.

Don’t go looking for sense in their bullshit “plans”.

They also have a candidate who wants people without children to be taxed more (a “negative child benefit”), while simultaneously removing things like wfh which help mothers back into the workplace (not because they all have toddlers running around while they work before anyone says that, but because having no commute makes childcare easier).

He lives in a fantasy world. Just assumes everyone that works from home doesn’t work hard. I work my arse off, work one or two days in the office a week and at home for the remainder of the time. I get more done at home as I’m likely to start earlier and finish later and will do more back to back meetings as you don’t have to physically move round an office or go from one work space to the other. It is 45 mins to an hour commute so on office days I can only manage 9-5.

He is a small minded little man

Farage is objectively wrong about this, as he is about everything else. I pray to every god out there that he never gets near the levers of power.

That lazy twat lecturing others about productivity is a joke. He barely even knows where his own constituency is.

Since WFH started you can’t get hold of anyone at call centres or customer service centres without a lengthy wait. Half the time no one answers the phone. Then there are those tedious messages saying the call volumes are higher than usual. Have you tried calling HMRC or the DVAL. When people sat in the office things were better as they weren’t loading the dishwasher when you rang.

But plenty of jobs aren’t wfh. Different jobs have different policies, rules, and ways of working. I wouldn’t take a full time in the office job and then complain it didn’t suit me.

I totally agree. I’m clinging on by my fingers tips with this job as my condition deteriorates. Definitely agree not everyone’s at it, or capable of working.

What a twit he is. He should learn where his job is. Clacton & Westminster. More often seen in the US.

It doesn't need government policy. I was just pointing out that wfh is not the answer for everyone and not a question of older people shafting younger ones. Different companies might want to do things in different ways.

Yes I think women are more able to recognise how much better it is for creating work-life balance (having struggled without this option in the past).

And I don’t mean all older people - my parents and in-laws all think it’s a great thing.

Calls are still tracked. People are still expected to pick up. Call centres don’t just let their staff sit at home not answering the phone.
Wait times are higher everywhere (including in person call centres) because companies have got rid of staff and put a permanent “sorry for the wait, we’re having an unusually high volume of calls right now” message on.

I don’t care what Farage thinks but companies are pushing for more people to go back to the office and they are not doing it because they are dinosaurs, they are doing it because productivity is down.

I strongly believe in hybrid working but that doesn’t mean wfh all the time unless it’s what the company wants

Don't underestimate how stupid and corrupt a Reform government would be especially when it appeals to their base.

They would just buy back the buildings or rent new ones even if it costs billions - that money would flow right back to their property owning donors too.

I don’t think the issue with call centres is WFH. People who work for them are pretty tied to their desks as I understand it.

It’s the fact that call centres aren’t employing enough people. Not the fact anyone is loading the dishwasher.

How do you possibly know this is because of WFH?

Have you considered it’s just because these organisations want to save money by employing as few people to do these jobs as they can get away with?

HMRC a great example - it’s not like you can just opt out of their services.

He thinks it will be popular with people in jobs that can't be done from home. But like with most of his 'policies' what he's blustering about doing and what he could actually make happen are two very different things.
Even in a dystopia that saw him as PM, he would only be able to excercise control over the public sector. Businesses would remain free to structure their operations as they saw fit. And provided they continued to see the benefits in home working for their staff, Farage's views would just be more of his noise.

I've worked from home as a freelancer for 8 years now and I work my fucking arse off.

Anyone who says people shouldn't work from home can fuck off

I'm not paying for petrol or parking every day, or lunch everyday. I get to spend my lunchtime walking my dog, so I get to get fresh air, improve my MH, save money (which I then spend in my village).

Farage hasn't got a clue. He failed to do any work as an MEP. He has held ZERO constituency surgeries in Clacton. He's repeatedly skipped PMQs every week. Does he realise that 10 downing street is a work from home job? Fucking grifting hypocrite

Reform wouldn't see me for dust if they get in, I'll go and work in any country that will have me as with my skills and experience I can work anywhere. So that's £30k of tax gone a year. Imagine that multiplied by many other high earning professionals who spend at least some of their time working from home. Good luck with the economy. As the saying goes, will the last person to leave the UK please turn the lights out?