'Go back to work if you can' - any idea what Boris means by this??

[labyrinthloafer]

So today the PM said people should go back to work if they can, rather than stay at home if they can.

But if people can do their jobs from home, why would this be a good idea in amongst all the other things opening up?

I feel so drained at the moment, have got into a very decent homeworking situation, now potentially disrupted, and then all winter it'll be 'oh Sue's coughing, has she had a test' and then people going home while they wait for results.

I suppose my question is - do you think this is just rhetoric or will the home working now start to change?

Because the government is now starting to realise the impact of all these companies giving up their permenant office space with staff working from home as the norm - it means things like cleaning companies are going under (along with all the low paid staff that work for them) because there aren't any office buildings to clean anymore. Deliveries of stationary supplies no longer being required, no office equipment to be maintained, office canteens closed down. Town centre sandwich shops etc are no longer getting their daily trade and no one is nipping in to high street shops on their lunch break etc etc. It all has a knock on effect and results in many businesses/the economy not being able to bounce back and ultimately more handouts from the government by way of unemployment benefits etc.

Always interesting when someone joins a thread to divert it down a track that is nothing to do with actual OP and then personally addresses criticism to those trying to stick on the track of the OP.

I suggest everyone should WFH forever & not utter a word of surprise at the state of the economy/high street in the coming years

@FrankSkinnerFan2020

I suggest everyone should WFH forever & not utter a word of surprise at the state of the economy/high street in the coming years

Even if we all went back to the office like good worker bees, the economy is still going to hell in the next few years.

Normal life will return once there is a vaccine given to the vast majority of the population. The government should be redirecting a lot of its spending propping up the economy to getting us all vaccinated as soon as possible

You do realise a vaccine is years away (if at all), not months, regardless of what the media like to spin. The country is already in a recession, one that is going to get an awful lot worse before we start climbing out the other side. If you hadn't noticed, the government has already been redirecting all its funds on propping up the country - furlough, business grants, nhs etc etc. We're only 6 months into this sorry mess and already the country is billions in debt - a debt that our grandchildren are going to be paying off. Their isn't a bottomless pot of money they can keep dipping into to keep the country afloat until a potential vaccine materialises. It needs us spending and paying our taxes - where do you think government money comes from in the first place.

Probably too late now for a lot of companies they've realised how much they're saving by having staff WFH, and many of those are happier WFH, they're hardly likely to get them to all come back in to the office just to keep the cleaners, coffee shops, and transport companies in business.

Well all I’ve read on Mumsnet is people saying their offices are closed forever.

Well my office isn’t closing, we will only be going in one or two days a week. That’s the new working world for many people.

And EnlightenedOwl - thinking about a second wave isn’t “sick.” I think somebody got out of bed on the wrong side this morning! It’s a lovely sunny day out there! Go and enjoy it.

Cleaners can work in people's homes stationary still needed but can be delivered to homes not offices repairs and equipment still need to be maintained but these will be more mobile not office based

See it as an opportunity to change how you work forever

I'm all for supporting the economy. But one thing the pandemic has shown us is that the model we had of centralised working, where we all commute in and out of city centres, was unnecessary and detrimental to our well-being and the environment. Lets find a new better way.

Businesses will need to adapt or fail, as they always have. Workers WFH more often could allow us to go back to a model of more small local shops and restaurants to get lunch at.

Ironically, I think wfh could actually help the local economies. As @TotorosFurryBehind says it’s an opportunity to visit local shops and restaurants.
Wfh and starting at 8am then an extended 2 hour lunch break to eat in a local restaurant, then back to work at 2 through to 5:30.
Not every day, but maybe once every couple of weeks.
Or finishing at 5:30 and meeting friends locally for a coffee or glass of wine early evening.
It could be really lovely. And not something I can do if I have to add on commute time travelling to an office in peak times.

It will strengthen local communities and help address the issues of people living alone and wfh.

Yea he’s had those excuses already. I totally understand that people are worried etc but the work still needs to be done. If my dh business starts to fail they’ll all be out of a job. It’s frustrating. I’m working from home but our performance levels are good if not better! It will work for some businesses but not others.

Sorry that was replying to Enlightedowl

I very, very rarely get a take-away coffee or sandwich when I work in the office. And I am way too tired from long commute during the week to do much even over the weekend. So if I could wfh more I would indeed have more time, energy and inclination to spend money.

And I wouldn't worry about transport going out of business. All I have ever heard "in normal times" is about the overstretched capacity of the trains and tube, the need to add more carriages, the introduction of later times for off-peak travel to reduce the passenger traffic, etc. Because they are always overflowing with commuters. So if there are fewer people traveling back and forth in London in can only be a good thing.

The office I used to work in is due to close at the end of this year, staff had been compressed in to one floor of the building, practically sat on each other's knees pre Covid. They have all been wfh since March & won't be going back to the office before it closes as their isn't space to SD. Local council have shut all customer facing offices & put out notices that there won't be any face to face service until November, no council houses will be let, no repairs unless emergency, council tenants have been left high & dry, unable to move from unsuitable properties, no assessments for adaptions or moves to disabled friendly properties, leaving disabled residents without support including assessment for carers.

Problem is that soon the tube will be reducing services again. There is no money in tfl. At all. Most tube lines are running almost a full service, with a few cancellations due to shortage of staff, but pre-Covid timetables. If people don’t start using public transport it will be reduced. Then everyone will be finding those packed tunes, but one every 10 minutes instead of the 2-5 minutes now. I think boris is realising how screwed Tfl is. The underground income was previously propping up the rest of tfl. Now that’s gone, the whole system will start to break down.

It seems to me that there is a lot of people who don’t want to risk their health by going into work & will continue to buy goods etc online but are perfectly happy to put delivery drivers/pickers/packers health at risk by doing so.

What a silly comment.

By that logic, people should only be able to call the police for help in an emergency if they themselves have worked in policing facing the same challenges or only able to call the fire brigade to rescue them if they also spend their weekends running into burning buildings. Otherwise they are clearly selfish

Well I for one am glad they’re encouraging people back in to the office

It seems to me that there is a lot of people who don’t want to risk their health by going into work

When dh goes into work on the odd occasion I’m happy that others are still wfh, the trains are quieter. I don’t begrudge others who are happy at home.

I still think a mix is good, quieter trains, people who need interaction get some.

@MandalaYogaTapestry

I very, very rarely get a take-away coffee or sandwich when I work in the office. And I am way too tired from long commute during the week to do much even over the weekend. So if I could wfh more I would indeed have more time, energy and inclination to spend money.

I'm exactly the same. I find office work Monday to Friday exhausting and don't do much at the weekend as I need to recharge. Now i've got a lot more energy and will to do things socially, while wfh, but i'm not going to pubs and restaurants etc yet or traveling anywhere.

I am guessing it is encouragement for employers to consider having employees back at the office if possible, and with adjustments. I am hoping our office doesnt close, because there's already talk if geography isn't an issue of outsourcing some roles, and productivity is definitely down. I have been given a lot of slack because we have no childcare so I'm juggling work and looking after DS, but that's not sustainable for ages, and those in the team who have enjoyed it most have been the ones in the same position as me, and had flexibility. Managers have been tearing their hair out trying to ensure as many people as possible still have jobs as they deal with the drop in output, everything else crumbling. Working from home suits some people, but it has more effects than just ah cool I can work from home forever.

Reading this thread reinforces my gut feeling that the expectation that we must try to stop this virus is ill-conceived.

Since germ theory was accepted, Humanity has never expected to stop almost everything else that societies can do, just to stop a germ. Even when Ebola was raging in West Africa - the societies there didn't try to shut down like we are trying to shut everything down now.

I know I'm in the minority. Most people will think the economic price we have paid so far is not just worth it, but well short of the price we should expect to keep paying for... ever? as long as we dramatically keep the virus cases and deaths down.

So NO, it is NOT my responsibility to spend my much reduced income from my now rather insecure job due to the financial crisis my entire sector is facing due to the Lockdown measures. Not my duty to boost the economy when everyone else has decided they are willing to trash the economy to get an objective they like and I don't agree with. If you believe in the current strategy, YOU can go out & spend. It's YOUR duty & responsibility. It's not my doing, this self-inflicted economic Armageddon.

The high street was massively in decline before covid, owing to number of factors. WFH was also on the increase. Covid has just accelerated it

@Ethelfleda

Well I for one am glad they’re encouraging people back in to the office

Will you be going back to your office soon do you think?