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Original poster

Work from home again in England?

91 replies

Jourdain11 · 29/11/2021 23:32

I missed the news today and I'm wondering... was much said about work from home guidelines in England? I cannot see that anything has been said specifically but wondering if there was any "laying of the ground".

OP posts:
PrincessNutNuts · 30/11/2021 08:14

Taking millions of people out of the daily contact pool with "Work from home if you can" is one of the most effective NPIs we have.

So it should definitely play a part in any strategy to slow the spread of a new variant.

But it isn't, because: politics.

Some Conservative MPs are already insisting that Sajid Javid give a guarantee that Omicron will be over in 3 weeks.

It's Steve Baker demanding that the November 2020 lockdown ended in December 2nd as promised all over again.

Which led to more covid deaths in the second wave than the first.

Sprostongreen21 · 30/11/2021 08:16

My partner works for a local council. He is still working from home. They’ve not called them back into the office at all. It was touted as autumn but that’s come and gone with no words. Our area in the northwest eat has had consistently high cases through the pandemic. He likes WFH so not fussed. He works more hours at home though.

rrhuth · 30/11/2021 08:23

@Wilma55

Jennie Harries (?) was just on radio 4. She said it could happen if there are "significant surges"
i.e. it could happen too late again Angry

I am sick of them leaving it too late. Surely the aim is to prevent 'significant surges' not react afterwards. Harries is dreadful, ever since she said that crap about masks and testing being for countries without advanced healthcare systems I can not take her seriously.

Fairylights25 · 30/11/2021 08:26

Working from home damages the economy, younger people's life chances and creates the risk of jobs being outsourced internationally to cheaper labour markets.

It should not be encouraged.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 30/11/2021 08:29

Working from home damages the economy, younger people's life chances and creates the risk of jobs being outsourced internationally to cheaper labour markets.

There’s an element of truth to this that a lot of people don’t want to see - but I expect we’ll avoid an official WFH order for as long as possible because we’re in no position to bring back furlough.

rrhuth · 30/11/2021 08:30

It should not be encouraged. Down with this sort of thing Grin

I dunno, I think ignoring covid infections has been pretty damaging for the economy tbh.

Xmasprrssiehelp · 30/11/2021 08:41

Most companies are still working from home, my team personally have had a massive spike in productivity, we have delivered more work in the pandemic (with less people) than any other year.

I have had no cases of sickness absence, even though one person caught covid - they was well enough to work from home

DP has to work in the office for most of the week and really unhappy.

I work in project teams so it is the norm for me and my team member's to work in large remote cross functional teams and with different suppliers, so has probably been an easier transition then most.

rrhuth · 30/11/2021 08:44

Most companies are still working from home this is not true now. It feels like this in some sectors but nationally most people are back at work.

Thewiseoneincognito · 30/11/2021 08:48

I expect it is coming, we most likely would have needed it with Delta at some point anyway so with Omicron it would be wise to start it soon. I just hope it doesn’t come too late, it has a profound impact on the number of people mixing on transport and in workplaces.

Darkpheonix · 30/11/2021 08:49

@rrhuth

Most companies are still working from home this is not true now. It feels like this in some sectors but nationally most people are back at work.
Maybe it's area dependent. I don't know anyone who is back more than 1 or 2 days a week. And the 2 days is rare Usually 2 days when something is going that really requires them to be in the office.
HousethatChunkbuilt · 30/11/2021 09:01

I do think that it's just not what the government wants. I just wouldn't spend any money WFH, apart from on Amazon.

lupad · 30/11/2021 09:06

I'm sure there are regional differences. TFL are looking at reducing tube & bus services to plug the funding gap.

rrhuth · 30/11/2021 09:07

@HousethatChunkbuilt

I do think that it's just not what the government wants. I just wouldn't spend any money WFH, apart from on Amazon.
At some point though the costs of having high covid need to be counted. The UK economy has been far worse affected than European neighbours, due to failure to manage the virus effectively.
Wizzbangfizz · 30/11/2021 09:08

I absolutely hope not.

lupad · 30/11/2021 09:08

Working from home damages the economy, younger people's life chances and creates the risk of jobs being outsourced internationally to cheaper labour markets.

I'm not sold on the cheaper labour market argument however I do agree that there are pros & cons of remote working. I think hybrid is a good compromise.

rrhuth · 30/11/2021 09:12

WFH is tough and there are real negatives - but the idea that those negatives are worse than a covid surge greater than our ongoing high case levels is nonsense. The NHS is at the edge of what it can manage and we have an ongoing death, disability and long-term illness crisis. Covid is the third highest killer currently.

Chessie678 · 30/11/2021 09:13

I love WFH but it has a huge economic impact so think the government will avoid it if they possibly can. I tend to agree about it not always being beneficial early in your career too (I think our trainees and juniors have been a bit forgotten at times).

Logically it should reduce covid rates but Scotland has kept the working from home rule and apparently not seen a reduction compared to England. Possibly just because there is still a lot of working from home in England anyway plus a lot of jobs where it’s not practical.

lupad · 30/11/2021 09:18

Lots of concern about the young missing out if wfh but in London there's a huge issue of youth unemployment; 21% are out of work

TakeYourFinalPosition · 30/11/2021 10:13

WFH is tough and there are real negatives - but the idea that those negatives are worse than a covid surge greater than our ongoing high case levels is nonsense.

To be fair, I don’t think anyone made the point that it was. If it has to happen to stop infections, it should.

But it’s not free of consequences, for young people or women, who it seems are more likely to opt for WFH and then have less visibility/opportunities in the workplace.

I don’t think any of those are the reasons we aren’t doing it, though. To be quite honest, I suspect it’s just that the economy is already struggling, there’d be a lot of political pressure, and we can’t afford to restart furlough without taking our borrowing over 100% of the GDP.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 30/11/2021 10:24

@lupad

Nearly everyone I know is still wfh or doing a hybrid.
We are. I'm going in 1 or 2 days a week at the moment. I feel better about it than last winter as then DH felt as though he couldn't walk through the living room, let alone sit in it while I was working. It's his home before it's my office so I've finally convinced him to walk through whenever he wants!
Original poster
Jourdain11 · 30/11/2021 13:22

@SushiGo

Could you have passed on any of the queries and issues to the people working at home?

I am sure OP did but that still means a big chunk if OPs day was spent cting as secretary to the other staff. I'd that's not their job role, that isn't fair and means they are taking on more work than those WFH.

Exactly! FI I work in a university, so as long as students and academics are in, there will always be in-person enquiries and appointments.

So many, "can X contact me about X?" queries which involve getting the name, brief summary, emailing or Teams-ing colleague...

OP posts:
AllThingsServeTheBeam · 30/11/2021 13:28

@rrhuth

Most companies are still working from home this is not true now. It feels like this in some sectors but nationally most people are back at work.
I don't know a single person who was sent to work from home that has gone back to the office ft. Not a 1.
rrhuth · 30/11/2021 15:28

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

That is likely to be sector or area specific though - nationally many companies have now returned, especially SMEs.

Chasingaftermidnight · 30/11/2021 15:40

My DH’s company (which was already operating a hybrid model) has started discouraging people from unnecessary attendance this week and has cancelled its Christmas party. My employer has told pregnant women (of which I’m one) and other more vulnerable employees to work FT from home if they want to. There have been several Covid cases in both our offices - there’s a risk of it becoming a business continuity issues. I don’t think we’ll see a full government-mandated return to WFH (yet) but I think a lot of employers and employees will start to vote with their feet.

HousethatChunkbuilt · 30/11/2021 16:24

@lupad wouldn't WFH make this worse as it would mean that some of the London jobs could be done by anyone, anywhere in the country. Presumably for less money too.