Return to the office campaign...

[Teejay]

Will they in 10 years time?

Life is more nuanced, IMHO.

I enjoyed it, especially when I had the company of the kids (not sure they'd agree!). But now they're back off to school/uni it's been pretty boring this week and I could do with a day or 2 a week in the office. Having said that, it won't kill me staying home for a few more months.

 

[Jap Stammer]

Working from home is an okay temporary fix but it isn't a long term solution for many businesses and people.

Training, communication, nuanced interaction with colleagues, loneliness and isolation, meeting people even the mundane interactions.

Solitary confinement is a massive punishment.

Baby thrown out with bath water if everyone starts working from home.

Your second line hits the nail squarely on the head.

My boss is talking about adding to my team to allow us to take on more work. The current team had four weeks of intensive training from an on-site consultant and now, almost 4 years later, are still learning the finer points of the software package we use and how best to utilise it for the products we deal with for our clients.

There is absolutely no way that we can take on more staff, train them from scratch on-line, and pass on all of the subtle knowledge picked up over the years about the software and products, when we are all sitting at home. TEAMS, SKYPE etc are no substitute for a quick gathering around one person's machine to iron out an issue, or the ability to pop into a different part of the office for an informal brain-picking session with people who manage other parts of the system.

I enjoyed it, especially when I had the company of the kids (not sure they'd agree!). But now they're back off to school/uni it's been pretty boring this week and I could do with a day or 2 a week in the office. Having said that, it won't kill me staying home for a few more months.

I think there should be a balanced approach - half a week in the office, half a week WFH.

 

[Harry Angstrom]

My boss is talking about adding to my team to allow us to take on more work. The current team had four weeks of intensive training from an on-site consultant and now, almost 4 years later, are still learning the finer points of the software package we use and how best to utilise it for the products we deal with for our clients.

There is absolutely no way that we can take on more staff, train them from scratch on-line, and pass on all of the subtle knowledge picked up over the years about the software and products, when we are all sitting at home. TEAMS, SKYPE etc are no substitute for a quick gathering around one person's machine to iron out an issue, or the ability to pop into a different part of the office for an informal brain-picking session with people who manage other parts of the system.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. So much learning and transfer of skills comes from the small encounters that happen multiple times a day.

 

[Silly Point]

Your second line hits the nail squarely on the head.

My boss is talking about adding to my team to allow us to take on more work. The current team had four weeks of intensive training from an on-site consultant and now, almost 4 years later, are still learning the finer points of the software package we use and how best to utilise it for the products we deal with for our clients.

There is absolutely no way that we can take on more staff, train them from scratch on-line, and pass on all of the subtle knowledge picked up over the years about the software and products, when we are all sitting at home. TEAMS, SKYPE etc are no substitute for a quick gathering around one person's machine to iron out an issue, or the ability to pop into a different part of the office for an informal brain-picking session with people who manage other parts of the system.

I think there should be a balanced approach - half a week in the office, half a week WFH.

Aye that’s what we’re doing and have done throughout

 

[dangermows]

So the economy relies on office workers to spend shit loads on lunch breaks.

Working from home is an okay temporary fix but it isn't a long term solution for many businesses and people.

Training, communication, nuanced interaction with colleagues, loneliness and isolation, meeting people even the mundane interactions.

Solitary confinement is a massive punishment.

Baby thrown out with bath water if everyone starts working from home.

Should all be about choice.

 

[Silly Point]

So the economy relies on office workers to spend shit loads on lunch breaks.

Aye it’s laughably really. Would be a perfect opportunity to rethink our economy and invest in proper jobs where there’s a chance of a career, manufacturing and tech. Like Germany

 

[Harry Angstrom]

So the economy relies on office workers to spend shit loads on lunch breaks.


Should all be about choice.

Not if the business needs you in the office.

 

[dangermows]

Not if the business needs you in the office.

Well obviously. Many don't though these days.

Aye it’s laughably really. Would be a perfect opportunity to rethink our economy and invest in proper jobs where there’s a chance of a career, manufacturing and tech. Like Germany

Correct.

 

[Harry Angstrom]

Well obviously. Many don't though these days.

Then I agree.

 

[ebb]

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: One person's Working From Home is another's P45

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: To paraphrase Pastor Martin Niemoller, first they came for taxi drivers and I did not speak out because I was not a taxi driver.

www.dailymail.co.uk

This article is something else. Berating home workers saying they are bone idol, wrecking the economy, and must return to the office now.

Then points out his worked out home for the last 30 plus years.

Richard Littlejohn is an A grade bellend

 

[sonson]

Another thing the government is asking us to sort out among ourselves

Not really sure why we have a government at present if they're not going to govern

 

[North Yorks Mackem]

What you going to do about all the public transport workers thrown out of work as less busses and trains required during rush hour, they are part of the economy

I don't expect they will be. But maybe the heads of these rail companies will have to forgo a 7 figure bonus this year.

With the clear downturn in public transport passenger numbers it might actually be the spark needed to get them to rethink their pricing, particularly peak time fares.

If I get a train before 9 from northallerton to York it can cost 28 quid. Its ridiculous. After 9 its less than 12 quid. Many people just cant afford to use that service for work purposes. Maybe now, this pricing may be changed in favour of the customer, and that can only be a good thing.

Exactly. The need for the smaller businesses hasn't disappeared, it's just moving out of city centres into the old dormitory towns and villages. Business will have to adapt, like we're told they are exceptionally good at.

Not too long ago our biggest concern was the environment and we were wanting people to work from home to reduce our carbon footprint. Now it's sod that, the economy is the most important thing.

Pushing all the people currently working from home into cramped offices in a lot of cases via public transport is something that is not going to appeal to anyone and won't help the R number as we approach the winter months.

Totally agree mate. And good point about the environment.

People will return in greater numbers to offices when they have confidence in doing so. But at the same time there needs to be acceptance that they arent going to return in the numbers we had pre covid. Think we'll more people splitting time between office and home in the future. And ultimately I think it'll be a very good thing.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Working from home is an okay temporary fix but it isn't a long term solution for many businesses and people.

Training, communication, nuanced interaction with colleagues, loneliness and isolation, meeting people even the mundane interactions.

Solitary confinement is a massive punishment.

Baby thrown out with bath water if everyone starts working from home.

Agree with all of that...

On the flip side working from home is a decent permanent solution for many businesses and people.

I can't see me being in the office this side of 2021, and when I go back I'd be surprised if it was 5 days a week.

 

[Cappuccino Kid]

It might have been more feasible a few years ago but most larger businesses seem to operate some sort of reduced capacity/hot desking environment nowadays. Making it a lot more difficult to sort out.

The government can’t even try and set an example. I work for HMRC and the office where I am is about 50-60% desks per 100% of people. They do seem bringing more people back but more on a priority and/or wellbeing basis.

It’ll be an absolute ball ache for any business who do this to sort rota system outs, then there’s the added cost of having to deep cleaning offices daily, toilets several times a day etc. So where people have the capability to WFH, I suspect it will continue until next year now.

Albeit it is no long term solution, but it’s daft to expect people to return to work en masse when we’re entering a vulnerable period.

 

[The King of Um]

I think the reason a lot of office staff will continuing from working at home for at least part of the week if their employers allow is nothing to do with Covid, but because working at home makes their lives better in a number of ways.

I'm lucky, I live within two miles of where I work, but when people are paying 3-5k a year to be treated like cattle on over-crowded, often delayed trains for an hour or more at each end of the day, it's going to feel like a release. People will save money to spend on what they want, rather on what they have to do. Most of us spend money/time on making our houses nice places to be, and I'm fine spending more time in it. A 3/2 or 4/1 model would suit me just fine, and in my employer that's looking increasingly likely.

I do feel deeply sorry for everyone losing their jobs, but I don't think there's any moral obligation to prop up a particular business model. If Pret have two shops twenty yards from each other in one street, then any shift in the way people work is going to screw them, but that's not a reason not to change how we live and work. Some of the rhetoric is getting a little 'moral duty' too, and I wonder how many of the people using that tone buy off Amazon, or visit out of town retail parks, or book their holidays direct online to save money rather than go through a travel agents, or use self-service tills in supermarkets, or try on or get advice in shops but buy cheaper online...

 

[The Exile]

No gatherings indoors over a certain size, but you can go and work in a pokey office with a thousand other drones.

 

[West_Winger]

Grant Shapps telling everyone how safe it is to work from an office while he’s literally working and doing interviews in his bedroom is peak Tory.

 

[errant]

i presume people who criticise the liberal nanny state for interfering with its citizens lives telling them what to do, will be outraged that the state would tell people where & how to spend their working lives?

 

[SA96]

The Government are living in cuckoo land if they think I'm going to pay for the privilege of going to work. I'm saving £200 a month and saving endless hours by not going into the office.

I'm also more productive as there are no distractions. Just me, my laptop and my bose headphones.

The office is dead as a regular place of work. Coffee shops, taxi drivers and others will need to retrain. They should get support from the Government for this.

As for training new workers, Microsoft Teams is much better. In the office, everyone is around one screen which means your view isn't great. Using teams, you can actually record training material which means you can go back if you're stuck.

The only people who want to go back to the office are the lazy middle managers and lazy employees who like talking. German efficiency is the name of the game.

Adapt or die.

 

[arthursboy]

They are totally deluded to think one sentence from a Tory politician will result in people returning to the office.
Of course it’s aimed at the by product of business losses, it’s not about actual return to the office for people.
Numbers are out for foot fall drops and London is huge, which is the centre of the earth on TV these days.

COVID has highlighted and gave people a sense of what working from home is like.
Company’s also have realised that if people are as productive, then they can also benefit from rent free buildings.
Without COVID this would never have been realised so quickly, I doubt this will ever be turned back.
Taxing company’s for people working from home no doubt will arrive, if Boris doesn’t get his way.

Who the hell listens to a Tory minister advising people to get back to work instead of working from home where it has less COVID risk, usually cheaper and usually a better environment both for health and family.
They are indeed nuts.