Get back to the office! But why?

Furret

Working from home does not encourage eating at your desk. In fact I took a break, ate in the garden if nice and took the dog for a walk. And I’m not alone. A couple of colleagues went running and had a quick shower afterwards, another prepped the evening meal. Some were able to walk their children to school and/or pick them up afterwards.

It’s all about choice.

I wonder if while all this walking the dog, running and showering was taking place there were people who were actually in their workplaces relying on those people being at their desks at home for information and support etc.

And thereby lays the real problem with home working, collaboration with others and self-discipline.

Furret

Don’t be silly gilly it’s about those who can work from home.

My point being Furret is that some people have no choice but to physically go to work. We can’t all work from our dining room table.

before being side-tracked
I hope eating sandwiches at the desk was not considered side tracking, Pret was mentioned in the OP.

Yes according to this thread arent all these people in offices popping out for sandwiches every 20 seconds and such, lazy gits.

Grandad1943

Furret

Working from home does not encourage eating at your desk. In fact I took a break, ate in the garden if nice and took the dog for a walk. And I’m not alone. A couple of colleagues went running and had a quick shower afterwards, another prepped the evening meal. Some were able to walk their children to school and/or pick them up afterwards.

It’s all about choice.

I wonder if while all this walking the dog, running and showering was taking place there were people who were actually in their workplaces relying on those people being at their desks at home for information and support etc.

And thereby lays the real problem with home working, collaboration with others and self-discipline.

Blimey they must have long lunch breaks Furret It’s usually 30 minutes in these parts. Hardly time to eat a sandwich never mind going for a walk, taking a shower, picking the kids up from school etc. Kind of answers the question as to why we are all still waiting on hold for hours when everyone is “working “ from home.

More sense to work from home if it's possible, ourselves and the planet. This government are so out of touch

I tell you one good reason to ‘get back to the office’.... work isn’t just about earning your living , it’s about having purpose everyday.... seeing your workmates..People like my son has been working from home since lockdown.... he’s single.... lives alone.... and everyday in this same environment is bad for him and hundreds of thousands like him . Approx 40% of households are ‘singles’, and I suspect a lot of mental health issues will be forthcoming if men and women are forced into this unnatural way of working. He is sorry now to be ‘on-line’, as the staff who weren’t on line got to stay ‘at work’.

OK. Looks like the thread is now dead. Negativity has taken over, but it was great while it was ongoing.

Or perhaps not. Let’s see.

WORKING from home is not the same as being furloughed.

How does anyone think all the IT work that had to be done for all the businesses and organisations that still could operate was done when the people people had to stay well apart?

The insurance, legal, financial and educational work that continued, the local authority responsibilities for keeping communications with all workers going and fixing problems in housing, social work, roads, and bin collections, the coding checks on websites, the answering of online queries from anxious people about all kinds of medical and emotional problems that they didn't want to bother potentially over-worked GP's with, the keeping up-to-date of thousands - tens of thousands - of websites for the businesses now trading online instead of in person.

Many of these were things which had not previously been done from home, online. The software had to be found or written, the hardware bought, distributed, trained for, the whole thing kept operational and inexperienced operators supported while they grappled with unfamilar technology and concepts.

Grandad praises (rightly) the work of transport workers and other key workers in keeping the country supplied, nursed, transported and so on, but people in other industries where they were not visibly doing their work were also busy. As well as doing their jobs, a lot of them were also doing what amounted to the equivalent of the transport industry building new roads, designing trucks and rewriting the highway code.

Way back in the dark ages we were told that with new technology we’d only have to work three days a week, but what happened is that greedy companies made fewer of us work harder, longer for less pay and all the benefits of technology were scooped up in obscene profits and ever spiralling growth. Of course the government support business and the demands for children to return to school are about getting parents back to work for the economy, and sod the fact that even people who have been designated extremely clinically vulnerable to life threatening complications from Covid will be risking their lives for the sake of the mighty god ‘economy’

That means 60 % arent singles and for many of them working from home improves social life wellbeing mental health etc. I am more than happy for people to go into the office I find it really weird that people worry themselves about others working arrangements.

I used to work from home before retirement, although I mostly was visiting large companies . Perhaps go into the office once a week or fortnight, depending on what was needed. Always worked, never took advantage. Much preferred it to the office because I was able to concentrate on what I was doing without constant interruptions. Quality of work was much better as a result.

My offspring have set up dedicated offices. I was very impressed when I had a look. Daughter has do not disturb on her door when she is working. She starts at 8.30 stops for a quick lunch and works through.
Son and dil are both working from home. So one has the dining room set up and the other one of the spare bedrooms as my son has a lot of zoom stuff going on and contact with consultants staff etc. So is talking a lot of the day.

They are all as happy as larks and see no reason to return to the office. Socialising outside of the office with working colleagues is planned, once covid is sorted.

Lots of people are happily working safely at home now so why drag everyone into a risk zone when it’s possible the onset of winter will cause shutdowns and everybody will have to work at home again ! Just to make money for Bozzy’s friends who own office buildings and Whetherspoons ?

Agreed Furret, initially there were some great exchanges of ideas and experiences and it's a shame that it's become a platform for accusations of home workers feckless and idle behaviour and worries about "but how will the local butty shops survive". Their is a seismic shift in how office work will be radically changed in the future and the impact that those changes will have in cities and towns across the country that will affect not just sandwich shops but every other ancillary company that supports them. This will include local authorities Business Rates who stand to lose significant revenue when offices are left vacant for long periods of time.

There are other types of work other than office based what a load of fuss I for one will be glad to get back to my office job to chat with my colleagues rather than be isolated in a spare bedroom

Good points Chewbacca

I am retired now, but if I was still working and forced to return to the office, rather than working from home, I would not be going out onto the streets to buy sandwiches but would continue as before, ie taking a packed lunch with me. Many people would do the same so there would be no gain, only the misery of commuting resuming, pollution going back up and loss of productivity which many have found working from home.
There has been a recent publicity drive on social media, by our city Council, to get people back to shopping in the city centre. Many arguments against this - as another poster has said, we should stop buying more and more 'stuff' we don't need; who wants to risk using public transport (and our council is very anti-car and is closing many roads to cars to force people to use the buses). And last but not least, for me personally having to wear a mask is a hot sweaty misery and therefore wild horses won't drag me into going to shops until masks aren't necessary. Should that not happen, then I'm fine with online shopping and never setting foot in a shop, coffee shop or restaurant again.

katy1950

There are other types of work other than office based what a load of fuss I for one will be glad to get back to my office job to chat with my colleagues rather than be isolated in a spare bedroom

Fine. That’s what suits you.

I can see the many advantages from WFH but spare a thought for all those office cleaners who presumably will be out of work now or soon. They work hard, very unsociable hours for little pay. It’s not just the coffee shops that will suffer.

Does anyone think that workers may get their union involved if they're made unnecessarily to go back to their workplace?

I don't think the fact that some are unable to work from home is reason enough to not allow others.

My travelling time to work using buses has been easier, by the way, due to not having so many people travelling.

Saggi

I tell you one good reason to ‘get back to the office’.... work isn’t just about earning your living , it’s about having purpose everyday.... seeing your workmates..People like my son has been working from home since lockdown.... he’s single.... lives alone.... and everyday in this same environment is bad for him and hundreds of thousands like him . Approx 40% of households are ‘singles’, and I suspect a lot of mental health issues will be forthcoming if men and women are forced into this unnatural way of working. He is sorry now to be ‘on-line’, as the staff who weren’t on line got to stay ‘at work’.

saggi it is possible to have a purpose every day even without any work. This idea that work defines us, is essential to our wellbeing is propaganda - a big fat lie. Yes, work IS necessary, but we now see the downside of globalisation and the destruction of manufacturing jobs. The service industry is over represented in our economy, and that is why so many jobs are being lost.

I admit it, I have not read all the posts,,

strange though to me, that our lives/finances and everything seem to be carried on in offices or office work
that for me is the sadness that we have lost or more likely given our manufacturing away to China etc.

there are gardeners, landscapers, cleaners,, and on and on, these jobs are not carried out in offices..

I do think this Conservative government have lost it for some time to come now.. perhaps we should be looking to the Labour, and other oppositions,

I see the Lib Dems are anti Brexit so that finishes them for me.

Yes the issue of pollution is one of the most important I think, people seem to be talking about the unnatural nature of working from home but sitting in a car mostly stationary for two hours of the day is is no way natural or sociable.

I agree that if it works having people at home that’s great as the environment gains and employers will eventually be able to pay less as they don’t have to think about employees travel costs. Still can’t get my head round people insisting we need to stay at home cos of the virus...2 people died the other day.....2!!! Two. One more than one. In a population of 60+ million.
Finally if life were a video game I would shoot everyone walking around with a coffee in their hands! Posers ?