Get back to the office! But why?

Lots of people will be replaced with cheaper staff like Richard Branson has done with virgin they will be from another country

This feels a bit like battery hens arguing for the right to go back into their tiny little wire cages when they could be roaming around outside.

But being at home all the time has sky-rocketed domestic abuse. For a lot of people the workplace is their refuge

Yes, I take the good points being raised about office cleaners. Can I just add though that just this week I’ve noticed our local Playbox is advertising for several cleaners to come in when it is closed to give it a thorough clean as part of their a Covid security measures. Perhaps pubs, restaurants etc are doing likewise as they are going to need the same.

Things do have a way of balancing out. Supply and demand.

Remember that if staff can work from home, they can also work from abroad, possibly from countries where wages are considerably lower - think call centres.
Our unemployment stats are bad enough already, be careful what you wish for.

Caro57

But being at home all the time has sky-rocketed domestic abuse. For a lot of people the workplace is their refuge

While you are correct this is not lockdown.

Mooney59

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 ?

Good post Mooney59 the next step from working from home is employers realising that they don’t need to pay the wages, NI, pensions etc. for people to work in this country at all .

Presumably some of the money saved from rail fares etc will now go back into the economy in a different way.

X posts with you MawB2 my thoughts exactly .

All this just goes to show how skewed our priorities are.
How has a building become so important?

The people you work with will still be around outside of that building, so you can meet up.
You'll still be in an abusive relationship, whether you go to that building or not.

It's definitely to get footfall back to encourage spending. Personally I feel if a lot of those coffee/food outlets vanished it would do the population a lot of good. Obesity would hopefully reduce: less sausage rolls, sandwiches with huge calorific value eaten on a whim. Perhaps workers, especially office staff will learn to make a lunch box up and save a fair amount in cash. Sorry, I know workers in these outlets could lose jobs.

Yes, I know that companies like Pret A Manger are feeling the pinch but as one commuter tweeted ‘horrifying to learn that if I don’t expose myself and everyone I care about to this virus then one of the five Pret A Mangers between the tube station and my office might become unprofitable

I think this shows a very imperfect understanding of the complex (fragile) network of our economy. It isn’t a simple case of one person’s commute to work affecting Pret’s profits but the complex interdependence of transport, hospitality, service, logistics, retail, and other services.
Take one or more out of the equation and like a house of cards, it can all crumble - as we are seeing now.
It’s like that old tale about how for the want of a horse shoe nail, a country was lost.
(For the want if a nail, a shoe was lost, for the want if a shoe, a horse was lost etc)
Everybody needs to be aware of the bigger picture.

Just to be clear gilly are you saying that those who can and those who want to and those whose employers are happy with working from home should not be encourage to?

Or do you think that because some people have no option but to go into their work place then everyone else should,

Most of my family, teachers, doctors, a social worker and a bus driver have no option. But my son can and does work from home and has done for years. None of the rest of the family begrudge him this privilege.

Ellianne Sat 29-Aug-20 08:01:13
Good post

Someone made a point about non-working older people being resistant to changes which will not affect them, but Ellianne's post is very good and makes some pertinent points.

Bouncing ideas off others in the workplace is often an essential of working life and having meetings online and conference calls does not always work as successfully. It could become a very lonely existence for many.

I think human beings, especially the younger generations, have short memories. They will forget about this pandemic and its restrictions very quickly and will want to be back out there again doing what they do best.... spending money and socialising. Doing these things within the communal workplace is how they like to function
Another good post

Human beings are, in the main, social animals.

A mix of going in to work and working from home on one or two days a week seemed to suit many people before lockdown and they and their employers may find that a good way of future working.

Yes, it’s complicated Maw but things need to be readjusted. We couldn’t continue as before Covid anyway.

How fortunate are those whose jobs offer them the option of working from home! Not that working from home a bed of roses: I did so for 20 years and there were as many downsides as upsides.
Those of you who couldn't care less about Costa, Starbucks etc, remember that if they close the ones who suffer will be those employees who find themselves jobless.

I omitted to mention the additional emotional and MH effects of the isolation of WFH for some people, plus the costs of heating and energy, the pressure on space, as not everybody has a dedicated home office and using bedrooms and the kitchen table is not a viable arrangement in many families.
WFH is not a universal panacea - I can remember how, even though my job had its own stresses and strains, sometimes it was a relief to leave home issues behind me and spend my working day with colleagues who were not entirely aware of what was going on in my life and concentrating on other issues.

Whitewave your family is very lucky to have separate rooms which they can set up as offices in their own homes.
Not everyone has a large enough home with spare bedroom or separate dining room (many houses have open plan kitchen/diners now anyway) and if more than one person is working from home then it can become impossible, especially when taking conference calls.

Lots of crossed posts aka “great minds thinking alike”

Many people had to carry on going to work all through lockdown.

It seems there are advantages and disadvantages to those who could work from home actually going back into their workplaces. It would certainly not be advantageous to the country if many of the working from home jobs disappeared and were performed in other countries.

X post with MawB
I thought one of my DC would be reluctant to go back to the office and some of the travel which his job necessitates but he did say he was looking forward to it.

When the computer first became a part of our everyday lives many years ago the talk then was for more office based people to work from home and all the advantages that would give.
I often wondered why everybody was still battling the daily commute and expense of getting to work and when this home working would actually happen. Now Covid has forced the issue and on the whole it seems to work for many people so why should they be pushed back into the office?
I heard a young man on the radio the other day who said he's sick of acquaintances asking when he's going back to work. He is at work, he's never stopped! He also said that his parents, who live in India have been able to see the Himalayas for the first time in forty years due to the fall in air pollution. Surely that alone should make us pause and think.

Someone did mention the problem of access to information working from home. Our son and his colleagues have to lock themselves in a secure room at the office. I don't know what he does, MoD stuff, impossible to work from home.
Our daughter was in the process of buying a house but the solicitor said land registry searches had a huge backlog due to civil servants not being able to go into the office. The house sales Rishi wanted to push through are starting to stall so office workers need to get back to their desks to stop the knock on effect. Many legal documents are off limits to home workers.
I know these examples might not be common, but that is two in my immediate family who are affected.

It is up to the business owners / employers to decide what is best for their Company.

They will be looking at a number of things - productivity, connectivity (WiFi, data safety etc) and the most important profitability.

In my opinion it is essential for some face to face contact whether that be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

No amount of ZOOM meetings can compensate for the instantaneous bouncing of ideas or problem solving which occurs in the workplace.

As a business owner and employer I make the decisions for my business, regardless of what the PM might encourage.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.