Get back to the office! But why?

I have just checked on the cost of an annual season ticket from Ipswich to Liverpool Street. It's £6944 which means that a commuter has to earn nearly £10,000 salary just to pay to get to work.

It's about the same from here into Liverpool Street plus car parking at the station, if you don't have anybody to give you a lift.

Do we need HS2? 3rd runway at Heathrow?

Sorry if someone has already written this - I haven't read all the posts (16pages so far).

The changes we are seeing makes me wonder why on earth are we ploughing on ahead with HS2? With so many people working from home, getting used to Zoom etc, why are we wasting so much money on a project that is probably largely obsolete already?

So many advantage and perhaps a few imponderables, depending on your personality and the type of job. One of the huge advantages must be the flexibility, especially foe women, and the control it gives you over working patterns and life/work balance.

It’s not about petty little issues such as how long you take for a lunch-break. Lack of control over your life and/or work is a major contributor to stress. If you can choose to start work at 7.00am and finish earlier, or start later and work on after office hours, or split the day into two four hour sessions with a good midday break, then that is flexibility.

This idea that working from home is a skivers charter makes me wonder what kind of person would think that???

But society is changing, and we should perhaps accept that not everything, or every job or things we might hold dear will survive. There will be huge challenges ahead, brave decisions to be made and new opportunities will open up as others close.

Furret as I posted up thread employers will consider many things when deciding on the WFH / hours spent in office balance. All Companies are different, with a variety of needs / agendas.

From a purely personal point of view, we know who needs to be on the premises and who can work remotely, however the juggling of personnel is a minefield for employers.

Furret in regard to your post @20:56 today, you refer to persons working from home as having the flexibility to start early, break the day up into separate working sections, work outside standard office hours etc. That may well create a fine working and social life for them, but how about workers who have to collaborate with them or rely on being able to contact such persons for support.

In the above, how are those fellow workers supposed to know when that person working from home are at their desk and contactable. Freedom for the home worker can be loss of efficiency and work output for others.

I referred earlier in this thread to where on of our assignment teams attended a food distribution centre where the essential worker employees had Carrie out their duties throughout the crisis at that workplace to provide for the requirements of all of us. While they carried out that role many of the main office staff had been told to work from home.

Those working from home rapidly became difficult to contact by the distribution centre because they were then not at their desk on a set hour basis. The forging eventually led to a serious safety incident at the centre. When the loading dock staff and their supervisors were interviewed about the incident they all stated that the felt entirely abandoned by "their bosses" and the other office staff as they were at home uncontactable and inaccessible for large parts of each working shift at the distribution centre.

It would seem by reading this thread that many of those working from home rapidly get into a psychological state of isolation feeling that they are no longer a part of what should be a full working team.

Only they matter and no one else, and that is a very large problem in those working in isolation from their homes.

Grandad you do understand that firms have procedures for working from home, some people will have core hours, some will be more flexible, it really isnt difficult, there are many forms of monitoring.

Speaking from my DD’s personal experience, she’s contactable all the time when WFH, (unlike during the two hours a day she was driving on her commute). Her phone and computer never stop pinging, even during the evenings, which is how she has been working up until midnight sometimes.

Luckily, she has supportive employers who don’t denigrate their staff and she’s received plaudits from the top bosses for the work she’s done, protecting schools and vulnerable children.

Galaxy

Grandad you do understand that firms have procedures for working from home, some people will have core hours, some will be more flexible, it really isnt difficult, there are many forms of monitoring.

I am well aware Galaxy that there are many forms of monitoring but in many cases that monitoring is not being carried out as our assignment team members have witnessed on several occasions.

You also only have to read what the OP has posted on regard to walking the dog, Going for runs or jogging, breaking up the day for social reason and not keeping set hours.

Fine life for them but what about all those who need to contact them or are relying on them for essential support. They can go to hell while the home worker is out for a jog or off on a shopping trip?????

Are office workers at their desk the entire time between 8am-5pm? Do they never go for lunch, or to the bathroom or talk to their colleagues or slip out to buy a birthday gift for their partner or buy the much-vaunted coffee and sandwiches?

I’d say that many of us who’ve had to call people in their offices have been fobbed off with excuses for why the person is not available such as ‘Sorry, they’re in a meeting or with the boss,’ or simply ‘Not at their desk.’

Grandad1943

Furret in regard to your post @20:56 today, you refer to persons working from home as having the flexibility to start early, break the day up into separate working sections, work outside standard office hours etc. That may well create a fine working and social life for them, but how about workers who have to collaborate with them or rely on being able to contact such persons for support.

In the above, how are those fellow workers supposed to know when that person working from home are at their desk and contactable. Freedom for the home worker can be loss of efficiency and work output for others.

I referred earlier in this thread to where on of our assignment teams attended a food distribution centre where the essential worker employees had Carrie out their duties throughout the crisis at that workplace to provide for the requirements of all of us. While they carried out that role many of the main office staff had been told to work from home.

Those working from home rapidly became difficult to contact by the distribution centre because they were then not at their desk on a set hour basis. The forging eventually led to a serious safety incident at the centre. When the loading dock staff and their supervisors were interviewed about the incident they all stated that the felt entirely abandoned by "their bosses" and the other office staff as they were at home uncontactable and inaccessible for large parts of each working shift at the distribution centre.

It would seem by reading this thread that many of those working from home rapidly get into a psychological state of isolation feeling that they are no longer a part of what should be a full working team.

Only they matter and no one else, and that is a very large problem in those working in isolation from their homes.

Stop being so negative. I worked in this way for six years. It’s not a ‘jolly’ as you seem to think for those working from home and there are many for whom this way of working is second nature. Try to think outside your own working situation. Your mention of distribution and loading dock mean nothing to me. These are probably not compatible with working from home.

I am talking about an entirely different scenario. Those who don’t have a ‘boss’ as such; a line manager possibly, at the end of a mobile, should they wish to discuss something with them.

Your working world is as alien to me as doubtless mine is to you. I accept that yours is probably not the sort of ‘job’ that can effectively operate from home 100%. Please do me the courtesy that there are many who can effectively, efficiently and happily work this way a large percentage of the time.

But apparently those in offices are single handedly saving the economy by popping out to sandwich shops, spending money in costa, etc. Sounds a lovely life, those who need them will just have to wait till they pick up their latte.

SueDonim

Are office workers at their desk the entire time between 8am-5pm? Do they never go for lunch, or to the bathroom or talk to their colleagues or slip out to buy a birthday gift for their partner or buy the much-vaunted coffee and sandwiches?

I’d say that many of us who’ve had to call people in their offices have been fobbed off with excuses for why the person is not available such as ‘Sorry, they’re in a meeting or with the boss,’ or simply ‘Not at their desk.’

Yes but it is always known where they are and if necessary if its really important such as a safety issue they normally can be contacted in minutes directly or on their phones.

With what became a safety incident the person involved who was working from home could not be contacted even on their phone. When interviewed in regard to the matter it was stated that the children were causing problems and therefore an important message did not get passed to the loading dock office at the Distribution centre.

And there lays the great divide and in that the digressions that can occur from working in isolation at home when you are supposed to be an essential part of a full working team.

Children can still go to a childminder, nursery, family member, though.

Grandad I can give numerous examples where people working in an office failed to pass on a message which resulted in serious issues. I am able to understand that this doesnt mean that working in an office is in itself the cause of the issue.

Galaxy

But apparently those in offices are single handedly saving the economy by popping out to sandwich shops, spending money in costa, etc. Sounds a lovely life, those who need them will just have to wait till they pick up their latte.

Yes I believe you have now got what is going on Galaxy with many of those supposedly working from home.

So if it’s always known where workers are, why aren’t they told to attend to calls from members of the public?

And the thought of all messages being passed on in offices is hilarious! I bet there are countless GNetters who have tales of wrangling with officialdom because messages haven’t been passed on.

Galaxy my dd always took her own lunch to her office. It’s healthier and cheaper than anything she could buy locally.

Grandad I know that a member of my family, when working from home, started at 6.30 am, an opportunity to deal with all the queries that had come in after 6.30 pm the night before. Time spent commuting was time spent working, before conference calls and online meetings, phone calls started later at about 8.30. The rest of the day was spent working as some problems are more difficult to deal with remotely than in person on site.

SueDonim

So if it’s always known where workers are, why aren’t they told to attend to calls from members of the public?

And the thought of all messages being passed on in offices is hilarious! I bet there are countless GNetters who have tales of wrangling with officialdom because messages haven’t been passed on.

Galaxy my dd always took her own lunch to her office. It’s healthier and cheaper than anything she could buy locally.

I am afraid that it is your post that hilarious SueDonim. It is often that with many staff it is not their role to deal with members of the general public and therefore they are not trained to do so.

Also in regard to " officialdom" in passing messages to offices, the office involved was the loading dock office in a very large distribution centre. The persons in that office are twenty-four hours per day dealing with the movement of heavy pallets, cages and vehicles and the message that was not passed on greatly affected the safety in the handling and movement of all the foregoing.

If you are part of a team such as that you concentrate on the job at hand and not be distracted whether that is in working from home or in the offices attached to the distribution centre.

Don’t want to get involved with the politics here but I don’t see why people can’t get back to work. My son works for a large company in London and he’s gone back as he’s more productive there. He lives on his own and it’s important for his mental health. There are lots of independent food outlets around where he works and they absolutely depend on people being there to survive. People are so quick to slate the big companies but at the end of the day they employ a lot of people. My son has taken a risk in going back as he’s got an auto immune disease and is therefore at risk. I’m so proud of him. Lots of people are pro working from home because in reality they are not so accountable. I used to work for a local authority and I know for a fact there are hundreds if not thousands of people who are sitting at home with nothing to do whilst still picking up their normal salary every month. They haven’t even been furloughed and are not at risk of losing their jobs. It’s costing us all and we will all pay for it in the end.

If you are part of a team such as that you concentrate on the job at hand and not be distracted whether that is in working from home or in the offices attached to the distribution centre.

Perhaps that person wasn't up to the job or conscientious enough to carry out their duties professionally whether at home or in the office.

Perhaps they were paid peanuts, which, as you know, often does not attract the right calibre of person for such a responsible job.

I wasn’t speaking of your situation, Grandad as I don’t know of it beyond what you say.

If it isn’t the role of certain office staff to deal with members of the public, why are they answering phones in the first place? You’re certainly not painting a great picture of efficiency in workplaces.

Candy6, people with a tendency to be idle will be so, whether at home or in an office.

SueDonim, would you expect an employee who works in the accounts department office of an electrical retailer to be answering the phone from a customer who has problems with a fridge they had purchased.

Of course not, and that phone call would be diverted to customer services imeaditly it was received.

And that's the way it works.