Get back to the office! But why?

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’

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.

Or perhaps not. Let’s see.

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

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’.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I have been working from home, which obviously saves money on travelling, etc, but I do miss the social interaction of working with my colleagues. I work in a very large office, occupied by myself and 2 others so we are able to social distance with no problem. We’ve yet to work out if we are able to use the kitchen or loos.

No they are not the same, many many firms operated wfh home before covid. I also dislike this whole on behalf of the keyworkers thing, to show solidarity etc, has anyone asked keyworkers, I am a keyworker part time office part time client based, it's much better for me if more people are working from home it makes the commute less awful for one thing.

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

No, this is about working from home. The discussion was ticking along very nicely for several and making some excellent points before being side-tracked.

I know it’s really hard for some to imagine but not everyone works in an office .

I was thinking that I could ask my employees to work from home then I could close the factory and save a fortune on rent, rates, insurance, light and heat etc.

I’ll just get my customers to send their machines and production lines to my employees homes and get all the parts delivered there too. I can’t imagine anyone would mind .

Galaxy

But that's a conversation about furloughed workers not home workers, it's a completely different thing.

The two are very much linked. Some, a minority, worked from home, while others waited for their workplaces to reopen with nothing to carry out whatsoever.

That started, many are now being recalled to their workplaces and are being seen by essential workers who have attended workplaces and fully carried out their duties throughout this crisis as moaning and whining about having to restart.

As stated, a great incentive for those essential workers into the future is it not????

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.

But that's a conversation about furloughed workers not home workers, it's a completely different thing.

Elegran

Because Grandad is convinced that everyone else has had a six-month holiday doing damn-all.

The vast majority of that nine million furloughed workers have indeed had a five months holiday.

The huge hospitality and entertainment industry has been in complete lockdown along with the car sales dealerships, non essential retail outlets and even car servicing was unavailable at the beginning of the crisis, the list is endless

Those people could not work from home as those businesses were completely shut down so there was no work to be done.

How do you think all those that caused such comment by being on the beaches midweek in the hot weather come to be there??????

Furloughed and not working is the answer.

Yes I must tell dh he has been doing fuck all for the last 6 months, well the whole of his team really, they work in all the areas that this country will desperately need at this time, housing, town centre regeneration, etc etc.

growstuff

Elegran

Because Grandad is convinced that everyone else has had a six-month holiday doing damn-all.

I know!

To be fair to Grandad, that is precisely what the 9 million furloughed workers have had. The condition for paying firms to furlough their workers was that there wasn't any work for them to do. In other words, that the company they worked for were unable to carry on their business and make any money during lock down.

People who have been working from home are in a different category. And no, they haven't had a six month holiday...

If any furloughed workers have been 'working' then their employers have been breaking the terms under which they obtained the furlough payments as 'working' implies that they are still able to make money from their businesses.

The very witty Marina Hyde in the Graun says today that Boris has a new mantra:

‘Leave Home. Forget the NHS. Save Pret’.

This is a fascinating debate, with some really valid and interesting points raised. Just to say that I found it so absorbing that I lay awake in bed until 2.00am this morning reading it all. I couldn’t leave it alone! It’s clear that many working practices - though not all by any means - will change dramatically in future. Don’t want to be pessimistic, but there will also be more unemployment and this country is in huge debt already, but let’s hope that some new opportunities come out of it as well. We all need to live reasonably well and have a decent income to support ourselves and our families. I know that’s a whole new debate, but let’s hope we can recover from all this.

Elegran

Because Grandad is convinced that everyone else has had a six-month holiday doing damn-all.

I know!