Get back to the office! But why?

(Exactly)

That was a reply to your question "Why should . . "

Exacrly! It wasn't so long ago that companies had huge typing pools. That work can now be done anywhere in the world.

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

Elegran That might happen. Amazon has been talking about drone delivery services.

The Industrial Revolution was only about 200 years ago, and wasn't an overnight change. Commuting to work has not been the norm for very long in the history of the country. It isn't set in stone.

Why should they "get on with it", if employers and employees find a solution which suits both of them better?

It isn't either/or. Some people have to go where their work is, some can do it at home, some mix and match. Before the Industrial Revolution it was normal for most manufacturing to be done at home or in a workshop attached to a home.

But selling that work might be done by the maker taking his/her stuff - the butter, cheese or pies, the chairs or pins - to a market stall once a week, or visiting a customerin their home to make a dress on the spot or measure up a room for furniture.

It was the heavy and expensive machinery and bulk production that made economic and practical sense to gather all the workers together in one place.

Much of that isn't needed now that a lot of businesses involve more comminication than hands-on production. Those that require many people to be physically present and together won't change, but now that so much has been shown to be perfectly effective with a dispersed workforce, I foresee many organisations being likely to take that up.

Grandad's transport workers obviously can't stay at home to work, of course - not until a Star Trek style transporter becomes reality.

vegansrock, agreed many large workplaces still have canteen facilities. However, in Britain office environments tend to be small and away from the main centres of output or production in many companies.

Therefore the vast majority of office workers tend to go out for their main breaks as only restroom facilities are provided within their offices.

Another thing to be considered is the fact that essential workers have had to attend their places of work throughout the crisis and carry out their full duties while nine million others have remained at home on near full pay often doing nothing

How does it look to those essential workers who have kept us all supplied with all we have required for near six months to witness many of the above now moaning and whining about now having to return to their places of work.

A great incentive for those essential workers to once more do that all again should the pandemic return in the winter.

Some should wake up, get back to their employment sites, work the problems that may bring about and Get on with it

I think the last survey I saw was 9/10 would prefer to stay wfh. I think for a lot of people its nothing to do with covid it's the realisation that their quality of life is better.

Thank you Maggie we crossed posts.

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
You won't change the way they are.

Good post Ellianne. I’ve been going to the office continuously since lockdown and resisting any attempt by my employer to make me work from home. I really like going to work - the interaction with colleagues etc and would hate to WFH. I can’t imagine many young people preferring to WFH, it must be older people with families around and it enfuriates me that so many people are worried about going back to the office. I’m 63 and have no intention of retiring, as long as I’m able to go OUT to work.

growstuff

It doesn't matter what anybody on here says, companies will make the decisions. It's interesting that pensioners think that workers should return to working in offices, but the workers themselves would prefer to stay working at home, for at least part of the week. I wonder why that is.

It is because pensioners are frequently change adverse.

Or Luddites if you prefer!☺️

I understand from a reliable source that there have been concerns about security with some people who work from home, their technology is not equipped to deal effectively with this. There are groups of people whose work needs to be secure.
I agree with someone up thread who said large offices are not necessary, local offices in smaller towns would help everyone.
One way and another for a lot of people life is going to be very different, its scary.

People eat at their desks in offices. I'm not sure where you get the idea that they're all out in parks.
The younger people I know do not usually eat packed lunches at their desks. They go out of the office to spend their money on their favourite beverage and filled bagel. They are more health conscious and go for a walk or drop into the gym. The fitness industry is heaving at lunchtime with those wanting to workout, it doesn't have to be in a park, there are alternatives I know that.

It's amazing how upsetting people find change and other people doing things differently to them. I couldn't care less if people want to work in an office, but people get very upset about a different way of working. It shows quite a lack of creativity and flexibility, the exact opposite of the google situation I would have thought.

People in some companies were already working at home long before the pandemic,

It doesn't matter what anybody on here says, companies will make the decisions. It's interesting that pensioners think that workers should return to working in offices, but the workers themselves would prefer to stay working at home, for at least part of the week. I wonder why that is.

And your post 08:13 Ellianne. ?????

grandad there are certainly canteens in many offices. my DS works in a large city firm where free meals were provided, plus gym membership and all sorts. He still prefers to work from home for at least part of the week as the commute is so dire. He has a choice. Some people who wfh go to local cafes where they can take their laptop and use their wifi and meet others, there is one such near us. Yes most at home will make their own coffee and sandwiches, but many take their own lunch to work and have a coffee machine in the office so don’t visit the likes of Pret. I think many city centres will change and evolve, which isn’t a bad thing.

Ellianne, your post @08:01 today is "spot on". ?????

People eat at their desks in offices. I'm not sure where you get the idea that they're all out in parks.

The British practice of eating and working at your desk is appalling, and working from home encourages that. One only had to look at the streets and parks of London at lunchtime to see workers out in the sunshine (rain?) happily eating their lunches and socialising. It was quite a challenge to get a table in a restaurant at lunchtime.

vegansrock, in regard to your post @07:07 today, canteens are very much a thing of the past. A restroom in an office environment is these days provided in which staff have to provide their own food and drinks that normally come from vending machines.

Cleaners are now in high demand as companies that have operated throughout the lockdown have required much higher cleaning and sanitising standards which has brought a demand for extra cleaners. As many more other companies return to office-based working that demand for cleaners can only further increase.

In regards to people not wanting to return to making commutes, that will be a decision their employers will be making for them. All essential workers have had to continue to make those commutes throughout the crisis with no option given to them.

Personally, I believe that office and other workplace based employment will return as the prime method of working and that would not be a bad thing if the recession that lies before Britain now is not to be even further deepened.

By the way, when you are working from home you tend not to go to the local cafe to buy coffee and sandwiches, you just raid the fridge and only the local supermarket benefits from that.