Get back to the office! But why?

Elegran

But there is resentment around, for instance from those furloughed on reduced pay toward those who have been on full pay throughout, but are believed not to have been really working (we have seen some really acid accusations of that on Gransnet, aimed at specific occupations) It would not be surprising if those who face the possible complete loss of their jobs felt resentful that many who have jobs to return to are saying they would rather do them from the comfort of their own home than face long commutes.

That has always been the case though, and likely to get far worse this winter.

I believe it will be those who do not wish to return to their offices when requested to do so, or those that have medical reasons why they cannot return who will find their employers will be targeting them for dismissal.

There is already very strong evidence that the above is happening and with all schools fully reopened those that have been stating they cannot return due to lack of child care will be in the target line if they still do not return.

Office staff attached directly in support roles to large distribution, processing and production centres are very much the employees coming under pressure in the above.

What evidence is that?

Grandad1943

I believe it will be those who do not wish to return to their offices when requested to do so, or those that have medical reasons why they cannot return who will find their employers will be targeting them for dismissal.

There is already very strong evidence that the above is happening and with all schools fully reopened those that have been stating they cannot return due to lack of child care will be in the target line if they still do not return.

Office staff attached directly in support roles to large distribution, processing and production centres are very much the employees coming under pressure in the above.

I haven’t seen such evidence. Are you sure about that or is it wishful thinking?

There is resentment towards unemployed people on here.
You know? The ones with the latest phones and massive TVs?

I'm not sure that others' resentment should be reason to compromise the chance of a more contented life.

Actually it would seem that more employers than ever are happy that employers who can continue to work from home. Times they are a-changing.

Actually it would seem that more employers than ever are happy that employers who can continue to work from home. Times they are a-changing.

They certainly are in the company I work for. A large national, and international company, who has sent regular email notices to all staff, reassuring them that no one is being asked, let alone forced, to go back into the office any time soon. In fact, we've been asked to let them know if we do want to go in, for any reason, so that they can take the appropriate safety measures.

As for home workers "slacking off", my working day is supposed to 6 hours a day. I did 10 hours today. Voluntarily.

Chewbacca

^Actually it would seem that more employers than ever are happy that employers who can^ continue to work from home. Times they are a-changing.

They certainly are in the company I work for. A large national, and international company, who has sent regular email notices to all staff, reassuring them that no one is being asked, let alone forced, to go back into the office any time soon. In fact, we've been asked to let them know if we do want to go in, for any reason, so that they can take the appropriate safety measures.

As for home workers "slacking off", my working day is supposed to 6 hours a day. I did 10 hours today. Voluntarily.

From those I have spoken to that’s exactly their experience with their employer

Galaxy

What evidence is that?

We are witnessing that in our own business as employers seek independent investigation of cases where employees are advising that they cannot return to their workplaces for medical reasons.

Many companies are very short of work and no one wishes to dismiss an employee who is fully fit to carry out all work within the workplace when they may have staff who cannot do such.

Therefore those employees are the workers who are becoming the targets for dismissal.

It also has to be remembered that a no-deal Brexit is now very much on the cards and employers especially in transport and distribution will want all employees available on-site where as with lockdown rapid decisions and changes to operations will be required at very short notice.

It is going to be a very challenging and hard world out there in the coming months.

I think you seem to think that your own experience equals evidence. There are numerous people on this thread saying the opposite, so presumably that is evidence too.

I really don't understand why Grandad can't accept that, for some employers, if not himself, having staff working from home is a beneficial move for their employees, the company and the environment.

Galaxy

I think you seem to think that your own experience equals evidence. There are numerous people on this thread saying the opposite, so presumably that is evidence too.

I believe that the experience of our business based on the work of the four assignment teams that we operate is the strongest evidence there is to be found.

Those assignment teams enter very many companies over the course of their operations and in that they report back on the ever growing harshness of the commercial and employment world at the present time.

The Covid-19 crisis has already weakened badly the financial resilience of very many companies. Britain now has the prospect of a no-deal Brexit the challenges of which no other nation in the world will have to meet as they recover from the Covid crisis.

In the above, it will be the businesses that become very lean and very mean who will survive. As one of our Assignment Team controllers stated on one of the very late nights we have worked in our offices this week, "unless something changes very rapidly in Britain we seem to be entering a period of a perfect storm".

Sometimes a storm is just what's needed.

Grandad
I know that this is happening. I'm talking about a job that can't be done from home.
The people who have been given notice are those who have been cruising along for years and not always pulling their weight.

Yes my team deals with many many teams too, Dh 's team is in contact with pretty much every region of the country, again personal experience is not evidence.
Yes we are in for a very rough ride as a country, there isnt any evidence that this will affect companies who undertake home working more than those who dont.

I'm quite astounded at the resistance to home based jobs.
There are lots of threads started about how very difficult working families find juggling it all - hence grandparents doing what is sometimes the lion's share of childcare, cooking dinners, overnight stays and all.
Here is the perfect opportunity to turn the tide back to a more manageable lifestyle (for whole families)

For what it is worth I will give my view on what will happen in the coming months and that will sound very harsh.

Those that have worked from home and those that have been furloughed with no work whatsoever but who normally operate in their job role in collaboration or support of others will be instructed to return to their places of work. Those that cannot for various reasons will be dismissed on whatever grounds their employers can devise in terms of the lowest cost.

Those that have worked from home and are independent of having to collaborate or work in support of others will be allowed to continue to do so as that will allow their employers to reduce office space requirements and therefore costs.

However, in the very harsh commercial word Britain is now entering any job which has been demonstrated can be carried out remotely away from a central office can just as easily be carried out from New Delhi as it can from Dagenham.

The above would give a company not only reduced costs in office space but also very much reduced costs in terms of salaries. In any business that has its back to the wall financially due to the covid crisis and a no-deal Brexit, the foregoing may well be a compelling choice.

In a commercial perfect storm such decisions are inevitable and what is to the "benefit of staff" will not enter into such decisions.

Financial survival will be everything.

And especially for women.

That makes sense, grandad.
Companies will do what is necessary to stay afloat, I'm sure, but isnt it also possible that they'll be looking to oust anyone who can't work from home, first and foremost?

Galaxy

And especially for women.

Galaxy??????????

I was talking to miss adventure.

You added a stealth post, grandad.

MissAdventure

That makes sense, grandad.
Companies will do what is necessary to stay afloat, I'm sure, but isnt it also possible that they'll be looking to oust anyone who can't work from home, first and foremost?

Most of those who cannot work from home are manual workers who have to physically attend a place of work to carry out their job roles. White-collar workers that have to closely collaborate or work in support of those manual workers will be secure in their employment I believe. In that, they are the office workers whose place of employment are directly attached to distribution, processing or production centres.

However, central office staff may well be "instructed" to work from home as in that their employers can save substantial amounts of money, but as stated in an earlier post, those job roles are very vulnerable to being exported overseas saving any hard-pressed company even more in salary expenditure.

Supposing everyone who can/must/is made to go back to work does just that, grandad.

Do you think that companies may well have had their eyes opened already as to how they could shave costs down?

In other words, do you think that physically sitting behind a desk is likely to stop people from being "eased out" of their jobs now?

I'm genuinely interested, by the way. (And I enjoy a good long explanation)

MissAdventure

Supposing everyone who can/must/is made to go back to work does just that, grandad.

Do you think that companies may well have had their eyes opened already as to how they could shave costs down?

In other words, do you think that physically sitting behind a desk is likely to stop people from being "eased out" of their jobs now?

I'm genuinely interested, by the way. (And I enjoy a good long explanation)

MissAdventure, I believe we are in a changing world but the extent of that change in regards to Britain will depend on whether there is at least a customs agreement with the European Union which increasingly looks unlikely.

Should a no-deal Brexit come about employers will not just "shave on costs" but will take a "Cleaving Axe" to any costs that are not absolutely essential. In that, office jobs that operate directly in support of output will remain, while those that are involved with such matters as future planning etc will be axed or exported abroad.

In the above the road haulage and distribution industries demonstrated at the start of lockdown how companies can sacrifice all and place their entire emphasis on the carrying out day to day operations for in that lay the survival of the many companies.
Office staff who could play a role in the foregoing have remained behind there desks while those that could not engage in such have been furloughed and may now never return to their desks.

Recovery from the covid-19 crisis will be difficult enough for almost all companies in Britain, but should a no-deal exit from the European Union bring large-scale disruption in the supply chain then the radical action that has been carried out in the road transport industry throughout the Covid crisis will without doubt be required to be carried out in very many companies and industries across the United Kingdom if they are to survive.

In that I believe a great many office roles will disappear and should they at some time in the future reappear it may well be carried out by someone based overseas.