Get back to the office! But why?

Chewbacca

^Who are the people who work in most of London's coffee bars?^

There is a world outside of London you know! Smaller, regional towns that have a mix of offices, light industry and retail and it's these smaller towns that employ people from all demographics and they will be just as badly affected as inner cities. The retaile industry was already struggling before COVID and with so many office workers no longer travelling into the town centres, they'll be hit again.

Yes, I know there's a world outside London, but you said it! Smaller towns had been suffering anyway. A shift back from London and the big metropolitan centres could actually benefit some of these smaller towns, if people were to work in local "hubs". I live in a small town, where there is hardly any work outside services. Commuters travel to London, so it's quite wealthy and hasn't suffered as I know many other towns in other areas have. Nevertheless, local shops have been struggling for years. Over the last couple of years, a few high street shops have been converted to centres for home workers and - lo and behold - sandwich bars and conference rooms, etc have begun to spring up.

MissAdventure

There are lazy people w everywhere, whatever their work arrangements.
There are ways that companies can keep a check on output.

It's actually easier to check on work output if it's all done digitally.

Yep.
I think it would be a huge adjustment, but it has to be a good thing to have a more reasonable, less pressurised work/ life balance.

*Isn’t it likely that people who work from home are less productive than if they were in the office?

Do people really put in the same number of hours at home when they are surrounded by the temptation of things which need doing ?*

No, because their work and output can be monitored digitally. That already happens with remote call centres.

GrannyGravy13

Not sure how I feel about this, just had a quick look at France and Germany stats and between 70-80% of office workers are back in their Offices, in the UK it’s approximately 35%.

Some people are happy to work from home for some or all of the week, others need the buzz and support of their co-workers and find home working stressful.

All well and good if you have a spare room or an office at home but when you are working at the kitchen or dining table your home is no longer your sanctuary from the outside world.

For those with underlying health issues or a household member who is shielding then they should have the option to extend their working from home.

An excellent balanced post GG?
My DD is working on the kitchen table and can’t wait to get back to the office ( in a fortnight apparently) whilst it suits DS to mainly work from home ( with a home office).

Isn’t it likely that people who work from home are less productive than if they were in
the office?

Oh JenniferEccles, if only that were true! I've been working from home, one day a week, for the past 10 years or so but this is now full time for the foreseeable future. I begin work earlier than I used to because I only have to walk across the landing to my office. And I stay later at my desk because I'm not secretly watching the clock and wanting to get away and avoid the rush hour traffic. Because I can hear my office phone ringing anywhere in the house, I always take that call, no matter what time it is. My work partially involves NHS services and because of our commitment to those services, especially during the current situation, I have worked past midnight on many occassions, just to make sure that they have what they need and when they need it.

If there is a lazy, unfocused employee on a workforce, they'll be lazy and u focused whether they're in the office or working from home. But in my experience, the majority are not.

What about those costa coffee and sandwich shop workers don t their jobs count for anything? Just saying.

Well they do of course but if people are realising that actually it's much preferable to spend money elsewhere they arent going to go into costa to save peoples jobs.

I'm sure they could find a different way of working.
Perhaps people would be more inclined to meet for lunch if they weren't on a tight office schedule?

I do wonder if we are at the start of something historic. If a vaccine was found tomorrow would things return to how they were before? There seem so many issues that have been grumbling along for years, the fading away of the high street,over crowded schools,pollution, lack of affordable housing. The heart seems to have been ripped out of cities like London with low paid key workers shipped in as they cant afford to live their. The instability of zero hours contracts in insecure employment with poor pay and working conditions accepted.
For years we have been told how thousands of jobs will be lost as technology becomes more complex. Public transport is often overcrowded and unreliable not to mention expensive. Pollution, climate change all these things were some hazy date in the future. Maybe things will have to change because there's no choice. I wont miss the large coffee chains with their surprisingly similar overpriced and over processed goods. The loss of business for small traders is heartbreaking.,as is the loss of live theatre . People are creative, let's hope there are new more positive beginnings. Maybe it will be a very slow process. Everything is uncertain. I did find myself thinking back to my school days and the Industrial Revolution. I wonder how it felt to be part of that. Not for the first time I wonder how this will be viewed in a few decades.? In March it felt that after a set time this virus would be contained and normal life would resume. How wrong was that?

It's an opportunity to change the culture of work/ eat/sleep/buy/repeat that we're used to.

It isn't healthy, as mental health statistics show; people aren't meant to be automatons.

There is another issue to consider if workers don't return to office based jobs: many offices will not be 're let and so will lie empty and become subject to vandalism and decay. If properly managed, those offices could be turned into living accommodation thereby easing the housing crisis and breathing life back into town centres. It would still have the focus of people actually being in the areas, just for different reasons.

Indeed what will happen to all the cafe workers,shop workers,cleaners etc? In recent decades jobs requiring the skill set of many workers have disappeared. I'm not sure what the answer is. A universal income so everyone can cover basics but spend time working on voluntary or creative projects? Sounds to idealistic. Maybe we will all end up working for Amazon,although I'm sure Mr Bezos will soon find a way of making it a totally robot led process(much cheaper and dont go sick or need toilet breaks). Hmm.?

See, we're gradually working it out ourselves.
"Going to work" is entrenched behaviour; it would take a lot of undoing.

My youngest daughter has successfully worked from home since March. The company she works for are moving staff from their pricey office in Canary Wharf to the head office in Surrey. Companies will be looking to save wherever possible and if an employee can work just as effectively and productively from home it may continue for some time to come and perhaps permanently.

The entrenched behaviour of office life has been remarkably easy for me to shirk MissA! I haven't worn makeup since last March (that's another lost sale to the cosmetics industry). Nor have I worn "formal" office wear (so I haven't been to the dry cleaners). I've bought no new clothes because I can just slob about in leggings (that's if I get dressed at all) and I ignore "lunch time" because I just carry on and work until I'm done and eat when I'm finished. Life is much easier; but I do miss the office banter and chats with colleagues. But overall, it suits me to work from home.

Many people have had to physically attend their places of work throughout the Covid-19 crisis especially in sectors and industries which have been essential to keep us all supplied with food, water, electricity, gas and transport both passenger and freight.

Very often while those essential workers have been carrying out their duties they have been hampered by office staff who should be operating in support of those workers not being located in their normal locations or even working their normal hours.

The above can affect efficiency, bring about frustration to those in the workplace and through that affect the safety of operations in large processing plants and distribution centres etc.

Working from home can be beneficial to some people but where those persons have to collaborate with others or have others reliant on their work, those now working from home in those roles need to get back to those offices as soon as possible.

One of our assignment team controllers was stating when he came into our offices a few weeks back that the entire loading dock crew in a large food distribution centre were saying they felt completely abandoned by "the bosses" who were supposedly working from home but seemingly could never be contacted and that had indirectly brought about a safety incident.

It has been throughout this crisis shop floor supervisors and team leaders that have in many cases kept those essential industries and services operating day to day, often with very little support.

To be blunt, many of those who are supposed to be in charge or in support of shop floor workers need to stop moaning, get back into their offices, work the problems borough about by that, and do the jobs they are paid to do.

Hopefully, the powers that be in many companies will realise that many of those who were assumed to be overseeing others but have been " entirely absent" supposedly working from home throughout the crisis can now be dispensed with entirely and the work organised and overseen by those actually on the shop floor.

Then those home workers can spend as much time in their homes with no risk or inconvenience to themselves whatsoever.

Offices in towns turned into housing. More cafes opening up in local areas, as workers from home may still want a stroll and a coffee with friend, and also want a local gym. ? Develop local unoccupied premises as business conference/meeting rooms that can be hired by the half day.

It is a big change but good could come from it.

Yes, I can imagine it's strange not to see work colleagues, not least because a lot of people spend more time with them than they do their families.

It’s called the free market. It’s what the Tories cut their teeth on.

They can’t complain when people use their freedom to decide where to work.

Cummings can’t direct everything especially individual choice.

Why should people put themselves at risk for office work and making overpriced coffees and sandwiches, grandad?

JE when people make unevidenced accusations about the possible Poor behaviour of others, I do so wonder what it actually says about them and how they’d behave?

Chewbacca I have had those thoughts myself. If empty offices could be converted into affordable housing it would keep the city centres alive, perhaps even more so, as people wouldn't need to commute to bars, theatres etc.
Innovative people would set up businesses to cater for a new way of living.

Anyway, Johnson and Cummings can huff and puff as much as they want, it ain’t going to happen and they’re just wasting our money on the media campaign next week. Of course, it could also be just an enormous dead cat.

Isn’t it likely that people who work from home are less productive than if they were in the office?

This is a whole other debate, but always worked in a role that meant I could work from home as long as I didn't need to be in the office, and can honestly say that it evens out. Yes, I would sometimes put a wash in, but at work I would sometimes chat to a colleague - what's the difference?

Also, we could move to a model where people are paid on results more, and get rid of some of the awful presenteeism that has taken hold in some workplaces. People are afraid to come in late or leave early, even when they have been far more productive than those who are always there, but are swanning around 'being seen'.

People do work at different rates, and it seems fairer that they are paid for what they do, not how long they are in the building. Obviously it is easier in some roles to count the widgets and pay accordingly, but in more diffuse roles it shouldn't matter whether you take 5 hours a day or 8, so long as you get the job done.

If people can work around children, or take time out at lunchtime to visit elderly parents, or walk the dog, go to the dentist or do whatever they need to, and then work a bit further into the evening, why does it matter? If anything, I think they'd probably be more productive if they weren't worrying about all of those things, and the fact that they weren't being done because of office hours.