Get back to the office! But why?

Thank you Maggie we crossed posts.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

(Exactly)

Elegran

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

I know!

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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????

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 .

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.

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

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.

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.