Should the government encourage a return to the office?

Pog

Well-known member
Looking at this YouGov poll this morning and surprise, surprise, the boomers strike again. Almost every poll I read I disagree with their position.

The people least impacted by this are the ones who have the strongest opinions about sending people back to the office.

Should people be sent back the office to save these town and city centres?

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TBF I agree with them. Do younger people who are at very small risk from this virus really need to put their careers and lives on hold? As long as they don't mind us doing other stuff of course.
 
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The people who have retired think the rest of us should go back into the office, couldnt make it up.

Its obvious that the government will push it, clearly many of their backers have strong interests in city centre property/office space especially in London so they will push it for that reason alone.

In reality everyone going back to the office is absolute madness if you can work at home. Even without the obvious risk of spreading covid in the office, the environmental impacts of millions of pointless car journeys every day is huge, the cost for businesses to hire office space is huge. But mainly how much of a better quality of life do people have not spending hours each week sat in traffic, much healthier for everyone to spend the majority of time at home if they can
 
They shouldn’t be asking people who have retired and safe from ever going back to an office. Interesting that the highest percentage is 65+.
 
Looking at this YouGo poll this morning and surprise, surprise, the boomers strike again. Almost every poll I read I disagree with their position.

I'm confused as to your position.
44% of 65+ support encouraging office return. So the majority, 56%, don't support it and you disagree with them?

I suspect this is not what you intend to imply though.

For what it's worth I can't wait to be back in my office. I hate working from home and I miss having the clear demarcation between working and not working. That said, this is my personal choice and I don't think encouragement is necessary.
 
Many business's would have been suprised by the productivity of those working from home. Office buildings cost a lot of money and the prospect of being able to downsize or close them will be very tempting.

At this stage it should definately be the choice of the business depending on their and their employees needs, not pushed by a government worried people are not going to Starbucks.
 
Not surprising at all that the 50+ think that, but nor is it necessarily indicative of not caring about younger people - it simply reflects the "norm" when that age group were working, and the "if I can't see you, I don't know if you're working" mentality that was prevalent.

Although I fall into that age bracket (too far into it for my liking :() I've worked away from the office for the majority of the last 20 years and can see the (massive) benefits
 
I'm willing to give the retired the benefit of the doubt that in this question they're equating 'going back to the office' as going back to work - and to be fair - I'm sure the vast majority of them want their own loved ones to be returning to some security of normal service resuming.

On all their other collective views, the boomer generation can go and swivel.
 
The people who have retired think the rest of us should go back into the office, couldnt make it up.

Its obvious that the government will push it, clearly many of their backers have strong interests in city centre property/office space especially in London so they will push it for that reason alone.

In reality everyone going back to the office is absolute madness if you can work at home. Even without the obvious risk of spreading covid in the office, the environmental impacts of millions of pointless car journeys every day is huge, the cost for businesses to hire office space is huge. But mainly how much of a better quality of life do people have not spending hours each week sat in traffic, much healthier for everyone to spend the majority of time at home if they can

Absolutely agree.

It’s funny how the right wing love free market fundamentalism....until it effects their bottom line.

The free market has decided that companies no longer need to pay for expensive office space.

If companies in London for example can save tens of thousands of pounds every month whilst having a healthier and more productive work force, where’s their incentive to send them back?
 
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Many business's would have been suprised by the productivity of those working from home. Office buildings cost a lot of money and the prospect of being able to downsize or close them will be very tempting.

At this stage it should definately be the choice of the business depending on their and their employees needs, not pushed by a government worried people are not going to Starbucks.
Agree with this. Personally I feel a balance is required. Almost 6 months of solid working from home is too much, the occasional day in the office would be a good way of breaking up the monotony but would still allow for accommodation cutbacks, if necessary.
 
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TBF I agree with them. Do younger people who are at very small risk from this virus really need to put their careers and lives on hold? As long as they don't mind us doing other stuff of course.
I have an issue with my manager. I have an underlying health condition and can do some of my work from home. My manager is saying I should be on site all the time, even though there is very little work to do on site. She is sending me through Occy Health to understand why I am anxious about going back to work!!
 
I can't see how it is going to go back to how it was before. Work places have been slowly adapting to agile working probably over the last two decades. There is no question that this has accelerated it. Don't get me wrong there is still a need for face to face meetings and office interaction but the idea of going in to the office 5 days a week and the need for so much office space just seems crazy now.
 
I have an issue with my manager. I have an underlying health condition and can do some of my work from home. My manager is saying I should be on site all the time, even though there is very little work to do on site. She is sending me through Occy Health to understand why I am anxious about going back to work!!
But you're not in the 'younger person at very small risk from the virus' category then. That demographic should be fully supported.
 
But you're not in the 'younger person at very small risk from the virus' category then. That demographic should be fully supported.
I wish I was a younger person and had no risk. Unfortunately my manager is very old school and believes that you are not 'useful' if you are not physically at work.
 
I wish I was a younger person and had no risk. Unfortunately my manager is very old school and believes that you are not 'useful' if you are not physically at work.
Fair enough, well as I say, you should be supported. There will always be 'bad managers' around still though, unfortunately.
 
Fair enough, well as I say, you should be supported. There will always be 'bad managers' around still though, unfortunately.
I agree, I work in a hospital and there was an issue with people who were at home but who physically couldn't do any work. Essentially they had a 3 month paid holiday. So when Gold Command stated that they wanted to encourage people back to work, my manager interpreted that directive as everyone back in work.

Oh and I work in Health and Safety!
 
I agree, I work in a hospital and there was an issue with people who were at home but who physically couldn't do any work. Essentially they had a 3 month paid holiday. So when Gold Command stated that they wanted to encourage people back to work, my manager interpreted that directive as everyone back in work.

Oh and I work in Health and Safety!
My Mam was in a very similar boat, although only her age is a factor rather than any underlying health condition per se. She's back at work now though and I think its probably better for her mental health, although she was very apprehensive at first. If you have a real risk from the virus though, there should be support available to keep yourself safe.

As a general observation, I believe the government should be reassuring us that the virus is mostly under control now and that, whilst a risk still exists, it is not the sort of risk we cannot live with in society and manage like it was in March when there were still so many unknowns. Terrifying us all into sitting at home waiting for the 'catastrophic second wave' (media view) that may never come is no better for society than a deadly virus itself, and the recent measures in Manchester and falling R0 rate have proved that we can take temporary, local measures to keep it under control.
 
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