Should the government encourage a return to the office?

I think that a lot of managers think you go into suspended animation if they're not micro managing you and watching every move. Says a lot about what they'd be doing given the chance to work away from oversight.

I think that WFH would be great for experienced hands who can get on with it, but sometimes you surely need to ingratiate new employees or trainees into a culture and make face to face relationships to establish that level of trust and understanding.
 
atypical_boro said:
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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I agree, only yesterday The Guardian were pronouncing that the R0 rate in France had 'leapt' to 1.4 without explaining that it may only be temporary and could come back below one in a day or so.
 
Another interpretation of the original post could be that the older population want things to return to normal more quickly than the younger population. In terms of effect, they are at the highest risk of death given that they catch the virus but we cant continue with extended lockdowns. I agree that they may not understand modern ways of working which allow work from home, but can understand that the lack of people in town centres has an affect upon local businesses.
It is clear to see that the younger people are happy to meet up in pubs and can see younger families meeting up at home and in parks etc, so why not in work ?
My son has just finished a university course and is looking forward to getting a job in music/creative industry. Without people working out of the office how is he going to get a job through collaborating/induction and training. Yes he can work from home using his own technology but the younger people who are new to employment are going to struggle for years to come.
 
jeff_potato said:
I think that a lot of managers think you go into suspended animation if they're not micro managing you and watching every move. Says a lot about what they'd be doing given the chance to work away from oversight.

I think that WFH would be great for experienced hands who can get on with it, but sometimes you surely need to ingratiate new employees or trainees into a culture and make face to face relationships to establish that level of trust and understanding.
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At the moment I am 2 days WFH and 3 days on site. I feel I can cope with that and I find my anxiety levels manageable
 
SE4 Red said:
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.
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Absolutely this. Plus the benefits to the environment and easing congestion.

"Encouraging" people back into the office is a short term sticking plaster which may not even work as I suspect fewer people will nip out at lunch time or go for after work drinks anyway. Sadly, long term, some of those city centre businesses may be doomed as they way people work changes.

The government should be thinking about how to support people with businesses under threat in adapting (I'm no expert but there are surely things that can be done from tax breaks to support with relocating or retraining etc). Instead it's the usual short term over simplistic "quick fix" thinking. As pointed out on another thread a great option is to convert empty office spaces etc into affordable accomodation. Which kills two birds with one stone.
 
My take on WFH is similar to A_typicals. It hasn't affected my productivity. IN fact it's probably increased it as there has been no quick chats at the kitchenette about the weather/sports/who it work we dislike.

It is, however, a horrible and drab way to work. I feel like I'm more living at my office than working form home. It's a mental health problem for me. We need human interaction and a couple of days in the office would be good for me.

Of course all the money the employers save on air con/lighting/electricity is now being spent by the employees.
 
I've been working from home solidly since March (having previously done 2 out of 5 days at home). Got to admit I love it - there's no element of my job which can't be done from home. The lack of human interaction is actually a bonus :)

We will soon be encouraged back into the office I think, which will be my trigger for a discussion around a change to Ts and Cs to become a permanent home worker (which is also useful should we move abroad in the next few months, as is the plan).
 
SmallTown said:
My take on WFH is similar to A_typicals. It hasn't affected my productivity. IN fact it's probably increased it as there has been no quick chats at the kitchenette about the weather/sports/who it work we dislike.

It is, however, a horrible and drab way to work. I feel like I'm more living at my office than working form home. It's a mental health problem for me. We need human interaction and a couple of days in the office would be good for me.

Of course all the money the employers save on air con/lighting/electricity is now being spent by the employees.
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Have you looked at tax relief for your home working?
 
The poll question is a daft one. Far too general, vague and in line with what the government seem to be saying. 'Boomers' are the generation that is least familiar with what working from home actually means and might well interpret the question as 'should people be made to start working again?' But even so, still less than 50% have answered 'yes'. You can blame boomers for lots of things but I don't think you can pin this one on us. And, incidentally, why is it working from home when you are actually working at home.
 
We have company-wide calls at the end of every month, and just yesterday we were told they won't be forcing anyone to return to the office if they do not want to, as productivity has been the same, if not higher in some departments, than they were before COVID.

There are positives to being the office, but for me, there are far more for working from home. Better routine, better sleep, better food, better concentration, less driving, less headaches, less stress and more importantly, more time with loved ones.

Who gives a f*%k what a poll says, it is up to the company.
 
The genie is out of the bottle in terms of large corporates realising they can save millions on city rents by either downsizing or having entire remote working staff.

there will still be an office and most people don’t mind going in 1-2 days a week but I personally think the mon-fri 9-5 in the office is dead.

all the noise at the moment is due to the impact on other businesses of office workers not buying over priced coffee and sandwiches.

maybe if the economic model relies on gig workers and minimum wages baristas to keep going its time to try a different economic model?
 
It is a right royal mess. IMHO, The biggest reason the Government wants everyone back and spending is taxation and unemployment and how our public services and infrastructure we rely on are able to be funded moving forward. Our whole way of life is potentially at risk, if a return doesn’t happen soon.
However, the genie is out of the bottle and home working will be here to stay for many. I have no idea where anything is going anymore, I don’t think the politicians do either. Normality as was seems a lifetime away. If we lose much of the service sector, the burden of support will massively increase how will it all be paid for once furlough ends as the job losses will go through the roof i suspect. Dark days lie ahead unfortunately
 
festa5 said:
Absolutely this. Plus the benefits to the environment and easing congestion.

"Encouraging" people back into the office is a short term sticking plaster which may not even work as I suspect fewer people will nip out at lunch time or go for after work drinks anyway. Sadly, long term, some of those city centre businesses may be doomed as they way people work changes.

The government should be thinking about how to support people with businesses under threat in adapting (I'm no expert but there are surely things that can be done from tax breaks to support with relocating or retraining etc). Instead it's the usual short term over simplistic "quick fix" thinking. As pointed out on another thread a great option is to convert empty office spaces etc into affordable accomodation. Which kills two birds with one stone.
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Exactly. The government is seeing this as a one-dimensional issue of getting people back into city centres so that they use the Pret a Mangers and the Starbuckses and the commercial landlords don't risk losing their investments, when this provides a real opportunity to think about how we shape the future in a much more sustainable way.
 
You can see the motivation behind this call. I was in the City of London last week and it is a ghost town. Its like a Sci Fi film. Imagine all the sandwich shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants and retail that will be going to the wall as they have no office workers to sell to.

It will be interesting to see how this will play out. I am damn sure 25% of the businesses in the City will never re-open. Prets announcement yesterday sees 4 of their City units shutting permanently (although they are it seems on every corner)
 
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Don't know if this emerging story will have legs or just the usual böllox. Government hinting it that it will freeze childcare payments from September 8th. An attempt to force school returns and people back to work.
Business is pointing out the work situation is nothing to do with Government and is the total responsibility of employers and their workforce.
 
Ziggy said:
Don't know if this emerging story will have legs or just the usual böllox. Government hinting it that it will freeze childcare payments from September 8th. An attempt to force school returns and people back to work.
Business is pointing out the work situation is nothing to do with Government and is the total responsibility of employers and their workforce.
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As everything still got done just as efficiently when we were all working at home I've given everyone that I manage the choice of where they work and they all elected to work from home. Most of them have a decent commute so I can understand their reasoning. I'm the other way, I like to separate work and home as best I can and as I'm only twenty minutes walk from the office I can get ten thousand steps a day in if I go home for lunch. Plus, as I work for an Italian company, the coffee is better at work.
 
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