Workers rights

RavsFan said:
It really is quite laughable. It boils my pi$$ in truth.

Shall i make a coffee and a ham sarnie from my Sainsburys ( or similar ) big shop for around a quid or shall i nip to the local cafe on a daily basis half a mile down the road grab a takeaway coffee and sarnie for my lunch at around £7 a pop like when i worked in the office, I can still nip back home, yes i must do that for the local businesses sake. I mean it will save me £30 a week to stay home and i can watch 'loose women' , I mean finish that important report, but i'll spend locally to home.

Hmmm, Every poster on here would never take the mick or be selfish, saving a few quid for nights out, put in the hols fund, lease a better car etc, just other folk I'm sure, Nobody on here will ever moan about how town and city centres are dying on their @rses while Sainsburys and others profits keep on rising, everbody spends in local shops and caffs now. If they do moan about the death of town centres, it'll be those useless politicians fault anyway.

Community, we don't need one as long as 'I'm consideably better off than i was' by working from home.
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Why do you think we have so many more takeaways than we ever have done, and food delivery companies are crying out for staff.

People going to work in offices could make a sandwich too, and there's not many offices not providing hot drink making facilities.
 
I don't know why people think being in the office is more productive and people that work at home are skivers. I can be just as unproductive in the office as I can at home and in the office I can distract everyone else as well.
 
I’ve been working from home since March 2020. During Covid, we weren’t allowed to attend the office. The only people that were either couldn’t work from home or got sent back into the office due to unreliability (internet always down so missed work, other general pish taking reasons). The office was socially distanced etc.

A number of the same office workers kept having time off when the Covid app was launched as they kept getting pinged and told to self isolate - somebody eventually rumbled them when it was found out they stored their phones next to each other in the office so it one got pinged about 50% of them got pinged too. HR got involved and they didn’t last much longer!

Post Covid they gave our office the flexibility of only having the office 1-2 days a week.

My experience is this.

When I’m really busy, I find WFH much more productive. Less office chit chat and I can focus and crack on with stuff.

My work ebbs and flows, so I go from really busy to ticking over depending on what’s happening - time of month (not that kind!) or if any projects / deadlines need be hit etc.

We tend to do our office days on Fridays as a team and use them for more team building etc and usually pop for a few pints after work and let off some steam. It works well.

We generally clear out workloads for a Friday and tick over on the day which gives us more time to have a laugh and a catch up. But that’s no different to when we were in the office. I filled some time in the office trying to look busy. If I’m at home, I’ve got daft chores I can do on my lunch or nip away 5-10 minutes to sort a few things. It does provide a much better balance.

The downside is that I do miss the office from a career building point of view. Getting your face out there and getting to know people in person I believe is a massive help when looking to move onto the next step.

Part of my work reviews out department productivity and analyses sickness levels etc. Once Covid dissipated, there was a huge improvement in sickness levels in our area - especially during winter months.

That’s taken a hit lately but generally it’s more the mental health side of things - and not to be too cynical - but the parents who conveniently get sick notes over the 6 weeks Holidays every year. We have a generous sickness policy, but unfortunately some people do game the system.

Overall, I think WFH is a huge positive. There’s no more wastage than there would be in office. You’ll always get your pish takers but that’s down to companies and HR to create policies to prevent it.

That said, I feel pretty stagnant where I’m at currently. I’ve been there 16 years and there looks to be another round of redundancies in the offing. If I have a chance to, I’ll probably take it and look to start again. In office or flexible, I’m not too bothered. Just ready for a new challenge if the opportunity arises.
 
Nano said:
I don't know why people think being in the office is more productive and people that work at home are skivers. I can be just as unproductive in the office as I can at home and in the office I can distract everyone else as well.
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I'm retired but worked through the COVID period at home. The feedback from management was that productivity was up.
 
I actually despise being told I have to go in to the office

Worked from home for 2 years during COVID and was way more productive and never missed a deadline
 
Everything is far more productive and everyone has a significantly better work life balance.
Save an absolute fortune in travel as well as loads of time commuting. Companies embracing this change will be significantly better off for it.
 
What if this in written into law that people have the right to ask to WFH? What happens to jobs where working from home is not an option? Do they become hard to fill? Do they finish up paying a premium to get employees to take on these roles?
What if you are working from home 100%? Does your home become your workplace and you are banned from smoking there?
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
What if this in written into law that people have the right to ask to WFH? What happens to jobs where working from home is not an option? Do they become hard to fill? Do they finish up paying a premium to get employees to take on these roles?
What if you are working from home 100%? Does your home become your workplace and you are banned from smoking there?
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Who smokes in their house nowadays? It's crazy to take thousands off your house price by destroying the interior and it all needing redecorating.
 
RedAsABeetroot said:
What if this in written into law that people have the right to ask to WFH? What happens to jobs where working from home is not an option? Do they become hard to fill? Do they finish up paying a premium to get employees to take on these roles?
What if you are working from home 100%? Does your home become your workplace and you are banned from smoking there?
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It's a nothing law really. You have the right to request it and an employer has a right to say no as long as they can justify why you should be in the office. It's the same as the flexible working law where you can request condensed hours or non 9-5 working but if the employer says there is a business need for it then they don't have to accept your request.

It puts the onus on employers having to prove why you can't work from home rather than on the employee proving why they can.

Obviously jobs that can't be done from home is pretty easy for us employer to justify.
 
You have the right to request WFH now under most flexible working policies. It's not a guarantee that the employer will say yes. This will just enshrine it in law if it hasn't already.

Obviously if you have a job which doesn't allow WFH then you know what the answer is going to be.
 
I've worked from home since 2015 when I switched from working for a local bank to an energy firm in Leeds. It was an office based role but everyone worked from home on Fridays or if needed.

Worked in the office for 2 months and then got a new manager and she said it was pointless me travelling; they had an extreme hot-desking policy whereby only a small group of staff had desktop pcs and the rest of the business was issued with a headset and laptop and there were no fixed desks or departments / areas so each time I'd go in the office you'd be sat with random people anyway, so she said pointless driving 2 hours a day.

It saved me a fortune and I was able to get a ton more done. After 5 years the company got bought out and got a large payoff, got a new role elsewhere office based. I thought I was looking forward to being back on an office based role, but that lasted about a week. Having to get pets looked after, taking holidays for gas meter install, got stuck in snow on way to office in second week. Plus this role was 1.5 hrs with traffic so traffic a daily nightmare, but it was a significant pay rise and a more senior role.

Luckily Covid hit and the working from home was such a success it was rolled out long term.

Some roles you really can't wfh, but most office stuff you absolutely can and I don't know anyone workshy and everything gets done.

Work life balance is a big thing for us and for the past 3 years we've had 2 pets that have required some round the clock attention. If I'd been office based we would have just had to euthanise them, which would have been awful as we had some great times with them still in those years, plus not travelling 3 hours a day, didn''t need to pay for a second car for 3 years so spent that money on the house instead. We don't even have a fixed working pattern- as long as I don't miss a meeting I can logon at 11 and work later or log on at 7 and finish early - we are trusted to get our work done.

We have tons of young people who are fine on camera and in meetings - we have our own graduate program with its own degree course and these kids have no problem integrating or moving into good roles and are well respected - if organisations struggle it's down to leadership and culture imo.

I don't care if people don't have their camera on. In the old days I'd have been in Webex conferences on the phone so wouldn't see people anyway - stuff still got done just fine cross site and internationally - not sure why people have a bee in their bonnet about being able to see someone.

The thing about town centres and coffee shops, I never really spent money there anyway really as I've always prepped my own lunch but if I did I don't owe them a living. You can't halt progress because it impacts something else - life evolves. Town centres would still be on their backside without Covid because they need to evolve. You can't be making people work in an office so that costs can sell them £7 of coffee or Sainsbury's can sell them meal deals.

However money we would have spent on cars, insurance, petrol and other stuff we have spent on local trades and in diy/decorator's merchants & garden centres while renovating the house and gardens.

The one thing I hate about wfh is cringe stuff some people like to do like virtual quizzes to mimic getting together. Does absolutely nothing for me that sort of thing.

Everything else I have no downsides whatsoever and tons of upsides, the business no longer pays for multiple massive offices and just pays for regional hubs with collaboration areas and meeting spaces. Those that value office time or live near the office can go in; teams do "office days", but they're optional and I avoid them completely - I've been to the office 3 times since Covid hit and will ideally keep it that way as it adds no value to me.
 
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