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Has Johnson got it right clamping down on home working? – politicalbetting.com
Has Johnson got it right clamping down on home working? – politicalbetting.com
A big issue that’s being discussed on the talk shows today is home working and Johnson’s effort to get people back inside their offices. All this follows the turmoil created by the measures to control COVID which necessitated office blocks being closed and staff trying to continue by working in their own living rooms.
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How DARE the plebs have freedom to work as they wish from home? A long hard and totally pointless commute that keeps the plebs captured like cattle makes for more control.
The Nasty Party are well and truly back.
Bet this meeting is a hoot...
"President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is meeting at the Kremlin with the leaders of the Collective Treaty Security Organization, an alliance that also includes five other former Soviet states. President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus, speaking first, criticized some of the allies for insufficient solidarity with Russia and Belarus amid Western sanctions."
NY Times live blog
Its middle class professionals.
That person delivering your groceries, posting your mail, mending your roof or filling the potholes the road outside? The one who cannot work from home?
That's a pleb.
Where this one might differ from other polarising policies is based on who makes the decisions: in the end, the archetype of the turmeric-latte-munching non-Tory-voting millennial doesn't really have much influence over where their company requires them to work - so even if there's a short term opportunity to make retired Tories righteously angry with their "lazy" grandchildren it might no have long-term traction. If WFH carries on being an issue, it's because senior managers and business owners have decided that it's best for their businesses, and some of those people would be natural Conservative voters. That means that the culture war being stoked is between two potential groups of Tories, not between Tories and never-Tories. Maybe no different to the elements of Brexit that damage small businesses, but doesn't seem a particularly effective or intelligent strategy for defending newly-marginal southern seats.
As I am shortly to open a coworking office faciltiy, I hope not...
Could you explain how a pointless commute so I can type in a building several miles away from my house would benefit me or make me more productive?
For those who do tech is working hard to look for solutions to check on the actual working time, productivity etc. Once that is on place employers will be in a better position to handle it. I suspect the last couple of years will be looked upon as a golden age of WFH.
I get the argument that a drop in commuting will affect industries such as coffee outlets, cafes, city centre shops, but that's putting the cart before the horse. Services exist for people who want and need them. To organise society around the needs of an industry is the kind of central planning crap we are used to seeing from the far left.
This government is furiously thrashing around for levelling up ideas which don't require government spending.
Here's one. And they don't like it.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/15/remote-working-uk-equal-jacob-rees-mogg
It's almost as if it isn't the real issue.
The businesses exist to serve people, people don't exist for the convenience of businesses.
More productive or less productive? Those trying to work from home whilst child minding are obviously less productive than both themselves in office without those distractions and a colleague wfh without those distractions. Also depends on tasks. A task needing face-to-face communication is going to be less productive without it.
don’t call it working from home, call it remote working, for then you have people working remotely since year dot you can compare it to. Back in the sixties there was a study of People out and about working remotely fixing office machinery, each knew a different trick the others didn’t. When they all got together in a diner for a meal they shared all these tricks and productivity shot up. If knowledge share drops off due to remote working, it’s a huge hit on productivity that can only be noticed over longer time spans not shorter ones, why? Becuase most studies have innovation is a key part of productivity, and innovation is now proved to being killed by remote working the earlier studies didn’t pick up.
Unions should be wary about it. It can’t be measured solely as working from home getting tasks done versus in office getting tasks done. If productivity appears up with home workers it may be because workers slip into longer working hours, the pay off is burn out and mental health, not getting their brains or bodies enough break away from work.
Rees Mogg is winning this argument single handedly, though Boris intervention has helped. Mogg said it’s used for long weekends, Mondays, Fridays, is he wrong? Let’s look at the stat for the days people most work remotely…
The internet might yet be the first thing in history that (through success rather than collapse) leads to cities diminishing and villages proliferating. But it needs remote working to happen.
Likewise, some people I know really suffered from a lack of social contact during lockdown, whilst others luxuriated in it and found it easier to work.
As some have said on here before, it's also hard on new hires, and for young people who might find it hard to progress up the career ladder because their bosses don't 'know' them.
It's all too messy to say what people should be doing; flexibility is key. But it does seem like a rather obvious way for some companies to save money, and I'd like to see legislation that means that companies have to pay for people to have 'proper' desks, chairs etc at home if they are forced to WfH.
The turmoil in so many state run operations like the passport office and HMRC will feed this fire as well as the government will happily pin the blame on WFH rather than the more likely reason that they are simply short staffed.
Working in an office is not inherently good.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/16/bank-england-plagued-groupthink/
I can imagine Wfh would have the same effect. But not if I needed access to labs or hardware ...
Flexitime is another part of flexible working that needs more thought by companies.
I don't spend roughly an hour a day saying "Morning Jeff. How was your weekend?"
Nor, being distracted by colleagues who can't cope without verbalising their internal monologues for fear that a moment of peace may cause them to reflect on the vacuity of their existence.
But AIUI, you are a self employed individual
One benefit with hybrid/WFH is that I've just recruited someone who lives in Birmingham, top person who I wouldn't have been able to recruit if they had to be in Manchester 100% of the time.
I think WFH has been one of THE great success stories to come out of covid. Not necessarily that it should be considered all the time. Of course social interaction is great and there are plenty of industries which do need face to face or hand to till action.
But for the most part being able to work from home at least some of the time has revolutionised people's lives and, as mentioned by others below, has the capacity to breathe new life into communities far from the cities. I am by and large far more productive working from home. Yes I get up and make cups of coffee or tea but so what?
It's threatening to the powers-that-be because it's a huge social revolution. But it's one arguably brought about by brilliant internet connectivity spreading around the world. Covid was merely the catalyst.
This attack on WFH is a reactionary and retrograde step by Boris and chums.
Like a Poundland-NATO.
Whether the politics of pointing this out is smart, I don't know, but most people surely recognise this, even if they are enjoying the freedom and cost-savings of not commuting.
Surprised this is even being debated TBH. But then the entitlement of some people, usually white-collared professionals with handsome pension provision, never ceases to amaze.
You're on the wrong side of history on this one and the people will vote with their slippers.
As an aside, we’re also about to see Gvt get much worse, as JRM successfully chases out some of the best civil servants (the ones who are most mobile and can get other jobs) with his demoralising bullshit.
The pay is small
So take your time
And sod them all
That's politics.
Labour, for example, just say everything the Tories do is 'out of touch' and get the Tory haters and waverers etc to nod along
Loads of them hardly ever go near Northcliffe House these days.
Again, I don't think attacking wfh helps anyone and I also don't think remote working or full time wfh is beneficial for employees or companies. We've halted remote recruitment and contracts now specify a minimum in office requirement per quarter (15 working days, essentially one week per month) that people can arrange how they like.
Our view is that if people don't like it they can lump it and find a different job, so far there's been a small rebellion but we've also found that the people who are upset are also people we can afford to lose and replace and I think this is what will become more common, the shirkers from home will quickly find that opportunities dry up so it's not something the government needs to involve itself with.
Unlike most businesses, we effectively track productivity directly.
Don't get me wrong, I sometimes feel less efficient at home - it just turns out these things balance out. I'm looking forward to a hybrid model.
@Podolyak_M
Some Western politicians want to end the war and "save face" of 🇷🇺 by giving it part of a territory, - @politico. Save face after Bucha and Mariupol? Strange logic, but if these politicians want to give away part of their territories, it is up to their electorate.
https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1526173245162016768
“Passengers arriving in Austria do NOT need to show proof of COVID vaccination, a negative COVID test, or a certificate of recovery from COVID.
Entry requirements for Austria are the same for all travellers, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.”
Personally, in my own bit of the Ivory Tower, we've always had some version of flexible/hybrid system because a day's work quite often doesn't fit into a day. So, for my own preferences and working practices, I quite like the idea of a presumption of working from the office, while WFH is for specific circumstances. But that works best for me, and might not make sense for someone else in a different role.
Top scoop by @SophiaSleigh
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cabinet-office-refuses-to-reveal-price-of-custom-built-wardrobe-for-ex-johnson-aide_uk_624c3061e4b068157f7c4540
Don't try to get into the minds of Susan and Allan. Why these things matter to them is above my pay grade.
Unless you are a murderous tyrant and serial breaker of international law. In which case, bonus territory!!
Employers who embrace 0 days a week in the office, with maybe a 2 days a month catch-up with all staff together (expenses paid) are going to be far more attractive to the best minds. Partly because it says "we trust you".
Susan and Allen cheer when the PM calls homeworkers lazy.
My current place of work shut the original office and have moved next door, down from 2000+ desks to 3-400 flexible ones. There is no way we can ever fit back in even if we want to.
I've been going in most weeks for a day, but it is dead and feels somewhat futile. Good if the whole team is in, but otherwise just a mild bit of socialising and pondering how much less productive we are in the office.
Downside of WFH for me is I tend to start work earlier and finish later, not really mastered the work life balance bit.
Ta
MrB
I'm competent enough to choose the right font (Comic Sans is my favourite), but that's my limit.
Also, each individual has to take responsibility for their own life. I have always worked from home and never had a boss. I would not have it otherwise given a choice. But if I couldn't, I would put up with it.
We are all in the same boat really. And lots of people hate working from home and love the sociability of other ways of working. Lots of people hate working except in the open air. Government should keep out except where it has employer responsibilities. There are lots of public sector unions to protect the employee interests.
Today I got an invite to the AD's Christmas drinks on Friday. Not saying that there is a backlog there but...
I am familiar with a number of companies that have greeted the move to wider WFH with joy and gladness as it has freed them from the very considerable expense of moving to larger office space. Repeat that across the country & all those city centre tower blocks are never going to make the expected rental income for the forseeabe future. If the establishment is reaching for the culture war toolbox already then the situation must really be dire.
The latest bit of posturing from Boris and and etiolated tw@t is not only utterly risible, but also utterly weird from a party which profess themselves to trust the market to sort our this kind of issue.
Far too difficult for JRM to find this out, apparently.