Working from home

[Malc1]

Your 10 minute commute sounds a good compromise 👍

Malc 

[Gary H]

Unfortunately I've never had the chance to work from home. Even during Covid. My job does require me to basically be at the workplace - but a lot of the people I do work with, due to different positions, had that chance to work from home. Most of them still do - with three days at home and two in the office. 

If I did have the chance at some point in the future, it's something I'd love to give a try. In my existing job, it would certainly save me the best part of an hour's commuting a day and all the annoyance of typical rush-hour traffic. Then there's of course not having to deal with or being in the company with certain irritable people (putting it politely), if you know where I'm coming from... 

[Jgtcracer]

Interesting topic and something I’ve had to deal with as an employee and employer.  
 

Employee - Not a massive fan, I really struggle to concentrate at home and with a young family there is always something to distract me.  I also have a role that requires to be site based.

Employer - I support a team of engineers that need to be site based, though the wider business has a lot of WFH staff.  It causes a lot of resentment within the team as they aren’t “allowed to stay at home”.  I see it from both perspectives and all told, would rather encourage face to face discussion but appreciate it’s  something that needs reviewed on a role by role basis.  I do however think it’s the role that determines whether it’s WFH or not, rather than the person.  I think that society is pushing towards WFH and 4 day weeks etc without considering some of the pros that site based work offer.  I get a massive amount of value from ad hoc, spontaneous discussion that otherwise wouldn’t occur. 
 

Finally, I’m 38 and 100% think that as I get older I’ll want to be at home more…..

[Boomer54]

It is hard to find an idea that I am more against than WFH.

The historic context is this. People are tribal. They need contact with others both physically and psychologically for the benefit of their state of mental heath.

Over a long period of time we have seen this breakdown. Tight communities fragmenting as people moved away usually for the need to work. Generally they have formed into larger town and city dwelling communities where the presence of more people has actually LED to less contact at a qualitative level. Hands up those who live in a town ,or city ,but don't know the person who lives one floor below ,or two houses down the street.

This form of isolation has been turbo charged by the electronic world. Now many people utilise a new medium for performing some functions of their life that leads to even less contact with others at a meaningful level.

I don't think I could paint the trend here any larger if i spray painted it on your roof. For clarity, the employment work place may well be one of the few places remaining where people have any meaningful contact with each other. Where they actually form relationships that mean something . WFH threatens to remove even that. The future that I see pictures an ever increasing number of lonely, estranged people who over time have no idea of how to interact with each other. I won't insult your intelligence by stating the many reasons why this is not good .For our govt who look like wishing to promote this idea I simply suggest that good intentions do not by necessity lead to good outcomes. When you don't know what you are doing then don't do it. Rethink what you think you know.

[Malc1]

3 hours ago, Boomer54 said:

Rethink what you think you know.

and then dementia sets in and you really can't think about what you know coz you have forgotten what it was .  or is  ........ and if you're a politikian then there's no hope coz they know nowt .......... and if they did they've forgotten all the bad bits coz that affected them badly .............. 

WFH benefits and downsides are part of the fabric of life and has been for decades and the individual iteslf will know best at the time of life it's at .....

Malc

[dutchie01]

When i started work long ago offices had a clock, clocking you in and out and time was measured you were disciplined if 10 mins late etc. Time spend in the office was what it was all about. Nowadays this has drifted away and its about job performance that is measured not so much how you get there. If your work is Ok all is fine. From employers point of view there will be truly massive cost savings, no need for big offices. ( my sister works at Deloite in a 26 story building all Deloite and during covid already the rent was canceled, now only 5 stories of which one is meeting/restaurant spaces). Employee will have much more flexibility great for young families as it gives the option to work for some hours when the kids are in bed etc. However it all depends of the role, the job you have. easier in accounts, impossible in production.  

[Bobbybrown111]

Can not work from home just simply because I can not be that productive I can at office or wherever so working from home is not for me

[Phil xxkr]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:39 AM, Malc1 said:

and then dementia sets in and you really can't think about what you know coz you have forgotten what it was .  or is  ........ and if you're a politikian then there's no hope coz they know nowt .......... and if they did they've forgotten all the bad bits coz that affected them badly .............. 

WFH benefits and downsides are part of the fabric of life and has been for decades and the individual iteslf will know best at the time of life it's at .....

Malc

 

On 7/19/2024 at 6:20 AM, Boomer54 said:

It is hard to find an idea that I am more against than WFH.

The historic context is this. People are tribal. They need contact with others both physically and psychologically for the benefit of their state of mental heath.

Over a long period of time we have seen this breakdown. Tight communities fragmenting as people moved away usually for the need to work. Generally they have formed into larger town and city dwelling communities where the presence of more people has actually led to less contact at a qualitative level. Hands up those who live in a town ,or city ,but don't know the person who lives one floor below ,or two houses down the street.

This form of isolation has been turbo charged by the electronic world. Now many people utilise a new medium for performing some functions of their life that leads to even less contact with others at a meaningful level.

I don't think I could paint the trend here any larger if i spray painted it on your roof. For clarity, the employment work place may well be one of the few places remaining where people have any meaningful contact with each other. Where they actually form relationships that mean something . WFH threatens to remove even that. The future that I see pictures an ever increasing number of lonely, estranged people who over time have no idea of how to interact with each other. I won't insult your intelligence by stating the many reasons why this is not good .For our govt who look like wishing to promote this idea I simply suggest that good intentions do not by necessity lead to good outcomes. When you don't know what you are doing then don't do it. Rethink what you think you know.

Productivity is falling all around in the West. Economies are in free fall. The Icarus of Net Zero will mean everyone will have the chance to WFH at this rate! 

[Herness]

I love working from home; it offers such flexibility and comfort. However, I’ve realized that you really need a reliable internet and phone connection to make it work effectively. In my case, at least, it's become a bit of a struggle. Right now, I’m in the middle of a discussion with ultra mobile customer support here about how to improve my connection. If I can’t get this sorted out soon, I might not be able to work from home much longer, and that would be really disappointing

[GMB]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:56 AM, dutchie01 said:

clocking you in and out and time was measured you were disciplined if 10 mins late etc

At my father's workplace they had to clock in and out. The methods were: 1 Get someone else to clock in for you. 2 Stick a bit of paper over the minutes space and then clock in again on the next hour with a bit of paper over the hour space.  When the company found lots of little bits of paper with numbers on them clogging up the clocking machine they started making enquiries......

Aaaah the British workforce in the sixties!🧑‍🏭

[Phil xxkr]

On 7/19/2024 at 6:20 AM, Boomer54 said:

It is hard to find an idea that I am more against than WFH.

The historic context is this. People are tribal. They need contact with others both physically and psychologically for the benefit of their state of mental heath.

Over a long period of time we have seen this breakdown. Tight communities fragmenting as people moved away usually for the need to work. Generally they have formed into larger town and city dwelling communities where the presence of more people has actually led to less contact at a qualitative level. Hands up those who live in a town ,or city ,but don't know the person who lives one floor below ,or two houses down the street.

This form of isolation has been turbo charged by the electronic world. Now many people utilise a new medium for performing some functions of their life that leads to even less contact with others at a meaningful level.

I don't think I could paint the trend here any larger if i spray painted it on your roof. For clarity, the employment work place may well be one of the few places remaining where people have any meaningful contact with each other. Where they actually form relationships that mean something . WFH threatens to remove even that. The future that I see pictures an ever increasing number of lonely, estranged people who over time have no idea of how to interact with each other. I won't insult your intelligence by stating the many reasons why this is not good .For our govt who look like wishing to promote this idea I simply suggest that good intentions do not by necessity lead to good outcomes. When you don't know what you are doing then don't do it. Rethink what you think you know.

I notice you don't mention romance? A significant proportion of people meet their other half at work. So if WFH is the preferred model and a falling birth rate in the UK might this be an unintended consequence? 🤔

[Boomer54]

1 hour ago, Phil xxkr said:

I notice you don't mention romance? A significant proportion of people meet their other half at work. So if WFH is the preferred model and a falling birth rate in the UK might this be an unintended consequence? 🤔

"For clarity, the employment work place may well be one of the few places remaining where people have any meaningful contact with each other." A catchall.

[Phil xxkr]

30 minutes ago, Boomer54 said:

"For clarity, the employment work place may well be one of the few places remaining where people have any meaningful contact with each other." A catchall.

That's my point exactly,