DVLA Adding To HGV Shortages

[The Bloop]

Wait until he hears that HMRC staff have been WFH.

Hello from my front room🙂

[Dorcus]

Someone mentioned following the advices of individual businesses on WFH rather than Mark Drakeford; no thank you!!! Does anyone really believe many businesses would favour employee health over profit? I'll stick with my friend Mark if it's all the same.

[JamesWales]

Someone mentioned following the advices of individual businesses on WFH rather than Mark Drakeford; no thank you!!! Does anyone really believe many businesses would favour employee health over profit? I'll stick with my friend Mark if it's all the same.

Most private sector businesses seem to be back in reasonable numbers now. It's the public sector, (particularly in Wales, presumably) that is still working largely from home, with questionable results, but that is a huge topic perhaps for discussion elsewhere.

I certainly think it's unnecessary for Drakeford to offer a route into nightclubs, but still ask people to work from home.

If it's safe enough for hundreds of people to gather in a pub, it should be safe enough for people to have face to face meetings in offices and it doesn't need the First Minister to intervene at that level, IMO.

[The Lone Gunman]

Most private sector businesses seem to be back in reasonable numbers now.

Seem to be. In reasonable numbers.

This is all very woolly. Where are you getting your information from?

[JamesWales]

Seem to be. In reasonable numbers.

This is all very woolly. Where are you getting your information from?

Speaking to people, friends, colleagues, co-workers, clients and obviously working myself.

I'm not the National Statistics Office (although I will quote them when necessary).

[The Lone Gunman]

Speaking to people, friends, colleagues, co-workers, clients and obviously working myself.

Definitive stuff.

[Rjk]

Most private sector businesses seem to be back in reasonable numbers now. It's the public sector, (particularly in Wales, presumably) that is still working largely from home, with questionable results, but that is a huge topic perhaps for discussion elsewhere.

I certainly think it's unnecessary for Drakeford to offer a route into nightclubs, but still ask people to work from home.

If it's safe enough for hundreds of people to gather in a pub, it should be safe enough for people to have face to face meetings in offices and it doesn't need the First Minister to intervene at that level, IMO.

not very easy to nightclub from home is it?

[JamesWales]

not very easy to nightclub from home is it?

I thought the concern was for people's health? Four people working in an office is less dangerous than 300 in a nightclub, no?

[The Lone Gunman]

I thought the concern was for people's health? Four people working in an office is less dangerous than 300 in a nightclub, no?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to provide either proof of vaccination or a negative LFT to gain entry to a nightclub here in Wales? No?

[Rjk]

This thread just reads like the tory boys on here are desperate for someone to take part of the blame for the ongoing CF with regards to hgv drivers, and they don't want it to be the Tories or Brexit, so now we are blaming unions and mark Drakeford

[JamesWales]

This thread just reads like the tory boys on here are desperate for someone to take part of the blame for the ongoing CF with regards to hgv drivers, and they don't want it to be the Tories or Brexit, so now we are blaming unions and mark Drakeford

bLoOdY ToRiEs!

Or maybe the reasoning for HGV issues thats been drummed into you is not the whole story and you should be open minded to hearing other sides of it?

[life on mars]

This thread just reads like the tory boys on here are desperate for someone to take part of the blame for the ongoing CF with regards to hgv drivers, and they don't want it to be the Tories or Brexit, so now we are blaming unions and mark Drakeford

Of course Brexit played a part ,along with a global shortage , 400 thousand vacancies in Europe , unattractive working conditions , poor pay driven by cheap agency labour, unattractive industry for women and young men .The point I made could the backlog at the DVLA help to move out the HGV /Driver applications rather than look to ballot for industrial action , this is effecting other workers not just themselves ,and what really does worry me will governments or businesses move this work away from Wales whcih woudl be a massive impact in that region if it thinks the DVLA is going to continue to be a barrier ?

[Hilts]

You are missing my point. The point is to try and continue with our lives in a safer manner. It is demonstrably safer to have a meeting in an office than be in a large nightclub.

Meetings can be held online. Socialising can also be done online. He offers a route to nightclubs (via vaccinations etc) yet keeps the door shut on offices, which is perhaps more important to the wider economy, wellbeing, secondary businesses etc.

I don't see what's controversial here. We probably agree about most of it, you're just upset cos I'm not sucking off Mark Serwotka or something.

Your having a mare.

[JamesWales]

Your having a mare.

I don't think explaining myself again for those that don't understand my point is having a mare, but thanks for the concern.

[79blue]

There is no issue working from home on sensitive data when using the correct IT equipment. I used to work for Capita doing PIP assessments. I did my assessments at peoples homes and wrote my reports at home. I used a laptop with IL3 security, security dongles and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for secure HDD encryption. Computer users trying to upgrade to Windows 11 will be hearing quite a bit about TPM’s as they will be are a requirement for the upgrade.

IL3 standard allows for restricted data to be moved over public networks securely. This allowed me to access DWP databases at home. I doubt that the DVLA data has a higher security level that the DWP data.

[JamesWales]

I don't have a firm opinion either way as the evidence is unclear.

One thing I will say, though - at the behest of the Tory government, the work of the entire civil service has become increasingly digitalised in recent years and a far greater percentage of civil servants are now working at home either mostly or entirely. There was a very clear drive towards this situation long before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, and in some respects the pandemic has actually slowed the move towards remote working for various departments, including the one I work for.

I'll be honest, I couldn't care less what annoys you.

Have a good evening. I'm off to a gig, Covid passport in hand. I don't need it for the office, though.

No, you don't seem the kind of person who would care.

Have a nice evening

[Dorcus]

I think this is a cracker!

At the end of the day there are only two groups of people who constantly worry about the increasing number of people working from home.

1) Supervisors and Middle Managers whose only purpose in life is to regard themselves as superior to the Hoi polloi. They make limited money out of it but more than the people who accomplish real work. They are the unquestioning slaves of the money men who drive their performance. Their object in life is to accede and command and WFH has seriously eroded their significance. They feel emasculated and have to find other methods to snoop remotely; not easy.

2) Old Fashioned business owners who believe in old fashioned concepts of work effort and time constraints rather than having the nous to evaluate data.

Fortunately both groups are likely to wither in time.

[JamesWales]

I don't have a firm opinion either way as the evidence is unclear.

One thing I will say, though - at the behest of the Tory government, the work of the entire civil service has become increasingly digitalised in recent years and a far greater percentage of civil servants are now working at home either mostly or entirely. There was a very clear drive towards this situation long before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, and in some respects the pandemic has actually slowed the move towards remote working for various departments, including the one I work for.

I think this is a cracker!

At the end of the day there are only two groups of people who constantly worry about the increasing number of people working from home.

1) Supervisors and Middle Managers whose only purpose in life is to regard themselves as superior to the Hoi polloi. They make limited money out of it but more than the people who accomplish real work. They are the unquestioning slaves of the money men who drive their performance. Their object in life is to accede and command and WFH has seriously eroded their significance. They feel emasculated and have to find other methods to snoop remotely; not easy.

2) Old Fashioned business owners who believe in old fashioned concepts of work effort and time constraints rather than having the nous to evaluate data.

Fortunately both groups are likely to wither in time.

Completely disagree. There are potentially very serious long term consequences of permanent home working, the loss of sharing of information, mental wellbeing impacts, new staff training, business cultures, isolation, the impact on younger staff, the impact on poorer staff, establishing contacts with new clients, ensuring work is understood properly etc. It definitely has the potential to lead to greater isolation and impacts on some much worse than others, and it's typically those who are younger or with less happy home lives

Not to mention the impact on business, sustainable transport and the like.

I know people who have been to a very very dark place through WFH so I have to speak up when you try to charactise it as something simple or wholly positive which it absolutely isn't. It's a very complex topic

[The Lone Gunman]

There are potentially very serious long term consequences of permanent home working.....

I agree (to a degree), but perhaps you should attempt to express your concerns to the Tory twats you vote for. In my experience, they are extremely keen on digitalization, remote-working, downscaling, cost-cutting, etc. Give it another five years under this shower of shit and I reckon you'll be lucky to speak directly to a civil servant anywhere about anything. Ever.

[JamesWales]

I don't have a firm opinion either way as the evidence is unclear.

One thing I will say, though - at the behest of the Tory government, the work of the entire civil service has become increasingly digitalised in recent years and a far greater percentage of civil servants are now working at home either mostly or entirely. There was a very clear drive towards this situation long before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, and in some respects the pandemic has actually slowed the move towards remote working for various departments, including the one I work for.

I think this is a cracker!

At the end of the day there are only two groups of people who constantly worry about the increasing number of people working from home.

1) Supervisors and Middle Managers whose only purpose in life is to regard themselves as superior to the Hoi polloi. They make limited money out of it but more than the people who accomplish real work. They are the unquestioning slaves of the money men who drive their performance. Their object in life is to accede and command and WFH has seriously eroded their significance. They feel emasculated and have to find other methods to snoop remotely; not easy.

2) Old Fashioned business owners who believe in old fashioned concepts of work effort and time constraints rather than having the nous to evaluate data.

Fortunately both groups are likely to wither in time.

I agree (to a degree), but perhaps you should attempt to express your concerns to the Tory twats you vote for. In my experience, they are extremely keen on digitalization, remote-working, downscaling, cost-cutting, etc. Give it another five years under this shower of shit and I reckon you'll be lucky to speak directly to a civil servant anywhere about anything. Ever.

Yes, I don't agree with 'digital first' strategies in many cases as we are losing a lot of contact and communication, empathy, and the finer grain understanding of issues. It's not helpful for a cohesive society.

I don't see any difference from Labour or other parties however (if I did I would applaud it) and as stated earlier, if anything they seem keener on it all. I would like more organisations to stand up for and recognise the value of human interaction. The loss of it can be devastating.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed your gig.

[The Lone Gunman]

I don't see any difference from Labour or other parties however......

Perhaps if you worked in the public sector, you would.

I've worked in the same department for almost 30 years. The reductions in resources and staff numbers that have occurred within the last four or five years have dwarfed anything that has gone before. Many of our long-standing customers can't understand why our services have deteriorated so rapidly in recent times. Many think we're joking when we tell them about our staffing levels.

Brexit has resulted in an approximate 40% increase in the workload of the team that I'm currently overseeing. Nevertheless, during the pandemic our staffing levels have been slashed by 60%. I work in transport. Like the DVLA, we have large backlogs of work, and that's despite 100% of our staff being onsite for almost all of this year (despite the fact that a large percentage would have been equally productive if they'd been at home). This is life in the civil service under the Tories.

[Eric Cartman]

Perhaps if you worked in the public sector, you would.

I've worked in the same department for almost 30 years. The reductions in resources and staff numbers that have occurred within the last four or five years have dwarfed anything that has gone before. Many of our long-standing customers can't understand why our services have deteriorated so rapidly in recent times. Many think we're joking when we tell them about our staffing levels.

Brexit has resulted in an approximate 40% increase in the workload of the team that I'm currently overseeing. Nevertheless, during the pandemic our staffing levels have been slashed by 60%. I work in transport. Like the DVLA, we have large backlogs of work, and that's despite 100% of our staff being onsite for almost all of this year (despite the fact that a large percentage would have been equally productive if they'd been at home). This is life in the civil service under the Tories.

It's death by a thousand cuts (pun intended), one of the teams where I work has reached the death bit after years of enforced cuts and workload increases, 95% of the team left within 2 months. Anybody they recruit now will leave once they see what is going on.

[the other bob wilson]

Part of the trade off for the Patent Office allowing me to become a working from home “Guinea Pig” back in 2000 was that my annual target of cases was increased by, I seem to remember, fifteen per cent - there were better, more efficient, Trade Mark Examiners working there than me, but I was able to achieve that target for nine years before I took up an offer of early retirement.

In those pre Covid days, I’d say home working was not for everyone, but it was fine for me because I went into work for one and a half days a week and would not have liked the idea of permanent home working, so I can understand the desire to cut back on it somewhat to a small degree.

However, as so often these days with the what’s in it for me party in power, money seems to be behind efforts to reduce home working - it certainly was this time last year when pressure from places like sandwich bars and other food outlets prompted a short lived change of policy where civil servants especially were told they had to reduce home working and this, along with Sunak’s barmy “eat out to help out” scheme played a part in creating the autumn second wave which eventually led to another lockdown.

The OP’s motives for starting this thread became clear from the first sentence of his first message , while James Wales, who tries to come over as all reasonable and even handed and yet, without fail in my experience, comes down on the what’s in it for me party side of the argument. Frankly, the arguments against home working in this thread would have been more convincing if they had come from people with less of an agenda than the OP and James Wales.

[JamesWales]

Perhaps if you worked in the public sector, you would.

I've worked in the same department for almost 30 years. The reductions in resources and staff numbers that have occurred within the last four or five years have dwarfed anything that has gone before. Many of our long-standing customers can't understand why our services have deteriorated so rapidly in recent times. Many think we're joking when we tell them about our staffing levels.

Brexit has resulted in an approximate 40% increase in the workload of the team that I'm currently overseeing. Nevertheless, during the pandemic our staffing levels have been slashed by 60%. I work in transport. Like the DVLA, we have large backlogs of work, and that's despite 100% of our staff being onsite for almost all of this year (despite the fact that a large percentage would have been equally productive if they'd been at home). This is life in the civil service under the Tories.

I do work in the public sector and have done for many years

[JamesWales]

Part of the trade off for the Patent Office allowing me to become a working from home “Guinea Pig” back in 2000 was that my annual target of cases was increased by, I seem to remember, fifteen per cent - there were better, more efficient, Trade Mark Examiners working there than me, but I was able to achieve that target for nine years before I took up an offer of early retirement.

In those pre Covid days, I’d say home working was not for everyone, but it was fine for me because I went into work for one and a half days a week and would not have liked the idea of permanent home working, so I can understand the desire to cut back on it somewhat to a small degree.

However, as so often these days with the what’s in it for me party in power, money seems to be behind efforts to reduce home working - it certainly was this time last year when pressure from places like sandwich bars and other food outlets prompted a short lived change of policy where civil servants especially were told they had to reduce home working and this, along with Sunak’s barmy “eat out to help out” scheme played a part in creating the autumn second wave which eventually led to another lockdown.

The OP’s motives for starting this thread became clear from the first sentence of his first message , while James Wales, who tries to come over as all reasonable and even handed and yet, without fail in my experience, comes down on the what’s in it for me party side of the argument. Frankly, the arguments against home working in this thread would have been more convincing if they had come from people with less of an agenda than the OP and James Wales.

That's an extremely unfair thing to say, and you saying the "what's in it for me party" does somewhat undermine your position to be even handed on it. I've not mentioned party politics whatsoever other than to say that I don't see other parties as being any better and perhaps worse on WFH issues from my perspective. (And I only mentioned that cos TLG decided the conversation couldn't continue without some sectarian element coming in..."I hear what your saying but are you saying it with the right colour rosette on!?"

WFH disproportionately impacts upon those with difficult home lives. There has been some very dark moments in the last 18 months and I can think of at least a dozen people who have felt really very low as a result. If it suits you, fine, but you're lucky. Howerver, when you isolate people you can isolate their problems too.

It's a serious topic. We spend 40 hours a week surrounded by other humans and then suddenly sat on your own for the rest of your career? The changes are stark and I don't think you help by politicising it tbh