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My employer has said WFH is here to stay for us but find some members of staff are taking the mick and not pulling their weight leading others to work harder and longer hours.
Can't see this lasting forever
I see them sat in the garden in the sun ( while I clean the windows ), logged on in work, laughing when they tell me " im logged in at work, so getting paid, this is a great new life, thanks Covid " its human nature that some will take the piss, always happened, always will
These kind of people probably skived in the office environment as well , like you say , always happenedOriginally Posted by blue matt
Absolutely. Some people doing very little. Some people working all hours, sending emails on sunday afternoons and past 10pm at night. This never happened to that extent in offices; it was much easier to accurately allocate work.
It's reason number 8 to oppose mass WFH.
it is here to stay.
they tried to go back to 100% on site working recently in my work and there was such an outcry from EVERYONE senior managers down that they caved in after 1 day and we remain flexible working.
I manage people in different countries anyway, so in terms of their interaction with me it doesn't matter whether they are chained to their desk, or sipping a cocktail on the beach, as long as they're getting the work done it doesn't matter to me.
Same for me, managed a team of 25+ people and productivity has increased since WFH started. Maybe it’s because it’s a high skilled industry but all my mates who in similar industries seem to think it’s the same for them.
Most opposition seems to come from people it doesn’t affect at all. My opposition to it is people can’t draw the line and do too much since wfh started.
What do the people in this thread do for work that’s made them opposed to it?
What are reasons number.1 to 7?
Anecdotal evidence of a window cleaner probably isn’t the best way to form an opinion on whether working from home works or not tbh.
A few years ago, you were trying to find someone to take over your round when you went on holiday. You were offering just 50% of the invoice as, I think you said, it's your van, your tools and you like making money.
Perhaps you were sat in the sun at Disney Land, having a bud light and laughing that you were getting paid? Human nature after all.
Who cares if they're making their working day more pleasant? Enjoying the sunshine instead of being stuck in the office for most of the daylight hours? Good for them.
I jest by saying reason number 8 but here goes off the top of my head. All can be disputed of course, and I refer to 100% WFH, not hybrids, which reduce many issues.
1 - Generally bad for mental health, especially for some
2 - Bad for staff development
3 - Bad for public transport infrastructure
4 - No better for the environment
5 - Bad for creating team cultures
6 - Worse for younger staff
7 - increases inequalities
8 - very questionable productivity gains, especially in long term
9 - takes forever to get some stuff done
10 - questionable savings long term
I just find staff are sadder, miss eachother, more anxious and have far less holistic knowledge about what is going on. Silos are strengthened etc. It is also profoundly unfair that the 50 year old person in the large 5 bed house with garden and home office was previously given the same resources as the 25 year old in a shared house, whereas now their working environments reflect their status. It's cruel in many respects.
That’s if it’s forced working from home though. Most people now have the flexibility and are still choosing to work from home.
I’d love to see any evidence of 1, 9 and 10.
Almost all the others are solved by the flexibility of the odd day in the office.
What industry are you working in where this isn’t working?
I’d especially love to see some evidence of this, do you think this is caused by not going into an office?
I just find staff are sadder, miss eachother, more anxious
Well it has certainly damaged my mental health. I spoke to the doctor about it and he said it's common. Problems related to isolation, too much contact with partners at home, lack of people to speak to, inability to share concerns etc. I think long term you are creating a situation that when mental health issues arise, they are inevitably made worse for people WFH
It's a mixed story though.https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/new...-covid-19.html
Things take far longer where I am. Things that would be solved by a simple conversation face to face evolve into long drawn out issues on email
10 - Companies will be responsible for everyones home as a workplace. Staff either facing burnout or doing very little etc.
two things really. Firstly a lack of human interaction can cause mental health problems in itself. Secondly, if mental health problems evolve through other means they can be exacerbated by a lack of interaction at work; ie, being sat at home with your thoughts all day on your own, instead of being around people etc.
I genuinely think it is laying foundations for a very serious mental health crisis long term, especially amongst younger people.
Just like to add productivity has absolutely not gone down during the pandemic but the lines have definitely been blurred.
How have you got to 4, 8 and 10? It is absolutely better for the environment, people don't need to travel to the office. Massive savings too, as people need less office space. I've covered 8.
People who slack off, always have slacked off.
It's not better for the environment. UK energy demand went up for the first time in a decade during covid and WFH. How you commute is of course the issue; cars are worse than trains which are worse than walking or cycling. We have seen a significant decline in public transport infrastuture and a rise in energy use. It's hard to argue it's positive.
In short, 100 people in one large lit and heated room is MUCH better for the environment than 100 people in individually lit and heated houses.
https://grid.iamkate.com/
Big debate over productivity. Either way, loads of issues irrespective of WFH
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk...hours%20worked.
Companies save on office space but pay out in other areas; equiping everyones home, mobile phones, long term lack of creative development etc.
Some interesting bits here: https://www.europeanbusinessreview.eu/page.asp?pid=4793
All of this can be disputed, but i think 100% WFH is very damaging.
Mr Wales has form for treating his opinions as if they’re facts.
As usual Bob, you pipe up and say this (with no hint of irony) but I've provided some links there. You haven't.
I’ve had my say about home working in the other 349 threads we’ve had on here on the subject - all I’m doing here is saying your list of ten reasons why it is a bad thing is heavy on opinions.
he's spot on though
I wish some would accept that certain working conditions suit different people.
Mrs HaB works 3 days a week and does 2 from home. She saves 2 days' rail fare and gains 5 hours a werk that would have been wasted commuting. If she needs to work late it's not a problem, whereas working late in the office creates problems with her being home late. If times are busy she has voluntarily worked extra on a day off to clear a backlog, without pay, something she wouldn't do if she had to pay and commute for the privilige. She doesn't have to be pleasant with workers she wouldn't normally bother with. She doesn't have to do lunch or bother with office parties that she hates. She has some flexibility as well, for example on Wednesday it is my son's sports day. She can go for an hour if she's working from home and make up the time. She'd have to take a morning off otherwise.
Without choosing a side as I think there are pros and cons from working from home: you're definitely doing a lot of heavy lifting in that post to prove some points that cannot be proved.
100 people in one room? How many work environments in the UK would that apply to?
I took a look at the "productivity" link you posted too.
Can you please explain how 'productivity in working hours compared to a national GDP' is a good way of working out that productivity is worse because of working from home? I don't see it.
The whole thread is about opinions Bob, but you pull out the only person who has provided links (on energy use, on productivity and mental health) as the one not backing up his arguments. That's curious.
Re 9
In our place definitely noticed people downing tools because they’ve ‘run out of work’ of work at home and not made the journey back into the office to get more.
It’ll all sort itself out in the end but it’s been a hard few months with some not taking their fair share of work
Of course you could pin that down to the company not allocating work correctly
The business I work for has struggled in telling people who are off sick to NOT WORK from home, but they won't listen. Three people off with Covid at the moment and still answering and writing emails!
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