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March 28, 2024, 09:51:48 AM

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Get back in the cubicle, wage slave!

Started by Alberon, August 28, 2020, 11:51:30 AM

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Alberon

The government has launched a campaign to get people to physically go back to work.

QuoteBoris Johnson will launch a major drive to get Britain back to the office as ministers warn working from home will make people more "vulnerable" to being sacked.

A publicity campaign to begin next week will extol the virtues of returning to the workplace, making the "emotional case" for mixing with colleagues and highlighting the benefits to mental health.

It will also provide reassurance that "the workplace is a safe place", while a new online tool will help people avoid the most crowded trains and buses.

While the media blitz – to be launched at the end of next week once schools in England have reopened – will focus on the positives of returning to the office, ministers are already warning of the negatives of home working as part of a carrot and stick approach.

They have sent out the message that bosses at struggling firms will find it easier to hand out P45s to people they never see than to colleagues who have been at their desks during the pandemic.

The Prime Minister is said to be increasingly concerned about empty offices and eerily quiet city centres as millions stubbornly refuse to heed his calls for them to return.

Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, is also worried about further job losses in businesses that depend on office workers for their trade, such as sandwich shops, gyms and pubs, as well as the financial cost of running near-empty trains and buses.

One Government source said: "People need to understand that working from home is not the benign option it seems. We need workers to be alert to what decisions their bosses may take in the weeks ahead. If they are only seeing workers once a fortnight then that could prove problematic for some employees in the future.

"We want employees to be careful what working arrangements they accept. Suddenly the word 'restructure' is bandied about and people who have been working from home find themselves in the most vulnerable position."

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has said he doesn't care where officials under him are working as long as it is effectively.

Many Tory MPs are against the back to the office plan, for obvious reasons.

QuoteBut the new push - revealed by The Telegraph this morning - has upset many Tory MPs with seats in the commuter belt.

One said: "There's a right old ding-dong going on the Conservative MPs WhatsApp group... the London MPs are v worried about how you convince people to come back to Pret."

Another added: "Employees at home help their local economies and independent corner shops and cafes, even if it doesn't help big multinationals like Pret A Manger...

"We have to be careful when it is rich and privileged Tories telling people that they know better than employers how people should work, and don't have to do the struggle on the daily commute... as Conservatives I thought we trusted employers to make their own decisions."

A third warned it would "almost certainly lead to another U-turn".

"Many around the PM want a return to some sort of normality, but as soon as [the chief medical officer] says it's a bad idea, the PM capitulates... As soon as figures start to go up, Number 10 will revert to the health position and become risk averse."

All quotes from The Torygraph.

Fambo Number Mive

QuoteOne Government source said: "People need to understand that working from home is not the benign option it seems. We need workers to be alert to what decisions their bosses may take in the weeks ahead. If they are only seeing workers once a fortnight then that could prove problematic for some employees in the future.

Absolute nonsense, bosses and workers can communicate at any time during the working day over Zoom etc.

If the government want more people back in the office they should do a better job at combating the virus.

BlodwynPig


bgmnts

I think I read that 9 out of 10 workers want to stay at home and work.

You'd have to think it's actually 10 out of 10 or 9.8 out of 10 or something but that would look less palatable.

This is just another example of the govt trying to make us as miserable as possible for the state of status quo. We all know that work in of itself is crap but a necessary evil, just to keep us stimulated and productive (whatever that means), the real stuff that makes it beyond tolerable is the physically going into a shit, grim as fuck office, wearing shit, uncomfortable clothing, talking to shit, boring people, and feeling like you are wasting your life away with every tick of tick of the clock. No amount of organisational changes or team meetings or dress down Fridays will ever change this.

Just let people stay at home for fuck sake.

The Culture Bunker

Wouldn't be surprised if companies like Stagecoach have been in certain ears about how they need their buses packed out again.

Not heard anything re my own workplace yet. If it was up to me, I'd happily work at home for as long as I want. The extra time in bed in the morning, plus the hour back in the evening, has done wonders for my mental and physical well being.

olliebean

This is the real reason why they're so desperate to get the kids back to school, of course. So the parents no longer have an excuse to work from home.

Chollis

Got an email today from work saying we've entered "phase 2" of returning to the office, which basically means anyone can go back in if they want, but nobody is obligated to. Apparently they took a survey and "just under 40%" of employees would like to return the office. I never want to go back, working from home is fucking great.

Sebastian Cobb

The most laughable part of the Telegraph article is that seeing colleagues is an acceptable way to alleviate mental illness arising from isolation.

Nobody that's lonely wants to waste their time talking to colleagues.

SpiderChrist

Quote from: Chollis on August 28, 2020, 01:26:12 PM
Got an email today from work saying we've entered "phase 2" of returning to the office, which basically means anyone can go back in if they want, but nobody is obligated to. Apparently they took a survey and "just under 40%" of employees would like to return the office. I never want to go back, working from home is fucking great.

I had a similar email the other week. Given I have to get a train or a bus into Cambridge during rush hour, I have no desire to go back. In fact I think it's safe to say that I don't ever want to go into the office again.

SpiderChrist

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on August 28, 2020, 01:28:57 PM
The most laughable part of the Telegraph article is that seeing colleagues is an acceptable way to alleviate mental illness arising from isolation.

Nobody that's lonely wants to waste their time talking to colleagues.

The one blight on working from home is having to deal with some of the cunts I share an office with.

flotemysost

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on August 28, 2020, 11:57:48 AM
Absolute nonsense, bosses and workers can communicate at any time during the working day over Zoom etc.

If the government want more people back in the office they should do a better job at combating the virus.

Yes, it's an absolute crock. My company (which admittedly has been pretty good in this situation, overall) put out a survey for employees to anonymously share their suggestions, concerns etc. about the future of working remotely, and there were a few managers tutting that they wouldn't be able to see whether their teams were actually working or if they were clocking in late, taking long lunches, etc.

Mate have you not heard of Slack, or any of the myriad similar platforms you can get free accounts for? My individual department has been using it for ages, way pre-COVID, as we were split across multiple offices anyway (plus a couple of team members were already working remotely part of the week, due to childcare and study commitments) so it's a handy way of seeing when people are free for a phone call, etc.

If you've been able to provide your employees with a way of doing work from home then you can find a way of staying in contact, it's not hard. (And if you just don't trust your employees, then that's a separate problem.)

I'm saying this as someone who is, personally, currently pretty fucking miserable working from home. Hate it. But I wholeheartedly defend everyone's right to where possible. And not just because of COVID, either. There are thousands of reasons why people might not be able to or want to physically be in an office for all of their contracted working hours - it's 2020, it's really not that complicated to arrange 99% of the time.

earl_sleek

I dunno, working from home has massively fucked with my head. It's important for my mental health to be able to compartmentalise work and non-work life and without the change in setting as a cue I can't do that, I find I can't concentrate when I'm meant to be working and I can't relax when I'm not. Even before COVID I could work from home pretty much whenever I wanted, but most days would try and get into the office if it was possible, now our offices are closed I feel like a prisoner in my own home.

I realise I'm in the minority here and think for public health reasons it's probably for the best for remote working to continue as much as possible, but's its certainly not great for everyone.

flotemysost

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on August 28, 2020, 01:28:57 PM
The most laughable part of the Telegraph article is that seeing colleagues is an acceptable way to alleviate mental illness arising from isolation.

Nobody that's lonely wants to waste their time talking to colleagues.

I've got a close friendship group within my team, and not having the normal daily interactions/lunch breaks/after-work pub outings with them, as well as my mounting paranoia that I'm going to eventually lose friends and be forgotten about over the course of this year (as everyone else I know seems to be happily isolating with partners or family), has been one of my main sources of unhappiness in this situation.

But I appreciate that having a tight-knit group of friends at work probably isn't the norm, and for most people this is probably a very welcome break.

Quote from: earl_sleek on August 28, 2020, 01:47:26 PM
I dunno, working from home has massively fucked with my head. It's important for my mental health to be able to compartmentalise work and non-work life and without the change in setting as a cue I can't do that, I find I can't concentrate when I'm meant to be working and I can't relax when I'm not. Even before COVID I could work from home pretty much whenever I wanted, but most days would try and get into the office if it was possible, now our offices are closed I feel like a prisoner in my own home.

I realise I'm in the minority here and think for public health reasons it's probably for the best for remote working to continue as much as possible, but's its certainly not great for everyone.

Edit: yep, can relate to pretty much everything you've said here.

I've been going back to my office two days per week since July - I can walk there and it's basically empty, as only a very small proportion of staff wanted to go back, and they've facilitated distancing, hand-washing etc. precautions pretty well so it feels as safe as it can be, but my god am I grateful to get out of my tiny bedroom-cum-workplace[nb]jk, there's no cum in there at the moment[/nb] on those days.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: earl_sleek on August 28, 2020, 01:47:26 PM
I dunno, working from home has massively fucked with my head. It's important for my mental health to be able to compartmentalise work and non-work life and without the change in setting as a cue I can't do that, I find I can't concentrate when I'm meant to be working and I can't relax when I'm not.

It is for me too, and I always thought this would be a problem for me, so came into the office while other people who lived a bit further away negotiated working from home days. Turns out it's actually fine for me. I do piss about a bit sometimes, but I did plenty of 'looking busy' at times at work, I reckon I'm more productive although maybe spending less time actually working.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: flotemysost on August 28, 2020, 01:48:58 PM
I've got a close friendship group within my team, and not having the normal daily interactions/lunch breaks/after-work pub outings with them, as well as my mounting paranoia that I'm going to eventually lose friends and be forgotten about over the course of this year (as everyone else I know seems to be happily isolating with partners or family), has been one of my main sources of unhappiness in this situation.

But I appreciate that having a tight-knit group of friends at work probably isn't the norm, and for most people this is probably a very welcome break.

I enjoyed lunchtimes, but that was with a group of cross-project people and we'll be alternating working space so I won't see them anyway. I still think the benefits of not coming in outweigh not having that in my situation.

I returned to the office on Tuesday, and will do a half the week there, half from home. The problem I found is that nobody knew whether they should wear masks or not. Some colleagues did, some didn't. It was unavoidable touching keypads to enter doors and door handles, with few hand sanitizer points. The building is old, and illnesses tend to spread like wildfire, even pre-covid due to poor ventilation.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: confettiinmyhair on August 28, 2020, 01:53:09 PM
I returned to the office on Tuesday, and will do a half the week there, half from home. The problem I found is that nobody knew whether they should wear masks or not. Some colleagues did, some didn't. It was unavoidable touching keypads to enter doors and door handles, with few hand sanitizer points. The building is old, and illnesses tend to spread like wildfire, even pre-covid due to poor ventilation.

This is my big issue with it. The higher-ups are looking to keep us at home. But a lower manager seems to be pushing for a culture of presenteeism and pressuring my boss. Part of it was we were in a crumbling building and had been lined up for a move which managers would love because it has better meeting rooms and I think they're ashamed of our shit-tip (which I like because it keeps higher ups away and not interfering), but I can't see that happening, as if work need to spread everyone out they'll probably spread another team that need to be in more than us into that space.

ASFTSN

Quote from: earl_sleek on August 28, 2020, 01:47:26 PM
I dunno, working from home has massively fucked with my head. It's important for my mental health to be able to compartmentalise work and non-work life and without the change in setting as a cue I can't do that, I find I can't concentrate when I'm meant to be working and I can't relax when I'm not. Even before COVID I could work from home pretty much whenever I wanted, but most days would try and get into the office if it was possible, now our offices are closed I feel like a prisoner in my own home.

I realise I'm in the minority here and think for public health reasons it's probably for the best for remote working to continue as much as possible, but's its certainly not great for everyone.

I'm torn because it's fucked with my head too - having to work at the desk where I do my freelance work has seemingly caused both to suffer. But at the same time the thought of a return to the constant faking of putting on a face of societal normality to colleagues again makes me want to vomit.

Besides public transport, the office-supporting economy is almost entirely toxic. We only "need" Pret because we don't have enough quality time. We only "need" the gym because they've squandered our open spaces.

Plus, the idea that a struggling business won't make workers redundant because the bosses can see people's faces? Or this mythical office where management are keeping in touch with us all the time about decisions rather than facelessly handing down diktats through middle men? Do they think we're stupid?*

Quote from: earl_sleek on August 28, 2020, 01:47:26 PM
I dunno, working from home has massively fucked with my head. It's important for my mental health to be able to compartmentalise work and non-work life and without the change in setting as a cue I can't do that, I find I can't concentrate when I'm meant to be working and I can't relax when I'm not. Even before COVID I could work from home pretty much whenever I wanted, but most days would try and get into the office if it was possible, now our offices are closed I feel like a prisoner in my own home.

I realise I'm in the minority here and think for public health reasons it's probably for the best for remote working to continue as much as possible, but's its certainly not great for everyone.

Just do what I did and have a relationship with a co-worker. When they're wearing a smart blouse and talking to you like they barely know you, you'll know you're at work, but when they're slobbing about in pyjamas and letting you shag their arse off, you'll know you're at home.

*That's rhetorical.

steveh

Waiting for the first newspaper story about a company that brings people back to the office just so they can make them redundant in person but gives them all Covid in the process.

Ferris

All the companies I'm aware of are being super wary the other way - they know that the first person ordered to return to work who catches COVID will have a strong civil case, and everyone forcibly put at risk can join in as a class action.

At the moment, I've been told to get a list of names of people who want to return to the office and put that forward. No one does, so it is a very short list.

I wouldn't be surprised if the concept of offices were largely sacked off altogether, for the next 18 months at least.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on August 28, 2020, 04:30:14 PM
All the companies I'm aware of are being super wary the other way - they know that the first person ordered to return to work who catches COVID will have a strong civil case, and everyone forcibly put at risk can join in as a class action.

That's the most amusing part, for all the begging from the tories, all the big city companies that they usually rim have taken a stance of 'lol, no'.


bgmnts

This is what happens when people keep voting in fuckheads who want their lives as shit as possible.

What aren't people understanding?

Nobody Soup

what's hilarious about this really is the admission that basically going to work is something everyone is being expected to put up with to prop up a hopelessly out-dated economic setup.

you could work from home yes, but we need you to take pointless trips and buy sandwiches, to keep everything ticking over.

jamiefairlie

This genie is not going back in the bottle. As with most societal trends, tech is leading the way and everyone I know now says that WFH is a dealbreaker in assessing jobs. Companies that don't follow will be starved of good talent. Loads of young uns looking to move out of expensive downtown luxury rabbit hutches to move out to suburbs and further to buy a home.

olliebean

Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on August 28, 2020, 02:48:29 PMJust do what I did and have a relationship with a co-worker. When they're wearing a smart blouse and talking to you like they barely know you, you'll know you're at work, but when they're slobbing about in pyjamas and letting you shag their arse off, you'll know you're at home.

Isn't the new normal smart blouse on top for Zoom meetings, whilst the bottom half slobs about in pyjamas? (Not sure it goes as far as letting you shag their arse off during Zoom meetings, though.)

Alberon

More details from the Telegraph.

QuoteCommuters will be offered three-day season tickets under plans being studied by ministers to get Britain back to the office.

Rail firms believe the part-time tickets are the only way to entice home workers back on to trains to give them the flexibility of going to their workplace for a few days a week.

An announcement on new types of ticketing could be made as soon as next month if, as expected, the Government extends the current emergency funding for the railways.

My brother-in-law is working from home permanently from now on whatever happens with the pandemic. Even with losing London Weighting he's still far better off not having to commute five days a week. And, of course, he saves time not having to travel to London and back.

I'm in facilities management and actually need to be on site. I've been back part time for two months already and next week I'll be back full time.

The pandemic has accelerated something that was very gradually happening anyway. The idea that everything is going to go back to the way it was before is ludicrous. Many companies are waking up to the realisation that WFH doesn't necessarily impact productivity and letting their employees do it results in lots of savings elsewhere.

You can smash up the looms as much as you want but change will always happen.

Sebastian Cobb

Although.



This perfectly exemplifies the corporate totem pole doesn't it?

honeychile

In normal times my work was divided across two sites. Pre-covid, for the more distant of the two sites, which was two buses away, i'd sometimes grab a morning coffee in between my bus connection (at Friska, which although more expensive than Pret had the advantage of actually having nice coffee). Since covid, although i can do some work from home, most of my work is physical and atm i'm on site - the one site closest to me - three days a week, commuting by bike. If i were dragged back to the other more distant site... i'd forego the buses and do that by bike too. I'm not getting two covid vessels there and then two back. So no amount of "go back to work" will get me queuing up in a coffee shop, or going to the bakery at lunchtime when i can just prepare more food myself, or splurging on public transport when i'm saving almost a grand a year on the bike, or making any other extraneous lifestyle decisions until shit is actually fucking safe. If the tories want to prop up all these businesses, it's not up to me to risk my health for them - they can fucking do it.