Get out of the cubicle, wage slave!

[Huxleys Babkins]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/14/minister-steps-up-pressure-on-firms-over-home-working

Having spent all of last summer shaming employers and employees alike for their laziness and cowardice, and withdrawing a large chunk of furlough support, the government are now shocked that firms are forcing their staff into the workplace during this new lockdown.

I love that Sharma is disappointed that people are being threatened with redundancy if they ask to work from home, just five months after the prime minister made the exact same threat.

[Non Stop Dancer]

Here's the situation with my company, which I'm sure is widespread. Company directors are not eligible for any financial support in the way non limited businesses are. If businesses don't run, the owners of them don't get paid, and I suspect what that means for the majority, given that most of the economy is made up of small, owner-managed firms, is that they'll go bust if they don't trade. Back in April we were able to claim £10k in the form of the grant they were giving out at the time for businesses who were eligible for small business rates relief. That £10k subsequently met the costs for our rent and ongoing non-wage bills up until about last month.

Now, I've managed to save a fair little nest egg over the last 6 years or so of trading and also had some profits built up in the business. Not a fortune, but enough to live on for a fair while, especially as my wife has a well paid job and we have a pretty inexpensive lifestyle, cheap mortgage, no kids etc. That's just me though, and I doubt those set of circumstances extend to the majority of people. What's my point? Well, unless the government give company directors parity with self employed people and give us some cash to keep us ticking over, businesses are going to be going tits up all over the place, so I can't really judge too harshly those that want staff at their desks, on the production line etc.

[Endicott]

That article appears to be about people who could actually work from home being pressurised to go into the office though. Not production line workers. I know it mentions construction sites and I have some agreement or at least sympathy for the position of a small firm with workers who can't work from home and that isn't getting any relief money, but the main quote is:

However, recent reports that a small minority of firms have threatened employees with unpaid leave unless they come into the office are deeply troubling.

So if firms are pressurising people back into the office then I'm not very sympathetic to that.

It doesn't help that the article is all over the place.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Meanwhile:

The Irish Times reports that new Government plans set to be announced on Friday will include bringing in a new law for workers to have the right to request their employer allow them work remotely.

A new legally admissible code of practice on the right to disconnect from work, including phone calls, emails and switch-off time, will also be introduced under the plans.

[...]

Mr Varadkar said many people would want to continue to work remotely at least in part after the pandemic. It was very important that the Government protect the rights and entitlements of such workers so that they could "switch off" from their jobs.

To facilitate greater remote working, employment rights needed to be updated and there needed to be a cultural shift, Mr Varadkar said.

As part of the new strategy, the Government will also explore the acceleration of the national broadband plan and investing in more remote working hubs that are close to childcare facilities.

I'm sure we'll bollix it up somehow but I'm cautiously hopef-

There is also a plan to review the treatment of remote working for the purposes of tax.

Oh, there it is.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

All the same, the thought of the landlords of speculative commercial property and city centre rent scalpers failing to see returns on their investment and devolving into panic is gladdening and joyful.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

All the same, the thought of the landlords of speculative commercial property and city centre rent scalpers failing to see returns on their investment and devolving into panic is gladdening and joyful.

Remote working in Ireland should have been A Thing long ago. For decades people have been wringing their hands over the decline of rural villages, well here's the answer lads. Even if companies rented space in a tech hub and required people to work from there, it'd be better than forcing them to commute for hours and hours.