D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
Problem is that people cannot be trusted, unless there is a way of monitoring staff performance then the top brass will never allow people to work full time at home.
Post covid, returning to work or staying at home?
- Thread starter mustang1
- Start date
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The company i work for, base our work on outcomes………they set desired outcomes for work streams, if those outcomes are met, jobs a good en……not every company is untrusting of its staff
15mths working from home now and been more productive, less stressed, met all deadlines and taking on extra work if/when required…….
and hsbc, nationwide….have already told their staff they no longer need to return to their regular office, they can work from home, office or local branch, the staff decide which it is……so yes, top brass are trusting of their staff
Work is not a location.
As soon as managers understand this, things improve for everyone.
I've worked from home full time for 15 years, I'm not measured by screen time, but goals and objectives. If I meet them, I'm as good as anyone who sits in a company office.
contadino
Veteran
- Location
- Chesterfield
That's just a cop out for ineffective management. A decent manager will know what their staff are doing regardless of where those staff are.
Deleted User
Guest
- Location
- Wolverhampton
Depends what you do surely, no-one I know works in an office and consequently can't work from home.
It would be my worst nightmare, not going out the house every day and not seeing anyone other than family.
bikingdad90
Guru
We are dividing the workforce into multiple categories, broadly permanent WFHer’s, blended workers, office based and area based.
I can do my job from home but occasionally it’s much easier to meet and thrash a topic out for an hour or so with a whiteboard/flip chart as it’s not as easy to move ideas/flow charts around virtually. It will be nice to be able to do this in person at some point in the future.
We were going agile anyway but because of Covid it’s accelerated the plan and we’ve been able to capitalise on bigger firms looking to downsize into our office space that we no longer need as much of.
I currently work from the living room at a dressing table depth desk and need to consider looking at a permanent office desk/ new location instead of a semi permanent desk set up but not sure what to do as all my options involve considerable outlay or get cold in winter and would cost more money to run. I’m comfortable at the moment, location in living room is not ideal but I haven’t seen an increase in electric or gas costs either, just savings so far.
I can do my job from home but occasionally it’s much easier to meet and thrash a topic out for an hour or so with a whiteboard/flip chart as it’s not as easy to move ideas/flow charts around virtually. It will be nice to be able to do this in person at some point in the future.
We were going agile anyway but because of Covid it’s accelerated the plan and we’ve been able to capitalise on bigger firms looking to downsize into our office space that we no longer need as much of.
I currently work from the living room at a dressing table depth desk and need to consider looking at a permanent office desk/ new location instead of a semi permanent desk set up but not sure what to do as all my options involve considerable outlay or get cold in winter and would cost more money to run. I’m comfortable at the moment, location in living room is not ideal but I haven’t seen an increase in electric or gas costs either, just savings so far.
Have you not got a spare bedroom that you could locate into…….thats what i did, set it up as a permenant office, its been great
bikingdad90
Guru
4 bed house with 3 kids who need their own room or else we would never get any sleep or have our voice, it would be permanently lost from shouting! No attic and wife says absolutely no way to master bedroom having a desk in! I considered the shed but would need electric running to it, beefed up security and then insulation adding. I’ll probably end up sticking to the living room but get a deeper desk as it’s the cheapest option.
midlife
Guru
Just out of curiosity, do you do that tax claim thing for a home office set up?
I havent, but a few of my colleagues have… i keep forgetting to do it
Salaried folks seem to be assuming that salaries office-based vs home will be the same in the long term. But, there are already rumblings about some UK companies following the lead of Silicon Valley and making salary "home location dependant".
Back in my day as a wage slave for CEGB (pre 1990) at HQ in Paternoster square there was a "London allowance" on salaries, but it was recognized that this in no way compensated people moving from Power Stations in the Country to become commuters or live in London. Hence, London jobs were graded higher job for job than station jobs.
Plus a friend who has a middle-senior job with one of the US banks in London and has been Zooming from home tells me two things:
He and colleagues find Zoom meeting more stressful tiring than in-person meetings
And
The kids (as he referred to the Pandemic graduate intake) who are working remotely are desperate to get to the office. Networking, learning from colleagues, absorbing corporate culture are some of the things they cite. Plus my mate has a 4-bed semi with a workspace to retreat to - some of the kids are in 1-bed flats or flatshares with nowhere to dedicate to an office.
Also, another friend's daughter is an architect and was flat-sharing with 2 other architects. The only workspace was the lounge/dining area. Each person had two big work screens. She moved home.
Long-term issues are much more complex than work around necessitated by covid rules.
We are closing about 25 offices across Europe over the next few months including my own. Everyone will work from home with some contributions to cost. The theory is that people have been happy during the pandemic and productivity has gone up slightly. My argument is that during a pandemic nobody is going to complain or slack when the company is trying to cut significant costs, longer term the impacts may be worse as teams start to silo. About a third of people love the idea, a third hate it and a third don’t care too much, almost all employees said they want the flexibility of WFH and having an office.. The few offices that we will keep will be used as hubs for meetings and workshops with some people permanently based there, but hot desking. The UK cost contribution will be £90 pre tax per month.
keithmac
Guru
YES as I told him not to do it ever..... unless in a garage and someone else did it with the kit. Farkin idiot.... blamed it on the 'internet' going off to his mum at 'midnight' - I had the garage CCTV and also said to mum, the 'data file' is always on a laptop - it's never a live change.
That's it from me - he's farked a really nice car up. He didn't pay for the car, it was 18 years of savings plan I had for him - intention, get a nice reliable car, and.....
He has a bigger turbo in the garage and thinks he can fit it - I already said don't as it might be the same fittings, but the engine maps, high pressure oil etc.... Well he broke the ECU first... Numpty. Won't listen - my dad was a mechanic, so I picked up loads of stuff, but I've said, don't touch this to him... nope....
I don't know how many times I've said 'don't mess with it'
I am glad I am miles away...
I'd put money on he's not had it on a battery charger while flashing the PCM and it's failed due to low battery voltage. Fords limit is 11.5v iirc.
Either VW job to try and recover it or send it off for bench flashing.
I see it all the time on another forum, modules bricked due to poor procedure.
What can you do!.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
I think this will be key motivator to take people back into the workplace, brother in law is responsible for the new hire sales team, they have to come into the office to get started, he tried it via zoom/skype/teams & it just didn't work, the drop out rate was high. But it does take a certain type of person to be disciplined enough to work at home, it's easy to be distracted.
vickster
Legendary Member
My colleagues don’t struggle to be productive, including the new grads, indeed many probably get more done as not spending several hours a day commuting. However, as above, lots, especially the younger ones in house shares or who are back home with parents are keen to get back out into the world and workplace, at least part time. Indeed, the office didn't close completely for very long, if at all.
We will be moving (back) to blended working from September, many people were already wfh at least one day a week.
It‘ll be interesting to see whether we go back to having many face to face client meetings and presentations again, especially overseas. I’m sure we will start doing face to face interviews and focus groups again, but I would think much less now clients have been exposed to much more online data collection...not least it’s rather cheaper for them, not having to pay everyones overseas travel!
The CEO was recounting a tale of a trip to UAE for a two hour meeting (internal leadership I think). He said he won’t ever do that again!
those of us who have been in the job a while have all been overseas for a two hour meeting many times!
