why all the hate for hs2?

[Hagar]

granted factory workers can’t work from home but loads of people can. My other half does and at least 10 people at my place of work could.

I suspect the productivity of home workers is lower than office or site based personnel. I expect the loneliness or isolation even when fully connected by devices, email, phone etc. leads to a poorer working life for most. Further innovation from a group of people around a table tends to be much higher than the same group sharing screens on an intranet application in my experience. There will always be a place for face to face meeting for both colleagues, subordinates and clients,

 

[jonneymendoza]

How realistic is this in practice?

People "Working from home" for the most part, do not create anything. They can only ever really manage people on the "Shop Floor" who do the actual work.

I can certainly see how there are roles that could be fulfilled by home working. but it is a role that only a small proprtion of the working population will ever be able to fulfill.

Actual, practical, production is not going to be one of them!

it depends on the role.

for example. software engineers can easily work from home and not needed to go to an office just to sit infront of there computers all day working

 

[Greebo]

I suspect the productivity of home workers is lower than office or site based personnel. I expect the loneliness or isolation even when fully connected by devices, email, phone etc. leads to a poorer working life for most. Further innovation from a group of people around a table tends to be much higher than the same group sharing screens on an intranet application in my experience. There will always be a place for face to face meeting for both colleagues, subordinates and clients,

that is all true but with video conferencing there isn’t the need to travel so much or go to other locations for business meetings hence the need to travel is cut down. Years ago my partner might have had to travel to London for a meeting but now it’s all just video conferencing.

 

[RobHu]

I suspect the productivity of home workers is lower than office or site based personnel. I expect the loneliness or isolation even when fully connected by devices, email, phone etc. leads to a poorer working life for most. Further innovation from a group of people around a table tends to be much higher than the same group sharing screens on an intranet application in my experience. There will always be a place for face to face meeting for both colleagues, subordinates and clients,

It's very much debatable whether working from home has any effect on productivity. These studies I found with a 30 second search seem to agree that at worst it's not negative:

https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/a-2...-productivity-boost-of-working-from-home.html

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/economy/articles-reports/2019/01/14/working-home-more-or-less-productive

https://hbr.org/2019/08/is-it-time-to-let-employees-work-from-anywhere

That's not to mention the fact that home working saves employers money as well as giving employees more time and freedom which imo is what we should be aiming for. Personally I wouldn't want to wfh full time but having the option to do so whenever I want/need is useful.

The majority of office jobs can be done from home easily with modern communication technology. Not to say that face to face time isn't important because it is, but there is definitely a balance to be found that includes working from home.

 

[jonneymendoza]

It's very much debatable whether working from home has any effect on productivity. These studies I found with a 30 second search seem to agree that at worst it's not negative:

https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/a-2...-productivity-boost-of-working-from-home.html

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/economy/articles-reports/2019/01/14/working-home-more-or-less-productive

https://hbr.org/2019/08/is-it-time-to-let-employees-work-from-anywhere

That's not to mention the fact that home working saves employers money as well as giving employees more time and freedom which imo is what we should be aiming for. Personally I wouldn't want to wfh full time but having the option to do so whenever I want/need is useful.

The majority of office jobs can be done from home easily with modern communication technology. Not to say that face to face time isn't important because it is, but there is definitely a balance to be found that includes working from home.

As i said.

wfh is very good and reduces our overal carbon footprint and gives us time to enjoy life more and have a healthy work and life balance.

 

[Hagar]

Back on topic. Stephen Barclay thinks that there is a good possibility that HS2 will go ahead. This is positive news to me as although I proposed an alternative tunnel solution, I know that we do / will need additional capacity in this country, we should do this now as prevarication only adds to costs. The Government should be much more rigorous however and make sure that the project is closely monitored for its spending and its decision making where this could lead to an increased budget.

 

[StriderX]

Back on topic. Stephen Barclay thinks that there is a good possibility that HS2 will go ahead. This is positive news to me as although I proposed an alternative tunnel solution, I know that we do / will need additional capacity in this country, we should do this now as prevarication only adds to costs. The Government should be much more rigorous however and make sure that the project is closely monitored for its spending and its decision making where this could lead to an increased budget.

Why do that when you can give your mates gold plated deals at the taxpayers expense?

 

[413x]

Isn't it a known fact that any government project of this scale will go over budget by at least double?

No point saying the actual cost at outset. You're project won't go ahead

Ugh, still hope this black hole of money won't go ahead Wouldn't be surprised if its nearly 150 - 200bln by the end. Never going to see a return on investment

This project helps so few and costs so much

 

[garnett]

Isn't it a known fact that any government project of this scale will go over budget by at least double?

No point saying the actual cost at outset. You're project won't go ahead

Ugh, still hope this black hole of money won't go ahead Wouldn't be surprised if its nearly 150 - 200bln by the end. Never going to see a return on investment

This project helps so few and costs so much

Quite.

It's fairly singular to go ahead with national infrastructure that is going to return less than it costs.

"But this must proceed because our MPs all voted for it (when they were lied to and told it'd cost a third of what will be the case)"

 

[233]

on the subject of home working, We run a small taxi company,

now at peak times we have 2 people on each shift x3 a day x 7 days, there is absolutely no need for them to be in the office as remote working works great for us other than the odd training day or wanting to catch up.

do the maths out on this one, thats 4 journeys a shift 12 journeys a day or near four and half thousand journeys (all of them by car i may add) saved a year at say an average journey of 8 miles. average co2 output is 125g/km so do the math homeworking for our office saves 7 ton of co2 emissions per year
now scale that up for say 50-75% of the staff at a large call centre who employ 3-4000 people on site and you can see a clear environmental impact as well,
now imagine all those tens of thousands of people not commuting into an office each day suddenly the current railways are half empty with plenty of spare capacity. the majority of the Uks workforce do not physically need to be at work to do their job with the right tools they can work remotely. obviously doesnt wash for manufacturing or logistics etc but how many office workers travel in and out of london each day and dont really need to?

 

[jonneymendoza]

on the subject of home working, We run a small taxi company,

now at peak times we have 2 people on each shift x3 a day x 7 days, there is absolutely no need for them to be in the office as remote working works great for us other than the odd training day or wanting to catch up.

do the maths out on this one, thats 4 journeys a shift 12 journeys a day or near four and half thousand journeys (all of them by cart i may add) saved a year at say an average journey of 8 miles. average co2 output is 125g/km so do the math homeworking for our office saves 7 ton of co2 emissions per year
now scale that up for say 50-75% of the staff at a large call centre who employ 3-4000 people on site and you can see a clear environmental impact as well,
now imagine all those tens of thousands of people not commuting into an office each day suddenly the current railways are half empty with plenty of spare capacity. the majority of the Uks workforce do not physically need to be at work to do their job with the right tools they can work remotely. obviously doesnt wash for manufacturing or logistics etc but how many office workers travel in and out of london each day and dont really need to?

well said!!!
This is spot on

 

[Greebo]

on the subject of home working, We run a small taxi company,

now at peak times we have 2 people on each shift x3 a day x 7 days, there is absolutely no need for them to be in the office as remote working works great for us other than the odd training day or wanting to catch up.

do the maths out on this one, thats 4 journeys a shift 12 journeys a day or near four and half thousand journeys (all of them by car i may add) saved a year at say an average journey of 8 miles. average co2 output is 125g/km so do the math homeworking for our office saves 7 ton of co2 emissions per year
now scale that up for say 50-75% of the staff at a large call centre who employ 3-4000 people on site and you can see a clear environmental impact as well,
now imagine all those tens of thousands of people not commuting into an office each day suddenly the current railways are half empty with plenty of spare capacity. the majority of the Uks workforce do not physically need to be at work to do their job with the right tools they can work remotely. obviously doesnt wash for manufacturing or logistics etc but how many office workers travel in and out of london each day and dont really need to?

this. Which is why spending on full fibre for the whole country gives such a massive boost to the country’s GDP as well as reducing carbon emissions. Win win all round.

 

[233]

Add in the fact staff working from home take less time off sick have a far better work life balance from not spending hours every week commuting and being able to deal with the little things like deliveries that they would otherwise be taking time off to receive it’s a huge benefit for everyone

happy staff are more loyal and more productive

 

[jonneymendoza]

Add in the fact staff working from home take less time off sick have a far better work life balance from not spending hours every week commuting and being able to deal with the little things like deliveries that they would otherwise be taking time off to receive it’s a huge benefit for everyone

happy staff are more loyal and more productive

spot on.

Its the future in all honesty.

Many just need a laptop and internet access to do there day job

 

[233]

spot on.

Its the future in all honesty.

Many just need a laptop and internet access to do there day job

Indeed sitting alone the couch wrapped in a blanket Ill atm working away if I had to go into an office it would have been not a chance and a sicky as it is I’m still functioning at 90% efficiency rather either 0 because I’d be off or infecting the rest of the staff

 

[Hagar]

Do we still run steam trains on the GWR and West Coast main line? No, we have had many iterations of propulsion systems on the same or nearly the same infrastructure. We do not know what will be used in 50 or 100 years from now. Hydrogen, nuclear etc. We will never know either because we did not build it.

And fibre? Is that the communication system of the future or will satellite transmission eventually be cheaper?

 

[jonneymendoza]

And fibre? Is that the communication system of the future or will satellite transmission eventually be cheaper?

You joking right?

 

[Hagar]

You joking right?

OK enlighten me. In 20, 50 or 100 years, will we still be relying mainly on optical fibre 'plumbing' to transmit data across the planet? Or will some entrepreneur such as Elon Musk have placed a grid of geostationary satellites in orbit to provide line of sight data streaming.

I don't know,but I expect neither do you?

There is a genuine need for additional mass transit and freight capacity in the near future within the UK so we should really start building it IMO.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Back on topic. Stephen Barclay thinks that there is a good possibility that HS2 will go ahead. This is positive news to me as although I proposed an alternative tunnel solution, I know that we do / will need additional capacity in this country, we should do this now as prevarication only adds to costs. The Government should be much more rigorous however and make sure that the project is closely monitored for its spending and its decision making where this could lead to an increased budget.

Of course it'll go ahead, after the north basically voting Boris into power he can't be seen to turn his back on them. Its a political decision just like Blair's Millenium Dome was, another colossal waste of public money.

 

[Greebo]

OK enlighten me. In 20, 50 or 100 years, will we still be relying mainly on optical fibre 'plumbing' to transmit data across the planet? Or will some entrepreneur such as Elon Musk have placed a grid of geostationary satellites in orbit to provide line of sight data streaming.

I don't know,but I expect neither do you?

There is a genuine need for additional mass transit and freight capacity in the near future within the UK so we should really start building it IMO.

There is a genuine need for full fibre now. Thats why more forward thinking countries have much better full fibre than us. China has 91% full fibre to premises as of last year. Its a sad state of affairs than some paddy rice farmer in China has full fibre yet you dont seem to see the need for it? Even France will have 80% by next year.

Left to market forces and capitalism we are aiming to have 90% by 2033.......way way behind the world.

The point being about people working from home and more likely the robot revolution soon to come and the need for mass transit well decrease yet this archaic and old fashioned method of trnasport is what you want to spend the next 10 years building?