Working From Home - the latest Tory deflection campaign

[Fr0dders]

The thing is, the people who physically need to process actual paper documents probably come under the category of jobs that dont' work from home. If the group of people who need to open people's documents to view them need those documents to be posted to them at home or whatever, that doesn't make sense. Those people probably do need to be in the office and having them work from home is probably a bad idea. But not everybody in the civil service comes under the category of people who need to be in physical possession of IG sensitive documents.....

 

[Dolph]

The thing is, the people who physically need to process actual paper documents probably come under the category of jobs that dont' work from home. If the group of people who need to open people's documents to view them need those documents to be posted to them at home or whatever, that doesn't make sense. Those people probably do need to be in the office and having them work from home is probably a bad idea. But not everybody in the civil service comes under the category of people who need to be in physical possession of IG sensitive documents.....

Or you need something in place to securely digitise the incoming paper, and sufficiently strict security protocols in place to allow processing that data by home workers.

Likewise you need to be sure the interstaff communication setup is up to scratch with sufficient training to ensure it can be used. Often not an issue for multi site employers pre-pandemic, but a major issue if you are used to working in clustered onsite groups with little cross site working.

I would expect that the existing management challenges and poor legacy practices in place through much of the public sector, alongside excessive union influence on policy, made the whole process an utter nightmare for the poor sods involved in trying to make it work.

 

[Fr0dders]

We're talking the same thing . If you have people work from home and view digital copies of the evidence, somebody still has to open the post and digitise that paper as not everybody will have up to date electronic drivers licenses etc..

When my son renewed his, he had only recently got his driving license so getting his passport was a doddle. Just put in his drivers license number and they generated his passport all from that electronic record without needing to send it in. Obviously with those sort of applications - they can absolutely be done at home.

 

[Trifid]

Doesn't Boris 'work from home'?

My first thought too. Man who works from his home says it doesn't work. Maybe it is a reflection on himself where he constantly raids the fridge for cheese?

 

[jpaul]

I'm waiting to see if google or apple have gathered data on 100% at home working, or whether it's supposed proliferation in the uk has put us at a disadvantage versus the EU,
it's not just about tactical productivity during covid, it's about future growing/sustaining productivity into the future.

apple policy April 4th - here here

Apple Makes It Easy to Work Remotely (Unless You Work for Apple)

The company’s relatively inflexible remote-work policies are inspiring some employees to look elsewhere.

www.bloomberg.com

Despite that, Apple wants its own staff to start coming back to its multibillion-dollar suite of global offices, including its estimated $5 billion main hub in Cupertino, Calif. Employees are required back in the office at least once a week by April 11, twice a week by the end of the month, and on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays by May 23. All of them are eligible for an extra month of remote work annually. “We have an opportunity to combine the best of what we have learned about working remotely with the irreplaceable benefits of in-person collaboration,” Cook told employees when announcing the return date in early March.

lol euphemism in-person collaboration

 

[D.P.]

Well apparently the latest is being able to work from abroad. What a wheeze. Presumably you would want to be in the same time zone as your less travelled colleagues or maybe they are happy for you to burn their midnight oil and not hear from you at all.

"Yes sir, our office is based in 15 of the world's most desirable holiday destinations."
"A meeting sir! Is that really necessary?"

That assumes people work with collegues in the same rime zone to begin with.

I work with people in US west and east coast, Amsterdam, German, Bangalore, Brisbane, Sydney and Shanghai.


Last time i calculated our team averaged about 2 engineers per a country

 

[bayo000]

Unlike Boris most of us working from home do actually work, though considering he prefers partying at home I can see why he thinks it doesn't work.

I quite like the hybrid model we have, I find on the days I go to office I don't get as much done as I struggle to block out the noise. On other hand it's great to have a chance to discuss things in person, both work related and personal.

Company I work for was against people wfh pre covid, just two weeks before the first lock down I agreed with my director that I'll be doing day a week from home and even that was subject to approval from higher ups. Now we can do pretty much what we want as long as we're available 10-12 and 2-4 assuming we have no client meetings outside of those times

 

[Hagar]

That assumes people work with collegues in the same rime zone to begin with.

I work with people in US west and east coast, Amsterdam, German, Bangalore, Brisbane, Sydney and Shanghai.


Last time i calculated our team averaged about 2 engineers per a country

It was written a little bit tongue in cheek as though people would be grabbing the sun loungers in the morning with their laptop connected to satellite internet and sipping a pina colada.

I too worked with people in Oz and the US. Mostly they would be site or office based but sometimes due to the earth's rotation one of us would be sitting up late in a home office or kitchen.

 

[BUDFORCE]

It's just the Tories trying to look after all their mates who own all those empty office blocks that must be loosing a fortune at the moment

Ill cry myself to sleep thinking about those poor capitalists.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

Was going to say. None if this has anything to do with work at all. Its all those plush office blocks being empty and nobody wanting to purchase them thats worrying some.

Alan Sugar was mouthing off the other day about WFH and surprise surprise he is heavily invested in Amsprop - a development firm with some of the biggest office buildings in London...hmmmm really makes you think.

Don't give these rich ***** any credence...

 

[ltron]

The Tories terrified of a change to the status quo and a hit to the profits of their landlord friends and donors. What a surprise.

There are efficiency and productivity benefits to working from home that they can't bring themselves to acknowledge. I think that people should have the choice, where possible, to do at least some home working if they want to.

 

[arknor]

Or you need something in place to securely digitise the incoming paper, and sufficiently strict security protocols in place to allow processing that data by home workers.

sounds like employing staff to open letters and digitise them just so some other staff can work from home.


probably with no accountability and a lot of stolen identities too

 

[Minusorange]

Just going to leave this here

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1522791972368384001

 

[Worthy]

Just going to leave this here

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1522791972368384001

I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. Some people are inherently lazy and won’t be productive unless under constant supervision.

 

[danlightbulb]

I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. Some people are inherently lazy and won’t be productive unless under constant supervision.

So get rid of them?

I think part time working from home is likely going to stick where I work.

However if shops and lunch outlets aren't making enough business from the people who can't work from home, this could be a problem for them. And not fair on those who can't work from home if there is nowhere to get food from.

So I can understand mixed feelings about it.

I save a lot on petrol working from home which could be argued that's not fair on those who can't yet earn no more to compensate.

 

[Minusorange]

I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. Some people are inherently lazy and won’t be productive unless under constant supervision.

So why employ them if they're so lazy and need to be babysat ?

 

[One More Solo]

Interesting how Tory commitment to the free market and the law of supply and demand wanes when it’s hitting their donors in the pocket.

 

[JonRGV250]

 

[Fr0dders]

I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. Some people are inherently lazy and won’t be productive unless under constant supervision.

I think you've made your point badly, if staff are just inherently lazy - then you've employed bad staff and they just need sacking. Keeping people on staff that you know are lazy is just bad management and says more about the company and it's discipline than it does about home working.

But I think I get the point you're making. Some people just aren't capable of managing their own work.It's easy for us to look down on others because being on a PC building and overclocking forum, we're probably all reasonably intelligent people. Some people just aren't capable of thinking for themselves in the workplace and just don't have the mental capacity to do it. In the real world not eveybody is intelligent and as skilled as everybody else and some will struggle with this.

But again, this just circles back to the point about it working for some roles (and the skill / wage they pay) and not for others. If it's an entry level position being fulfilled by unskilled labour that can't work independently from home than that just falls into the category of "jobs that don't work from home".

 

[Shocky-FM]

My interpretation of this is that it's targeted at civil servants and staff working exclusively from home... Unless you have a very good excuse to work from home every day, this isn't expectable imo.

Hybrid working is definitely here to stay and offers workers flexibility, how many days employees should be in the office is debatable. I don't think anyone should feel entitled to the right to work from home, many can't so fairness has to be considered.

Also I don't necessarily agree that just because employees "compute" to an office, they're going to help revive the city centre. I either walk or cycle and I bring my own food.....