WFH/Lockdown/Future of office work

[LondonManc]

northernladuk

My post count is Majestic
Join DateMar 2009
Posts42,978

Hardly an argument that he's lazy.

Oh, look, a fire engine!

[PerfectStorm]

Not all work can be completed from home - my SiL has had to go into her office every day, for example.

The WFH thing could risk creating a type of two-tier employment within companies. How you decide on equitability of employee benefits if one group of employees gets their home broadband and loads of kit paid for and no pesky commute and another has to go into the office every day?

Some of my former colleagues were as much use as a chocolate fireguard, on £60-100k when I was on £20k. No one seemed overly concerned about the many tiers in play then (other than me)

[Old Greg]

Hardly an argument that he's lazy.

Oh, look, a fire engine!

It's not an argument.

HTH

[Hobosapien]

I must remember to update my CV to show I have the aptitude to WFH 100% (or near as damnit) with several years experience of that and good references from my permie handlers at the time to prove I was productive.

Downside to too much WFH is how remote is optimum? Go too far and it becomes outsourcing.

[Paralytic]

I wonder would it benefit companies by widening their talent pool - prospective employees don't need to be geographically located near an office. One could travel to an office purely for meetings, once a month, say.

Maybe roles will be divided into two groups; a wfh role and a non-wfh role.

I wonder if it will, over time, get this country out of the south-east-centric view of the business world, which causes so many issue (eg, house prices in that location).

As soon as companies realise they don't need offices for all their people, they'll realise they don't need the offices they do need near those people.

Of course, that does not mean the roles would remain in the UK...

[SussexSeagull]

Yeah I mean if you're that scared just drive and pay the crazy costs associated with driving a car into central London. You gotta do what you feel comfortable with. Better than turning down work when the market will likely be tulip.

There is actually fairly major questions that will need to be addressed about peak time public transport. Apparently a 12 carriage train pulling into London Bridge can have about 1000 people on it. I can't see 1000 people being allowed to gather in an enclosed space in any other circumstances for a considerable time. Even face masks - if we can all get hold of them - only limit the distance coughs and sneezes carry the virus and bearing in mind there is basically no space between people one person could get on a train with it at the beginning of a week and several dozen people will have it by Friday.

Central London simply hasn't got the capacity to have all commuters drive into it every morning.

[northernladuk]

I mean this in no disrespect but this type of employee could be weeding out at interview stage. Would you hire someone who you know will only work for you when they are being tightly managed? I wouldn't.

Possibly but it's difficult to do in a simple interview and not everyone at the client is a highly skilled professional. There are still many dull roles at the business end.

Someone will always end up with the slackers. They don't just stay unemployed. I just don't think blanket WFH is the answer to all things. For us contractors I'm sure it's fine but we are quite different to middle to lower skilled employees. Look at many PS clients. People are just there for the pension and easy life.

[GmartSuy]

I don't think companies will suddenly divert to 100% WFH (unless they were planning to before this) . This would cause a lot of redundancy across the board once it's realised how many staff, even whole departments are no longer needed without an office.

The redundancies resulting in this can't be underestimated in non deliverable driven roles. The whole facilities/security department in an office will go as will personal assistants probably. I reckon companies will be more hesitant to hire junior staff members as well once they realise how much costs they can cut. Internships graduate recruitment? Forget it.

In terms of the short term covid measures it would probably be smart to have a capacity limit to number of people permitted to be in the office at one time. Maybe a rota based on department for the larger offices.

[LondonManc]

I don't think companies will suddenly divert to 100% WFH (unless they were planning to before this) . This would cause a lot of redundancy across the board once it's realised how many staff, even whole departments are no longer needed without an office.

The redundancies resulting in this can't be underestimated in non deliverable driven roles. The whole facilities/security department in an office will go as will personal assistants probably. I reckon companies will be more hesitant to hire junior staff members as well once they realise how much costs they can cut. Internships graduate recruitment? Forget it.

In terms of the short term covid measures it would probably be smart to have a capacity limit to number of people permitted to be in the office at one time. Maybe a rota based on department for the larger offices.

An interesting point but a plc's first responsibility is unfortunately to its shareholders, not its staff.

If, for example, WFH for 70% of staff makes financial sense and doesn't diminish company value (ability to execute, etc.) while making 10% of staff redundant and saving thousands or even millions on property costs, why wouldn't they?

There will still need to be departments on site. Those as you say who cannot work unsupervised, those who have significant paper trails, training departments, etc. But you've got to think like a plc, not like someone whose job may be put at risk in these scenarios. Then you can behave more like someone who is keeping one step ahead.

[SussexSeagull]

Friend of mine works for one of the city firms and in a departmental meeting one of the Directors pointed out they were actually more productive since everyone started working from home.

Now that is only one example and I am sure if you dived into the figures it would be a more mixed picture but once the accountants see a saving to be had it could move from needing a good reason to WFH to needing a good reason not to.

Obviously SC and DV work would be different.