Reply to: How could the recent increase in homeworking affect the economy?

[ladymuck]

Fookin 'ell mate, give us a warning next time will you ... I nearly choked!!

Should the W in NSFW be extended to mean 'Whorty' too?

[Whorty]

Fookin 'ell mate, give us a warning next time will you ... I nearly choked!!

[vetran]

Here you go whorty if you are having trouble imagining it!

[Whorty]

£90/month combined fuel here.
I've WFH for the last 9 years. it's great IMHO.

Your colleagues agree.

Mrs BR14 however .....

[Whorty]

Probably they paid a busload of Deloitte consultants to write this one page piece of BS?

Oy, don't knock those clever, good looking Deloitte. consultants (and ex-consultants) - they're brilliant and worth every penny

So I hear

[ladymuck]

It will obviously also release a lot of office space for residential dwellings, and give work to builders doing the conversions.

That's definitely an opportunity to be investigated in some areas

[AtW]

Entirely possible that is a problem the government need to handle.

That’s not the problem for the Govt

[vetran]

I think the general mood is that people quite like WFH, or at least like the option of WFH. If (big if) things ever get back to where potential employees are holding the cards (i.e. a buoyant jobs market), then companies that offer the option of WFH are going to be better placed than those who don't. Since it doesn't seem to negatively affect productivity, and actually costs the company less as well, I'd be very surprised if it isn't offered by just about every employer when feasible. Then again, perhaps it just makes too much sense.

Generally its about control. I worked from home a lot over the last decade. Some of my bosses were OK with it, others thought I should be in the office regardless, all of my bosses in that decade were remote either up north or in other countries.

[vetran]

Yeah, to InfoSys - no VAT, no NICs, no “auto-enrollment tax”, corp tax deductible

Entirely possible that is a problem the government need to handle.

[AtW]

It may finally allow us to move most of our jobs from around London.

Yeah, to InfoSys - no VAT, no NICs, no “auto-enrollment tax”, corp tax deductible

[mattster]

Companies are already talking about closing offices and consolidating with fewer staff in day by day. It may finally allow us to move most of our jobs from around London. Whether this will cause the jobs to move abroad I am not sure.

I think the general mood is that people quite like WFH, or at least like the option of WFH. If (big if) things ever get back to where potential employees are holding the cards (i.e. a buoyant jobs market), then companies that offer the option of WFH are going to be better placed than those who don't. Since it doesn't seem to negatively affect productivity, and actually costs the company less as well, I'd be very surprised if it isn't offered by just about every employer when feasible. Then again, perhaps it just makes too much sense.

[vetran]

I doubt we'll go all the way back, at least for jobs that can effectively WFH. It's been moving this way for years, anyway; pretty common to see 1-2 days p/w WFH offered in recent (pre Covid) times, and now that productivity has been proven and systems have been forced into place where they might not have been before, I'd be very surprised if WFH wasn't an option for our sort of jobs, at least for some of the time. It'll make a big difference as well, even if its just, say, 3 days WFH per week. As someone who now lives a good 2 hours commute from the big smoke, I can tell you from experience that 2-3 days a week commuting is a whole different ballgame to 5. As in, doable vs not, at least for me.

Companies are already talking about closing offices and consolidating with fewer staff in day by day. It may finally allow us to move most of our jobs from around London. Whether this will cause the jobs to move abroad I am not sure.

[LucidDementia]

It's a controversial perspective I know, but I suspect the worst depression in 3 centuries might make it pretty irrelevant.

[OwlHoot]

It will obviously also release a lot of office space for residential dwellings, and give work to builders doing the conversions.

[mattster]

One way or another we will be back at the previous reality either through a deep crisis or gentle nodding from managers...

I doubt we'll go all the way back, at least for jobs that can effectively WFH. It's been moving this way for years, anyway; pretty common to see 1-2 days p/w WFH offered in recent (pre Covid) times, and now that productivity has been proven and systems have been forced into place where they might not have been before, I'd be very surprised if WFH wasn't an option for our sort of jobs, at least for some of the time. It'll make a big difference as well, even if its just, say, 3 days WFH per week. As someone who now lives a good 2 hours commute from the big smoke, I can tell you from experience that 2-3 days a week commuting is a whole different ballgame to 5. As in, doable vs not, at least for me.