Election 2024: The Fate of Democracy

Millsy I could not wfh that amount of time, would drive me insane. I’m in the office 3 days a week and that’s great for me. Get 3 days actually interacting with people in person, which adds huge amounts of value, especially for my team who I manage. Then a couple of days at home for the head down not to be disturbed work.

However everyone’s situation is different. I know if I was 21 today the thought of working in a company where I am sat home on my tod 4-5 days a week would be depressing. Prob wouldn’t consider a job in finance tbh

alistair This is the new normal. It’s crippled old cunts that need to adapt, not everyone else.

3 days a week in the office for me too.

Mondays and Fridays wfh.

Or winning as I like to call it.

I landed a virtual contract on the coat tails of COVID and I don’t plan to give that up for love nor money

Millsy but isn’t it so much better sitting at your desk in your pants watching porn, when you are in the office and not wfh??

Millsy works from home in bootcuts Rich.

alistair an awful lot of jobs can be done at home, some jobs are better in the workplace. Start dictating and watch talent move away.

You can tell which media organisations are heavily invested in commercial property, that’s for sure.

Flexibility is key for me, I prefer being in work for the bantz but have the choice to wfh if I want/need to

Amps but on the whole the argument against working from home is just rich landlords trying to stop rent losses

There are two other important (and slightly related) factors that don’t get enough coverage IMO:

1) Most managers don’t trust their workforce to work unless they have eyeballs on them, and
2) Most managers have no idea how to set realistic objectives and goals that they want their teams to deliver. As a result, those mnagers feel more comfortable when they can ‘see’ what their teams are working on, in person.

As soon as the shift towards wfh happened, the right wing media were straight in with the bollocks about, not getting the benefits of being noticed in the office. That argument was predicated on the same principle of presenteeism where your value is judged by how long you are in the office, disregarding how effective you are — and the diminishing returns the longer you are at work. If success in your job is contingent on being “noticed” that says more about the workplace — and that it doesn’t matter what impact your work has — or your performance. If you are wfh and doing work that isn’t being noticed, that is an issue with the structure of the workplace — not whether you are wfh / in the office.

Many companies noted increases in productivity, morale and motivation from wfh and still companies persisted with the shite about not being able to communicate etc.

Sure enough, it transpired that the main factor for them all along was a decrease in property value and the preoccupation with control over the workforce.

The RTO mandates are now being used as a tool to push people to resign, rather than restructure alienating employees, losing talent and holding on to those who are too desperate to stay that they will put up with anything.

It quite clearly had nothing to do with any metric of performance or productivity.

Yup. Agree with the last two posts. My area of the business has grown 15-20% per year with the vast majority of people WFH. If it ain’t broke.

What about the fact that humans are social by nature and that interacting in person rather than over technology adds a lot more value. I get so much more value speaking to people face to face rather than over Teams calls, it’s more personal and can create better outcomes. The amount of meetings on Teams where most the people are doing other stuff doesn’t help a successful meeting.

However it’s about balance, not being in the office 5 days a week, but I think 50/50 split works well. Everyone gets the best of both worlds.

Work was also great during my 20s and 30s where it was a much more social environment and there was a lot of working hard during the day but then going out on the piss in the evening, it was great. Built up strong relationships with people. However I know those days are gone and also recognise there were plenty of downfalls with that working environment, but personally I preferred it and would do it all over again compared to the work culture today.

RichM

Agreed. The issue I take is applying a one-size fits all approach and having to make up reasons why people can’t work flexibly. Too many employers won’t move forward and want to hark back to outdated ways of doingthings. .

RichM and that interacting in person rather than over technology adds a lot more value.

Not universally true. Great if this works for you, but a sweeping statement that it’s demonstrably and obhectively better is wide of the mark.

Smallman1 3 days a week in the office for me too.

It’s a wonder they permit you to work from the office. The top level bantz must be very distracting for your colleagues, having to constantly roll around on the floor in fits of laughter.

vinnyt77 the whole office v wfh debate will go on for years. We are all different and have different preferences, it’s def not one size fits all. Too many people stick to their preference and not prepared to accept other people have different preferences. The best companies can do is try and cater for everyone. At the end of the day we are all adults!