20% pay cut for working from home. Would you take it?

[jeds]

One of the main threads this morning was that working from home kills the town centres and all the service providers - lunch places, bars etc. I think everybody has forgotten one fact; working from home leads to more shopping time, so the bars and lunch lot will be fine.

 

[IT Minion]

Not exactly. Those working from overseas would work from an office based overseas. Hence they travel to the office in Deli not working from home.. see the difference

No, that's still the 1990s, maybe early 2000s. It doesn't work for the most part as employment laws are too complicated.

As to the question, no.

 

[IT Minion]

Duplicate

 

[The Samaritan]

One of the main threads this morning was that working from home kills the town centres and all the service providers - lunch places, bars etc. I think everybody has forgotten one fact; working from home leads to more shopping time, so the bars and lunch lot will be fine.

Not in the city centre in London mate as there is a massive lunchtime and after work-trade here that has goe almost belly up.

If your job can be done from home, demand your rights and if they are not allowing it, demand answers and consult your union.

 

[Diver Fred]

I spent the last 8 years of my paid career WFH. The final 18months I spent part weeks in an office ( 2 or 3 days per week,120 miles from home). Working in the office was noisey, distracting and on the whole just a PIA. When we changed to home working it was a pleasure, didn't miss the noise, did miss the ease to bounce ideas off others in the office - but then they were only a phone call away.
Did my time spent at work change - no; what did change was start and stop times - starting earlier, finishing later but having longer lunch breaks (actually, having lunch breaks!).
when asked would I return to office working full time my answer was leave the business.

 

[JP_]

I think it depends on the business and the individuals. For years I had to endure, yes endure, working in an office with 'talkative' co-workers, one of them in no need of a microphone let's say. It would cause me levels of stress, reduce my productivity etc. And of course, some people depending on their role have no choice but to travel to/from a workplace, luck of the draw to an extent.

Now, of course you can say 'that's something the manager should address' (noisy offices) and to an extent that's true. However it's not always as straightforward as that, office politics etc.

So, in my case and many of my peers, we've seen productivity go up and our stress levels reduced. I know for sure my mental health has improved.

But oh no, the WFH contingent are all that's bad in the eyes of backward thinking managers and leaders. Let's not be forward thinking around productivity as a whole.

When I was in the office, the sales manager was constantly apologising to me for all the noise the sales team were making!
Certainly much fewer distractions when working from home.
Also, much more efficient. For example, one of our major partners is a 3 hour drive away. We used to have weekly meetings, which meant for them, they lost a day. Now it's a 1-2 hour Teams meeting. Plus, as my input is usually just for about 10 minutes, I carry on working during the meeting and just listen in, and join in when they need me.

More time working all round.

 

[Mottie]

Mrs Mottie has been complaining lately about sexual harassment, dirty kitchen, freezing work area, uncomfortable work station and filthy toilet conditions in the workplace. I told her that she was the one who decided to work from home.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Mrs Mottie has been complaining lately about sexual harassment, dirty kitchen, freezing work area, uncomfortable work station and filthy toilet conditions in the workplace. I told her that she was the one who decided to work from home.

lol

 

[diy_fun_uk]

When I was in the office, the sales manager was constantly apologising to me for all the noise the sales team were making! Certainly much fewer distractions when working from home. Also, much more efficient. For example, one of our major partners is a 3 hour drive away. We used to have weekly meetings, which meant for them, they lost a day. Now it's a 1-2 hour Teams meeting. Plus, as my input is usually just for about 10 minutes, I carry on working during the meeting and just listen in, and join in when they need me. More time working all round.

It's a good point. With my employer, you got something like 40p or 50p a mile when traveling for work purposes. So as you say, traveling here and there for meetings soon racked up the miles. Multiply that across all employees, so they're making a significant saving there alone. I knew one colleague who was making around £300-400 pm extra just through his travel. Like you we use Teams and it's amazing how antiquated it would seem for us all to travel from different bases to a central meeting location, just so you're physically in the same space. Papers etc can be shared on Teams so for many meeting scenarios, face to face is no longer required.

 

[IT Minion]

I've been partially remote for a decade or more. Almost fully remote for five years. In IT consultancy you might be working for clients based in another part of the country. Location isn't that important most of the time.

 

[Mottie]

Blimey, if IT workers can't work remotely, nobody can!

 

[The Samaritan]

Two of my children always demand WFH whenever they move jobs and up until Covid both changed jobs at least twice in 18 months.
Both of the above have been working their 4 & 5 days respectively from home since Covid/March 2020.
One of our children went back a few weeks ago becuse a friend was leaving and he wanted to see the refurbed office. The one that lives with me and been back a couple of times to change laptops/keyboards etc and have a natter. Both have work chums coming around and they go around.

There are some that do not WFH, EG, lonely people ie people alone or those in bedsits or have not spare room to work from or a very small bedroom so no real space for desk, chair, computer etc. One of them hassaved thousands in fares, masses of time travelling and the other take their sports car to work and saved about 90 mins travel to and ret from work over the 4 day week = 35 hours.

Thanks

 

[^woody^]

Fundamentally, it should not matter one bit to a business where a worker works from if that worker is able to perform their tasks to an acceptable standard.

So the ethics (of a law firm no less) wanting to deduct salary from employers doing the same work but from a different location, smacks of nothing more than trying to boost the company/ partners profits.

If workers can and want to work from home, and can deliver results, and can meet targets then why not let them? If they can't, bring them back to the office. It's fairly simple.