Is this the end of WFH?

[Lord Tyrion]

Well.. another angle. You can now WFH got 20% less

Law firm says staff can work from home - for 20% less pay https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61298394

Is that not about a London weighting though? After all, if you no longer need to be in London as you are working from home then why pay those staff the weighting? It's a fair point isn't it? (If I have misread the article then I take this all back ?)

 

[PJ87]

Is that not about a London weighting though? After all, if you no longer need to be in London as you are working from home then why pay those staff the weighting? It's a fair point isn't it? (If I have misread the article then I take this all back ?)

20% wage cut is a lot but if it's on the figures quoted of 90k starting wage and 20% cut to 72k that isn't as bad because the take home from that 20% is nearer 12%

 

[PJ87]

I will add on the last post if they are offering a 20% cut should expenses be offered in their place? Heating and electric the company is no longer paying for

Good proper home office equipment (one of expense maybe but get people with the correct DSE etc)

 

[Mudball]

20% wage cut is a lot but if it's on the figures quoted of 90k starting wage and 20% cut to 72k that isn't as bad because the take home from that 20% is nearer 12%

While i understand that... i think disagree.. the 90k figure is an optical red herring. If a job is worth 90k, then it is worth 90k. a 20% haircut is further aggravated by the 5% inflation, so you are net 25% worse off. So your take home and net purchasing power is down greater than 12% (or rather 17% since inflation is post-tax impact). There is a bit of offset on the expenses which is a good thing.

I would love to see the lawyers relook at their own contracts.

 

[IanM]

Interesting on two fronts..

1. If you are not travelling to London, don't expect the London allowance!

2. WFH is priceless! No sitting in traffic, travel, lunches and (in my case) accommodation costs. I was about £800 a month better off from not travelling. I'd negotiate on my day rate if necessary if it meant fewer nights away!

I might do some work in the winter, I'm getting calls now from some old clients about formalising wfh changes...

 

[PJ87]

Interesting on two fronts..

1. If you are not travelling to London, don't expect the London allowance!

2. WFH is priceless! No sitting in traffic, travel, lunches and (in my case) accommodation costs. I was about £800 a month better off from not travelling. I'd negotiate on my day rate if necessary if it meant fewer nights away!

I might do some work in the winter, I'm getting calls now from some old clients about formalising wfh changes...

It is ironic that JRM wants to end it when they could recruit for example from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester all to the same position

When the gov have a minister of leveling up.. maybe gove need a word.. because this would level up employment no end.

 

[IanM]

It is ironic that JRM wants to end it when they could recruit for example from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester all to the same position

When the gov have a minister of leveling up.. maybe gove need a word.. because this would level up employment no end.

Forget JRM, his coverage is unrepresentative... Its been like this for some time, and is largely unchanged. My last gig in Southampton we had folk who lived in Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, Brum, Newcastle... we only travelled to hq when needed.

Although I spent 5 days in the office for my first few months to understand the business and for folk to get used to me! Now they're more used to MS Teams, on-boarding remotely is much easier. But, we had to get the oldies comfortable with video calls.

Although I am sure its different in some government agencies, the ones I worked with we're similarly flexible. Covid made sure the stragglers caught up.

Major rule of Change Management. There has to be a burning platform, or why bother?

 

[PJ87]

Forget JRM, his coverage is unrepresentative... Its been like this for some time, and is largely unchanged. My last gig in Southampton we had folk who lived in Wales, Cornwall, Scotland, Brum, Newcastle... we only travelled to hq when needed.

Although I spent 5 days in the office for my first few months to understand the business and for folk to get used to me! Now they're more used to MS Teams, on-boarding remotely is much easier. But, we had to get the oldies comfortable with video calls

Once obstacles are overcome I really believe a hybrid way of working should be the norm

I mean those who want to go in shouldn't be stopped but equally if people want to work from home why the heck not? Well because we buiit and micro economy on them eating and drinking out

 

[IanM]

Sorry, I edited while you were typing.

Hybrid working is here. Its going nowhere. Recruiters are telling me businesses resisting it are struggling to recruit top candidates. (Of course some activities are better served on site) The ancillary businesses will adapt or close.

 

[PJ87]

Sorry, I edited while you were typing.

Hybrid working is here. Its going nowhere. Recruiters are telling me businesses resisting it are struggling to recruit top candidates. (Of course some activities are better served on site) The ancillary businesses will adapt or close.

I wish it was the norm

When covid hit I said that London should do hybrid. 2-3 days in rest at home.. rotation of the work force

We wouldn't need to do upgrade of capacity work on the tube .. we run at 110% full (pre covid peak) imagine if it was 70% full peak? Might be comfortable!

 

[Bazzatron]

Every recruiter I've had approach me for new roles usually mentions how many days I'd be expected to be in within the first minute of the call. I can look at roles 200 miles away now and be picky with my next career move, it's great. Hope it continues.

 

[BiMGuy]

Sorry, I edited while you were typing.

Hybrid working is here. Its going nowhere. Recruiters are telling me businesses resisting it are struggling to recruit top candidates. (Of course some activities are better served on site) The ancillary businesses will adapt or close.

This is happening to us. During one of the lockdowns we couldn’t recruit a critical member of staff in one office due to the local management insisting on people being present in the office. A decision that has probably cost us over a million pounds, and a few other people their job.

We employed people at other locations on the basis they could work remotely. Now those people are being told they must be in an office part of the week. I know we are going to get at least three resignations in the coming weeks. Those people will be almost impossible to replace on the terms the company wants to offer.

Good candidates are expecting a degree of flexibility. And good companies will offer it.

 

[Bazzatron]

This is happening to us. During one of the lockdowns we couldn’t recruit a critical member of staff in one office due to the local management insisting on people being present in the office. A decision that has probably cost us over a million pounds, and a few other people their job.

We employed people at other locations on the basis they could work remotely. Now those people are being told they must be in an office part of the week. I know we are going to get at least three resignations in the coming weeks. Those people will be almost impossible to replace on the terms the company wants to offer.

Good candidates are expecting a degree of flexibility. And good companies will offer it.

Plenty of roles are 100% remote, good staff can pick and choose and companies prioritising presentism will suffer.

 

[Mudball]

Lord Sugar is not very impressed either >>

https://twitter.com/x/status/1522279099280113668

 

[Orikoru]

Lord Sugar is not very impressed either >>

https://twitter.com/x/status/1522279099280113668

What a dinosaur.

 

[GreiginFife]

Lord Sugar is not very impressed either >>

https://twitter.com/x/status/1522279099280113668

Not sure I would be listening to a man with a face like a scrotum that's been in the cold too long...

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I wouldn't be taking too much notice of a man who keeps investing in businesses selling cup cakes and bags of sweets . He is a caricature from the 80's / 90's who hasn't moved on.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Just received an email today stating that our office is finally re-opening this month. Return to the office is not mandatory. As before, I've already negotiated a contract to mostly stay at home, but given the current increase in Diesel prices, I plan to stay home permanently.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Well I got a text off my boss whilst I've been off to tell me that the Company has instructed everyone to get in the office 3 days a week.

Obviously the majority will choose to be in Tuesday to Thursday (we get half day Fridays so seems pointless travelling in for 3 or 4 hours work) but the big wigs seem to have forgotten that they reduced office space by 40% during the pandemic so I dont know where they think everyone is going to sit. Also the IT in the office is awful since they allowed everyone to take their preferred IT home with them during the pandemic. The result is that all you have on your desk is a tiny 4:3 screen that may or may not have a vga or dvi cable with it. ?‍?‍?‍

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

…and with everyone in a few days a week all meeting rooms will become fully booked and folks will find themselves sitting at their desks on MS Teams video conference calls with folks who are all in the office ??

My ex-company years ago moved to remote working for all unless the customer required your on-site presence or such as during critical phases of bid prep which benefitted from closest team collaboration with 100% always present together.

I WFH maybe 95% of time during my last 5yrs+ of employment and rarely met any of the teams I worked with. Never really was an issue for me as by my inherently solitary nature I’m pretty comfortable with my own company,

Though it was a bit weird mostly not knowing faces to put to voices as we didn’t use video aspect of conferencing I think our personal experiences of video Zoom chats through the pandemic may well have, for many, broken through that barrier of reticence. And that will be a good thing and go a good way to engendering and fostering the team ethic and personal interactions that WFH has suffered from in the past.