Working from Home -

[Observer II]

By and large, people working from home has been a success, and providing Companies can operate successfully this way, why change it ?   Well, it seems HMG are worried about reduced commuter travel and fast food shopping, and are seeking to get back to the old system of travel to work, in order to reinvigorate the economy.  This ignores of course expert opinion that the enclosed workspace (office) remains a risky Corvid environment.  So is it time for Gov to adapt to a new way of doing things, as it's clear that the virus will be with us for a long time to come. ?      😷

[asperity]

A lot of people rely on other people being in work places and commuting. If people don't return to work there could be many more redundancies than necessary. Its time common sense took hold of the Great British public.

[Observer II]

But it's not "common sense" Asp;   those "office" workers, work for their respective Companies, NOT for the Rail or Bus Co; and certainly not cafe shops etc.  New ways of working require new buisiness approaches, which are already in play - like home food deliveries etc.  As for public transport,  that was overloaded in so-called "normal" times.  Folk need to be creative and adaptable.   😷

[Latchford Locks]

If it's more cost effective to keep employees on home working and not affecting productivity then it will be here to stay seems it was just a way of working largely unexplored before.

Personally in my working years I'd not have wanted it,work is not just a place of employment but a social hub where friends and even spouses are made.

Even the journey on the bus/tram/train is part of living a healthy varied existence. 

Just rolling out of bed into the office would soon lose it's novelty factor.

A very lonely generation would evolve with long term homeworking.

[Davy51]

Als,don't forget,the eco benefit of not travelling to work as much could make ms Thunberg irrelevant.

[asperity]

You're right Latch, I spent years in a job where I would roll out of bed in the morning, go down one flight of stairs for breakfast, back up two flights to my workplace where I might get to see a couple of people for minutes. It gets boring after a while 🙄.

[Observer II]

Beats the boredom of commuting for an hour before and after work, and paying ££££S for a season ticket for the privilage .    😉

[Stallard12]

In the not too distant future, as robots and technology take over, employment as we know it will slowly become extinct.  But it will be foreseen and hopefully planned for.  In the midst of a pandemic, with economies reeling and moral at an all time low, is not the time to become involved in a vast social and economic experiment.

[Observer II]

But it's not an "experiment", it's happening, it works and most people like it - once you give kids the sweets, you can't take them back.  😉    Despite Boris's attempts at placing economic hope before the health reality,  this pandemic will last a long time.    😷

[Stallard12]

Actually, if as you say, this virus is going to last for years, then working from home or the office becomes irrelevant.  Most of them are connected to service industries, bankers, lawyers, insurance salesmen and all of their staff.  They produce nothing only more paper.

An analogy just for Asp, if the engines driving the ship quit, then the majority of the crew can only sweep the decks and repair the paint chips, these are the equivalent of the people working at home.  Busy as they might be, none of their efforts will get the ship any closer to home.  Until the engine room begins working, everything is slowly dying.  

You have two choices, treat the virus as an inconvenience, with a 90% chance of survival, or totally destroy the economy with a 90% chance of ending modern civilization.

[Evil Sid]

 

 

[Observer II]

1 hour ago, Stallard12 said:

Actually, if as you say, this virus is going to last for years, then working from home or the office becomes irrelevant.  Most of them are connected to service industries, bankers, lawyers, insurance salesmen and all of their staff.  They produce nothing only more paper.

An analogy just for Asp, if the engines driving the ship quit, then the majority of the crew can only sweep the decks and repair the paint chips, these are the equivalent of the people working at home.  Busy as they might be, none of their efforts will get the ship any closer to home.  Until the engine room begins working, everything is slowly dying.  

You have two choices, treat the virus as an inconvenience, with a 90% chance of survival, or totally destroy the economy with a 90% chance of ending modern civilization.

The service sector covers the majority of a modern Western economy;  so whether needed or essential, or not; it's relied on under "normal" circumstances;  so if that sector can effectively function using a different working model, what's the problem ?   What your talking about isn't "civilisation", but growth, which forms the basis of a capitalist economic structure - exploiting resources - manufacture - supply and demand.  Neither will it's retardation mean an end to human existence,  I'm sure some modern FDR will come along with a "new deal"  to get over it.  However, without humans the economy, and civilisation, ceases to exist -  so the priority is therefore to protect life against deadly pathogens.   😷      Of course,  we could always, as in the past, resort to war to stimulate the economy,   but somehow, with modern weapons, I doubt that will work !   💀

[Stallard12]

Obs the ostrich, wrong again.