Nearly twenty years ago, I worked for a Blue Chip company and I wasn’t enjoying the commute to work. When the company moved us to hot-desking, I would arrive at work never sure if or where I would find myself a desk. Mostly I did, but then I logged on to my laptop and sat there all day and I began to wonder what the point of being there was. So I made enquiries about working from home.
Long story short (and believe me when I say it was long) my manager at the time eventually agreed to me working from home every Friday. But I never really felt she was happy about it. I vividly recall one particular meeting with her about this. After considerable to-ing and fro-ing, she finally said: “If we let you do it, everyone will want to do it.”
To which I simply replied: “Good. Let them.”
That seemed blindingly obvious to me. A win for me, not having to commute one day a week, and absolutely no effect on the company, my manager or any of my colleagues. Indeed, most of my contact with colleagues was online; most of them wouldn’t have known if I was or wasn’t in the building. Particularly my colleagues in the US.
In January this year, ex-Asda boss, Lord Rose said: “Working from home, ‘Not proper work’.”
I’m sorry, what now?
If working from home isn’t “proper work” then it’s the job itself that isn’t proper work, not the location where it’s done.
And recently Nigel Farage, that tedious jack of all tirades, said: “No more work from home, increased productivity… it won’t solve every problem, but it will be a good start and we’ll be judged on that.”
Sigh.
One of the world’s biggest companies, Amazon, wants its staff to come back full-time to the office, signalling an end to the way Covid-19 changed everything, particularly workforce expectations.
Chief executive Andy Jassy said: “We’ve decided that we’re going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of Covid,” he said, adding that it would help staff be “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other”.
Forgive me, but what a pile of … nonsense.
What actually is it these people have against working from home?
In my manager’s case all those years ago, I honestly don’t know. She was based at a different site anyway, so I’d only see her twice a week at most. I guess she was just terrified that “everyone will want to do it.” But why would that bother her?
In Lord Rose’s case, again, I honestly don’t know. Maybe he’s an idiot. He did, after all, claim working from home “harmed employee productivity”.
As for Farage, again, I very much honestly don’t know. In the same way I don’t know why he says what he says and thinks what he thinks about everything.
There are clearly a number of advantages and disadvantages about working from home. Search online and you’ll essentially find these:
Advantages of working from home
1. Flexibility and Autonomy
2. Reduced Commuting Time
3. Cost Savings
4. Access to a wider talent pool
Disadvantages of working from home
1. Isolation and loneliness
2. Blurred work-life boundaries
3. Distractions and productivity challenges
4. Management and communication issues
Most of them make sense to me to a greater or lesser degree, but from a personal point of view, not having to commute was the only thing I cared about. The flexibility and autonomy was a by-product of not having to commute. I can state categorically that 9am was never my most productive hour. For others, maybe it was.
I’m also fully aware that some people like coming in to work. Maybe they have shorter commutes so it’s not an issue for them.
As regards isolation and loneliness, I absolutely guarantee you don’t have to be home on your own to feel that. There were times when I felt isolated in an enormous room of hot-deskers. But again, there are those who thrive on personal interaction, which is fair enough.
The obvious conclusion to the working from home issue is actually a simple one. Let those who prefer to work at home work at home, and allow those who like going into the office go into the office. There may even be occasions when those who like the office environment prefer a day working from home. That’s fine, too.
But it’s the companies (and Farage) who just want to do away with working at home and have everyone in the office that I have issue with. It’s inflexible, it’s idiotic, it’s old-fashioned. The world of technology has moved on and workers’ expectations have moved on with it.
And today we find out Reform have advertised nine jobs offering home working.
Oh, the irony.
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