09-07-2022, 01:18 PM
(09-06-2022, 05:22 PM)Morph Wrote: That'll be a factor for big companies aye but that was an argument folk made at the time that it was pointless having these big city centre office blocks costing a fortune when you could downsize for essential office work and majority of time people could work from home but naw it was get back into the office the business needs you here.
Now things are getting tight again it's the workers who just need to drop everything to accommodate the business needs.
I can only speak for my experience of chatting to folk who have WFH but a lot of the folk who have had to go back are going back because a manager wants them back, not that they're needed back. I think it's a disgrace folk being made to go into the office when they don't need to tbh, the amount of money people can save on fuel/lunch etc + the time saved on commutes. It was a quality change that improved so many peoples work life balance then they've had it taken away because of some nippy manager.
A guy in my bursd work tried to force through this big policy of no WFH, reaching into departments he had nothing to do with then handed his notice in a few days after making a big thing about it Dunno why it bothers people so much if it is able to work. Obv not all places are able to accommodate it which is fair, but riles me when it's just because some busybody had a personal issue with the concept of it.
This is what I'm hating about the UoE policies. WFH when it suits them, come back when it suits them, go back home when it suits them. Granted we're getting a hybrid framework but with WFH being totally viable for a lot of teams and the cost of living being insane, not having any travel expenses, and your food all being made in your own kitchen, is going to save a small fortune. I'm now running my team and whilst I've been reminded of the hybrid policies no one has told me what happens if I ignore them. What if I work from home? What if I tell my staff to work from home? Who is checking that we're in the building and what does it matter if we're not? This is the issue with a single policy for a huge institution with no real centralised campus or way to track comings and goings of all employees.
I see my role in this is supporting my team to get the set up they want. Other managers see their role as forcing policy on to their team. I've got a guy who moved to Glasgow during lockdown because it's the only place he could afford to buy, has been working perfectly fine from there for 2 years, and I'm meant to ask him to commute to Edinburgh to sit in a shitty basement office, for why? Even if he came in once a week would cost him over £100 a month. He'd get no support with that cost. But if he lived in Edinburgh and needed to get to Glasgow for business once a week, they'd cover the expenses. It's all just bullshit.