Is Working in an Office a Thing of the Past?

General Chat In The News
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It looks like the pandemic has permanently changed people work habits with office occupancy in some CBDs down to one fifth of pre pandemic levels. Businesses just don’t need to rent so much office space and workers are getting a much better work/life balance. No more hours of commuting.

A short but interesting report on working from home:

In the last year have spoken to a few people who have moved out of Sydney to work at home in my neighbourhood and only go to their workplaces once or twice a month. It also seems to be the case that employers are reporting greater productivity.

Is this a world wide phenomenon?

CBD = Central Business District

BTW I have never worked in an office other than for very brief periods of a few weeks for training or the like.

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Deffo way of the future, it’s just so much cheaper for employers, office space is their big cost

They’ve sublet some of our office in my place and full timers do three office days, two days at home, part timers do a proportion

And productivity went up in lockdown, so a win win for employers and can’t blame them

But I’m not sure it’s ideal for youngsters starting out

Trainees like mine miss out on getting the ‘feel’ of the job and picking up stuff by hearing the chat from the old hands and just being around the work being done

( the old hands in our job are pretty curmudgeonly and don’t like helping newbies)

And they can’t bounce off each other. Some of them are in shared houses or still living with parents, so it means being stuck in their bedrooms all day

And I can’t keep an eye on them to see if they’re getting stressed, or depressed or picked on

And what about office romance? I know loads of couples at work who met in the office :rofl:

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What about the empty office buildings? Can they be repurposed?

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People will be using all their own power/heating all day now, instead of their boss’s.
The employers aint daft, are they. :wink:

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Perhaps turned into blocks of flats?

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But people won’t be spending money to commute either. Heck, it might actually mean some families realise they don’t need so many cars, which would offset things favourably too.

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I wonder about that. There are lots of new high-rises gone up in central London in the last two years. The construction industry never stopped. And now we have more office space than ever before at a time we need a lot less.

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And their own internet connection and really need to pay extra insurance to cover their employers equipment

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Here’s an article from a year ago, I bet the figures have gone up a lot since then.

City of London to convert offices into homes in post-Covid revamp - BBC News.

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I know people who haven’t been given the option to return to the office, but have been given a new WFH contract. In at least one instance, the employee hates it, misses the buzz of the office, the interaction with his colleagues (sorry, but zoom really isn’t the same!), misses the old routine where leaving the office at the end of the day meant leaving your work behind, and going home to relax with the family. Now his work is there constantly, he can’t walk away easily, and his home no longer feels like the sanctuary it once was.

I know of other people who don’t have large homes, with spare rooms, who have had to set up a work station at their dining table, meaning every evening they have to clear everything away and turn it back into the family dining area, then set it all back up the next morning. And these are friends of mine who didn’t have a long commute anyway, just a quick 10 minute journey to work, so they’re not gaining anything there. And their energy bills have increased, with no suggestion from their employer that they’ll be compensated for this.

Overall, it feels to me that the employers are gaining more than the employees in many cases.

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There might be a way of claiming things back in terms of what’s tax deductible expenditure ?

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Speaking to a business lady today and she did say that 20% of the staff are still working from home therefore the answering service was a 30 minute wait on the phone . I’m asking myself why ? Surely if 80% are working in the office and 20% at home why is the waiting time worse now than ever?

Strange

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I think it’s been used as an excuse in lots of places but as WFH becomes the norm, they won’t be able to get away with it as much :rofl:

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If my lot are logged in as working and I phone them via TEAMS then I expect them to answer

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If I was an employer, I’d draw the line at “Shirking From Home!”

How do you know what they are doing?

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I would have hated to WTH, far to many distractions. I would always be popping the washing on or popping over to the shop, making coffee, I’d never get anything done. Besides I liked going to work, and coming home at the end of the day.

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Well, by results and how much they produce The days of having to stand over your team and micro manage people are over, really

Most jobs people can do from home are computer based, so you know when they’re logged in, how much work they’re doing, if they are getting results, if they’re completing training modules, participating in meetings, answering the phone etc

Shirkers will try to shirk whether they’re in the office or at home. You can tell by enthusiasm and output who is any good and who skives

Like I said, productivity goes up for most people when they work at home It’s an employer win win

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The golf course is a good barometer for this, Maree, as bookings by those who would normally be working is going through the roof!

Maybe they can still do their work after their 4 hour round of golf.

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I have no idea what it is like to work in an office. seeing the same people every day .The alternative views express by all -being sat at a desk getting bum sore, it must be like hell on earth.

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I think she needs to update her call handling system.