me tooI’m also here from the SODs
Have to say, I agree. I’ll take the flaming, but it used to piss me off when all my co workers got christmas/summer holidays off coz they had kids- that was their choice so why should I have to plan my work life around that. I don’t particularly feel any different now I actually have kids. I think things should be fair. MP reckons that flexible working will mean people will work twice as hard. Will it fuck. It’ll be the same old twats using it to their advantage while everyone else is left to pick up the slack.Flexible working only works in certain industries- health care just can’t function if everyone wants Friday afternoon off to take Johnny swimming- I’ve worked part time since having kidsand I know I’m luck I can do this but when I’m in work I’m there to work -I get pissed off with colleagues who swan in late because they’ve played the system and expect everything to revolve around them with us mugs picking up the pieces
MP saw an opportunity and flew with it- not realising the repercussions
And yes, to this. I made a similar point on the ODs thread. No one in retail, teaching, caring professions or warehouses will be able to use flexible working. It’s for middle class women/men like Anna who work out of an office.I find the flexible working thing very very irritating. Why shouldn’t you be committed to your job? It’s not the time to be an entitled employee when the current job market is so fragile.
I’m a teacher. I wonder how she’d react if I was her kids teacher and decided to knock off at 11.00am to raise the next generation.
I’m not sure why she sees flexible working as a right. I can’t see how it’s possible for the vast majority of people.
Exactly, my partner is loving it but he’s a highly paid office dude, there’s no relevance to the majority of workers in this country. Unless that’s another part that she’s not started or whatever but I doubt. She may come here to defend as she is pretty good at stating her case and isn’t afraid toI think WFH is doing massive harm to workers and to the economy. People want to see their work colleagues, have some bants, go for a drink after work, nip out to Boots at lunchtime, gossip in the canteen or bogs...interact. Just saying morning to the security guy at the entrance and a quick chat with the cleaner as she’s emptying your binis all part of the fabric that makes up your working day.
WFH is great if you’ve got kids and childcare is an issue, but for most getting out of the house is a blessing. Having a reason to get up, get showered, put your slap on, your “work clothes” and listening to the radio in your car or reading a book on the bus/train is actually incredibly cathartic for many as it forms the ebb and flow of their life. Yeah we all have those days when an extra hour in bed would be bliss or just slinging on your leggings, not having a shower and spending that two hours you would normally spend getting ready and commuting catching up on Tattle, but ultimately we are, on the whole, creatures of habit and we require physical human interaction.
Of the people I’ve spoken to about WFH some enjoyed it initially but all have said “I’m ready to go back in now”, a little bit like when people are at the end of their holiday. They are fatigued by it.
Imagine being 22 and WFH, I couldn’t have handled that, I loved all those things I mentioned above and have made lifelong friends from work colleagues, you just can’t do that when you’re WFH. My friends kid is just about to start an apprenticeship with one of the big accountants. It would have meant leaving home, a move to a city and going into the office, but now he’s been told it will be remote until at least January. That has really pissed him off, he’s essentially under house arrest, at his parents, for another 5 months, having missed out on the summer of fun after his A levels. Ultimately it’s not good for people’s mental wellbeing.
Flexible working is really only for parents, nobody else has the excuse to work outside of the usually hours, you can’t call in and say, I’ve got a massive hangover this morning so just gonna get a fry up neck some ibuprofen and I’ll check my emails later. Parents can, they call up say little Tommy has a bug and childcare won’t take him so I’ll have to be home and I’ll look at my emails if I get chance, nobody can say anything to them.
I agree Covid has shown that WFH is possible for many who were told it was impossible but I would disagree that the same level of work is getting done. Have any of you had to call your bank, your insurance company in-fact any service industry where a call centre is involved? My experience this last 5 months has been awful. I’ve listened to more plinky plonky hold music in the last 5 months than I have in my entire life. Customer service levels are crap.
So Anna, the instamum, is campaigning for parents and as was previously said, the biggest beneficiaries of any change will be the highly paid professionals not the low paid warehouse workers. So whilst yes her message is a good one, there’s little hope of this across the spectrum and the privileged will yet again be the winners.
I’ll welcome her and I welcome her making this an equal benefit for all. My WFH rant was more about the fact I personally don’t believe it’s a healthy way forward for many many working folk.Exactly, my partner is loving it but he’s a highly paid office dude, there’s no relevance to the majority of workers in this country. Unless that’s another part that she’s not started or whatever but I doubt. She may come here to defend as she is pretty good at stating her case and isn’t afraid to
Flexible working only works in certain industries- health care just can’t function if everyone wants Friday afternoon off to take Johnny swimming- I’ve worked part time since having kidsand I know I’m luck I can do this but when I’m in work I’m there to work -I get pissed off with colleagues who swan in late because they’ve played the system and expect everything to revolve around them with us mugs picking up the pieces
MP saw an opportunity and flew with it- not realising the repercussions
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