Britain didn’t return to the office after Covid. It negotiated a ceasefire: three days in, two days out, and everyone pretending it was their idea.
Most British companies have settled on a hybrid model rather than full remote or full office work, though recent reports suggest that many companies have been tightening office expectations. They have concerns about collaboration, mentoring, productivity and “maintaining company culture”.
Interestingly, our workers remain among the most reluctant in the world to return full-time to the office. Not surprising really, considering the cost and sheer time of commuting and work-life balance. Indeed, almost half of UK professionals would consider quitting if forced back to the office full-time, and staff resignations are on the increase after remote options are removed.
Covid proved that working from home actually works, and there is little evidence to suggest that productivity slackened. I’ve never really understood the need these days to congregate in an expensive city-centre office.
Take my former profession as a broadcaster with the BBC. Why did I have to commute to a building when I could easily have done the same job from home? Why did our reporters have to all commute into the office, only to be dispatched to all parts of the area soon afterwards? Why could they have not participated in a conference call online at home, and go straight to their destination? Think of the massive saving on fuel and unnecessary traffic congestion. And time!!!
I understand that poor managers cannot cope without supervising their staff in person. They need that so-called power to get their rocks off. Perhaps that’s what really unsettles them – the quiet discovery that the job still gets done when nobody is watching.
Covid showed how quickly the world can shut down. The real lesson was how little of it actually needed to reopen.
Working from home or living at work
I have never been someone that dies at work.
I have always been somebody voting for life-work balance before I knew it.
On the other hand, work is something that builds us, so I am not a Spanish macho drinking tea or coffee all day instead of thinking how to earn.
Since 2022, I have mostly worked from home.
It, in a way, destroyed my life, as watching me every second could have been a traumatic experience for my former wife.
On the other hand, I see no downsides to work from home in my profession, copywriting.
It is the most effective way to handle things. I used to work in an office as late as in 2024.
No difference!
Why should I spend three hours of my life to get there and back to do the same stuff???
The world is changing and, I believe, my profession will be 99% remote to get the best possible results.
I see no problem here as I don’t wipe dirt from the streets.
Well, I don’t exclude a chance to be the wiping one. In this case, this blog is irrelevant.
Working from home, or living at work?
Recently we wrote a blog called “What a Time to be Alive” and this article could easily be Part Two of that one. Imagine you told someone a hundred years ago you could work at your job location, or from home. What the hell? Unless doing laundry is your job, I doubt you would carry your “homework” in the next day.
You are reading this on a computer screen or maybe even a phone; something straight from science fiction even fifty years ago. That speed of change is exactly the problem; it turns out most corporate officers are over fifty years old. And change is hard; these people think Elvis the Pelvis is obscene. You may think I’m attacking these folks; not in the slightest. In fact, I’m one of them. I was born into a world without microwave ovens or even men (not women) launching in rockets. Did you know that there are no more steam trains anywhere? Anywhere? TVs are in color and have something called high-def and they stream something called the internet?
If you accept my argument that old people will find all this uncomfortable, then you can certainly understand why they would want to see their own employees in the building. Perhaps you find comfort in the thought that this is only an old person thing. There’s a book for sales people called Who Moved My Cheese? It’s about how change makes everybody crazy and you shouldn’t let small change destroy your life. When Microsoft introduced their Metro interface people absolutely freaked-out. Someone moved their cheese and the outrage was so intense Microsoft ended up bringing the old interface back.
In the US, many companies are run by people with big fragile egos. They need to be the center of their world. They want to walk through the door and know every last person there will bow to them. They alone decide how many days a sandwich stays in the break-room fridge.
So, this walking ego is older and was shaped by a world where non-white males started with two strikes. He honestly believes he EARNED his way and you should also pay the price of admission. That doesn’t include sitting at home, with Cheetos and red wine.
Of course, he’s also smart enough to know he can’t say the above out loud. So instead, we’ll talk about cross-pollination and worker productivity. By the way, you can keep your damn studies. Customers are happy to pay more so he can have bigger buildings, higher property taxes, and double the electricity.