"The government should pass stricter laws to allow businesses to force people back to work" says a Telegraph reader. Photo: Alexandre Spatari/GETTY IMAGES/Moment RF
The pandemic forced us to embark on a massive natural experiment of working from home, and many were enthusiastic about it and did not return to the office.
For others, both employers and employees, the experiment proved unsatisfactory and short-lived.
Consequently, there has been a major debate in the post-pandemic world about whether working from home should be made a permanent change. Moreover, office occupancy is still far from the level of 2019 — it currently averages only 34%.
Only recently have companies like Google, Meta, Disney and Twitter demanded that their employees return to their jobs. Executives believe that in-person collaboration is critical to improving productivity.
But accustomed to a more comfortable remote life, many employees are fighting back.
This topic is divisive, especially among Telegraph readers, who are largely divided.
An exclusive survey conducted by this newspaper showed that 42% of more than 12,000 voters prefer hybrid work, while 32% prefer to work from home and 26% prefer to work in the office.
Where do you prefer to work? Poll «I've never been this productive and I've taken back large chunks of my life»
Some readers have described how their productivity levels at home have improved. Reader Simon Long, for example, had worked in an office for thirty years and didn't want to work from home.
However, he says, «I've been working from home during lockdown and I've realized I've never been this productive and I've also got most of my life back.» Now he chooses a hybrid model, «both I and my employer are completely satisfied with such a scheme.»
“Working from home is very good for some people and very bad for others. This attempt to condemn it as very bad for everyone goes against all the evidence to the contrary,” adds Simon.
Katie Pilkington has also been at peak productivity during the pandemic. Ms Pilkington has «zero chances» of ever returning to the office full-time.
She reasons, “You want me to do chores and work overtime? Leave me alone at home so I can do this. Do you want me to spend all my time fending off meetings and interruptions and want to get away from people at the end of the day? Take me back to the office. Which one makes business money?”
Ms Pilkington believes that “the future is a hybrid: an office for relationships and workshops, a home for work.”
Reader Melissa Weiralso defended remote work, saying that «many people who work from home are self-motivated professionals who love the work they do» and stressing that «not everything revolves around being chained to a desktop monitor.»
< p>“Modern corporate offices” are terrible places to live. Many of them are noisy, open-plan, with «hot tables». I regularly spent 20 minutes trying to set up my laptop and get online,” adds Melissa.
She goes on to describe how happy she is that she doesn't have to deal with «constant breaks, lack of meeting rooms, poor food choices, and agonizing commutes to and from the office where you still have your meetings online.»
«Working from home is a privilege, not a right»Reader Peter Gortonargues that “results are what matters” and suggests that “only if an employee’s performance is unsatisfactory should they work from home.” questioned as an influence.»
Ben Hughes agrees with Peter that“Performance is the key and not where you work from. To do work. Or lose your job. You need to be in the office, but not all the time these days.»
Ben considers working from home a «privilege, not a right» and states, «Abuse it, you lose it.»
For some, the end of the tiring daily commute has contributed greatly to their choice to work from home.
Reader Gary BaldyThe daughter, who works for a successful branch of a foreign bank, talks about her trip to London, which costs around £6,000 a year and takes an hour one way.< /p>
With the cost of childcare, this was becoming a bit of a struggle. But hybrid work has allowed her to handle it all. Relieved, her boss even told her, «Thank God for the hybrid job, so we can keep you.»
Yvonne Cano-Flatt advocates a hybrid workflow if «the role is not client related and the team is still participating in team meetings and continuing professional development.»
Although, Omar Qayyum notes that in hybrid work, “you show up at the office and then still spend the day making online video calls.”
He claims that hybrid work “only works if the teams are in the office on the same days so that they can have face-to-face meetings.”
Working from home “Working from home works better. in theory than in practice.”
Some of our readers are not convinced by the idea of remote work. Reader Philip Andrewsstats that “working from home works better in theory than in practice” and argues that “in general, being in the office is a much better option for motivation, team building and mental well-being” .
«Working from home is not good for young employees who can't build relationships and gain meaningful experience,» he adds.
This sentiment is shared by Telegraph reader O.T. who calls working from home «selfish and short-sighted» as he describes how important it is that «junior employees need mentorship, training and personal interaction with their colleagues.»
In a similar remark, Peter Cooperstates that remote work is «anti-social» in nature, and argues that the concept arose due to the global pandemic and should be a one-time thing, not a new trend set.»
Meanwhile reader Ralph Jones believes that “it takes a very rare incredible drive to maintain productivity over time. Very few people have that kind of drive.”
Ralph continues: “It's too easy to go out for coffee, check social media, talk to friends on the phone and do laundry.
“Then comes the work of the whole team and the exchange of ideas with colleagues. Zoom sucks, you only get half the information as most of the communication is body language and interactions that are stifled by zoom.»
«Businesses have good reasons to provide jobs. The government should pass stricter laws to allow businesses to force people back to work,” he suggests.
Rosa Maria Dolcefinds working from home «disorienting» and «not appropriate». for those who love the separation of family life and work,” and some readers shared how they even witnessed how workers tried to combine both while working from home.
Suzanne Brimm, for example, shares: “The last time I talked to a person who worked from home about my finances, this person stopped talking to me to sort things out. with kids. I believe that this is not professional behavior, and my time is money.
“Work is work, not daycare, to save on childcare costs,” she adds.
In another note, a reader who wishes to remain anonymous warns: “If work can be done remotely, it can be done in much cheaper places than in the UK. People should be careful what they wish for.”
The final suggestion of many readers, including Peter Hamilton and M.M., is, that «the public sector should be in power as the taxpayers pay them» while «the private sector should be an agreement between employer and employee on what is best.»
«The public service is not a business , and its people were completely committed to working on site as working from home led to a further deterioration in service quality and abandonment than before Covid,” argues another reader.
Do you prefer to work at home or in the office? Join the discussion in the comments section below
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