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Working in an office


Sugar Ape
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1 minute ago, Bjornebye said:

Good luck mate. If you get that right you'll make an absolute fortune. 

Yeah it's my goal but after the lockdown, leaving the pub and having a massive forced change to my life I need some structure and a bit less stress. Amazon will keep me earning decent money til I'm in the right frame of mind to pick up the real ale business sometime next year. 

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4 minutes ago, Redder Lurtz said:

Yeah it's my goal but after the lockdown, leaving the pub and having a massive forced change to my life I need some structure and a bit less stress. Amazon will keep me earning decent money til I'm in the right frame of mind to pick up the real ale business sometime next year. 

For sure mate. Seems like you got out of the pub at the right time. My dad ran pubs all his career pretty much and it was a horrible, stressful existence. Long hours, having to deal with dickhead pissed up arseholes and not exactly the most lucrative rewards.

 

He fancied himself as a bit of a Brian Flanagan as a youngster then a Doug Coughlan as he got older. 

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Best of luck with things Mike. Hope - and am sure - you'll be sound mate.

 

It was a bank holiday here yesterday and I needed to finish off some work so I decided for the first time in months to head into the office.  No one the train and Sydney CBD empty. That was about 7 am. I came out at 3.30pm and it looked like normal. I enjoyed being back at my desk and the lack of distractions to be honest. It's only a twenty minute journey as well. Still happy at home but I did a lot of work with the extra computer screens and set up in the office.

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17 hours ago, the chimp said:

Best of luck with things Mike. Hope - and am sure - you'll be sound mate.

 

It was a bank holiday here yesterday and I needed to finish off some work so I decided for the first time in months to head into the office.  No one the train and Sydney CBD empty. That was about 7 am. I came out at 3.30pm and it looked like normal. I enjoyed being back at my desk and the lack of distractions to be honest. It's only a twenty minute journey as well. Still happy at home but I did a lot of work with the extra computer screens and set up in the office.

Same here really - I've quite liked being back in the office when I've had to go in, with no distractions and a big screen. However that isn't normal - I'm usually getting loads of distractions and the computers are always playing up in "normal times".

 

We're taking a service we deliver online and over the phone solely online. This will mean less people needed on the phone and in the office. It's fine for me because I've written the plan and I look after the website. However for those who man the phones the worry about my job would be at the back of my mind. 

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I've been working from home since March, parked in the young lads bedroom on a small desk. It was wrecking my head so I decided to build an outdoor office space right beside the house in the only free space left in the garden. Just a small 8x6 room. I looked up getting one made and the prices were mental and some that were reasonable had waiting times of up to 3 months. 

 

I initially thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew but it's turning out quite well and I'm proud that I've actually done it myself. I've even decided I'm going to put a TV in there and watch the unmentionable in peace without the little ones wrecking my head.

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1 minute ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

I've been working from home since March, parked in the young lads bedroom on a small desk. It was wrecking my head so I decided to build an outdoor office space right beside the house in the only free space left in the garden. Just a small 8x6 room. I looked up getting one made and the prices were mental and some that were reasonable had waiting times of up to 3 months. 

 

I initially thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew but it's turning out quite well and I'm proud that I've actually done it myself. I've even decided I'm going to put a TV in there and watch the unmentionable in peace without the little ones wrecking my head.

Thats ace mate. Pics or its fair we assume you're just crammed in one of these because you didn't do the dishes in April

 

b8a7f4f07601398e05ae815e80a1330d.jpg

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Thats ace mate. Pics or its fair we assume you're just crammed in one of these because you didn't do the dishes in April

 

b8a7f4f07601398e05ae815e80a1330d.jpg

 

 

 

This is where I'm at. Still loads to do but I'm getting there. Coat of grey paint on it now but need to add fascia board and guttering before focusing on the inside. 

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16 hours ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

 

This is where I'm at. Still loads to do but I'm getting there. Coat of grey paint on it now but need to add fascia board and guttering before focusing on the inside. 

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Great work that zonko.

Although once you’ve got the snooker table in there I’m not sure there’s going to be much room for a desk.

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On 05/10/2020 at 15:22, Redder Lurtz said:

Since I jacked the pub in I had a couple of offers to go back to an office environment. I'm supposed to be launching an online real ale business but it's been getting on top of me a bit. The minefield of licensing, premises, cost reduction. I've fucked it all off til next year, decided well against an office return and I'm currently on my way to Birmingham to collect my van. Start delivering for Amazon tomorrow. Self employed, pick and choose my hours and the money is decent. Fuck da office. 

Proper enjoying the new job. Tiring but I'll soon get used to it. Loving the milfy housewives around Skipton. 

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  • 5 months later...

Working from home and flexing hours will become the norm | News | The Times

 

Working from home and flexing hours will become the norm

 

The government will start a public consultation later this year on how to extend flexible working

 

Ministers are preparing to make flexible working a permanent feature of British life after coronavirus, with plans to strengthen employees’ rights to work from home or ask for different hours.

 

The government will start a public consultation later this year on how to extend flexible working, potentially ensuring that people who have transitioned to a hybrid of home and office working during the pandemic will be able to maintain that pattern.

 

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is likely to look at ways to strengthen the existing legal right to request flexible working. Under the present rules, employees can formally ask for changes to their working pattern. The employer must deal with the request in a “reasonable manner” and make a decision within three months.

 

In addition to extending the existing scheme, the plans could go further, with consideration being given to introducing a right to request ad hoc flexible working, whereby people can work from home or change their hours on occasions where it suits them, for example to attend appointments or when their diary is clear. Some government figures want to enshrine a simple legal right to work from home, The Times has been told.

 

The Conservative manifesto in 2019 said that the party would “encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to”.

 

However, the government’s plans have been given greater impetus by the pandemic and the profound and sudden shift in working practices it has caused.

 

“Covid has moved the flexible working agenda on years,” a minister told The Times. “As we recover from lockdown there’s lots we can do to keep the freedoms people have gained to set their own working patterns.”

 

Almost half of working adults are at present spending at least some of their time working from home, according to recent research by the Office for National Statistics. Only 53 per cent of working adults travelled to work at some point between March 3 and March 14. Government advice is currently for people to work at home if they can.

 

Moves to entrench flexible working could encounter the opposition of Conservative MPs who fear the consequences for businesses that rely on thriving office work. Only last month Boris Johnson expressed scepticism about a significant change to city life.

 

“I don’t believe this is going to mean a fundamental change to the way our life in our big cities really works,” he told a Downing Street press conference. “The better remote communication gets and the more people can see each other and talk on mobile devices . . . the more actually they want to see each other face to face.

 

“And that, I’m sure, will come back and I think that London, our great cities, will be full of buzz and life and excitement again, provided that people have confidence about going back into those city centres.”

 

However, there have been warnings that Britain’s big cities could become centres of Covid-19 infection as restrictions ease. Andrew Hayward, a professor at University College London and member of the Nervtag advisory group, said that areas with lower vaccination uptake rates could become Covid-19 “pockets”. In some places, he said, “there’s a lot of people who could still get very ill” if cases begin to rise again.

 

A government spokeswoman said: “We have committed to consult on making flexible working the default unless employers have good reasons not to. This consultation will be launched in due course.”

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42 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

Working from home and flexing hours will become the norm | News | The Times

 

Working from home and flexing hours will become the norm

 

The government will start a public consultation later this year on how to extend flexible working

 

Ministers are preparing to make flexible working a permanent feature of British life after coronavirus, with plans to strengthen employees’ rights to work from home or ask for different hours.

 

The government will start a public consultation later this year on how to extend flexible working, potentially ensuring that people who have transitioned to a hybrid of home and office working during the pandemic will be able to maintain that pattern.

 

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is likely to look at ways to strengthen the existing legal right to request flexible working. Under the present rules, employees can formally ask for changes to their working pattern. The employer must deal with the request in a “reasonable manner” and make a decision within three months.

 

In addition to extending the existing scheme, the plans could go further, with consideration being given to introducing a right to request ad hoc flexible working, whereby people can work from home or change their hours on occasions where it suits them, for example to attend appointments or when their diary is clear. Some government figures want to enshrine a simple legal right to work from home, The Times has been told.

 

The Conservative manifesto in 2019 said that the party would “encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to”.

 

However, the government’s plans have been given greater impetus by the pandemic and the profound and sudden shift in working practices it has caused.

 

“Covid has moved the flexible working agenda on years,” a minister told The Times. “As we recover from lockdown there’s lots we can do to keep the freedoms people have gained to set their own working patterns.”

 

Almost half of working adults are at present spending at least some of their time working from home, according to recent research by the Office for National Statistics. Only 53 per cent of working adults travelled to work at some point between March 3 and March 14. Government advice is currently for people to work at home if they can.

 

Moves to entrench flexible working could encounter the opposition of Conservative MPs who fear the consequences for businesses that rely on thriving office work. Only last month Boris Johnson expressed scepticism about a significant change to city life.

 

“I don’t believe this is going to mean a fundamental change to the way our life in our big cities really works,” he told a Downing Street press conference. “The better remote communication gets and the more people can see each other and talk on mobile devices . . . the more actually they want to see each other face to face.

 

“And that, I’m sure, will come back and I think that London, our great cities, will be full of buzz and life and excitement again, provided that people have confidence about going back into those city centres.”

 

However, there have been warnings that Britain’s big cities could become centres of Covid-19 infection as restrictions ease. Andrew Hayward, a professor at University College London and member of the Nervtag advisory group, said that areas with lower vaccination uptake rates could become Covid-19 “pockets”. In some places, he said, “there’s a lot of people who could still get very ill” if cases begin to rise again.

 

A government spokeswoman said: “We have committed to consult on making flexible working the default unless employers have good reasons not to. This consultation will be launched in due course.”

This, on the face of it, seems like good news. I can’t help thinking that those with massive investments in commercial office space and/or the infrastructure required to maintain their usage might yet have a say in how far this goes.
 

I suspect at least some of these individuals and/or companies will have a certain influence with a certain political party that goes beyond that of your average office worker. 

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17 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

This, on the face of it, seems like good news. I can’t help thinking that those with massive investments in commercial office space and/or the infrastructure required to maintain their usage might yet have a say in how far this goes.
 

I suspect at least some of these individuals and/or companies will have a certain influence with a certain political party that goes beyond that of your average office worker. 

 

The ball is already rolling now. Every linkedin recruiter who has cold called me in the last 2 months (about 6+) has been offering jobs with "guaranteed full time remote working option after covid". One didn't, and only offered part time. Then called back a week later after I said I wouldn't be interested and informed me that they'd changed their policy.

 

It depends on the job, obviously, but if there's enough demand for the skills, the workers will drive the policy by only choosing jobs that offer it.

 

I think you're right about the legal requirements though. They probably won't change.

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Certain quarters do seem intent on making offices an inhospitable environment. We are having ridiculous perspex screens installed this week, because working three metres apart from each other is obviously not dehumanising enough.

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15 minutes ago, Strontium Dog™ said:

Certain quarters do seem intent on making offices an inhospitable environment. We are having ridiculous perspex screens installed this week, because working three metres apart from each other is obviously not dehumanising enough.

Just a tad less de-humanising then to being wired up to a ventilator unable to see your own family because people didn't take necessary precautions to help try and slow down the spread of the virus as best they can. 

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On 06/10/2020 at 18:06, ZonkoVille77 said:

 

This is where I'm at. Still loads to do but I'm getting there. Coat of grey paint on it now but need to add fascia board and guttering before focusing on the inside. 

20201006_180527.jpg

20200919_171258.jpg

20200926_162400.jpg

20200926_162414.jpg

20200928_165423.jpg

20201005_183426.jpg

Get that shit in the I AM MAN thread. Serious kudos.

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On topic, while there’s a clear shift in emphasis away from mandating office working, and by and large the office working public seem to want it, there will be a shift back over time as we start to feel more safe.

 

Gone (hopefully for good) are the days of HAVING to go to London for a once a month 1 hour meeting, but there are loads of good things about working in an office with other people that were missing, especially those earlier in their careers who simply aren’t getting the same development support they would, and aren’t getting the social interaction that is essential to humans.

 

flexible working will be the norm. Offices will change to be more accommodating and welcoming with more features in every big standard office you might currently expect only in the very high end.

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