"I'm working from home" ....
 |
..... has there ever been a more untruthful statement in the English language?
Maybe there have been others that at the time also seemed so, like 'Marshal Pétain was a true patriot', or 'The Russian press is the freest in the world', but hardly one that has been so misused or so abused by the many, when said to so few.
It rarely conjures a up an image of someone clocking on to their laptop at 09:00 am, then diligently working non stop (except for a 45 mins lunch break, and the odd coffee making moment), until weary from a full day away from the office distractions, they clock off at 05:00 pm with all their projects completed. No, its normally accompanied by a sly look around at the others who also have this 'privilege', while those who are not granted this facility, stare stony faced at the latest person to get a free day off.
At best, they will catch up on some emails, and then a veritable blizzard of impossible instructions will fly from their machine in the morning, sometimes accompanied by telephone calls ... all of which will be clarified the next day when they go to work. Noticeably these emails dry up suddenly around midday, and nothing more will be heard from them.
It rarely conjures a up an image of someone clocking on to their laptop at 09:00 am, then diligently working non stop (except for a 45 mins lunch break, and the odd coffee making moment), until weary from a full day away from the office distractions, they clock off at 05:00 pm with all their projects completed. No, its normally accompanied by a sly look around at the others who also have this 'privilege', while those who are not granted this facility, stare stony faced at the latest person to get a free day off.
At best, they will catch up on some emails, and then a veritable blizzard of impossible instructions will fly from their machine in the morning, sometimes accompanied by telephone calls ... all of which will be clarified the next day when they go to work. Noticeably these emails dry up suddenly around midday, and nothing more will be heard from them.
At worst, you simply never hear from them all day, and when they next come in to work, no work was apparently done while they were 'working from home', and nothing is said by anyone.
Invariably the reason given for working from home is some unavoidable domestic situation such as a repair man coming around, and they don't want to use any annual leave up attending to the matter .... so only those who can't work from home have to use their annual leave in that way.
The unfairness of this really rankles, but is never seemingly recognised by management, partly because they often abuse it themselves, and the 'excuses' for allowing someone to do this become evermore feeble. The latest at my place of work was "I am off in the afternoon, so no point in coming in" .... needless to say, he was totally non-contactable all day, including the morning, except by phone text, which only indicated that he had his phone with him .... wherever he was.
The only people who work effectively from home are freelancers, and sometimes contractors ... those who are paid on deliverance of actual work ... the rest are invariably skiving.
If western businesses want to improve productivity figures overnight, then the quickest way is to ban 'working from home', its a total misnomer, and also causes much resentment amongst the rest of the staff, who are fully aware that its actually an 'extra holiday' for other staff.
.... I feel much better for that little rant LOL ... Now I'll get back to being busy doing nothing.
Invariably the reason given for working from home is some unavoidable domestic situation such as a repair man coming around, and they don't want to use any annual leave up attending to the matter .... so only those who can't work from home have to use their annual leave in that way.
The unfairness of this really rankles, but is never seemingly recognised by management, partly because they often abuse it themselves, and the 'excuses' for allowing someone to do this become evermore feeble. The latest at my place of work was "I am off in the afternoon, so no point in coming in" .... needless to say, he was totally non-contactable all day, including the morning, except by phone text, which only indicated that he had his phone with him .... wherever he was.
The only people who work effectively from home are freelancers, and sometimes contractors ... those who are paid on deliverance of actual work ... the rest are invariably skiving.
If western businesses want to improve productivity figures overnight, then the quickest way is to ban 'working from home', its a total misnomer, and also causes much resentment amongst the rest of the staff, who are fully aware that its actually an 'extra holiday' for other staff.
.... I feel much better for that little rant LOL ... Now I'll get back to being busy doing nothing.
Update:
Of course 'working' from home has become the new normal for many public sector (civil service and town hall staff) and I.T. workers .... my neighbours cars never move except for the school run in the morning these days. However I suspect that when these chickens come home to roost, productivity in the UK will be lower than ever.
In the last office that I worked the smokers would be absent 3 or 4 times a day for significant periods as they puffed and chatted in the covered area at the back of the building !?
ReplyDeleteA hangover from when 50% of the workforce smoked and sometimes a break from the desk increases productivity. Not a whole day off though!
DeleteAfter a few months those smoke breaks add up to a whole day and more!
DeleteThat may have been compensated by more work done ..... workplace access to the internet probably accounts for more work lost than smoking breaks ever did.
Delete