phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
1
Tory’s trying their best to alienate and make sure they don’t get any votes in future.
Apparently we’ve just been pissing about and not working and we need to travel again to sit behind a different desk to work.
The government should be embracing the positive change to the environment and work/life balance not supporting Starbucks that aren’t making as much money from office workers.
Can we get a petition going to get Oliver Dowden to resign for these comments?
Ms Healey, who is the permanent secretary at Mr Dowden’s former department, told a conference last month: "I have a Peloton and I can just get on my bike whenever I have a teeny bit of time.
“That has been a huge benefit to my well-being, the lack of travelling time eating into my day.”
"I like my permanent secretary at DCMS enormously, Sarah Healey, but I am disagreeing with her on this one.
“I think people need to get off their Pelotons and get back to their desks.”
Yes cause duck the well-being of your staff over your convenience and control.
Boris Johnson is expected to repeat the “get back to work” message in his Tory conference speech on Wednesday.
The absolute idiotic gall of this man. There were so many key workers keeping the lights on by working from home these last 18 months.
The NHS pandemic response included moving as many staff as possible away from clinical settings to keep back office functions like IT, finance and logistics working.
2 Likes
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
3
The problem is that high streets aren’t getting office workers spending their money and owners of office space aren’t getting rent.
It’s pretty obvious that they are getting pressure from their “mates” to push to getting people back.
Unfortunately them making some money comes before the positive environmental impact and well-being of staff.
Would it still happen if labour were in the driving seat, possibly.
1 Like
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
5
I’d rather not as it’ll get ignored and lost.
Can someone help with this, would be ace to see this go social.
These stupid comments need to be nipped in the bud.
This is a massive point in history where workers have gained from being able to chose to work from home. We can’t let the government force the old habits because their mates are losing cash.
Yeah it had a definite “all home workers are lazy” feel to it. Not sure what it’s got to do with him anyway, especially for people working in the private sector.
1 Like
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
8
If it hasn’t sparked a fresh debate after tomorrow’s conference call then so be it merge away.
They wouldn’t listen it’s more about making people realise they are being pushed about.
It’s the whole “I have more time from not traveling so I can do more things like exercise” being shot down really grinds my gears.
It’s like a how dare she have that benefit to her well-being and time back in her life vibe.
He probably has to show ID to be recognised in his own household
How such a non-entity of a person has ended up a party Chairperson is quite a thing, though many Tories were touting Gavin Williamson as some sort of Machiavellian genius until two weeks back, so there is that
There’s a whole campaign against working from home - some outfit has been paying for facebook ads saying how great the office is… the reaction in the comments is predictable.
They’ll emphasize “get back to work” a lot over the coming weeks.
I mean I get it, there are advantages to working in an office, but not all the time and it doesn’t work for everyone. The idea that sitting at desk == must be working is complete nonsense.
I doubt any politician has ever sat in an open office.
There are a lot of positive externalities from WFH, reduced emissions from driving, money spent locally, more diverse workforce (i.e. companies able to tap into a wider talent pool).
But also negative, companeis downsizing their office footprint so reduced rents, local businesses who rely on the transient footfall of workers not getting as much custom, public transport networks having reduced ticket sales etc. I think the comments around younger workers not getting as much experience might be valid as well, but these things can be worked around, it should not be a binary thing.
I’d rather see the government supporting ideas of hybrid working rather than making out as if the work-from-homers are holding the country back. In some ways this model would actually help their loosely defined notion of “levelling up”, but instead they just want everything to go back to the old ways of packed commuter trains into London. The whole “flexibile rail season pass” idea is a complete joke and barely saves any money as well.
3 Likes
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
15
That Chris Brosnahan is spot on with his comments.
As someone has taken the slack over the past years and at 80% pay for a good portion it’s incredibly insulting insinuating it’s been a free ride and that somehow we need to behind a different desk to actually be working.
We need a viral thing going around to tell Boris he needs to back people and not help line his mates pockets that want people back using office space.
Hopefully most business owners will see through this BS and embrace the new work/life balance.
Too late: The train where I am is already rammed. But interestingly it seems no one actually wants to sit next to anyone else (quite why, I’m not sure, as they seem fine with all cramming in the door vestibules) so at least I still always get a seat even in a packed carriage. You have to often move some Karen’s bag they’ve strategically placed (yeah because that’s going to stop you catching Covid!?) but I figure I deserve a seat after travelling throughout the initial firestorm lockdown.
phildawson
(Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)
21
The audacity to compare to Doctors.
I take the view that being an MP is the greatest honour you could have, but a general practitioner in politics ought to be paid roughly the same as a general practitioner in medicine
Doctors are paid far too little nowadays. But if they would get roughly £100,000 a year, the equivalent for an MP to get the same standard of living would be £110-£115,000 a year
Avg Doctor isn’t £100k (about £70k I think )
Value of a wet flannel isn’t £100-115k
See him walk in the shoes of someone on £137.60 per week state pension.
Boris says tomorrow.
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