Working from home (WfH) is like opening Pandora's box and finding a can of worms. It's fair to say it's a complicated issue then. Particularly now when it has been revealed that WfH, which was controversially forced upon us a few years ago, is the reason the business districts in our cities lie barren and are dying due to the lack of office workers prioritising eating and drinking out over paying their steeply increased rents and mortgages.
A concerted campaign has been launched in our media to force people back into the office. Even the Government has stepped in, making the end of WfH for civil servants a top priority. It appears the Prime Minister wasn't properly briefed on the issue however, as he said ending WfH is about boosting public service performance and not about rescuing Wellington cafés and bars, when the latter is clearly the case, as reported by media in the capital.
In a small way, I did my part and supported the Auckland Heart of the City the other day, at an after work gathering. I'm glad I did it, but I have to apologise that it'll be a while before I do it again. The $14 beers (small size) and $34 fish pie which comprised a few small prawns, precious little piscine comestible goodness hidden under a huge amount of mashed potato, and three thin, withered stalks of broccolini is a feast that's sadly beyond my modest budget.
Nevertheless, the campaign to end WfH is gathering pace. On social media, radical anti-WfH calls are echoing into the digital void:
It is a global campaign too, and it's good to see that New Zealand is coordinating its messaging with the rest of the world. For example, Amazon is fed up to the back teeth and has had a gutsful of WfH and is now forcing people into the offices where they belong.
WfH is just not the Amazon way. The company will no doubt ditch the very extensive and capable Remote Work solutions it sells, as it might be seen as encouraging the opprobrious WfH practice. Update: it appears the entitled worker drones are highly unappreciative of Amazon's RTO move, to the point that the company finds it hard to recruit people.
There is just so much wrong with WfH that it's hard to know where to start even. Our economic recovery plan with roading of national significance and that Wellington mega tunnel being built, depends on people commuting into the office five days a week. No, not on public transport because that's not how we do it in this remote corner of the South Pacific. Don't even think about mentioning that again.
Not to be overlooked, workers setting aside space at home for free to perform the duties they are paid to do undermine the viability of commercial landlords. The IRD should step in and end deductions for WfH spaces, to further discourage the practice. (Update: as commenters point out, the IRD doesn't allow deductions for employees.)
Importantly, it is only in the office where new and inexperienced staff are able to learn from their seniors in an appropriate and acceptable fashion. Face to face is how juniors will pick up on new things, and not in Zoom to Zoom. A few years ago this was not the huge problem it is now, as fast broadband connections were rare and expensive. We would do well to consider limiting access to UFB fibre to the home broadband for that reason.
In light of the above, it matters not an iota that hybrid and WfH staff tend to be happier, and likely to be more loyal and productive as well. Healthier too. Because that's just what science suggests. It doesn't take into account people skiving off to their beach houses that they can't afford to buy for four-day weekends.
If you're ever in doubt as to how pernicious and perilous WfH is, just remember this:
— The Vertlartnic (@TheVertlartnic) September 23, 2024
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