Boris Johnson's address to the nation - Friday 17th July 11am

[MontyMinerWA]

Another point which has been made is that mentoring of staff suffers greatly when people aren’t together in the workplace sharing knowledge, experience and expertise with each other.

I bet employers will start to find performance issues too. It’s been one thing having people at home when there hasn’t been that much to do during lockdown, but how many times will employers tolerate people taking a sneaky day out to Bournemouth beach when the weather is fine?

No chance of that if you're still being judged on your performance.

 

[Bantamzen]

One thing I find I like to do when working from home is pop out for lunch, as being with other people breaks up the isolation. So such businesses might do well to consider moving to the suburbs and becoming more of a sit-in sandwich type cafe instead. Will save them on rent too!

I can't see that working, these kinds of businesses often rely on passing trade. People working from home are going to be far less likely to do as you do, after all their kitchens are considerably closer and cheaper than popping out each day for lunch.

 

[MontyMinerWA]

I can't see that working, these kinds of businesses often rely on passing trade. People working from home are going to be far less likely to do as you do, after all their kitchens are considerably closer and cheaper than popping out each day for lunch.

I'm always surprised why more people don't bring their own lunch to work. They would easily save themselves £10 a week.

 

[Scrotnig]

I'm always surprised why more people don't bring their own lunch to work. They would easily save themselves £10 a week.

Time is often the reason.

Whereas if you're working from home, time is much less of an issue (no long commute) and you can pop into your kitchen and make something easily, either on your lunch or even at a quit time in the day.

 

[MontyMinerWA]

Time is often the reason.

Whereas if you're working from home, time is much less of an issue (no long commute) and you can pop into your kitchen and make something easily, either on your lunch or even at a quit time in the day.

Do what I do, make your lunch before you go to bed at night time and pop it in the fridge.

 

[Scrotnig]

Do what I do, make your lunch before you go to bed at night time and pop it in the fridge.

I would imagine, in normal circumstances, many people have neither the time nor the energy at the end of a long day.

 

[MontyMinerWA]

I would imagine, in normal circumstances, many people have neither the time nor the energy at the end of a long day.

Well that's true. I don't make a habit of throwing money away.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Well exactly. This is what I've been able to do since lockdown and I'm in no hurry to go back to the office. Going back to the office isn't going to be of any benefit to me and will make very little difference to my employer.

There's an old school manager at our office who says something along the lines of "if you're not seen in the office for a few weeks then the company will start to wonder whether it can do without you altogether".

When companies start to look at making cutbacks, as many will surely do, who will they be most likely to lay off ; the diligent worker who comes into the office every day, makes the tea and builds a good working relationship with his line manager or the one who mostly communicates by email and has not been seen for weeks save for the occasional Zoom Conference call?

 

[Smidster]

Another point which has been made is that mentoring of staff suffers greatly when people aren’t together in the workplace sharing knowledge, experience and expertise with each other.

I bet employers will start to find performance issues too. It’s been one thing having people at home when there hasn’t been that much to do during lockdown, but how many times will employers tolerate people taking a sneaky day out to Bournemouth beach when the weather is fine?

I don't think this has to be the case at all.

On the first point all of the collaboration tools that are around mean that you don't need to lose that kind of interaction. It is a change of culture but not insurmountable.

Your second paragraph is just wrong - we have been busier than ever during Lockdown. Working patterns may have shifted but our productivity has been better than ever. I know I have performed better than normal - simply because I an not being worn down ( both mentally and physically) by the commute.

If you have people going AWOL then there are serious problems in that company performance management

 

[Smidster]

There's an old school manager at our office who says something along the lines of "if you're not seen in the office for a few weeks then the company will start to wonder whether it can do without you altogether".

When companies start to look at making cutbacks, as many will surely do, who will they be most likely to lay off ; the diligent worker who comes into the office every day, makes the tea and builds a good working relationship with his line manager or the one who mostly communicates by email and has not been seen for weeks save for the occasional Zoom Conference call?

They pay people to do the job - not make tea.

That kind of attitude is like a firm cutting the quiet person in the corner who has been around forever but doesn't make waves or try to play office politics. They get cut and then the business wonders why X no longer gets done or questions why nobody knows about Y

Of course building relationships matters but it can be done without being in the same physical space - most of the people I would need to develop relationships with are in other organisations anyway so would only ever meet be phone during normal times.

 

[yorksrob]

Do what I do, make your lunch before you go to bed at night time and pop it in the fridge.

Fundamentally, I'm just too lazy !

 

[MontyMinerWA]

There's an old school manager at our office who says something along the lines of "if you're not seen in the office for a few weeks then the company will start to wonder whether it can do without you altogether".

When companies start to look at making cutbacks, as many will surely do, who will they be most likely to lay off ; the diligent worker who comes into the office every day, makes the tea and builds a good working relationship with his line manager or the one who mostly communicates by email and has not been seen for weeks save for the occasional Zoom Conference call?

Given that the entire organisation have been working from home since lockdown began my boss would be a bit daft to lay himself off.

 

[yorksrob]

They pay people to do the job - not make tea.

At my first full time job, they had a tea lady who came round with a trolly.

Those were the days !

 

[Howardh]

I'm always surprised why more people don't bring their own lunch to work. They would easily save themselves £10 a week.

I did, and a flask too. Never worked out why someone would lose an hour's wage by popping out for their lunch in a cafe and spending £8 there. Didn't make sense. When I was on the lorries I had my pre-packed pie and flask, whereas my co-drivers would be stopping for a full MacDonalds spending £££'s.
Admittedly my attitude doesn't help local outlets, but the money saved still gets spent, on something else!

 

[route101]

Would have a packed lunch most days of the week. But its nice to treat yourself , once a week.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If businesses reliant on office use diminish, opportunities to boost other sectors will come around, just like with other parts of that evolution before, providing it's possible to train up those who lose out to take on new roles. Rather than try and stop evolving, we should perhaps allow this evolution, especially for the environmental sustainability benefits.

Yes, this.

As I've posted elsewhere (I forget where), prudent people running these sandwich bars should now be thinking "what next". As a long term home worker I very much enjoy going out for lunch and being around and with other people. So if there was a small sit-in sandwich and coffee eatery at my local row of shops (provided it did gluten free - but most people obviously wouldn't care!) I would give serious consideration to patronising it.

Local is back. I see that as a really good thing. Local butchers, bakers, greengrocers etc too? You could grab stuff on the way back from lunch in a way that doesn't work if you're office-bound.

This was all going to happen anyway. We've just been shoved on 10-20 years in progress terms in about 6 months.

I did, and a flask too. Never worked out why someone would lose an hour's wage by popping out for their lunch in a cafe and spending £8 there. Didn't make sense

I'm assuming you mean the £8 is an hour's wage, rather than the time? Everyone should have proper breaks when working and not work through. If I was an employer I'd be quite strong in persuading people to do it. A "no butties at your desk" rule with a decent lunch room provided also works (and saves on cleaning), though it's even better if people get out for a walk even if it's only to Pret.

In any case a Boots Meal Deal or similar is nowhere near £8, it's about half that.

There is the other side to this, though. If 2 days a week for meetings etc becomes more common, people might be willing to spend more than £8 on those two days on the basis they can prepare something cheaper at home on the other 3 (and those presently taking sandwiches might think "well, it's only 2 days a week, and it is nicer than squashed jam butties on Aldi's medium sliced white[1]). So actually the market could grow, with fewer people spending more money.

[1] You'd be amazed how quickly it gets expensive if you want to make and fill sandwiches like Subway (say) does. It's not one slice of ham, it's most of a packet.

 

[westv]

Never worked out why someone would lose an hour's wage by popping out for their lunch in a cafe and spending £8 there.

I've always had paid lunchtimes so the concept of losing pay to have a break is alien to me.

 

[Howardh]

I've always had paid lunchtimes so the concept of losing pay to have a break is alien to me.

Taxable?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've always had paid lunchtimes so the concept of losing pay to have a break is alien to me.

If you're salaried it doesn't make any odds at all anyway because you get £X per calendar month[1] regardless of the number of calendar days in it or the precise number of hours worked each day. Technically my lunch is unpaid, but if it was paid it'd just be that my nominal "hourly rate" would be a bit lower., I'd still have the same annual salary. So it's moot.

[1] OK, really it's X per annum so it is worked out based on the precise number of days you work - but you don't get extra in a leap year (or lose any if there's an extra bank holiday) so it's not even that consistent.

 

[greyman42]

If Boris Johnson wants to get the office workers back in the office, why does he not set an example with his own government departments? The DEFRA office in the centre of York remains deserted.

 

[trebor79]

[1] You'd be amazed how quickly it gets expensive if you want to make and fill sandwiches like Subway (say) does. It's not one slice of ham, it's most of a packet.

Yeah but the "reformed ham" Subway uses is cheap rubbish. If you filled it with the same poor quality ingredients it would cheaper as your not helping to pay the rent, staff costs, insurance and profit margins.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yeah but the "reformed ham" Subway uses is cheap rubbish. If you filled it with the same poor quality ingredients it would cheaper as your not helping to pay the rent, staff costs, insurance and profit margins.

TBH I prefer it, I don't like getting gristly and fatty bits in my ham as I do with the regular sliced stuff.

 

[baz962]

I did, and a flask too. Never worked out why someone would lose an hour's wage by popping out for their lunch in a cafe and spending £8 there. Didn't make sense. When I was on the lorries I had my pre-packed pie and flask, whereas my co-drivers would be stopping for a full MacDonalds spending £££'s.
Admittedly my attitude doesn't help local outlets, but the money saved still gets spent, on something else!

It's all about different opinions. I don't understand why people waste money on cigarettes and alcohol , but I get it's their thing. I usually take a lunch , but sometimes just crave a cafe style lunch or fast food. Horse's for course's.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

At my first full time job, they had a tea lady who came round with a trolly.

Those were the days !

Ah yes indeed. But in one of the places I work, a league of friends volunteer comes round with a sweet trolley

 

[yorksrob]

Ah yes indeed. But in one of the places I work, a league of friends volunteer comes round with a sweet trolley

As in puddings ? That is a good idea !

 

[Mag_seven]

Can we please stick to the subject matter of Boris Johnson's announcement from yesterday (July 17th) - text can be found in the link below. Thanks

Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 17 July 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement on coronavirus.

www.gov.uk

Speech

PM statement on coronavirus: 17 July 2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement on coronavirus.

 

[nanstallon]

I was glad to learn that we are now allowed to travel on trains, even if the journey is not necessary.

 

[StephenHunter]

I rode my first Class 755 today.

The virus is still out there, so remember your face mask. And a spare, because they can get quite damp in this heat.

 

[yorkie]

I was glad to learn that we are now allowed to travel on trains, even if the journey is not necessary.

I also welcomed the announcement, though I will point out that we were allowed to travel on public transport for non "essential" journeys from many weeks ago.

The main thing that changed with this latest announcement is that people are no longer asked to "consider" alternative modes.

(I always consider other modes, but being a non-car owner, there is not much consideration needed if I am going out of York!)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Of course, you could consider other modes and reject them because you preferred to go by train!