Work colleagues

[Rugster]

Just now, philpy said:

Well, we shut the doors at 4.30, so GIRFUY.

Shut at 4.30 and you’re moaning? Don’t know you’re born. Workshy fucker. 

[Jacksgranda]

2 hours ago, Fullerene said:

Sounds like me yesterday.  Busy as anything.  Then afterwards I had to make dinner.  Holy shit.  Just macaroni and cheese but more complex than you might think.  Then I had to eat it.  Not straightforward I can tell you.  Then a cup of tea.  Where do I start  ...   

Switched on kettle with water in it...

[BFTD]

9 hours ago, Pato said:

Would it stun you to learn that this permissive working culture leads to a proliferation of these twats occupying well paid roles because they got promoted back when you got promoted just for being employed for a while and we virtually never have vacancies as everyone is waiting on them retiring to fight like ferrets in a sack over a pair of dead men's shoes?

Sigh...that's the dream.

4 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Sounds like Baracus falling victim to something I have suspected all along will become very prevalent. 

We dont have a good reason not to allow you to work for home, but on the basis that you want it, and it would make you happy, there must be some pish ripping angle we arent seeing, and so you arent getting it. 

Trust in employees is the main reason why WFH wont be anywhere near as permanent as it appears it probably should be atm

Yeah, I've been assuming the same thing. Lot of people in for a surprise once the pandemic is over.

Whether it saves money, increases productivity, or improves job satisfaction, the average employer won't be able to let go of the idea that someone, somewhere, is getting away with something unless they're being watched at all times.

[NotThePars]

2 hours ago, Pato said:

I guess it'll need to be tested at a tribunal at some point but for those of us able to work perfectly well at home who have been doing so for a year, there's going to need to be some pretty bulletproof evidence it can't continue in some form.

A while ago my work brought in this set of policies that amounted to 'clean your desk up and put stuff back where it's supposed to be at the end of the day' but dressed up in the usual corporate bullshit jargon. They then did a presentation showing how it had been an enormous success with lots of graphs of compliance being through the roof. I asked them if it had actually increased productivity which left them going in circles pointing out people had signed a sheet to say they'd put keys in a strongbox and whatnot. The brain geniuses hadn't thought to settle on any metrics they could use to actually determine if the policies did anything to get more work done and consequently folk just stopped doing it all and went back to their old ways. I suspect a fair number of workplaces will be in a similar boat of not having measured what working at home has done to performance in meaningful ways (i.e. not how long people have logged into their systems), so won't have a leg to stand on when they make an attempt to say working at home harmed productivity.

lol I should know more about this given I'm an HR drone now but our general attitude atm really is "eh we'll see." My first week I was on a call that discussed it but it got sidelined in favour of the vaccine talks which boiled down to "we can't force anyone to take it and we doubt it would hold up if it was mandated by the employer and an employee refused to play ball." Apparently they were going off the NHS who were just reassigning staff that didn't take the vaccine.

Spoiler

This is me trying to answer an essay question with the only info I have isn't it

 

[itzdrk]

13 hours ago, Aufc said:

Does anyone else work with people who always want to come across as the busiest person ever? I have a girl in my office who is actually sound but no matter what you ask her she always has to relate it back to how busy she apparently is. You ask her how she is getting on and she always replies “oh its mad in here” (she is one of about 5 people in my work that is working from the office). She always lets out a huge sigh when she leaves her room.

I dont understand why people do this

Yes, and in the past too, they are usually the more incompetent members of staff in my experience.  

[itzdrk]

I applied for a job recently and had an interview over zoom, I do a podcast and do that over zoom but it just threw me off and I was shite at it.  I had to do it on my lunch break and had to find somewhere to do it out of the office as well (my pal sorted me out in a conference room at their closed office nearby).  But I went back from lunch in a mood because of it (I've not been told no but you know sometimes). 

A moan:

Spoiler

When I joined at first the place was a bit toxic with overtime expectations and after all the old staff left I am now the person who has been there longest and suggested restructuring certain things to ensure overtime would never be needed, some mistakes have been made since returning to the office from all and we are a bit behind but nothing crazy we can't just get on with.  Recently one of my colleagues has been doing some agreed overtime after work and coming in at weekends they were happy to do but now because nobody else is we are getting reminded that overtime is available etc 

The colleague who has decided to do all this overtime messaged me and the other person in the team in Friday and said "which one of you is coming in tomorrow for overtime" 

I wouldn't be taking that from a manager nevermind just someone in my team, end result was they were in on Saturday overtime after doing overtime Friday night.  

I get the feeling something will come of this eventually, some pish about how it's unfair it's one person doing overtime no doubt, f**k knows how to even approach it if it does? 

 

[Hillonearth]

4 hours ago, Pato said:

I guess it'll need to be tested at a tribunal at some point but for those of us able to work perfectly well at home who have been doing so for a year, there's going to need to be some pretty bulletproof evidence it can't continue in some form.

I'm actually quite surprised at how up for it my place is being...it's being left to employees and their immediate line managers to sort out the proportion of time to be spent back in the office once this is all over - I've already informally agreed to two days in the office/three days WFH a week - and if they fail to come to an agreement they're putting a process in place where it's referred to an independent arbiter who doesn't have a horse in the race with the burden of proof on the manager that a certain amount of in-office work is necessary...I suppose that's to prevent old-school bosses with an innate mistrust of WFH attempting to form a 2019 reenactment society.

In terms of levels of support, our formal survey of how folk feel about the proposed changes came back recently....well over 90% are in favour of continuing WFH in some form...most of the ones vocally against it seem to either be notorious presentees, or in that echelon of management where you've successfully delegated so much of your work that apart from supervising people you don't really have a job left.

 

 

[Sergeant Wilson]

On 15/03/2021 at 15:36, Aladdin said:

The problem is that you will still see some insistence on presenteeism on the part of employers.

 

I'm relying on enough planks wanting to go in regularly they won't miss me.

On 15/03/2021 at 15:43, DA Baracus said:

I produced a 12 page document with fully referenced stats and also clearly laid out the benefits of working from ho me).

 

I think I said at the time, it's too long. You should've edited it. Less is more.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Sergeant Wilson

[Donathan]

Businesses are seeing roughly the same levels of productivity as they were in the office and they can save on extortionate corporate rents by continuing WFH on a hybrid basis (or even full time)

 

I'd be very surprised if employers demand their staff back in more than 50% of the time.

[Bairnardo]

5 minutes ago, Pato said:

My point being if I (and everyone else in my union) just say 'I've made a reasonable request and your decline is unreasonable and my union agrees with me' then they're not really left with much to force me back into the office full time.

And once again, the trade union presents itself as the correct and only course of action to get a fair deal, or even the slightest chance of a fair deal in the workplace.

[Derry Alli]

10 hours ago, itzdrk said:

I applied for a job recently and had an interview over zoom, I do a podcast and do that over zoom but it just threw me off and I was shite at it.  I had to do it on my lunch break and had to find somewhere to do it out of the office as well (my pal sorted me out in a conference room at their closed office nearby).  But I went back from lunch in a mood because of it (I've not been told no but you know sometimes). 

A moan:

  Reveal hidden contents

When I joined at first the place was a bit toxic with overtime expectations and after all the old staff left I am now the person who has been there longest and suggested restructuring certain things to ensure overtime would never be needed, some mistakes have been made since returning to the office from all and we are a bit behind but nothing crazy we can't just get on with.  Recently one of my colleagues has been doing some agreed overtime after work and coming in at weekends they were happy to do but now because nobody else is we are getting reminded that overtime is available etc 

The colleague who has decided to do all this overtime messaged me and the other person in the team in Friday and said "which one of you is coming in tomorrow for overtime" 

I wouldn't be taking that from a manager nevermind just someone in my team, end result was they were in on Saturday overtime after doing overtime Friday night.  

I get the feeling something will come of this eventually, some pish about how it's unfair it's one person doing overtime no doubt, f**k knows how to even approach it if it does? 

 

You tell them to f**k off. It's overtime - voluntary, not compulsory. 

[Busta Nut]

15 hours ago, Aufc said:

I got offered another job not that long ago which was a pay rise of about £40k a year which i turned down

Aye calm doon moneybags 

[Robin.Hood]

11 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

Aye calm doon moneybags 

Ken what a c**t. Dinna even make half but quite happy plodding on. 

f**k em 

[Derry Alli]

Fair play to anybody in the rat race happy enough to turn down an extra near £800 per week. 

Certainly wouldn't be me. 

[itzdrk]

3 hours ago, Mr. Alli said:

You tell them to f**k off. It's overtime - voluntary, not compulsory. 

Aye that's usually my go-to.   

[Aufc]

Fair play to anybody in the rat race happy enough to turn down an extra near £800 per week. 
Certainly wouldn't be me. 

But then i have a decent work life balance the now and actually enjoy my job. I could have moved and been fucking miserable which i didnt want. Two young kids as well who i want to see grow up. I only mentioned that as someone previously had said they had similar with their company. I obviously used it to get a decent pay rise out my current employer

[TheScarf]

What the fuck job do you do where you're getting offered 40k a year more to do it somewhere else?  I'm assuming your not a professional sportsman or actor?

[Busta Nut]

He's Bruce Willis' stunt double, fills in for all the wee baldy men

[Aufc]

What the fuck job do you do where you're getting offered 40k a year more to do it somewhere else?  I'm assuming your not a professional sportsman or actor?

Haha no. I was underpaid in my current role which i knew. The role i was going to was a step up. However, my work basically told me that i will eventually step up in my current role and gave me a 20% pay rise and said they hoped it was enough

Edited to add. I agree thr whole situation was a bit bizarre, especially in the current climate. I actually felt a bit bad about it

[Fullerene]

On 15/03/2021 at 15:36, Aladdin said:

The problem is that you will still see some insistence on presenteeism on the part of employers.

I think presenteeism will take a real knock from all this.

Their argument was always that you need a real office to do real work.   Anything else is just skiving.

If they try that now, after months of enforced WFH and you can throw it straight back at them.

You can ask "Did you manage to catch up on the gardening?"  Don't expect an honest reply.