Work colleagues

[Adam]

I’m expecting to be offered yet another extension to my secondment in June (3 and a half years, bar a 3 month trip back to my old team in 2019), and one condition will be, if I accept it, that I can work from home at least 3 days each week, when we go back to normal. There is absolutely no chance in hell I will be willing to go back 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. Get that so far to f**k.

[ICTChris]

There will be a different type of presenteeism though. You’ll have two tier sickness - ill but able to work from home and too ill to log in.

[ICTChris]

One of my colleagues told us today that a famous actress has a plastic anus. Unsure how he thinks he knows this and why he said it.

[parsforlife]

14 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

One of my colleagues told us today that a famous actress has a plastic anus. Unsure how he thinks he knows this and why he said it.

Seems a very weird place as well. You can see why someone might get a bum job  but the actual anus,  I'm not even sure how that would function,  surely your shit would just flow out randomly?

[RH33]

3 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Seems a very weird place as well. You can see why someone might get a bum job  but the actual anus,  I'm not even sure how that would function,  surely your shit would just flow out randomly?

Someone posted on here fairly recently about some famous person having plastic anus. Can’t be arsed using search function find the post.

[Donathan]

10 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Only if they reduce the amount of office space they are renting, which would mean people wouldn't be going back to "their" office on the two days/week they work from the office, as instead of needing space for 100 folk they only need space for 40 with an office/WFH split.

 

10 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Aye, it's not as simple as it looks, if businesses can't reduce the amount of office space they are renting, they might just say "f*** it, we're paying for this, everybody back in the office."

For example, when I worked in Belfast there were 9 of us spread across 4 rooms (+ reception. toilets and kitchen/canteen). If we only needed 2 rooms due to working from home there wouldn't be any savings from the unused rooms (bar heating maybe) as it was a self contained office.

Similar to when I worked in Coleraine, only 5 of us in 3 rooms if the three of us who were upstairs all worked from home and went into the office 1 day a week we could have been accommodated in the ground floor office(s) but there would have been no reduction in rent for the unused upper floor.

And if office space is being reduced, would rents rise to make up the shortfall for the renters?

 

 

Only if they don't understand the sunken costs fallacy.

 

Take my employer for example. They're tied into their corporate rent for the foreseeable future. That rent cost cannot change, it's a sunk cost. Now they could demand everyone back in to "justify" that cost, but that's a silly move.

 

Allowing a hybrid will mean:

 

- Happier staff (Thus bettering their ability to attract and retain good quality employees)

 

- At least the same level of productivity, possibly higher

 

- More space in the office for collaborative working, because less desks will need to be crammed in

 

- Lower electricity costs in the office

 

- Eventual rent savings as they'll be able to downsize when the lease does end

[DA Baracus]

There are loads of savings to the employer when folk work from home.

Lower electricity costs, lower equipment maintenance costs, lower costs on things like water delivery and stationery, potentially lower insurance costs, the potential to downsize the office space in the future, the ability to offload current extra estate that may be rented (more folk at home equals more room in the main office) and so on.

But nah, get everyone back as soon as possible, then be surprised when folk start leaving and when folk start having to take time off due to anxiety and stress.

[Bairnardo]

50 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

One of my colleagues told us today that a famous actress has a plastic anus. Unsure how he thinks he knows this and why he said it.

Wid tho

28 minutes ago, RH33 said:

Someone posted on here fairly recently about some famous person having plastic anus. Can’t be arsed using search function find the post.

Certainly want to be clued up in search history deletion before you go down that particular (plastic?) rabbithole

1 minute ago, DA Baracus said:

There are loads of savings to the employer when folk work from home.

Lower electricity costs, lower equipment maintenance costs, lower costs on things like water delivery and stationery, potentially lower insurance costs, the potential to downsize the office space in the future, the ability to offload current extra estate that may be rented (more folk at home equals more room in the main office) and so on.

But nah, get everyone back as soon as possible, then be surprised when folk start leaving and when folk start having to take time off due to anxiety and stress.

The management tpyes making these call are convinced the underlings are out to fleece the company. If they see you asking for something, its a reflex reaction to say no

[101]

4 hours ago, Pato said:

Not that I imagine many of us work there but given the guy who runs Goldman Sachs has been exceptionally vocal about ending home working and getting everyone back into the office, I thought this leaked staff survey of junior staff there was interesting.

 

I get not everyone has the choice but surely if 20 hour days were a regular occurrence you would be looking for the exit asap.

I can't imagine that a firm like them employ people who would find it difficult to work else where but regardless if that's true it's a ridiculous situation.

[die hard doonhamer]

2 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

It's almost as if a 5 day working week and an 8 hour working day is utter nonsense that is unhealthy and becoming increasingly unsustainable when more and more younger folk will point out as much after they experience it.

I've recently change for 5 7 hour days to 4 8.75 hour days. The days can be a grind once I'm beyond half 4, but it's worth it for that extra day off and the balance that brings to family life. 4 day weeks are definitely the future.

[Snobot]

39 minutes ago, 101 said:

I get not everyone has the choice but surely if 20 hour days were a regular occurrence you would be looking for the exit asap.

I can't imagine that a firm like them employ people who would find it difficult to work else where but regardless if that's true it's a ridiculous situation.

One of my friends worked for a big Edinburgh corporate law firm back in the late 90s. All the junior lawyers were in until midnight and such like most days and I presume it was peer pressure and getting ahead - if you didn’t do it you wouldn’t be kept on after you’d done your traineeship - it would be the ones who slept in the office. 
 

f**k that though - totally inhumane. I suppose if you go through it and end up as a partner earning a fortune it would (to some people) be worth it and that is their rite of passage and you would then expect everyone following you to suffer in the same way to earn the right. Of course, it must be pointed out that most Edinburgh corporate lawyers are complete wanks though.

[tamthebam]

1 hour ago, RH33 said:

Someone posted on here fairly recently about some famous person having plastic anus. Can’t be arsed using search function find the post.

A Spanish player had a cloth anus-

Cesc Fabricarse.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

1 hour ago, Snobot said:

One of my friends worked for a big Edinburgh corporate law firm back in the late 90s. All the junior lawyers were in until midnight and such like most days and I presume it was peer pressure and getting ahead - if you didn’t do it you wouldn’t be kept on after you’d done your traineeship - it would be the ones who slept in the office. 
 

f**k that though - totally inhumane. I suppose if you go through it and end up as a partner earning a fortune it would (to some people) be worth it and that is their rite of passage and you would then expect everyone following you to suffer in the same way to earn the right. Of course, it must be pointed out that most Edinburgh corporate lawyers are complete wanks though.

afaik American work culture in general is pretty fucked. Stories of people in New York who work two full time equivalent jobs, one of which covers their rent, the other their utilities and other living costs such as food, or as it's America, food style products. edit: I have 100% seen a horror story in the UK of some poor student nurse doing something similar through work at an old job, was doing a placement on their uni course in London, their uni work *and* also working and basically sleeping after/between shifts at a full time equivalent health and social care job they were working too. Dedication, sure, but at a certain point you risk burning people out.

Might be an element of fear of getting blacklisted if you succumb to the pressure at a big name financial firm, or a weird competitive element at play.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Thistle_do_nicely

[Theroadlesstravelled]

A chef probably works 12 hour days, 6 days a week for minimum wage. 

I usually hit 80+ hours at my job but 110 hours is crazy. A coke/adderall fueled week for that dude. Get plenty done though. 

[Raidernation]

I’m very lucky. Because we’re a private school we’ve been in person teaching all school year apart from one week of e learning because a student tested positive. Thankfully that was on a Friday so 2weekends, one full week and a Monday only of WFH.
Having had a recent relapse (see depression thread) but back in positive recovery again, WFH would be a disaster for me, I need to be there. No I’m not doing stupid long hours, just my usual, but I need the structure (and possibly my room is some sort of security blanket too?)
I’m not surprised that people are struggling with mental health issues [emoji22]

[101]

7 hours ago, Snobot said:

One of my friends worked for a big Edinburgh corporate law firm back in the late 90s. All the junior lawyers were in until midnight and such like most days and I presume it was peer pressure and getting ahead - if you didn’t do it you wouldn’t be kept on after you’d done your traineeship - it would be the ones who slept in the office. 
 

f**k that though - totally inhumane. I suppose if you go through it and end up as a partner earning a fortune it would (to some people) be worth it and that is their rite of passage and you would then expect everyone following you to suffer in the same way to earn the right. Of course, it must be pointed out that most Edinburgh corporate lawyers are complete wanks though.

It makes sense if you can make out of the world money but it would have to be well over £100k to really make it worth while. Say you do it for 10 years the hour's you've works is like 25 years in a normal job and the company have claimed your life for the "best" but of your life.

[Aufc]

This is probably a controversial comment but playing devils advocate on people being off with stress etc. On occasions it does seem too easy for some people to go to a doctor and say they are stressed and get signed off.

Anecdotal but in my work there is a guy who threw his toys out the pram over something trivial and handed his notice in then tried to retract it but the company accepted it. They then had a meeting and he threw a massive tantrum and walked out and went to the doctor and got signed off. He also said in the meeting “i know all the tricks”. Signed off on full pay for two months after sayijg he was stressed and has got a lawyer involved for a pay off. It has totally fucked that department and left us all trying to sort it out.

[Snobot]

44 minutes ago, 101 said:

It makes sense if you can make out of the world money but it would have to be well over £100k to really make it worth while. Say you do it for 10 years the hour's you've works is like 25 years in a normal job and the company have claimed your life for the "best" but of your life.

It was this lot:-

https://www.scotsman.com/business/dickson-minto-scotlands-highest-paying-law-firm-1562749?amp

So yes, it would be life changing amounts of cash if you ever made it to partner level, but at what cost? He jacked it and is now some kind of wealthy London financier.

Not for me, Clive.

[madwullie]

Dickson Minter amirite

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

My take is a lot of the people having a tough time in finance related jobs atm have realised that without being in the office and chatting to people (including people they hate), their job is almost completely dislocated from physical reality and ultimately meaningless diligence or bureaucracy related tasks.