"Working from home"

While I am sure there are a lot of genuine people who actually do "work from home" I know for a fact that there are many more who simply take the time off and that's why I'm a little concerned about Sir Keir Starmer saying he agrees with "working from home" because it will boost productivity. Really?

Why am I so sceptical about "working from home" and why have I put the phrase in inverted commas? Quite simple really, I've heard many stories about people who blatantly make it clear that when they are supposed to be "working from home" they're not doing anything of the sort.

"I think I'll mow the lawn..."

I was recently told of one person who adamantly refuses to actually work when he's "working from home" - anything but! He's either down the pub or in the gym or even shopping in a supermarket in plain sight of other work colleagues (those who choose to work in the office) and one of whom has seen the accused pushing a trolley full of groceries through the store at around 1030hrs, a time when it's impossible to claim you're on an early lunch. This person is happy to let slip to anybody unimportant that he doesn't work on a Friday (one of the days he's supposed to be "working from home"), meaning he's doing a four-day week and getting paid for five! Another unrelated tale tells of somebody who once exclaimed on a Wednesday afternoon (the day before leaving the office for her two days of "working from home") that it was "Netflix Day tomorrow!"

The person who prefers the pub or the gym or the supermarket to "working from home" regularly tries to convince a work colleague to be just like him and go to the pub up the road instead to watch the football or just drink until unconscious and then regret it the following day. The attitude appears to be that nobody really works from home, they're all skiving, so come and join the party!

Others have urged work colleagues to "have a nice weekend!" as they leave the office on a Wednesday afternoon so the view that "working from home" boosts productivity is a lame duck in my opinion. I don't believe a word of it. Mind you, Starmer let Jimmy Saville off the hook, let's not forget that.

I worked from home during the pandemic and I'll admit that I got a lot of work done – I consider myself to be one of the good guys – but once it was possible to go back to the office, back I went, mainly because I couldn't be bothered to unhook my computer every Wednesday evening from the plug sockets in the office and cart it all the way home in a plastic bag. Also, I believe in separating work from home life. I don't like to see my desk when I'm sitting in the living room at home trying to relax. 

The great thing about working in the office, as opposed to being at home, is that you're in a work environment and, let's face it, there's the journey home, which acts as a kind of buffer, a transition period if you will, between being at work and being home. I relax in a station waiting room reading my book until a connecting train takes me home and then, when I get there, I can truly say "I'm home!" I don't have to catch sight of the desk I'd been working from while trying to enjoy a movie or whatever is on the television.