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> Also, places of work not embracing home working. I have a remote login to my work, but not allowed to work from home because of 'reasons'
I too am 'not allowed' to work from home but it is technically possible.
What do you think the 'reasons' are ?
When I've asked I've never had a plausible answer which leaves me to conclude that its to do with status/job hierarchy which then leaves me with the feeling that I am not considered responsible enough to have this 'privilege'.
Trust me - I don't need a whole day's annual leave to accommodate a doctors/dental appointment/utilities repair visit.
not4sale-
I live in Birmingham and on a whole it's massively car leaning. Public transport is regarded as the 'peasant wagon', and for a lot of people cycling to work is incomprehensible.
I work at a Hospital, and recently the trust has revoked car parking permits for people who live <30mins away on public transport. The trust has recently had a new hospital built, along with new corresponding multi-story car parks - which are all now full at 8am.
Much consternation among those affected.On reasons for not allowing home working, as you've said I can only think it's due to issues with responsibility and trust.
I can't think why else it's not more widely adopted. For our trust it would free up space in over crowded buildings and car packs, and ultimately save money. -
I worked for a Local Authority a while ago who were going through an asset/estate restructure. They explored home working quite seriously. However, this was more on a permanent basis rather than just an ad-hoc day, here or there.
We were told that apparently, whilst many people will be fine with long term home working there is a distinct loss of productivity over periods of time longer than 3 months. The majority of this was put down to employees not being up to date with the overall things happening within the organisation, e.g., water cooler gossip, which we were told is a large part of informal communications. Also, levels of grievance increase because people don't meet face to face enough and issues aren't resolved quickly. Coupled with this, there is apparently a much higher risk of employee suicide, spousal abuse and general mental health, as for some people, the only people they talk to on a daily basis are those they work with.
Not sure if what I've written makes sense, but it what they used to make their decisions with.
Ste_S
Muppetteer
I think half of the problem is down to work and/or house prices. The concentration of jobs in urban centres (especially London) forces people to travel long distances as the housing is too expensive for the majority of people who work there.
Also, places of work not embracing home working. I have a remote login to my work, but not allowed to work from home because of 'reasons'
Take away the need to drive to work and I'm sure we'd see car ownership and use drop off