I often wonder how many people would take a small pay cut if it meant not having to travel up town at all.
But then fast forward 10 years and we will have a workforce dominated (even more so) by people sat at home on their own all day who dont know how to communicate with anyone except on a screen, which in turn would u undoubtedly, lead to even more mental health issues.
Lime most things in life the answer lies I trying to strike the right balance.
I think on one of the early covid threads I said I could do it full time. However having done it full time then I've done a uturn and hugely advocate (for myself) a mix is best. Think the 5 days in the office i have to do is unnecessary given i have a near 2 hour door to door commute but prefer the days Im in the office once im there and find it easier to switch off once leaving the office than just flicking off the laptop at home.
Also the interaction with colleagues, having a laugh, face to face chats etc (when you get on with colleagues) is of great benefit to me personally.
But for everyone it's different.
I do look back on my formative years as a post room lad going out on the piss in the city and west end after work and think that it was a great time in a great city and would have missed out on so much if locked away at home working. But was a different world then and not sure if that culture even exists these days amongst youngsters.
It’s not just going out on the piss when your younger and starting out in your career, but it’s about being around people you can learn from informally. I’m talking about learning how business works, how you should/shouldn’t act as a leader, from just observing your role models in the office or having the opportunity to ask a quick question rather than scheduling a meeting for two weeks time. What they are getting there is the cumulative benefit of the experience of generations that have gone before them, each learning from the last. Lose that and it’s not coming back.
If we end up with a generation who have only really known working from home and have missed out on all of that informal experience building then, when these people are supposed to be the leaders in 20/25 years time, the economy will end up in an even worse place than we are now.
Public transport is a big part of that. The extortionate cost of living in London pushes younger generations out, the extortionate cost of train fares - making up a much higher % of your income if your on a lower wage as a junior employee - keeps them out because they simply can’t afford to get in. Add in that even when you decide to suck it up and pay your small fortune to get into London to go to work the trains are an absolute nightmare.
There’s just no joined up thinking in this country. The government moan that productivity is stagnant in our economy but the basic building blocks to encourage productivity are being eroded.
Thats so, so true.
I remember back in the day when I was doing all manner of shit jobs, one of them was as a ground worker and the nonsense I used to hear off the blokes not much older than me about how us youngsters have it easy blah blah as a minibus would pick us up a mile or two sometimes more away from home. So as you get on this minibus full of blokes, some really decent, a lot some of the biggest arseholes I've ever met, soaking wet because one of these pricks not much older than me would demand to be picked up from his front door then invariably never be ready to go on time, so me and whoever else have been stood by some layby or shop for half an hour since 5.30. It wasn't character building, it made me despise selfish losers. The big but was it was ridiculously good money for the time but those mornings I'd be thinking about friends who had office jobs but earned bugger all, or jobs in shops but were dry and Still in bed! And probably didn't have to listen to some toothless smackhead waffle on all day about how good they are at a job whilst leaning on a shovel whilst me and the Indian elders did all the digging.
How I feel now, the balance for people who do jobs in London its either shit paid but essential jobs and those people are basically a government-subsidised workforce as no way could they afford to pay for their own accommodation in London, its then those who leave school or university and like the idea of a London life so get dry-fucked for 1500 quid a month for a house share in a gentrified former shithole like Tufnell Park or Hackney, or stay where you are in Eltham/Bromley with parents and have a bearable commute but little to zero hope of buying any property with any living space nearby or to move down to Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, wherever and not only get ripped off for 6k a year (thats what it was last time I looked) for the fast train that unless you get on at the first stop you are lucky to get a seat on. And thats if the fucker turns up on time or hasn't been reduced from 12 carriages to 4.
Honestly, when I had a spell working up town for weeks at a time I was thinking back to that horrible, humid minibus at 6am with misty eyes
I often wonder how many people would take a small pay cut if it meant not having to travel up town at all.
I'd happily take a cut of double my transport costs to not have to commute. I fucking hate commuting and I can do my job from home just as effectively as I can in the office. There's only a couple of people here that I would miss interacting with in person but I'd take that in exchange for the far superior work/life balance.
I often wonder how many people would take a small pay cut if it meant not having to travel up town at all.
But then fast forward 10 years and we will have a workforce dominated (even more so) by people sat at home on their own all day who dont know how to communicate with anyone except on a screen, which in turn would u undoubtedly, lead to even more mental health issues.
Lime most things in life the answer lies I trying to strike the right balance.
I think on one of the early covid threads I said I could do it full time. However having done it full time then I've done a uturn and hugely advocate (for myself) a mix is best. Think the 5 days in the office i have to do is unnecessary given i have a near 2 hour door to door commute but prefer the days Im in the office once im there and find it easier to switch off once leaving the office than just flicking off the laptop at home.
Also the interaction with colleagues, having a laugh, face to face chats etc (when you get on with colleagues) is of great benefit to me personally.
But for everyone it's different.
I do look back on my formative years as a post room lad going out on the piss in the city and west end after work and think that it was a great time in a great city and would have missed out on so much if locked away at home working. But was a different world then and not sure if that culture even exists these days amongst youngsters.
It’s not just going out on the piss when your younger and starting out in your career, but it’s about being around people you can learn from informally. I’m talking about learning how business works, how you should/shouldn’t act as a leader, from just observing your role models in the office or having the opportunity to ask a quick question rather than scheduling a meeting for two weeks time. What they are getting there is the cumulative benefit of the experience of generations that have gone before them, each learning from the last. Lose that and it’s not coming back.
If we end up with a generation who have only really known working from home and have missed out on all of that informal experience building then, when these people are supposed to be the leaders in 20/25 years time, the economy will end up in an even worse place than we are now.
Public transport is a big part of that. The extortionate cost of living in London pushes younger generations out, the extortionate cost of train fares - making up a much higher % of your income if your on a lower wage as a junior employee - keeps them out because they simply can’t afford to get in. Add in that even when you decide to suck it up and pay your small fortune to get into London to go to work the trains are an absolute nightmare.
There’s just no joined up thinking in this country. The government moan that productivity is stagnant in our economy but the basic building blocks to encourage productivity are being eroded.
How I feel now, the balance for people who do jobs in London its either shit paid but essential jobs and those people are basically a government-subsidised workforce as no way could they afford to pay for their own accommodation in London, its then those who leave school or university and like the idea of a London life so get dry-fucked for 1500 quid a month for a house share in a gentrified former shithole like Tufnell Park or Hackney, or stay where you are in Eltham/Bromley with parents and have a bearable commute but little to zero hope of buying any property with any living space nearby or to move down to Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, wherever and not only get ripped off for 6k a year (thats what it was last time I looked) for the fast train that unless you get on at the first stop you are lucky to get a seat on.
and the award for longest sentence in CL ever goes to...
Comments
I remember back in the day when I was doing all manner of shit jobs, one of them was as a ground worker and the nonsense I used to hear off the blokes not much older than me about how us youngsters have it easy blah blah as a minibus would pick us up a mile or two sometimes more away from home. So as you get on this minibus full of blokes, some really decent, a lot some of the biggest arseholes I've ever met, soaking wet because one of these pricks not much older than me would demand to be picked up from his front door then invariably never be ready to go on time, so me and whoever else have been stood by some layby or shop for half an hour since 5.30. It wasn't character building, it made me despise selfish losers. The big but was it was ridiculously good money for the time but those mornings I'd be thinking about friends who had office jobs but earned bugger all, or jobs in shops but were dry and Still in bed! And probably didn't have to listen to some toothless smackhead waffle on all day about how good they are at a job whilst leaning on a shovel whilst me and the Indian elders did all the digging.
How I feel now, the balance for people who do jobs in London its either shit paid but essential jobs and those people are basically a government-subsidised workforce as no way could they afford to pay for their own accommodation in London, its then those who leave school or university and like the idea of a London life so get dry-fucked for 1500 quid a month for a house share in a gentrified former shithole like Tufnell Park or Hackney, or stay where you are in Eltham/Bromley with parents and have a bearable commute but little to zero hope of buying any property with any living space nearby or to move down to Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, wherever and not only get ripped off for 6k a year (thats what it was last time I looked) for the fast train that unless you get on at the first stop you are lucky to get a seat on. And thats if the fucker turns up on time or hasn't been reduced from 12 carriages to 4.
Honestly, when I had a spell working up town for weeks at a time I was thinking back to that horrible, humid minibus at 6am with misty eyes
Great post btw!