Should we be allowed to WFH forever?

After a year of working from home there are those who will now be keen to swap an unpleasant commute for an amble down the stairs or a desk opposite the accounts department to one overlooking their geraniums forever. And some generous bosses might even let them.

In my view that would be a mistake. Working from home should not become some kind of post-Covid human right. I don’t think it’s good for either companies or their employees, and especially female employees. Aviva, one of Britain’s biggest companies, has warned that women might miss out on promotion opportunities because, as the primary carer, they are more likely than men to opt for a working from home option. The FTSE 100 firm fears that managers will promote staff on the basis of visibility as opposed to quality of work.

So much as I applaud Spotify’s initiative to allow its employees to work from anywhere in the world on a San Francisco salary, it’s asking for trouble. Most people require discipline to work. How many people do you know who have a personal trainer or go to a gym because they just can’t exercise alone? And how many people do you know would actually have the discipline to be as conscientious at home (or if you work for Spotify possibly a beach in the Caribbean) with only the cat or a local hermit crab watching them as they are forced to be in the office?

Clearly there are some jobs, such as nursing or being a garage mechanic, that necessitates your presence. But there are others, consulting for example, or writing a column, that don’t. You might think your boss is being irritating and argue that you can be just as, if not wildly more, effective from home. But chances are, you won’t be. Unless you live to work, you will do what most people do when faced with a task they’re not too keen on: anything else.

Working is called working because that’s what it is. Much as entitled millennials might like to pretend otherwise, work does involve doing some things you don’t necessarily want to do. And one of those things is likely to be showing up.

If the person who is paying your salary wants you in the office, then you’re going to have to get off your sofa and into some clothes that probably aren’t as comfortable as your lockdown leggings and go there. 

In the 1990s, I worked as a head-hunter for the media industry. The office was in London’s Regent Street. I didn’t enjoy the daily commute from Sussex to Charing Cross, nor the expense of it (actually once I’d paid for childcare too, I only just about broke even). But I got up in the dark on freezing winter mornings and headed to the station because that’s what my boss wanted. And actually, considering he weekly commuted from Spain, I didn’t feel too hard done by. Added to which, I enjoyed being around other people.

I imagine that after nearly a year of lockdown, most people will be desperate to get back normal office life. Just having a sandwich with someone you don’t live with will seem like an event. Embrace it.

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash