In praise of working from home
Opponents of WFH treat humans as chattels, writes George Pitcher
If we’d been working from home in 1980, I wouldn’t have met my wife (as she, of course, then wasn’t). The slow demise of the office romance may not exclusively be caused by WFH, when a clumsy or unwanted speculative pass can precipitate a visit from the HR police. But it’s sure harder (I’m told) to chat someone up over Zoom than a water-cooler.
There are some things you just, well, have to be there for. And it’s not just a matter of curating the gene pool for the future of the human race, which I doubt is a top priority for most employers. Much more immediate commercial demands are served by employees being bodily present at work. They can check colleagues’ body language, be mentored more spontaneously, gossip about work, read the room and go outside for a fag with a friend. None of that works on a laptop at the kitchen table.
And yet these aren’t aspects of working life that are much, if ever, cited by opponents of WFH. Yup, for these bosses, it’s always about “productivity”, which allegedly slumps like the shoulders of a college-leaver told to re-write their CV when staff are allowed to work from home. So companies as diverse as Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan are demanding that their workers work 5-day weeks at the office again.
Every bit as productive
Except, two things: One, that productivity point isn’t true. Professor Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University, has demonstrated empirically that a hybrid working model of three days at the office, plus two at home, is every bit as productive as fully office-based work. And, two, bosses may be shocked to learn that it’s their job to manage productivity, which is just as measurable at home as in the office. But then you don’t get to shout as much.
And there I think is the real point. Bosses might not be shouty, but their motives for office work are more than suspect. They may be obsessed with control. They need to see their staff working for them for proof of productivity. They want to sit in a big glass-walled office watching them. And, perhaps most of all, if staff aren’t in the office then what’s the point of being a boss? It might bring their own productivity management and role into sharper focus.
Loudest voices
Furthermore, it’s been a long time, if ever, since some of those with the loudest voices calling for a return to the office have ever worked an ordinary job themselves. Lord Rose, formerly CEO of Marks & Spencer and chairman of Asda, told BBC’s Panorama that home working was part of the UK economy’s “general decline” (not true – see above) and WFH isn’t “proper work”.
And Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, formerly business secretary (remind me, how did that go?), continues in opposition to fight the bad fight to get civil servants as well as the private sector permanently back at the office. Hilariously, he most recently did so in a video from the drawing room of his mansion in Somerset. Though, to be fair, having lost his seat at the last general election and seeing his investment company sliding down the pan, he’s not so much working from home as just... at home.
The time-privileged
The serious point is that people who are privileged to manage their own time, or lack of it, in an office really shouldn’t be in the business of lecturing people who are not. They really don’t know – or have forgotten - what it is to have your life demanded of you from 9am-6pm from Monday to Friday in a location that is less than comfortable to work in. Is that so complicated to take aboard?
And there’s another very big thing here. To demand office slaves is to commoditise people, to make them into chattels (and, if some of these bosses were honest with themselves, that’s what they want). Staff become just another asset, not unlike the freehold of the office building in which you put them and watch as they make you money every day.
Bluntly, it’s a sin
To put it bluntly, that is a sin. To treat human beings as tradeable commodities is to debase their dignity. And for those of faith, that dignity is vested in each unique one of them bearing the image of God. As a good Catholic, Rees-Mogg should be familiar with the doctrine of Imago Dei.
So there’s a holy, as well as secular, work-ethic at play here. The worker is worthy of his/her wage. That scriptural phrase usually focuses attention on the material value of the wage. But it’s also worth registering that the worker is “worthy”.
To treat staff like they have an inherent worth, rather than simply as a productive asset, has a value way beyond the money they are paid. And the dividends on that investment will be immense. Respect them. Let them work from home.
George Pitcher is a visiting fellow at the LSE and an Anglican priest
As you probably know I aways look forward to reading your 'Word to the Wise’ which for me always has an interesting perspective which 99% of the time I whole heartily agree with such as the your article. It’s strange that bosses don’t get this but your explanation of reasons why makes sense. Having employed a number of people over the years I have always adopted the policy look after them and they will look after you, especially, when the chips are down even if they are working from home! I actually think this is good management. OK there are the odd ones that take the Mickey but they can be dealt with and often come into line, especially when their colleagues can see what they are up to. It is the same when negotiating deals, nobody will give a you a good one, unless they have absolutely no alternative, if you treat them badly.
Perhaps the spiritual line here is: give and you shall receive. Although, of course, one should never expect the latter.
Anyway I am sure I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs but just to let you know, yet again this resonates.
Fondest wishes and love to you both,
Martin
PS. Maria says you were absolutely brilliant at the pantomime!
I now work from home due to ill health. Four days at home and one day in the office.
I am awre I am less productive.There are so mnay distractions, odd callers, tradesmen, family and pets to attend with.
At the office I can brain storm ideas and ask questions, instead of messages asking question and zoom meetings
I wish my ill health would improve so I can return to the offcie five days a week. I enjoy my career, my collegues and the offcie I work in, plus mu tea and coffee are made for me!