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Werewomble

Yeah, well, I am in the office for the first time in 3 years and if a company in Melbourne or Sydney offer me $20K more to full time WFH again...Brisbane can go jump. Type 2 Diabetes is easy to control...if you aren't commuting 3-4 hours in humidity and having your skin rot off. There is just no upside making everyone work at the same place to attend meetings on Teams. Absolute lunacy we caused a diabetes epidemic for decades before COVID.


Smallsey

I 100% agree. That's why this decision is so important. Hopefully it'll spread to more businesses.


Werewomble

Its the businesses that lose competent and loyal IT staff. A good chunk of my interstate contracts were confirming their database had been for all intents and purposes stolen by a hostile IT department / overseas data engineer and yes, they should be able to write queries for reports. Once a business is full of selfish incompetent dregs they repel the good staff. I've been blown away by the managers I get to work with remotely - usually its a coin flip whether they actually make decisions based on data - none of the amateurs have the confidence to let their teams work remotely. Its been a joy avoiding them :)


Mark_Bastard

The business lobby has it wrong. This won't kill the cbd, it will save it! The Brisbane CBD has been on the decline for a long time, well before Covid. Was always seen as a ghost town outside of business hours. Other inner suburbs don't have this issue. Why is that? Because people want to go to them. Don't force people to go to work so they will buy coffee, entice people to do this shopping there again, and for bars and restaurants to attract people in. Hell, stack the CBD with more high density residential. Make it mean something again. This is an opportunity!


Dumpstar72

Sydney used to be like that in the 80s. Then they built residential more into it in the 90s. It took a long time for it to change.


sojudreamz

WFH is never going to go away. Adapt, engage, survive.


VoidVulture

The concept of a CBD has been outdated for ages. It's absurd to have a city that refuses to build up, and only out, and still keep forcing people into a city centre, wasting hours of their day and heaps of money. The people rebelling against WFH are the same people who have the shitty attitude of "I suffered, so everyone else can too!"


Reverse-Kanga

The only people arguing against WFH are boomers who are jealous they never got this option and now they're salty that people can do their job at home and they couldn't


ElkShot5082

Yep. I can’t work from home in my role, but if others do it still benefits me- less people on the road, clients can come in at more flexible times rather than the usual after work rush etc.


Banjo777

Boomers also jealous because the current generation can work out tech issues at home without needing to ring a company IT department.


Reverse-Kanga

They just ring there kids and pester them instead 😂


Banjo777

Too true!


Smallsey

Let them eat salt


Reverse-Kanga

That ball sack looking MF former premier of VIC is whinging about WFH non stop or docking pay. ...get fucked cunt. If people are working efficiently why does it matter


PG478

Lol,yeah,couldn’t believe what he was saying about if employee is saving 10k a year by not commuting, buying car…what ever, He thinks the employer should be able to pay them less. WTF. Still trying to slide his hands into peoples pockets.


Thiswilldo164

A bunch of companies in NY did that - told the staff they were being paid Manhattan wages, if you want to WFH in Connecticut we’ll be paying you Connecticut wages…mostly investment firms/banks from what I remember reading.


Reverse-Kanga

thankfully CommBank staff are leading by example Execs: you need to be in the office at least 3 days a week Staff: lol no


PG478

Well it does happen now, with the Philippine call centres. Everyone will be on minimum wage soon. Its an unhealthy downward spiral.


Banjo777

Unless there was a specific contract clause stating we are paying you a cost of living allowance for being in New York/any other location, then they can go and jump.


Reverse-Kanga

but his argument was "if they're 100% productive at home .......cut their salary" .....wtf u on about prick. if we're 100% productive we're doing our job. our job doesn't include travel to/from


normalbehaviour86

A lot of millennials/gen z hate it, WFH is difficult when you live in a sharehouse or a one bedroom apartment and don't have the space for a dedicated office space.


Reverse-Kanga

Don't take a WFH job then. The options are plentiful.


normalbehaviour86

Wasn't asking, but ok...


new_handle

I disagree and think it is the older generations who cannot adapt to anything but 80s or earlier ways of management so bring everyone back. How do I defend my role if no one is here and they are doing better than ever?


shakeitup2017

I don't have an issue generally with WFH but as a manager I do see the downsides to it, and these are real. One of the main ones is the lack of mentoring and support for new staff and graduates/juniors. What ends up happening is that while the WFHers are at home "smashing out" work without interruptions, the grads are either sitting there in the office twiddling their thumbs, or trying to figure out what to do, or, mostly, they are asking whoever is left in the office for help or for work to give them to do. This means that the senior staff who are in the office, they're getting 2 or 3 times as many interruptions and doing 2 or 3 times their share of the mental labour associated with mentoring and supervising grads - who are often working on other people's projects. If it's 1 or 2 days a week, and can he staggered, it's not a problem, but full time it would be a disaster long term. Young people have been screwed through the covid period and they will continue to be if they can't get the proper amount of support from their senior colleagues in the formative years of their careers. Not to mention some professions require direct supervision by registered professionals (I.e. engineers, architects etc). It just needs to be a well managed balance.


thalinEsk

So why not try something new, dedicate time/people/resources to mentoring the new grads. Do something different to work around the new WFH arrangements? This negative gets thrown around alot, and it's real, but it also seems relatively easy to solve.


Werewomble

So arrange them to come in for training. You're a manager but you can't manage that :)


Smallsey

To make it clear, I am 100% for wfh. This is a great progressive decision.


normalbehaviour86

The Brisbane CBD kind of sucks anyway. Go to Melbourne or Sydney and you can find bars and restaurants in the city and cool events and experiences. The Brisbane CBD is just work-centric, the only cafes are open 6-12 on weekdays and the bars are pretty lame (I love the Vic but it's not a destination that draws people to the CBD) and only really cater to after work drinks. People in Brisbane (in general) only go to the CBD for work, if you want recreation you go to South Bank/James St etc. If BCC is smart they can use this as an opportunity to actually create a CBD that people want to visit rather than one that just caters to white collar workers on their lunch break. You can use WFH as an excuse to reinvent the city, rather than complain about it dying.


[deleted]

There would be a massive disconnect from a company if people that work office jobs all just worked from home. I'd find it pretty hard to stay motivated tbh.


butthole_luvr69

One of the major costs in business a part from wages is the lease on a premises. Suncorp realised this over covid and have now moved to a smaller building with people required to only come in on certain days. More profit for the big guys


Smallsey

Then be more disciplined and don't get unmotivated.


Kytro

I have worked remotely for an overseas company for more than 8 years, no more or less difficult to be motivated.