Work-From-Home Trend May Have Peaked In UK, LinkedIn Survey Finds (bloomberg.com) 35
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Remote working may have peaked in the UK as a loosening labor market hands power back to employers, according to research by LinkedIn. In September, 12% of UK jobs advertised on the site were remote, compared with 16% in January, as "paranoid" employers worry about the productivity of working from home, said Josh Graff, the managing director of LinkedIn for EMEA and Latin America. The company also found that three out of four bosses in the UK are concerned that the current economic slowdown means they will have to go back on flexible working, in a global survey of around 3,000 C-suite executives at large organizations.
Despite the falling percentage of remote and hybrid work being advertised, it is still popular with candidates, said Graff. He noted that although just 12% of jobs advertised were remote, they got 20% of all applications. Graff described this as a "growing disconnect between what professionals want and what employers are offering." Graff added that staff and bosses also disagree about the efficacy of working from home, with "paranoia" about the amount getting done. Microsoft research found that 80% of managers felt their teams were less productive when they were not in the office. About 85% of managers worry they can't tell if employees are getting enough done, while 87% of workers say their productivity is just fine, Microsoft found.
The UK labor market is still running hot with the 3.5% unemployment rate the lowest since 1974, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, Graff said the hiring rate on LinkedIn fell by 10% in the UK in September from a year earlier, in a sign of slowdown. Graff cautioned that returning to "command and control" structures might not be good for businesses, as they risk losing "motivated employees at a moment when they need them most." "While difficult decisions undoubtedly have to be taken, it's important to remember that your employees are your company's most precious asset," he said. "They have experience of your systems, your processes. They're aligned with your culture and values and importantly they are the ones that hold deep customer relationships as well."
Despite the falling percentage of remote and hybrid work being advertised, it is still popular with candidates, said Graff. He noted that although just 12% of jobs advertised were remote, they got 20% of all applications. Graff described this as a "growing disconnect between what professionals want and what employers are offering." Graff added that staff and bosses also disagree about the efficacy of working from home, with "paranoia" about the amount getting done. Microsoft research found that 80% of managers felt their teams were less productive when they were not in the office. About 85% of managers worry they can't tell if employees are getting enough done, while 87% of workers say their productivity is just fine, Microsoft found.
The UK labor market is still running hot with the 3.5% unemployment rate the lowest since 1974, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, Graff said the hiring rate on LinkedIn fell by 10% in the UK in September from a year earlier, in a sign of slowdown. Graff cautioned that returning to "command and control" structures might not be good for businesses, as they risk losing "motivated employees at a moment when they need them most." "While difficult decisions undoubtedly have to be taken, it's important to remember that your employees are your company's most precious asset," he said. "They have experience of your systems, your processes. They're aligned with your culture and values and importantly they are the ones that hold deep customer relationships as well."
Oh good. (Score:5, Insightful)
Another "People who own large buildings" sponsored survey that shows Fetch is totally going to happen one of these days no really.
Re: (Score:2)
Hear, hear!
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
I don't get it. I haven't even heard this anywhre but slashdot, but guaranteed someone on slashdot will claim it's all about landlords. Most companies lease, but even those who own or lease are still anxious to get rid of properties they don't need, and it is seriously dubious that all this big name tech companies are knuckling under to landlords who force them to force workers to the office.
The big trend in the last decade is finding out how to crowd more workers into the same amount of space; whereas if
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But the landlords have very little control over the companies. They may want everyone to go back to the office but there's nothing they can do about it. They're going to lose money, and that's that. In my neighborhood, the county has actually moved in to some empty office buildings during covid, and I'm pretty sure they're not paying top dollar for it so the landlord is going to be making less money than desired, but it's still some money. Meanwhile, for some bizarre reason, Google has leased a chunk of
Re: (Score:2)
There's just too many stakeholders interested in forcing people back to office. Of course the people who own those large buildings that are now basically abandoned. Then the various restaurants that cluster around office buildings that now lack a customer base. Other shops that make a living by selling you crap at a premium because they know you can't go to the outlet store in your lunch break. Anyone remotely concerned with transportation, from car manufacturers to public transport. And finally the local g
Re: (Score:1)
I have zero sympathy for commercial landlords or the fact that they are not making like they used to. That usually translates into a few % points down on your ROI in the Investment bank.
May be true but not rigorous (Score:2)
it is still popular with candidates, said Graff. He noted that although just 12% of jobs advertised were remote, they got 20% of all applications
Well what if the population of remote workers is > 2x that of those close to an office? If the general population applies for remote positions with a = 2:1 ratio, it'd imply the average worker prefers in-office jobs all else being equal. The remote population is likely more like 10x too, because everyone is remote relative to a different city, which may have offices for other companies than yours.
Ask employees, not C-level execs (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course those detached-from-reality C-level punks feel useless at home - they don't have anyone to boss around every minute of every day anymore.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
We've already proven that we're more productive when we're working remotely and are still allowed to do so.
The pitfalls of our previous in-person workplace included: a) constant distractions from random people wondering around the office having loud conversations; b) constant meetings where all-and-sundry are invited - but not actually relevant to the meeting - inhibiting you from doing actual, productive work.
Working remotely you can avoid most distractions (children, pets, spouses) by having a strict home
Re: (Score:2)
Other distractions include:
- Random people showing up at your desk asking for "5-minute" favours.
- Open-space offices, often without anything behind your back, removing the feeling of psychological safety.
- Gossiping; everyone makes a drama out of everything.
- Smelly foodstuffs.
- Smelly employees.
- Taking personal calls.
- Parent employees constantly talking about their children.
- Latest trend before the pandemic: office hugs or other methods of physical contact.
Productivity data (Score:5, Interesting)
More often than not managers are unable to detail what good productivity looks like for various roles. Is it the lines of code? Tickets closed? Deals sold? they worry about remote staff not getting the work done but are the figures the same or better? Is feedback the same or better? Are projects getting accomplished faster? Is staff available for longer? Are staff simply happier so more productive? -Most managers have a rough idea but some have none.
I've yet to see a company that could produce any hard data that staff productivity has declined. I'm sure some are out there but if there were many companies suffering we'd never hear the end of it.
As an employer I cannot give a shit if people are checking facebook, go on dating sites or scratch their privates. If the work that they are given is done and done to the agreed level of quality why the fuck would I care? -It seems to me some care their big shot offie is empty. They have no one to walk over to and badger. Their clever full Windsor knot and £600 shoes are wasted. It's a cultural shift as well as making some facilities pointless so their managers the businesses that rent the space etc are all doing their damndest to find reasons to bring you in.
They say it's a culture thing. They say it's about engagement. They say it's better for training. In my experience that's just poor excuses for lacking modern on-boarding, training and management tools and processes.
Engagement? Have daily/weekly meetings. Culture? staff aren't dumb they can fake culture in the office too and most companies just want culture but management don;t really live the culture. Training?! - as if online training is somehow not successful. The list can be very long about all the systems that are in the cloud/remote from word documents to HR systems.
If you are lucky enough to work for a company that has largely managed to measure productivity productively and the data actually reflects the work then the next is this cultural hurdle as well. Some managers do not know how to manage remotely. They want to see bums on seats even though there is already a shortage of IT workers which makes the scarcity of staff and talent a worse problem.
You may get a complete lack of sensitivity or acknolwddgement that with inflation and rising living costs not having to pay for transport/petrol and not lose time on commute is a huge implied bonus for most workers that can work from home effectively.
I'd look at remote working jobs first and everything else second. If possible just don't apply to office based jobs. They'll catch-on eventually.
Once staff could expect 12 hours a day at some smoggy assembly line factory. Eventually for various reasons conditions improved and refusal and resistance to work for the same old worse conditions made sure we're never going back.
The silent quitting and doing the minimum for shitty employers - it's fair game. Good employers look for ways to make you want to bring your A game...not regret it's another shitty rush hour commute to pretend you're happy to see the boss.
Re:Productivity data (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Productivity data (Score:5, Insightful)
My current manager has no idea what I'm doing. That's also not what I need him for. I know what I'm doing. I need him to cut the red tape, to make sure I have the resources I need at the time I need them and to keep the other management bozos out of my hair.
And he does that job.
I don't need him for anything else.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And as a manager, that's exactly what I want to be doing to.
I happen to be an ex-dev, so I understand a very good portion of what my devs say but I've not seen a line of their code and nor do I intend to. I will though chase the fucker who opened an urgent support case saying "Add this new airport" but didn't, for instance, give any information beyond the IATA code and it turns out airlines need to know a little more than that before landing planes there.
I shouldn't be writing code, and a dev shouldn't be
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Lots of people in america rarely ever see PTO as an option. Bottom line is it constantly comes down to supply/demand in jobs. When a job has a high demand for employees they offer those perks. But if too many people guessed the trend wrong, and wound up in a job with an excess supply of workers, then companies will absolutely skimp on the benefits, PTO, remote options etc...
Getting "enough" done (Score:2)
I am (or rather was before retirement) a full time salaried employee. You give me a job to do, and I get it done. If I get it done in 20 or 80 hours is frankly none of the company's business (though I'll note, I was always a guy who finished his work well ahead of schedule).
Re: (Score:2)
You don't even have to give me a job. I can even find my own jobs, then ask if it's something that should be done and do it. All I really need from my superior is the assessment of importance and a "go". I arrange the meetings with the stakeholders, determine the scope of the project, get the job done, report to the relevant stakeholders, keep everyone updated and even hand the necessary info to billing, ready to print, fold and bag.
The fun bit is I can now do this. I could not do that 3 years ago before Co
Maybe this really the other way around? (Score:2)
I'm starting to think that these managers are starting to realize that they aren't needed and are scrambling to point blame somewhere else.
I think work from home is demonstrating that sometimes the manager is managing too much and should just butt out especially when they have no clue what they are talking about.
How do managers measure productivity? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Same metric they measure their own productivity, duh.
This just in (Score:2)
Useless PHBs notice they're useless and are scrambling in a vain attempt to appear relevant because they know that useless employees get canned.
85% of managers worry they can't tell if employees (Score:4, Insightful)
I was a team lead 10 years ago when my company allowed people to work from home 2 days a week. It was no problem at all for me since I knew what my guys were working on. They had a few tasks for the week that we had discussed in advance and established how much work it was. I would keep an eye on the output in a single weekly meeting of 1 hour. When work was done in time at reasonable quality and I was informed of blockages in time I would just let them do their work. We set up a chat server to make contact easy and that was it. Worked like a charm. When managers can't even do this very minimal bit of "managing" they utterly suck at their job.
Re: (Score:2)
Looks more like 85% of managers are PHBs who don't have the first clue what their employees are doing or what workload would be normal to accomplish and manage by judging just how overworked, stressed out and generally unhappy their employees look, and they can't do that when they don't see them.