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There seem to be a couple of vacant units on Grove Vale and Grove Vale Ceramics has just closed too - any news on what is coming? -
You're welcome and yes, the move did the trick for the schools. Good of you to remember.
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By teddyboy23 · Posted
The new vits+kicks on Lordship Lane could be open next 2 to 4 wks -
I got angry with the Jeremy Vine programme yesterday when many callers were going down the current populist view that if you are working from home you are sciving. I spoke on the programme last time they discussed this when I was working remotely during lock down, with my positive experience. I emailed yesterday saying I was insulted by what some had said, So briefly - working from home can make you more productive, gives you flexibility during your day, and can help balancing work life with family life Or - working from home leads to social isolation, and for many is the opportunity to bunk off. What do you reckon? I've given more from my own experience below. Working one day a week from home over a decade ago so I could also volunteer at a community centre for a few hours. At that point I was hampered by poor IT (I blame TalkTalk, and was forever on the phone to IT support). I felt that I had to justify my whole day. I felt on call when I was volunteering and the need to take work calls and check e-mails - I was told to stop trying to do my day job from my volunteer manager; that was the right advice. Back in the office there was still the common view - oh where is so and so, oh it's Friday so they are off, oh sorry working from home (that was about a sizeable number of people who worked from home on Fridays). Fast forward a few years and much of the IT had been sorted, changed provider, Blackberry's a thing of the past, the Cloud. Remote working had become more established, and it was more common for people to dial into meetings (pre Teams/Zoom). Remote working was being actively encouraged, as part of smart working, paperless office and to reduce office accommodation needs. Working from home, the tube, cafes etc etc. But there was still a view of 'bunking off'. It was seen is discourteous to stare down at your smart phone during meetings. There was a eureka moment when I realised that you can get everything down you need to know on a smart phone presentation rather than printing of reams of documents for a meeting. I left office work but had a temporary job for a few months during Covid and there had been a revolution. Teams and MS 365 became the main way of working, interacting through video calls and Teams chats, and working collaboratively through documents in real time was the norm. Social events worked, and there were regular team catch ups. I got to know a whole new group of people most of whom I met after lock down. One of the nicest teams I have worked with. The down sides: Excess hours. It felt that you were working 24/7, You'd log off maybe at 17.30 knowing that when you went on line the next day there would be reams of messages. Some colleagues would spend much of their weekend working. You felt like you were always on call. This was not discussed during the Vine call-in Information and technology overload. You would be in meetings, looking at the Teams chat, taking e-mails, Whats Apps, occasional phone calls, often almost at the same time. Every advance in technology from the photocopier and word processor to Teams has increased information by many times. I expect generations before complained about Faxs. Telexs, phones, the telegram, the pony express..... Social isolation - I thought our team catch ups worked well, and I like being in the direct company of colleagues so in the longer term would never want to have stayed working at home five days a week Cramped working conditions. I expect here may have space to some sort of home office but I knew a few working from their bedroom and worse still slumped on their bed on a laptop - dreadful posture. Overall.... from my perspective productivity was fine, and felt no worse that being in an office. The ability to take time off during the day to do errands, have your hair cut, whatever is a bonus. And with sensible arrangements so people know your working times is not bunking off eg taking an early lunch, starting or finishing early to give yourself a longer break during the day. Normalising being interrupted by young children was good/fun, of course it should not be encouraged! But it brought down a lot of barriers, when your big boss was embarrassed by the cat coming in. Your on mute. Or worse still, please mute. Ans so family friendly. There are huge swathes where you can't work remotely and perhaps this is stirred up by the right wing rags, Trumps and various distruptors - oh the wokes in the metropolitan areas can bunk off at home when you are doing a proper job on the construction site, engineer, shop, etc. Here is one disruptor: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78wn5qg3nyo And an earlier version that failed: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/sep/17/jacob-rees-mogg-working-from-home-labour-workers-rights-jonathan-reynolds Partially because the civil service had given up considerable office space. As well as being counter productive
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