Offices should remain closed

For those office workers who can (and most have been) work from home, this should remain a requirement. Offices should remain shut for as long as needed. They are not a necessity for most companies as teams are working remotely just as efficiently. Offices are a hotbed for spreading colds and other illnesses and can not be adequately segregated to stop the spread.

Why the contribution is important

Offices will be a key component in stopping further spread of this virus. This can be a simple guideline to effect as most people are just as productive remotely and this will cause little impact to businesses as workers are already set up to work from home in most cases.

by YT on May 06, 2020 at 10:31AM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.2
Based on: 33 votes

Comments

  • Posted by IndyScot1000 May 06, 2020 at 10:51

    agree, lots of offices like schools are hotbeds of germs. At the very least they should be super cleaned regularly. Lots of staff could work from home that are not right now, I spoke to a boy on the phone from my bank he said he was working in an office the other day, you could hear people talking in background. I realise in that case there would have to be more security, but most are online banking anyway.
  • Posted by camerj May 06, 2020 at 10:52

    Until we have got EVERYONE complying to the guidelines then as many offices as possible should remain closed for the most part with, say, each member or staff or small team if possible meeting up perhaps once a week to keep everyone's morale up. Social interaction is extremely important but must be done in a safe way to ensure the safety of all staff. Unless there is Government Regulation put in place on how office MUST be set out then I'm afraid a lot of employers will expect their staff to work under non-compliant conditions
  • Posted by AlanClark36 May 06, 2020 at 10:54

    This crisis has identified that many businesses can function with remotely spread workforces and this should continue for as long as possible to reduce the spread. Getting schools back would be a bigger priority for me than getting offices back. If the schools went back in some way, it would free working parents up from the burden of teaching their children and working at the same time. But if the schools opened in some manner it would still make sense for parents to work from home wherever possible.
  • Posted by Jockpollok May 06, 2020 at 10:54

    Get people back to work. Home working is a stop gap to prevent business closures and everyone being made redundant, but proper productivity in many businesses requires the workforce where they should be - at their desks.
  • Posted by Stena May 06, 2020 at 11:03

    I agree, where people can work from home, they must continue. Most organisations can function with the majority of their staff working from home. Our organisation went from one which only 5% of staff worked from home (from an office of approx 550 staff) to one where every member of staff has worked from home. Staff have said there is more communication and the organisation has saved money from staff not travelling to other offices for face to face meetings, not to mention decreasing our carbon footprint in doing so
  • Posted by frasermackay May 06, 2020 at 11:20

    What about people who live in small flats? They should have the option to work from their office if they wish, as long as good hygiene practices are adhered to there is a low level of risk.
  • Posted by pilki42 May 06, 2020 at 11:30

    I agree also.

    If you're able to work from home then you should continue to do.

    It's one of the simplest methods of keeping R down and we should look to continue this for as long as is possible.

    With modern technology afforded to office workers, especially with recent innovations in collaborative apps like Zoom/Slack/MS Teams, it is very difficult to justify that offices should open when it's very easy to work from home.
  • Posted by davidearly May 06, 2020 at 13:31

    Absolutely agree. This should be a mandatory requirement. Home working and flexible working has always been part and parcel of my company and it is a complete myth that it in any way negatively impacts productivity. The benefit to keeping infection spread down is too great to miss and this should categorically be imposed upon businesses as otherwise self-regulation will prevail and safety will be bottom of the list of priorities for some.
  • Posted by MarshallJ May 06, 2020 at 13:33

    Agree that if you are able to work from home then you should continue to do so. However, this is not the same as keeping offices closed. A new normal is required - I would like to see organisations have home-working first policies, with offices arranged to facilitate limited working from the office for those whose home circumstances make home working difficult, and for access to other office facilities which are not available from home, such as volume printing/scanning, access to IT services. Perhaps small meeting rooms need to become one person working spaces, and large open plan areas should become socially distant meeting areas. In the longer term - home working is a cost to the employee unless the employer supports additional utility costs, suitable furniture etc.
  • Posted by Heav May 06, 2020 at 14:25

    It is not possible for all office workers to work from home. We have confidential files in the office and for staff to work from home they would need to take approx 4 filing cabinets home each. We would also have to make room for a new desk, pc, printer, etc. There's no way I would have the space for this and I know that my boss couldn't afford this, especially now. Also, data protection would be compromised.
  • Posted by Greenside May 06, 2020 at 16:24

    Office working does not require a 'one size fits all' solution, i.e. open or closed. Offices should be allowed to open in a controlled way because most of these businesses are generally well run and can easily adapt to a flexible working solution based on a mix of home + office based working. The office sector, perhaps more than any other type of business, is well placed to safely phase and adapt their working practices to produce a first step back towards some form of normality.
  • Posted by JJ1010 May 06, 2020 at 19:29

    We should maintain work at home if you can for as long as possible
  • Posted by scottishlad May 06, 2020 at 21:04

    Agree offices should open safely for those who have a ‘need’ to be there due to the type of work, or use of manual files, specialist computers etc.

    However for the majority there is no ‘need’ to be back in an office and homeworking should be recommended / mandated unless you fall into the first category of having a need to be in office environment.
  • Posted by Bellabolan24 May 08, 2020 at 07:05

    A balance between home and office working is needed and businesses need to decide what this is for their type of work. Being in the office brings lots of benefits to both staff and the business so it is important to have offices open. They also provide lots of business for retailers in towns selling coffee, lunches and all sorts of other goods and for landlords who rent out premises. It is a fundamental part of our economy so we need to work this out and what safe looks like.
  • Posted by MSW68 May 08, 2020 at 11:31

    A blanket ban on working in an office is not practical. Some people can only effectively work from a central office due the large numbers of documents (e.g. A1 size drawings, old hard copy documents) and specialist equipment (i.e. plan plotters, scanners). Furthermore, not all offices are open-plan with people crammed in side-by-side which will lead to infection - a lot of people work in their own room and can easily maintain social distancing when interacting with colleagues.
  • Posted by Balderdash May 08, 2020 at 14:18

    Agree totally. It should be mandatory to work from home if people can
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