Workers that don’t have to go into an office are £480 billion better off.

That’s people travelling into other cities but I’m talking the local economy as it is now with the local people staying at home to work in the outlying villages and not commuting to local town centre ..
If for example and I know it’s not an ideal one but if In The Local area we had twenty villages and thirty people used to commute to work in town from each of these villages and halt of them bought a sandwich or a coffee in town that’s lost to the loc economy so how are we supporting the local economy as some are saying .
They are only talking about a commute to other towns and city’s but our own would suffer as well.
I’m not saying working from home should stop fully but a balance needs to be addressed .
I’m sure people would soon be sick to the back teeth if their back bedroom after 8,9 10 hours a day five days a week .
Some compromise could be reached where we don’t have the silly rush hours etc but I’m not convinced that working from home would be lenient for many from unscrupulous bosses finding ways to tie the majority ofpeople to their computers all that time .
NO doubt it will work for some but others will be just as exploited if not more than they are now imo .

 

Again; the money still exists, sorry if the coffee shop is shutting but supermarkets are setting on (increased online business) as are lots of other sectors of the ‘local’ economy.

Your logic leads to an argument that I’ve been harming the Donny economy ever since my job moved to Sheffield, or that I damaged Sheffield’s economy last time I moved to Donny, or Leeds before that etc.

It’s still my salary going into the economy, and it will continue to happen whether I work at home, in Donny, Sheffield or Leeds. It’s simply not correct to see that money ‘lost’ from the economy, except on a very specific micro view.

 

How is it going into the economy if you’re stuck at home ?
You may have decent employers or even a decent job whereas you could compromise
Thousands wouldn’t and imo would be tied to phones or computers and given extra work by some of these firms because they’re not travelling or deem them not to need a lunch break because they’re at home .
And how would Unions etc monitor this ?
Government legislation would take years to catch up and a Tory Government many many years .
If everyone these worked a computer or Telephone for a job stayed at home it would wreck many economies .
I don’t for one second think that monies not going into the community won’t affect it .

 

That’s not my logic at all , my argument is everyone working from home would kill the economy not moving jobs not a mass exodus from one City to another ! I don’t know how you’ve come to that co Conclusion tbh .
If someone moved to Sheff from Donny then that jib will be filled by someone else commuting .

 

Where else is it going?

just because I’m sat at home 9-5 doesn’t mean I don’t eat, drink get dressed, do DIY, buy gifts etc.

my salary isn’t such that it’s in an offshore acct in the Cayman Islands, I’m spending it - ergo it’s going into the economy. You’ll appreciate this from a Keynesian view of economics, give someone £1000 and it benefits many people as it moves around the economy.

As for my employer; My personal circumstances are a bit different from most, I’m in a growth sector so since I was sent to work from home someone else is sat in my seat (maybe the seat next to mine to to social distancing).

 

One way that the money goes into the economy is through delivery.

As I mentioned previously I get 15-20 quid worth of food delivered every day for me and my wife from a local takeaway place. Some days I’ll order breakfast too. That’s putting money to a restaurant and a delivery driver.

Prior to Covid, less places were doing takeaway food and to be honest I never even thought about it.

There’s no way employers can require you to work the time you’d be commuting, legally. Unless they were already paying your commute time.

How would unions monitor it? I’ve never been in a Union, but I can’t imagine it will be much different? There’s not a rep in the office all working hours, is there?

 

Not necessarily, whole offices move from one town to another, and several office spaces I’ve worked in are now flats or have been replaced by housing estates.

Economies are by nature organic, we can’t pickle them in aspic at a point we’re happy with the status quo.

 

The whole point is that many local businesses would close all your shopping would probably either be online or big stores in meadow hell.
If you don’t think that Town Centres won’t be affected by everyone in offices working from home that’s fine by me but I think it will .

 

There’s every way bosses could keep you longer at your job at home . Maybe not openly but they never do .
If you think bosses can’t exploit workers with loopholes etc then you’ve led a very sheltered life.
The economy in town works on a few factors Workers , Shoppers , meeting places . take one of these out and it struggles .

 

How long did it take for Town such as Barnsley , Rotherham , Doncaster etc to recover from pit closures ? If we ever did , just think about that before suddenly moving everyone to working from home .

 

People still need to eat. They still need to drink. They still need entertainment. They still need heating, water, electricity, broadband, etc. So an amount of money will be spent every week/month anyway (possibly more due to being at home rather than in the office)

They don't need to spend an hour a day in the car, or on a bus/train. They don't need to spend money on a coffee (although most places I've worked provide free drinks) or a sandwich/pub lunch. Overall, they'll be better off financially.

If you are not travelling to the office and save £x on travel and lunches per week, then (in normal) times you can spend that in your local takeaway or restaurant at the weekend. Or save for that extension/repairs that you have been putting off. Or going to the football, etc. People like the choice to save money in one area and spend it in other areas.

There is the counter-argument though that recession/depression is coming, and money saved should be put away for that rainy day. So maybe many are actually paying off debts or saving to give them some breathing space if they need it.

 

Course they’ll still need to eat or drink but they aren’t gonna Go to town for it they’ll make something they e bought from a franchised supermarket
I don’t know if you were around during the pit closures but there’s a lesson when somethings taken out of the community .

 

But there’s nothing that lets them exploit workers more at home than they would in an office...

Unless you can make an argument for why that’s the case?

 

I didn’t say that Town centres wouldn’t be affected. That’d be idiotic. I said that money will still flow through the economy.

Town centres changed massively between the war and my birth, (Removal of industry and housing) and changed again (for the worse) with the growth of out of town shopping over the last 30 years (decimating the high street), this is just a further change. It was always going to happen, Covid has simply expedited it - and I appreciate dramatic change is seen less favourably by many.

In 20 years time our towns will have more housing and less shops and offices, and more diverse shopping - because people value the experience of shopping, stacking it high and selling it cheap is better done online, simple economics.

 

Extra work ! There’s loads of ways the bosses can exploit the situation .
They’ll exploit the situation when the changes happen by acting naive and saying they being reasonable etc .
How long has the Zero hours conflicts been going on ? It’s better than It was admittedly but it’s still controversial and people being exploited now and it took years before even the slightest change was made .

 

Off the main topic a little, is that one takeaway place you are spending £120+ a week at? Because if it is I bet they bloody love you!

 

Also how long into the future will your job prospects rely on you having your own computer /laptop , super width Broadband and unlimited calls contract on your IP. this in turn puts demand and subscriptions sky high .
all diverting the costs from the employer unless you’re one of the lucky ones and your jobs valued .

 

Various to be honest. A few little cafes and sandwich shops have started showing up on justeat, which are really nice. Various Chippies, Then occasionally when I want to feel like a slob We'll go to one of the franchised places - Subway, McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell, Toby Carvery etc.

 

I've worked out since lock down I've saved £550 on petrol. I've saved around 200 hours sitting in traffic.

I've used the 200 hours walking, having fun with my family, visiting local areas of natural beauty and spending all of the £550 saved on meals from local cafes and pubs.

I and my wife don't buy sandwiches or drinks on way to work or at work, the people who have lost money from me are petrol companies.

Elsecar heritage cafes and ale shop, local pubs (all outside Mon-Wed deal), green grocer (eating loads more fruit whilst snacking working), chippy, garden centres at Wentworth and Pothouse Hamlet all got money from us. We also spent foreign holiday money on home improvements, money going to local builder.

Without the additional time at home I wouldn't have spent this money. When I get in from work after sitting in traffic the idea of getting ready to go out for meal doesn't float my boat.
It's now a great treat every Thursday I finish work at 1530 we go for a walk and then a meal in Wentworth. £50 quid which usually would be spent at Morrison's garage.

 

That makes you a Tory apparently.

In all seriousness, I feel you. I'm of the same opinion. My economic contribution has increased, not decreased.

This attempt by the Tories (whose backers own lots of office space) to create further conflict amongst the little people is so obvious.

Not on my watch.

I'm off to a little independent cafe for my lunch right now. Like the massive selfish, Tory that I am.