Why do conservatives dislike remote working?

Flexible working has helped women progress in the workplace. Since 2019, the share of women working fulltime in the insurance and finance sectors in the UK rose from 75% to 83%. The rate for mothers in finance rose more than ten percentage points. Overall the share of mothers in work reached a record 79% in 2023.

Now bosses want their staff back in the office, with half of companies requiring their staff to attend at least four days a week. Many women have chosen not to. The employment rate for women with dependent children has fallen from its peak, while that for men has remained steady. By the end of 2023, the difficulty of balancing work and childcare had pushed an estimated 250,000 women out of the workforce, with a worrying spike among the 35-44 year age group in many critical sectors.

Is this why conservatives are really pushing for a return to the office?

Source: The Economist, 13 March 2025.

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Thorstormbringer · M

Why?

Because the majority of government workers abuse it! They work a second job, etc. Also, their productivity is low…

Facts!

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

@Thorstormbringer "Facts!" without evidence are opinions based on noise... usually FOX Noise... presented as news.

SinlessOnslaught · M

@Thorstormbringer Possible, yes. Is it a fact?

Thorstormbringer · M

@MarkPaul Really? Hmmm. Why then, when DOGE requested that they list 3 things they had done at work in the previous 24 hrs, 99% of the questionaire didn’t even answer!

BTW, I worked for 7&1/2 yrs for a federal agency yrs back: the amount of waste and sloth was mind boggling!

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

@Thorstormbringer Hmmmm... it was 5, not 3 things. And, most of the (real) department heads told their employees not to answer the request. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Plus the request was illegal in the way it was made. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. How come Cry-Baby-trump and Elon himself didn't reply to the email request? They are government workers too. Hmmmmm...

If you think your dead wood behaviour when you worked for the national government are "facts!" that apply to everyone, then no wonder you were let go from your job.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Thorstormbringer This is specifically about women working in the financial and insurance sectors.

Your remarks about the public sector seem anecdotal and general. In this country if a fulltime civil servant took a second job without the explicit permission of their department, they would be fired for gross misconduct. I am sure that is the case in the USA as well (although you might find it mlre difficult to detect owing to antiquated IRS systems).

Their productivity was pretty good in 2020, when the country needed it.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Thorstormbringer If a worker's productivity is low then surely you just fire them and replace them with a more productive person? Isn't that what freedom in the US is al about?

Thorstormbringer · M

@ninalanyon I guess you don’t know the US very well. Government workers here have unions. Plus, until this present administration, it was close to impossible to fire a government worker. E.g., I used to work for Amtrak, basically a pseudo government entity. I had a friend/coworker there who was a criminal investigator, he told me, unless an employee actually kills or rapes someone (AND, there are witnesses!) it was close to impossible to fire them!

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Thorstormbringer And they can't be reassigned, disciplined, etc.?

It's hard to fire someone here too, nonetheless trust between employees and employers is fairly good.

Also the original post was about remote working in general not the subset of workers who work for the state.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Thorstormbringer Musk does not seem to have had too much difficulty in initiating the termination of employment contracts . .