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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Iwillwait · M

As a Conservative I think it some cases it works well to get more productivity from employees, not in most cases though. The retail/Brick & Mortar office space is a production suite for efficiency and consistent output.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Iwillwait But if an employee wastes 2 hours + per day sitting in a traffic jam, any efficiency gains are squandered.

Iwillwait · M

@SunshineGirl No one is paying their employees for their commute / travel time.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Iwillwait Exactly, which is why this measurement of "productivity" is skewed. Someone is paying for those hours in terms of lost opportunity and poorer health and environmental outcomes. If employers were held accountable for the consequences of their decisions they might adopt a more broadminded view on working.

Iwillwait · M

@SunshineGirl So.. you're proposing it's the Employer's Responsibility to be compensating the Employee for having to get to work? Never will this be ok nor should it be.

You want every moment of your time compensated for, get off the sidelines and start a business and charge what you believe is fair or at Value.

As for my point, most employees abuse the unmonitored work space and are literally stealing from their Employees.

Home/Remote base works well with commission based employees, you do not produce, you do not get paid. Should you sit in your Jammies all day and do nothing, you yield the very same result in pay.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Iwillwait I am a self-employed contractor and can do what I wish. My opinions are based on observing colleagues at the firm I have been based at for six years.

Most of them are "fee earners". They maintain their own client portfolios and their career prospects are directly linked to the money they bring in. They have been instructed to return to the office 4 days out of 5 principally because some bright spark decided to sign a 10 year lease renewal in November 2020. Now everyone has pay homage to this white elephant so said visionary does not look such a d***head.

Apart from that, we mainly get together so some of our managers actually have something to do. The sector in which I work has traditionally struggled to recruit female workers. Remote working was helping to redress the balance. Now those gains are being lost.

Iwillwait · M

@SunshineGirl Your Argument
Sounds very plausible, is this in the US? Sounds like UK Contract, correct?

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Iwillwait Yes, in the UK.