Work from home fiasco?

bluebell

Member
we like alot of small businesses havnt the choice to work from home? but it makes us here angry with trying to speak to someone at our local council about an important matter to find , first kept waiting for ages on the phone, then when you do get through leave a message and i will get back to you ? working from home ? our accountants the same ? get back to work now, dont use the excuse im working from home to do a couple of hours work aday and drive the hard working people who dont have that opportunity up the wall?
 
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X344chap

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Central Scotland
Don't use the phone - send an email or online form and if you dont get a response within a reasonable time (depends on what your are asking for) then use the council complaints procedure and if you are still not happy then take it up with your councillor. If still not happy then theres a local government ombudsman you can involve.

If its a freedom of information request then the Council has 20 days to respond.
 

Highland Mule

Member
Livestock Farmer
we like alot of small businesses havnt the choice to work from home? but it makes us here angry with trying to speak to someone at our local council about an important matter to find , first kept waiting for ages on the phone, then when you do get through leave a message and i will get back to you ? working from home ? our accountants the same ? get back to work now, dont use the excuse im working from home to do a couple of hours work aday and drive the hard working people who dont have that opportunity up the wall?

You're a farmer, so you work from home all the time anyway. Whether you like it or not, the government has asked us to work from home where we can and for most office based workers that is the right thing to do. Council staff will all have email addresses and by being able to manage workload and avoid long calls they may even be more efficient than before lockdown.

Now do us all a favour and learn how to switch off bold - it's the computer equivalent of shouting (so perhaps appropriate to your rant) and not even remotely polite.
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
we like alot of small businesses havnt the choice to work from home? but it makes us here angry with trying to speak to someone at our local council about an important matter to find , first kept waiting for ages on the phone, then when you do get through leave a message and i will get back to you ? working from home ? our accountants the same ? get back to work now, dont use the excuse im working from home to do a couple of hours work aday and drive the hard working people who dont have that opportunity up the wall?
You seem to have the wrong accountant and local council.

My wife works for the local council and I can tell you she and her colleges have worked very hard through this pandemic!

She normally starts at 6:30 am (WFH) and rarely finishes before 6 pm. Their work is constantly checked and they need to log in and out of work when away from the computer.

I also can't speak highly enough of our accountant (now back in the office) if needed in the last 16 months you wouldn't have known they were working from home.

Don't tar everyone with the same brush!!!
 

Ali_Maxxum

Member
Location
Chepstow, Wales
Are they working from home or just busy? Quite often you wont get me and you have to leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Our accountant works from home quite a lot and will ring us off his landline and we can ring him back directly, suits us. I think people working from home has been a good thing from what I've seen.

Our local council however would be just as useless if they were in my front room....
 

Bongodog

Member
You're a farmer, so you work from home all the time anyway. Whether you like it or not, the government has asked us to work from home where we can and for most office based workers that is the right thing to do. Council staff will all have email addresses and by being able to manage workload and avoid long calls they may even be more efficient than before lockdown.

Now do us all a favour and learn how to switch off bold - it's the computer equivalent of shouting (so perhaps appropriate to your rant) and not even remotely polite.
Not sure what the present advice for Scotland is, but in England the Govt removed the "work from home if you can" rule in July and replaced it with one advsising that people should gradually return to the office. I'm completely fed up with public sector workers still workjing from home and being basically unobtainable. Our village has suffered repeatedly over the past 18 months from matters which the district and county council should have dealt with immediately, but didn't as no one was contactable. Example this week, a building site in the village was pile driving, both outside of the permitted operating hours for the site and far exceeding permitted noise and vibration, nothing done to stop it as council officers unavailable.
 

D14

Member
we like alot of small businesses havnt the choice to work from home? but it makes us here angry with trying to speak to someone at our local council about an important matter to find , first kept waiting for ages on the phone, then when you do get through leave a message and i will get back to you ? working from home ? our accountants the same ? get back to work now, dont use the excuse im working from home to do a couple of hours work aday and drive the hard working people who dont have that opportunity up the wall?

I am afraid this is now reality and will be moving forward. So many companies have realised they don't need big expensive offices. Basically now we all need to be planning 3 months in advance for making contact with councils, solicitors, accountants etc.
 

Highland Mule

Member
Livestock Farmer
Not sure what the present advice for Scotland is, but in England the Govt removed the "work from home if you can" rule in July and replaced it with one advsising that people should gradually return to the office. I'm completely fed up with public sector workers still workjing from home and being basically unobtainable. Our village has suffered repeatedly over the past 18 months from matters which the district and county council should have dealt with immediately, but didn't as no one was contactable. Example this week, a building site in the village was pile driving, both outside of the permitted operating hours for the site and far exceeding permitted noise and vibration, nothing done to stop it as council officers unavailable.
  • a gradual return to offices can now begin however home working will continue to be an important mitigation for controlling the virus and we would ask that businesses still support employees to do this, where possible and in consultation with employees
From https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-returning-to-offices/#history

I think that this is the most recent advice. I actually am WFH but for an English project so could probably go with either.

As for your council issues - did you try emailing them or contacting your local councillor or whatever they are called down there? I had almost immediate response from mine yesterday, and fairly rapid response from the relevant department staff thereafter. My mate was telling me last night about some dealings he had with the tree preservation folks. Nobody is actually uncontactable unless you don't try.
 

hoff135

Member
Location
scotland
Not necessarily connected but recently had to fill in a word document with my details for a company im working with just now. Had to be typed in and emailed back. Including signed. When trying to sign it on line it would not open the box. Took me 2 hrs and eventually it worked. A form I could have filled out and posted in 5 mins. It was then read by their computer, or so called artificial intelligence. Came back and all my details were wrong and had to spend more time sorting it out. And this is meant to be progress?
 

Bongodog

Member
  • a gradual return to offices can now begin however home working will continue to be an important mitigation for controlling the virus and we would ask that businesses still support employees to do this, where possible and in consultation with employees
From https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-returning-to-offices/#history

I think that this is the most recent advice. I actually am WFH but for an English project so could probably go with either.

As for your council issues - did you try emailing them or contacting your local councillor or whatever they are called down there? I had almost immediate response from mine yesterday, and fairly rapid response from the relevant department staff thereafter. My mate was telling me last night about some dealings he had with the tree preservation folks. Nobody is actually uncontactable unless you don't try.
Plenty of people tried to make contact with the District Council, unfortunately however as it is all email now you just don't get a response until it is too late. Previously you spoke to the local cllr, they phoned the enforcement officer and they came out within a couple of hours. Now whilst you can still get the cllr on the phone, they can't get anyone to speak to them.
 

Highland Mule

Member
Livestock Farmer
Plenty of people tried to make contact with the District Council, unfortunately however as it is all email now you just don't get a response until it is too late. Previously you spoke to the local cllr, they phoned the enforcement officer and they came out within a couple of hours. Now whilst you can still get the cllr on the phone, they can't get anyone to speak to them.

I think people are hiding behind excuses, if I'm honest. I can get the mobile phone numbers for almost anyone that matters in a matter of minutes. And if you need a response within a couple of hours to something critical, you don't need the council to help - you call the police and report a breach of planning law, get the cllr to come out themselves or just learn from Swampy and the HS2 crew and go and sit on top of the piledriver yourself.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Plenty of people tried to make contact with the District Council, unfortunately however as it is all email now you just don't get a response until it is too late. Previously you spoke to the local cllr, they phoned the enforcement officer and they came out within a couple of hours. Now whilst you can still get the cllr on the phone, they can't get anyone to speak to them.
I hear you. It's a rotten to the core system (and replicated with big private companies' "Customer Services"

Hide your phone number

Drive ever longer phone call queues to online submissions

Get replies (always quoting their response times even if THEY decide it's 15 working days. Send a reply and they auto acknowledge that with , you guessed it, another 15 working days response time

Much DEFRA and Gov stuff you don't even get an undersigned for an email let alone a direct email address or phone number to hold one person accountable

It's the way of the World and yes there are a lot kicking the a"se out of this Covid precaution malarkey
 

bluebell

Member
i know for a fact that many NHS workers are now working from home now permantly, my sister has two of them ? And what about doctors try seeing one in person? Many doctors now are working half the hours they were for the same money fact.
 

bluebell

Member
im not foolish to as you say tar everyone with the same brush? i said in the start of my tread my local council, my local NHS ? but honestly alot of people are now alot more better off money wise from working from home, never seen so many people of working age wondering about my village with all the time in the world ?
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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