Entertainment
Loose Women anger viewers by telling people that want to work from home to ‘take up pottery’ instead
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The Loose Women panel had viewers up in arms on Monday’s show after Jane Moore told viewers they should take up pottery if they didn’t want to return to the office now coronavirus restrictions were eased.
The panel discussed whether people should have their salaries cut or be out of a job if they refused to return to the office.
Jane told viewers: ‘It’s complex because it’s not one policy fits all here. So I think that if you can work from home and it’s beneficial to your company so that they don’t have to pay for a big office or they’ve found it better that everybody can work from home and they haven’t got the overheads, that’s fine.
‘But if you work for a company where they want you in the office and you have to do the job there, absolutely you should go back to work unless you have a very, very good reason not to and just saying “well, I quite like working from home” is not a good reason.’
She added: ‘The bottom line is, they don’t want to go in and that’s all it is and all the rest of it is excuses.
‘And it’s like why should a company pay for the lifestyle choice [of its employees]. If you want to stay home and have a lovely time, fine, take up pottery and sell it online, do something where you work from home but don’t expect a small business to pay for your lifestyle choice.’
Nadia Sawalha was the voice of reason when she pointed out the many benefits working from home can have (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
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Viewers were offended by her comments, believing her to infer that people who want to continue working from home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic were lazy.
They tweeted: ‘Bore off Jane! Do you really think people working from home are sat there doing f**k all? I actually do MORE work since working at home than I ever did in the office pre-covid.’
Others added: ‘Getting a bit p**sed of at Jane #loosewomen I’ve worked my a** off from home & still sat at a desk. B***dy sitting telling me I’m lazy because not sat in an office or traffic! Get a good boss if people don’t answer phones!’
Another wrote: ‘All these privileged women telling people where and when they should go to work. Working from home has been good for companies too. They’ve saved a hell of a lot of money.’
Some pointed out the mental health benefits many have experienced after finding their work-life balance was improved by not having to do long commutes while the government mandated that everyone who could, should work from home.
One viewer wrote: ‘Why are this lot determined for people to be unhappy? For years people were told it wasn’t possible for them to work from home – employers quickly insisted most could, once lockdown was a reality. You can’t just switch it off.’
Viewers also praised Nadia Sawalha for her stance on the topic, as she told the panel: ‘I kind of agree with everything that you are all saying but I think also we have to take into account that there has been a reset for a lot of people.
‘I don’t think it’s just about people that don’t want to work or are lazy or just having a great time at home.’
She explained: ‘I think an awful lot of people are thinking “I’m doing my job just as well” – and of course I am talking about people who can do it just as well from home, not somebody that needs to be in an office answering a phone – “in fact I am doing it better, my work-life balance is better, I can now afford to pay my mortgage without hanging on by my fingernails because I am not paying extortionate rates to get on a train that I then have to stand on for an hour,” so I think that is one thing to consider.
‘I think we also mustn’t forget that we have been made to feel absolutely terrified for the last 18 months. I know not everybody was, but I certainly had periods of time over this last 18 months where I have felt like I was at war.
‘I felt like going out of the house was a really scary thing and some people are left with that feeling. Also we keep talking about there being a tsunami of a mental health crisis – that’s not just words we are throwing around, that is true.
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‘Some people will be taking advantage of course, there are always people that will take advantage of situations but I think we have to be mindful that we don’t group everybody into one thing.’
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV.
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