To think WFH permanently is a game changer?

It can be great if you have the space, but tons of people have been WFH locked in a small bedroom.

And how will anyone make new friends?

I would love to wfh but the fact is most employers want people in. Imo we will end up with a social divide where poorly paid workers are wfh and higher paid workers are required in the office.

I love it but it's not saving on childcare costs as we still put our 2 children in nursery so we can both do our job properly and so they can be properly entertained and play outside.

Long term employers will not be happy with employees looking after their children while working so it won't save on childcare. Commuting will be a saving, depending on how much it costs currently.

@TheLostDiadem I'm sure they'd love to be your neighbour. You sound lovely

I hope more companies allow the option of fulltime or nearly-fulltime WFH. It's so much nicer, no commute, save money, less pressure, and more productive too.

Unfortunately there will be some companies and bosses who see WFH as a skive. Working hard isn't enough, you have to be seen working hard. They see it as better to have people in the office even if they are less productive, because you can keep an eye on them.

I’m so happy I work in community nursing, it’s been the one thing that has kept me sane this past year, being able to go to work in the office see my colleagues (who I count as friends) and see patients

I would not be impressed if my colleagues were planning to work forevermore whilst simultaneously taking care of their children every day. Most of them who’ve been doing so over lockdown have not - understandably and completely accepted - been at their most productive. I can’t imagine many employers are going to sanction it, either.

I think it will be the opposite - poorly paid in the office, higher paid WFH. Because the poor don't have the space that the wealthy do, and more importantly if the boss says jump, the poor have to say "how high?" while the rich can give a polite "fuck off".

It does save on childcare if you have older children. I used to pay for after school childcare for my year 6 child and I haven't had to this year - he's too young to be at home alone but old enough to be sensible and not interrupt me and DH while we're working.

Dh has been loads more productive wfh, and dd2 will be happier coming home to a house with a parent in (she's old enough to come home to an empty house but she hates it). Unfortunately, I'm not convinced his boss will be happy for this to be permanent. We wish it could be, as it's saved on bus fares as well.

I definitely won't be wfh permanently. I'm back at the physical building on March 8th.

I’m neither a Londoner or someone living in a place Londoners might relocate but honestly The Lost when you say stuff like that you sound like a condescending prick.

WFH in normal times usually has the rule that you can’t look after your children. It has only been allowed during COVID times as schools/child care has not been available.

working parents as it saves on childcare costs

It doesn’t, though - unless your children are at an age where they practically don’t need childcare anyway.

When childcare providers are open employers will expect you to use them and not be looking after children during working hours. That’s always been standard in WFH contracts, and I don’t see it will change.

These have been exceptional circumstances and working parents also caring for children at home are pretty much on their knees.

I feel the same. I'd hate to be WFH permanently, it would be so isolating to be home all day and only seeing colleagues via zoom / teams.

I also agree with the posters saying it won't reduce childcare costs. If you're WFH I can't see your employer being happy that you're also caring for a child.

And where employers offer it as an option (rather than a decision because they’re closing their office space for good) I think WFH long term is going to really badly impact women - because it will end up being mostly women who want to do it to fit around childcare and school hours. There’s a lot of research which concludes that employees who aren’t seen in the office aren’t perceived to be as hard workers as those who are and are more likely to be passed over for promotions and picked on when it comes to redundancy time.

I've been wfh for over 10 years now and still love it.
I still make friends with my work colleagues but also nursery mums/hobbies etc.

I can see how it saves money on childcare if you don't need such long hours/wraparound care but as others have pointed out I still pay for nursery every day I'm working as you can't effectively do both.
I do appreciate the flexibility though that if I need to pick up early because of sickness or go off to sports day it's much easier to arrange.

Both DH and I are wfh at the moment. We are both expecting to go back partly (two or three days a week) and wfh the other days, which will be a nice compromise.

I think this is very true. And (anecdata) men approach WFH with the attitude that they’re completely unavailable for anything domestic or child-related 9-5 when they’re in the office, and women view it as a chance to multitask a little and be flexible.

I’ve WFH for 5 years prior to 2020 and it was very convenient for my circumstances but definitely not a career-advancing move. Interesting to see how quickly the company sorted more efficient WFH systems when everyone had to do it.

For certain types of roles yes, and I think a greater mixture of home working will be possible, but I dont think its a total game changer no. Certainly you still need childcare, except you may have a shorter commute time.

A lot of businesses are already talking about encouraging people back to offices, especially more junior roles, but then they need more senior people to learn from and so on and so on.

I think it is very much harder for management to manage remote working, or a mix or remote and offices, for all kinds of reasons, it issues, motivation, performance management and learning and adapting to these are real costs, which businesses will only do if the productively / cost savings etc from home working are significantly better than the office.

Some businesses will do it brilliantly and thrive on that model, some already do, but offices exist for a reason, do I think they will change, a bit but I suspect less than some people hope.

Well there you go - practically out of the childcare years anyway. But you can’t generalise from this situation to “all working parents”, can you?

I'm hoping our way of working will continue.
Part wfh / part office based on certain days. We have a rota up to 8 weeks in advance with room to swop days if needed.
Its been the best of both worlds.