Sorry, not sorry, but wfh really is much easier

What is your point?

WFH and hybrid working is indeed a good thing for employees.

Some jobs can't be done from home, so this won't be available to everyone.

Those are just facts...

If you envy people who can WFH, nothing is stopping you from looking for a new job that offer hybrid or home working options.

Nobody is 'moaning'.

I have a long term health condition and home working allows me to stay in employment.

For many disabled people, carers and single parents WFH is a lifeline because it free the time that would be spent commuting to do something else.

I use this additional time to manage my chronic pain better and do the exercises that keep my muscles and joints mobile.

I am able to do more work at home that I would in our small, noisy office, crumbling office space...

@SofiaSoFar
'Have we had "I'm soooo much more productive and efficient, working from home", yet?I work in business consulting and one of the areas we provide services and research in is productivity. We find very, very few scenarios where people WFHing are as productive as they are in the office, and yet almost unwaveringly people are convinced of the opposite.There will be a tidal wave of back-to-the-office diktats in the coming years; this is already underway in the US where I do a lot of work as companies are starting to say enough is enough.'

You are obviously in the wrong job if you peddle that type of nonsense to your clients...

I've never considered this point , first time I've seen it raised in all the wfh debates.

I'm 'knocking on' so don't have a career to build so not really concerned what wfh 2 days a week means to career prospects.

I imagine going into the office is a huge advantage over wfh if trying to raise your profile and get noticed.

We can argue about what we do as individuals, but the fact is wfh IS seen as a soft, lazy option by I lot of senior management, and office goers ARE seen in a more positive light.

Have we had "I'm soooo much more productive and efficient, working from home", yet?

I work in business consulting and one of the areas we provide services and research in is productivity. We find very, very few scenarios where people WFHing are as productive as they are in the office, and yet almost unwaveringly people are convinced of the opposite.

There will be a tidal wave of back-to-the-office diktats in the coming years; this is already underway in the US where I do a lot of work as companies are starting to say enough is enough.

I'm sure there will be responses along the lines of 'people won't accept jobs in the office so the employer will have to back down' but as momentum builds for a return to office working there will be fewer options and more impetus to return.

I work remotely and go in to the office as required. As a project manager my calendar is fully booked and I am lucky if I can get some lunch or a toilet break while WFH. I am extremely productive and if anything over-worked. Also exact 9am to 5pm is rarely followed and I am often at my desk till 6 pm and also frequently have to log back in later in the evening. So it really depends on the job, not all ppl who work from home have such an easy relaxed time. Often ppl who work outside the home think those who work from home are relaxing or taking it easy. My DH used to initially think that I was having a chilled time at home till he stayed at home one day and realised that I was in the study all day and hadn’t emerged out except for some rushed toilet breaks in between calls. When he is at home, he is a Doctor, he is relaxing, watching tv etc. so he assumed I would be relaxing and maybe doing chores between my work day but there is no time for that.

I do know some people who work from home like ppl in software development etc who have tasks assigned to them with fixed time periods, like debug this issue or write out code for this by a given date/day. Then they plan their own time and depending on how fast they are they sometimes get things done quickly and have some free time. They might also work unsociable hours or prefer to work at night to complete tasks which need concentration etc. They aren’t involved in too many meetings etc so how they plan their time is their own business, this does not apply to all jobs which are WFH. So making assumptions that all those who work from home are lying in bed, sipping coffee and doing house chores while pretending to work is just nonsense!

I was a full time teacher until I burned out 18 months ago. I secured a job which is hybrid, 3 days at home, 2 in the office. I love this balance and I love the fact that the office job allows me to work in peace on tasks without constant interruption. I realise it was the human interaction job I disliked so much.
And every day I feel so bloody lucky.

I struggle to be productive on my wfh days. I feel much more motivated in the office and around others. I wouldn’t like to go back to it full time.

Wow, ok. You're clearly an expert on a job that you've never done. Congrats 👏

you're not sat in front a keyboard and are actively working

so is it the sat in front of keyboard or the actively working bit thats the problem?

i sit in front of a keyboard but I also actively work…more productively than in the office

(i like going in to the office…i just wish it were closer 😀)

I wfh. I certainly don’t moan about it or when I go into the office once a week. I don’t have to spend £ on my commute. I get up later than when I have to go into the office. I can fit some exercise in at lunchtime. The plus side for my employer is that I always work even when I am sick (easier to wfh than drag yourself into the office). I take calls and answer emails in the evening or weekends or days off. As I am not wasting time making pleasantries with people or walking down a long corridor to the kitchen or the toilet I get far more work done than I do in the office. It can be a bit solitary though. I appreciate going in once a week. Yes it is a longer day, but in many ways a nicer one as I see actual people and chat about things. I wear a proper work outfit. I enjoy travelling on the bus. I don’t get anywhere near as much work done and I wouldn’t want to do it every day. But I never moan about doing either as I feel very grateful to have the perfect balance.

The people that really bother me (and annoyingly for the sisterhood, it's always women) are those who refuse to turn on their cameras for team meetings.

Our department is generous in giving people flexibility even within WFH. You can log on later if you need to, you can do school runs, you can block periods of the diary for appointments. We respect people have lives, and that WFH allows them to be present in those lives as well as present for the work we pay them to do.

But when I log into Teams and I see 8 attendees, most of them with cameras on, but two or three with cameras off, it is always the same suspects.

Interestingly, none of them have declared anxiety disorder, or any mental illness. These are people who still happily turn up to the monthly socials, and who used to be very chatty, well-dressed members of the office when we were in person 5 years ago.

I think the true reason is, they see it as a 'right' that they can get out of bed, throw on 'comfy joggers' or stay in their PJs, and just dictate the terms of how they WFH. When I ask for cameras on, they won't do it. Just refuse.

Worse, on one call one person left her mic on. It was abundantly clear (when I asked her to mute) that she had the TV on or some kind of noise in the background.

I don't directly line manage this person or any of the others, I am just a departmental lead in another area. However this kind of thing just makes me eyes roll, becuase it is so typical of the British women (and I am British) that I just hate working with. "I'll do me, and you do you" etc - no accountability, no sense of team or showing up or connecting with others.

Those of us with kids who work from home are definitely not rolling out of bed and starting work the next minute. I was up at 5.30am with my youngest today, then I have a school and nursery run ahead of me in two different locations. And it’s torrential rain as usual.

Yes I agree with you about the 20/30 year olds needing to be in the office to learn; but if the older more experienced staff are all wfh who are they going to learn from?
I would say there has been a noticeable difference in service since Covid from almost every company and I’m convinced some of it is down to wfh.

I absolutely love WFH. It's been a game changer for me.

@GlennCloseButNoCigar hats off to you, that must be a really intense and hard day!

I can't wfh but I think I'd get really depressed if I did. I need some people interaction, I like the people I work with, I enjoy a bit of small talk about their lives

I wfh now but I feel like I put in a fair amount of time working in the office five days a week, with a three hour daily commute for over a decade. Once I had kids it wasn’t practical to be spending three hours a day commuting on top of a full working day (which is what many in London have to do). I am grateful to be able to do my job from home, though if it was possible I’d prefer to be in the office a couple of days a week, it’d be less lonely.

There are pros and cons. My work has always been hybrid and for me that works best - into the office for meetings/teaching and then home for writing and admin. My organisation gets the full 40 hours a week from me, but I don’t work 9am-5pm. Sometimes it’s 6am-8am, 10am-12noon, and 4pm -8pm and sometimes it’s other combinations, often with a Saturday morning or Sunday night thrown in for good measure. That works for both me and my employer and I am a high performer - I deliver and then some against my targets.

One of the big advantages to the move to WFH is that it has opened up the world of work to many people with disabilities. I have a severely immunocompromised friend who has been able to get a job where she can work from home which uses her skills and qualifications and is flexible with how she uses her time, something she struggled to do before.

It might be a great opportunity for skivers, but TBH, there were always plenty of those in the office anyway - the ones who spent most of their time gossiping, spending half their lives making and drinking cups of tea, popping out 10 times a day for a fag, arranging and sitting in pointless meetings, scheduling off site meetings at 2.30pm so they could just go home after, etc. etc. They’re just not using the company toilet roll to do it now.

No. I am the manager and I just get more admin done at home allowing me to be more productive during meetings.

I take fewer breaks at home due to not stopping to chat about X’s recent childcare issue or Y’s lovely new cardigan.

Love wfh and not moaning. Cheers 👍

Yes WFH is easier. And often more productive. And better for employee wellbeing/work life balance. And better for the climate. And better for public health.

Because some have it easier, that is not a reason to argue that people who WFH should go back to the office, it's not a race to the bottom.

Maybe one day you will have a WFH job and will appreciate the people who are speaking up to keep it now.

That is true for a lot of people but I am only required to be in the office on one set day out of the 4 days I work I go in three times a week most weeks and sometimes I go in 4 times a week. I prefer the office but I know wfh is easier on parents with young children (most often women)

WFH certainly makes my life easier inasmuch as I have an extra couple of hours available to me in the day, I'm around for deliveries, I'm not constantly interrupted by people wandering into my office asking questions etc. On the other hand, I work my socks off, regularly going beyond working hours, so it's not exactly cushy.

My friends lol 😂 they whinge about EVERYTHING. The other day one moaned about how hard it is to work from the desk as her boss requested her to stop being in bed during teams meets.

Meanwhile I work in a nursery with two year olds and have to get up at 5.30am. Drop three kids to two places, get to work on the bus, do a ten hour day with a bunch of manic two years olds, pick up my own kids from thankfully one place this time to get home for 7pm and then spend 90 mins doing bath and bed.

I’ve been looking at admin roles online recently, think I’m going to start applying 👀😅

It's a skivers charter in my opinion. And those moaners whining about having to go in once a month because they've now moved to a tropical paradise. Honestly some folk!

When I used to WFH I used to start earlier, work longer and - especially when particularly busy - frequently though lunch.

Why? because I just had to roll out of bed instead of take the train (or car) to work.
I didn’t have coworkers to get lunch together, to catch up with etc.
And I didn’t have to catch a the train home in the evening. It’s so easy to just keep working a liiiitle longer.

WFH meant more (genuinely) billable hours in my case!

And I personally really appreciate the commute back from work. It gives me the opportunity to leave my cases behind, unwind, listen to a podcast etc.

What I appreciate about WFH is the opportunity to go the gym next door over lunch, do PT, stay in pyjama bottoms when I’m on my period etc.

There are pros and cons to both imo.