To wonder how we ever did 5 days a week in an office?

A lot of people think they are "more productive" working from home. It doesn't make you more productive if you load the washing machine in your lunch hour.

And even when I worked in an office I took regular tea /water breaks in the kitchen , walked upstairs to the canteen, strolled over to chat to another person at their desk etc. it’s just now I’m WFH those 5 minutes breaks are used for taking out clean laundry or marinating meat for dinner or dance 😅yup, I do regular dance breaks so I’m not too sedentary 😆 and then there’s the one hour commute each way I save time on as well that I do various things in. I do creative stuff in the morning.

That said, some of my closest friends are from previous work places I was at in my 20s, so I’m not sure how I’d have felt about doing WFH as soon as I graduated. I agree that it doesn't suit everyone but then nor does working in an office.

Lucky you. I dont have an option. I work 6 days in a row in an office environment

WFH while I get its appeal is yet another thing that the internet is helping to unstructure the world as we used to know it.

Worded it much better than me ! I agree so much with all of this.

You addressed partners but not all the other things. Working in a bed sit from home is really different.

@EatMoreFibre many of us worked 5 days a week during lockdown. Out of the home. All those services people needed, we ran them.

Yep I remember the days of timed breaks when I worked in a call centre!

I think its great for many people but for younger people and those early in their careers I think they miss out a lot from both the social side of being at work and the mentoring side in their careers

Because of laundry loads, school runs and dinner prep and fitness classes. All being done during working day (officially during 1 lunch hour 😁).

I have friends who have high earning jobs in the private sector that post-pandemic told them they had to be back in the office 3- 5 days a week.

My job is not high earning, it’s just slightly more than the UK average - and if they told me to go in 5 days a week it would be a no and I’d be off to a new job. It would cost me hundreds more and I’d probably get a cleaner to keep up with housework.

But yeah when I think of all I get done at home I wonder how I used to WFH five days a week. I’m very grateful.

It's all very well for a mum in legal. You may have:

A partner
Friends
Children
A separate workspace or at least an adequate one
Training
All the shadowing/mentoring and input you need
A comfort with technology
Emotional regulation

A young person starting may not. How many people met partners and friends at work? How many times did someone step in when they overheard an issue, a training need, an emotional need? How many times do I have to hear, "my mic/teams/zoom/speakers/headphones aren't working"?

Lots of work places were still open during lockdowns. I still had to go in at intervals. DH had to go in several times a week.

Couldn't agree with you more.
Never again.

If it's a call centre then nothing to do with WFH

I WFH and can't go to the toilet without someone knowing about it. The calls answer themselves automatically. Your lunches and breaks are timed
If you are too long using "comfort break" then someone will be asking why
There are stats hourly, daily, people asking why you have spent over 5% of your time in after all

What did you do during lockdown?

DH works mainly in the office, I work mainly from home.

He does more school runs and house work that I do. Because my job is actually more pressured than his. I often don't manage to break for lunch. WFH doesn't mean lying around at home. I still have to hit my targets

I don't understand this. I work solidly at home. I get far less done on my day a week in the office. I actually like hybrid work I wouldn't like to work fully from home.

Right! And you will be happy when your child’s teacher decides to work from home? Your doctor/ surgeon/ dentist…

Is it none? I'd imagine a fair few go unanswered because of desperate understaffing though.

I manage a laboratory, I have no choice but to work there five days a week, neither do the lab techs. I’ve never worked so much as one day from home.

I think it’s great that WFH is more of an option these days. It obviously suits lots of people.

But personally, I hated it after the initial lockdown novelty wore off and I really appreciate going out to work every day more than ever.

Love getting ready in the morning and wearing nice clothes.
Like my commute routine - coffee, good book or podcast.
Love being in central London every day, the buzz and the stimulation.
Really need the human contact, the face to face meetings, the social aspect. Zoom meetings are like torture for me!

I'm a MN anomaly who actually likes, speaks with and socialises outside of work with my colleagues. I wfh maybe once a fortnight and it's useful if I need to go out/have an appointment to work around.
I'd probably like to do 1 day a week at home but we are a very small team and it works better if everyone is in the workplace (it's not office work)
But wouldn't like ft wfh