Going into the office 5 days a week!

You mayaswell take it.
Prices of stuff are never gonna come down.
You’re even less likely to want change if you’re older?
Best try it now, have a superb time 😊.

Take the blummin’ job. You might even find you get to enjoy doing work at work and keeping your home for home life.

I totally understand, but if it's a good career move I'd be tempted. I work hybrid and appreciate the best of both worlds, but 5 days in the office would mean 10 hours commuting a week which I refuse to do. A two minute commute makes it far more realistic.

Also, is there any chance your current company could push for more office time? It would be a shame to turn this better position down and then find you have to increase your office days regardless.

Ohhh this is a tough one. Definitely agree with PPs that such a short commute really softens the blow but I understand how tough it would be to go back to office 5 days a week after a hybrid/WFH role.

How rigid are the office hours, eg do you all have to be in at say 8.30am and must stay till 5.30pm and risk incurring wrath if you leave at 5.29pm? Because that's what I hated about one of my previous roles, it felt like I was in school. Whereas I had another role where as long as you were there for your contracted number of hours in the week it didn't really matter if you came in at 8.30am or 9am, and nobody took the piss.

But if it's a great role otherwise and good for your career then regardless I'd take it, after a year if you hate it then move on.

Nothing would make me go back to 5 days, I have worked hybrid since long before Covid, I think it’s amazing that it is an option open to more people now as it is life changing for many.

This. You won't have a different commute. You can pop home at lunch time. You'd be mad not to take this job.

JFDI

People talk about work/life balance but what's also important is work/life separation. Leave work at the office.

Plus you get 2 free exercise sessions each day (walk, don't drive). That'll give you the chance to shift your mind from one mode to the other.

Simples

I would give it a go. I can't WFH for my job but I'm currently part-time (3 days a week) because my youngest hasn't started school yet. I will be expected to work full time eventually and the thought is daunting as I have such a good work/life balance at the moment. However, I will do it and get used to it (especially as it means I can progress in my career).

Just to counter what others are saying. I'm literally a 5 minute walk away. It's great, but.. there's no downtime between work and home which needs to be considered and despite being soooo close to home it just isn't the same as WFH. And more often than not I don't end up going home for lunch for one reason or another.
Particular to my circumstances maybe but I got rid of my car when I couldn't justify it sitting there 5 days a week and despite having use of my husband's car it feels weirdly isolating not to have my own. That's my own personal perspective though.

Well, it's a choice you have. It's pretty clear & simple.

Maybe you don't want a career enough to take the new job?

Personally, I think people lose so much informal knowledge, mentoring & networking by WFH. It's their loss in terns of not really making career progress, but it's also our society's loss, as a next generation f skills and so on will be depleted or less effective.

You either want to WFH or you want a career boost by working 5 days a week in the office. Pick one of the other.

I have worked hybrid or fully remote for the past ten years. I would never again take on job that requires 5 days a week in an office, even if it was close to where I live.

I would also wonder why the company insists on this and assume that they are very rigid, non inclusive and old fashioned in their thinking, which is not the type of organisation I want to work for.

YABU come on zero commute makes this far from the average office job. As others say you can go home on your lunch break if you are missing it. I reckon you would reject turning this down.

A 2 minute commute would mean I could pop home to see the dog at lunch time and still go to the gym after work, so would be worth considering at least.
However I think the culture of an employer that didn't even offer 1 day of wfh a week would be a culture I wouldn't enjoy.

it's not always safe or practical to walk though - teenage DS has to be driven the 5 minutes to work as he works in a pub kitchen and the pub is out into the country, along an unlit A-road, with no pavements.

I would never go back to full time office work - not for anything.

I think it also indicates that the employer has regressive and non-inclusive work practices and doesn't trust its staff. Avoid.

There are lots of reasons WFH is so much better & it's not all about the commute (for me things like being able to control the temperature, not having to listen to Bob go on about his golf, stroke by stoke or Doris' and her marmalade or the night club antics of the youth. The petty crap about buying milk or washing up mugs).

BUT if it was a shirt walk away & it was a career luck start I really wanted I'd take the job and take it from there. The new Bob might not play golf, the new Doris might have cars not a marmalade obsession & the youth might be into country walks & nice pub lunches

or you can always look for another WFH job (if you vant (in time) get that or hybrid there, nothing is forever, but it sounds like a good ipportunity for you if you want/need progression.

I’ve just left my five day a week office role, which used to be hybrid, it was horrible, I worked far better with a few days at home, now it’s noisy and relentless , my new one is a mix of one/ two days office, out in the community and home , after being hybrid I never want to be in an office for five full days ever again.

Well it's entirely up to you - sounds though like the perfect opportunity with little to no commute, and a good career move.

I would go for it. For a 2 min commute I would
walk or cycle in! You can give yourself a career kick start and then move to another workplace that offers hybrid in a year or two.

Okay then. I was just giving my opinion… next time I will be more explicit if it helps you…

If I worked that close to home, I'd be in the office more. However my journey home is almost 2 hours, and it's a 5am wake up so I don't have that length of journey on the way in.

I work from home 4 days a week and actually miss being in the office. I like WFH but find it is very lonely some days, I sometimes don't even speak to anyone. The cats aren't great conversationalists!

Also I struggle to switch off, the laptop is always there set up on my desk. There's no 4pm pack up and finish for the day, leaving work at work.

What is their justification for requiring full time in the office?

If it's valid, then that's fine. If it's some kind of top-down male-centric box-ticking performative nonsense (remembering that hybrid working benefits women more) then the wider company culture may not fit you.

Every single time I hear about a manager wanting people in 5 days a week, it's a middle aged man with a stay at home wife who has benefitted from her labour at home his whole working life, and spares no thought for the women under his management.

I wouldnt go full time if I had a longer commute. But for a 2 minute drive, yes I would be taking it.
However, I would probably walk it, it can only be 15 minutes and you will get fresh air, time to yourself and excercise in which would make the day in the office less all consuming.
Altetntively it means if you do drive you can be home for lunch.

The shortest commute she'll ever have is bedroom to study/home office surely?