AIBU to close our office?

The company i work for got rid of all its offices after wfh during covid. They rent a a co working space every couple of months so we can get together. I definitely prefer it and save a lot on commuting, coffees etc

It very much depends what sort of work you do and how you already work.

I am the only one of my team based in my office, the others are split across Plymouth, Swansea, Bristol, Newcastle, Hull and Nottingham. So even when I am in the office I spend most of my time on Teams!

However, if your staff aren’t used to that it can take some getting used to and you may need to consider some training.

I would discuss the possibility with affected staff rather than random strangers on the internet though.

Businesses need to be careful using that type of set up - if they use a serviced office as a registered address they can inadvertently link themselves to less reputable firms.

People with kids/other commitments do not want this. Even people without probably don't want this.

I’m on the fence. My brother and partner defend their right to wfh with their last breath. BUT when they stayed when they were homeless for a month boy were my eyes opened as to how much life admin they did on work hours - no wonder they refused to go in the office!

DD is a new graduate (2023) and loves hybrid. She moved a long way from home so going into the office means she’s made good friends - they go out for lunch/after work. She admits she’s learnt the most on her days in the office. She’s never ever go fully wfh - she’d go mad. Her and dp live in a one bed flat. He’s fully remote and has made zero friends, zero. He’s lonely. She’s happy

her firm is very competitive to get a place in (less than 1% of applicants get a place) and a highly sort after employer so hybrid suits them well

DH goes into the office 4 days a week and only doesn’t go in on 5th as he’d be in the office on his own and h&s doesn’t allow sole working in the office. He HATES wfh, gets distracted with life admin, much prefers dealing with issues face to face (has a reactive job that involves groups of people) and finds he is way way more productive in the office. We have a dedicated wfh office at home so he’s not working from the kitchen office

my friend fully wfh but is happy not seeing anyone for weeks on end - even has shopping delivered and due to lack of commuting works longer hours and is exceptionally focussed. She’d never go back in the office and would never take a job that required it

So, take your pick! Personally I’d keep a very small office for those that want the office space but you certainly don’t need to keep space for everyone but accept with wfh some will take the piss. Lots won’t but some will. Some will not pay for childcare - most will but the odd one won’t. You need to think whether things like this are an issue and if so, how you’ll deal with it. You might not worry about this and that’s your decision. Most people respect wfh so going fully wfh would not be wrong. But as much as people argue how you’ll lose talent, so will fully wfh. For me that is an irrelevant argument as it can be argued both ways- you’ll never please everyone! If you have small offices you have flexibility to offer either option which seems to me to be the best compromise

i know the die hard wfh will come at me but I stand by offering flexibility

I would do it, could you look at meeting spaces to hire once a month, get everyone together. Would this be less than the 40k?

Only watch out if their contracts are wfh then you may need to foot the bill for travel to any office / meetings.

I work for the nhs and since Covid we’ve all
had wfh options
There is 12 in our team but we are only given 6 desks now as there is more clinical space than office space on site. 1 lady works in the office full time (this is her choice), some staff are full time and some part time and so it all works out.

We have a sort of standard rota on excel as people tend to have the same days each week at home but we book our annual leave down on so if someone is else wants a desk on a day we’d usually be in then they can book the desk that day.

everyone is required to come in twice a week as a minimum but in general it’s been ok

it just sort of happened with covid but I’d call a team meeting and ask people what they think.

my friend works for a company and they have a conference day once a month in a local
hotel function room and that works well.

I see where you’re coming from tho as thats
a huge saving.

Does any of your staff prefer or their families prefer them to be in the office?

Dh has been mostly wfh since covid, and he loves it.

However when he first was doing it, he was in the kitchen-diner as the only place we had spare. It was incredibly irritating, although has had the good result that the evening meal is now his job as he too frequently said I couldn't start cooking as he was about to go into a meeting.

It now works, mostly, as the dc are older. He's got a nice little nook downstairs, that we've developed and I work full time in the office.
But it would have been impossible if they'd been primary age:
There's no door, so both I can hear every word of meetings at times. There have been times when he's had something confidential (and some of the stuff is very confidential) so we've had to go upstairs so we can't hear.
Our main entrance to the house is walking past him. The other way would almost be walking past him.
The dc wouldn't have been able to have friends home, I wouldn't have been able to invite a friend round after the school run etc. If I need to hoover, I have to wait until he's not on a call, or even simple stuff like putting stuff in the bin, I have to think round what he's doing.

It may feel a nice easy option, but the reality is not necessarily good for all people.

And actually I like working in an office. I get to leave my work behind. I get a short time all to myself while I commute. Once I'm home, that's it. And I get to see a variety of people.
Dh, has weeks where if he didn't go to church, he would see no one outside his family in the flesh.
Dd1 can choose to wfh or office, and often chooses office, even though she isn't really sociable, for exactly that reason. People can get very isolated.

Yes. Think about how to maintain elements of company culture that you get when people pop in. Also consider things people will do when they're in the office eg printing. Its straightforward to give people printers and an HO ink subscription, for example ... but factor all these costs into the savings you think you'll make. Also if you move.folks to a fully remote contract the travel costs you'll incur to get people to your meetings etc. We found it was cheaper to move office to a smaller space.

Agree with PP on exploring different options, but wanted to add that if you go for the hiring rooms as and when, that you publish the dates in advance, so people can plan cheap travel tickets, hotels, childcare etc in advance? I think that would be a good way to keep the team together, manage expectations and give people a way to plan their lives efficiently,

There's plenty of other options if you don't want to work from your actual home.

Talk it over with staff - my personal. Circumstances mean I cannot work from home, some of your staff may appreciate forward notice

Much better to rent a co-op working space as and when you need it. Do the current office workers actually like working in an office? I am mandated 2 days per week in the office but I wish it was less because public transport and commuting in my city is a right ballache. Plus I live in a place that's super expensive to buy or rent property. If I had to go in the office less often I would move further away where it's cheaper.

The company I work for closed the office during Covid and we’ve never gone back. We all wfh and have rented space in London for meetings that are needed. You need to invest in excellent IT though. We all say we ‘see’ each other more as Teams allows it - before everyone was traveling and in external meetings and we were never in the office at the same time anyway. I LOVE working full time from home. I’m so much more efficient and definitely work longer hours as it’s easy to pick up extra work around my life. Plus the odd commute to London feels like a treat nowadays rather than the torture it used to be!

Definitely check with your staff who go into the office regularly. I hate WFH and need to be in the office daily and be with people. I do have space at home to WFH and you will need to provide monitors, keyboards etc. But if it was me, I would be scrolling socials all day, watching TV as ADHD brain means I procrastinate and in the office I cannot do that!

I like working from home, and do it 2-3 days a week, but I find I get quite antisocial if I do it 5 days. I used to work for a company that went from 2-3 days a week to a horrible shared office where you had to book a desk and it was small and noisy. It was a factor in leaving.

However, I get what you're saying, but you should be careful about how staff will react and find out from them what they think. Having a permanent desk if you're in most of the time would have made a huge difference for me. (Maybe a sign to say you're not in today so others can use it when they're not in).

And think about how you will organise team get-togethers and make sure people communicate. You need to organise more formal meetings, perhaps get people using teams chat or slack better.

YANBU, I would check with the staff who regularly come in though.
Personally I would be delighted, I find I am more productive from home and it's better for my wellbeing and work/life balance, I appreciate not everyone is the same though (DS is a teenager so it's easy for me to WFH). As a bonus it's helpful for the environment and helps with cost of living as I am not travelling to work.
If you have any work from home jobs to advertise check out the work from home hub on Facebook, who have a large following of people looking for work from home jobs.

I'm guessing that you're asking this question because you're concerned how the office staff will feel

Would you be able to cover the cost of a workspace for them? I mean, if you're looking for brownie points with your staff, that might be something that people want. You'd have to put a limit on it, of course.

if anyone is printing regularly, they probably want the cost of that covered.

We have recently downsized and offer a mixture of office base/WFH depending on job role and personal choice
Not everyone has a suitable set up for WFH, I don’t have an office at home and bedrooms are too small so have a small area in lounge which I have to negotiate with DS as he does a mixture of site visits and WFH

Outside of Mumsnet, not everyone has a home large enough to accommodate a home office for people to WFH. Not much fun trying to do a work meeting perched on the bed or in a cramped messy kitchen

YANBU, as long as you can consider short term rentals for a bit of team engagement / development a few times a year.

On the flip side, this also shows why some employers now scale back WFH frequency. I often see threads here where posters are outraged they need to go back to the office more, not considering how much it costs the employer to have an office and needing it to serve its purpose.

This is what I forgot to add. We had to advertise a role 3 or 4 times last year because we require staff to come into the office at least 50% of the time. There were some excellent candidates who applied for the role, but none of them lived close enough to attend the office. We eventually filled the roles, but the successful candidates were nowhere near as good as what we would have got if we had been able to offer the roles on a fully remote basis.

Much as I love working from home, I'd go mad if I couldn't see my team-mates and close colleagues 3-4 times a month. It probably depends on the work but you miss out on serendipitous conversations etc.

Could you get a smaller office, or co-let one for set days a week?

I think going into the office for the sake of it is getting a bit dated. Covid showed that people don’t necessarily need to travel to and from the office daily to do the same job you can do at home. Plus it’s better for the environment.