AIBU To Think Remote Work Isn't Sustainable?

I agree fully with your post. WFH is very bad for society and very bad for mental health. It’s also very convenient for people who use WFH to mind children, do school runs, it’s also fabulous for civil servants and the like.

I think a semi flexible hybrid WFH can be beneficial. To both employer and employee.

The OPs problem in her post was that she didnt get a F2F "happy birthday" or have a coffee with someone. (Honestly, who gives a fuck about those anyway?)

Pretty naive and silly reasons for the OP to hate on WFH just because it doesnt suit the OP's "nuances" or preferences....

You work to work - not socialise - and its clear the OP isnt socialising with anyone in the office she goes to - which begs the question as to why go to the office at all then?

This is about the OP whining about the birthday, lack of coffee with a colleague and a moan about WFH. Fuck all else.

I am ND and find it hard to fit in anywhere so I hate office days. I am exhausted trying to mask my ND and as I don’t fit in I do t really have work friends. I’d rather be at home where I can be left to just get on with work. I get an extra hour in bed and as an insomniac it really helps.

Thank the Lord I'm not working in an office with some of the argumentative twits on this thread.

Your problem is nothing to do with WFH. Your problem is that you’re in a different city to your team and you aren’t interacting with people who are in the office with you. You’d have the exact same problem if you worked in the office 5 days a week.

I suggest you move or commute to the city where your team are.

The OP is hybrid. She’s in the office more than out of it, therefore not ‘remote’. She’s complaining about not speaking to anyone all day! That’s either the nature of her role or down to the OP.

I am also at the different site to my team. There are plenty of other colleagues to speak to, if I bother my arse during the day.

As we've grown as a team I need to see them more at the moment we do a day a month together, but I think there will be a time when we go to a day a week. But it's horses for courses really. Just because you don't enjoy it that doesn't mean it isn't best for your organisation, even if that meant you moving on. I save about £3k a month on office rental for starters.

You said you'd hope for a job with mandated office days.

So you have a job where office days are optional?

Then go into the office!

And if you're one of those people who says 'yeah I could go into the office but no-one else will be there' then you need to ask yourself why other people don't want to and why you think it should be mandated that they should.

WFH is undoubtedly convenient and efficient, its suitability depends on the type of work. Since I have an office job, my tasks are completely doable from home. However, I’ve noticed there are limits to knowledge sharing. Communication isn't as efficient as meeting in person, and it takes longer to build trust. Occasionally, it’s difficult to develop comfortable working relationships with colleagues you never see. The connections can feel superficial, and people don't engage with work issues as deeply as they would in an office setting.

I've been doing it for 4 years and I love it, Im not sure how I would ever work in an office again and certainly wouldnt do it full time, Im quite antisocial though 😂- I know some collegues would like more in person interactions, but we are scatted all over the country so it would be very difficult to arrange.

Is that you Nigel?

I get the nuance but it's less about arguing the merits of WFH, than how it has evolved to facilitate teams who are located globally. Which in your case has meant you don't have to relocate for a job?

I agree with you. There is a lot of social isolation in working in an organisation where you don't physically meet your colleagues.

I think you have three choices [because I'm a solutions girl]

1. you move to the city your team are based in or commute there instead. Tracy if you are in Edinburgh and they are in Mumbai.
2. you change jobs so that when you are in the office you are working with your direct colleagues
3. you actively start to build a network in your office location of choice. Get involved in or set up social networking groups. There are usually lots around diversity, mentoring, supporting women, but occasionally office yoga and other more social avenues.

Lots of people who work in a building alongside others barely speak. Some places it's too loud to hear or you get disciplined for chatting.

Some work doesn't require you to speak.

But speaking in general seems to have reduced.

So I don't think it's just down to WFH.

I think people are so obsessed with online communication you'd have people texting/messaging eachother or emailing even when they're easily within earshot. Both at work or home.

Exactly what I was going to say! I think the argument for having people in the office means they spend on the high street is a pretty weak one.

Why don’t you have catch up meetings ? We have a catch up meeting and even if there is no work business to discuss we have a chat as a team . We also have people on site every day and alternate between home and site. It works really well . The only thing I find doesn’t work consistently is if there is a new person training and they can’t have the same level of input from a consistent mentor as the mentor is at home some of the time

I work hybrid and it works well for me I enjoy the mixture of office and home. Having said that I don't really socialise with colleagues. Sounds like home working isn't he right set up for you

I think your statement of sustainability is a strange one. It’s clear that it’s suitable for some and not for others just because it doesn’t suit you, doesn’t mean it is not sustainable for all.

Remote working has many sustainable perks for businesses and employees and the environment.

I don’t think I’d like it. I think wfh works for those who have sociable, busy lives and/or eg young families, but if you haven’t got that then spending all day alone working isn’t going to be good mentally. We are not yet robots and so require social contact.

Mumsnet is the home of the anti-social and socially anxious so you will inevitably get a lot of replies saying how great remote working is.

It isn't. It is a terrible fit for the job I do and everyone is worse at their job because of it. We do a lot of partnership working and its clear that the organisations who have moved most away from full time WFH are outperforming us.

Its dreadful across a whole range of domains.

I think hybrid is ideal, but full time WFH is a terrible idea for most jobs.

But people who work from home still buy things. I still have to eat lunch, and my lunch at home will probably be much nicer than a slightly soggy ham sandwich in a lunchbox or an over-priced salad pot from Pret. I spend more on things for my house because I'm here all the time rather than just an hour or two for dinner and bed. It does save me money overall because I don't have to pay for travel but I thought the government wanted us all having savings so we have a safety net they don't have to pay for? If your business model is entirely off people who are only buying from you because they are a captive audience then it's probably not very sustainable.

I guess it depends on the individual. My dh has worked from home for 15 yrs now. He uses a co working centres once a month and has made friends there.

This. especially with the current COL problem, also environmental issues. We are being encouraged NOT to use lunchtime takeaways!

thats the thing thats the puzzlement of it all, to me people use the businesses or not, etc

Except, it is not my job to prop up Pret or Costa.

only the supermarket etc, because its said some use the dinner places, the costas etc