Do you like going in to the office?

I like the flexibility of hybrid working.

No, I much prefer wfh. Luckily for me, my employer sold all but one central office after Covid, so we all wfh now. I go in about five times a year for training etc.

I would never work from an office again.

I’m also in comms and have tried sitting with other teams and found it really helpful. How does it work for you? Do you just drop in to sit with different teams ad hoc? Have some kind of schedule?

I prefer working at home, I don't like the commute and the expense and I like the extra time in my bed, being able to have lunch with my husband when he is also home. However I also manage a team and I do notice that everyone, including myself get more done and work better in the office. I know people don't like to hear that but I've spoke to lots of people who manage teams and that is the general consensus. It feels better on a individual level to work at home much of the time, you get more rest, you can maybe get some household chores done but actual work quality and quantity goes down even when people swear blind they are more efficient and less distracted at home the actual results show something very different.

I am the same. I enjoy the interaction with colleagues too.

I used to be in the office 1 or 2 days a week, but now at home 5 days due to health.

I miss the office, I miss the catch ups with colleagues but most of all I miss the drive to work and home, even busy traffic didn't bother me.

Hopefully my health will improve so that I can at least get back in 1 day a week, unfortunately I cant see that happening any time soon 😔

I like going in - meetings are increasingly in person and I have a better awareness of what is happening. My CEO is mainly in and will call for a chat - so it’s much easier to know what is going on and get ahead of issues. if a last minute meeting is called, I don’t have to scramble to get dressed and get into the office - i am already in the city. I also find colleagues are meeting more often for coffee and catch ups

i Work from home about one day a week and I love that too. It’s a chance to have some quiet time and get caught up on works that requires concentration. I also get an extra hour in bed!

I haaaate it. I hate not having control over the temperature. I hate the layers of noise = people chatting, music, people on calls, walking around. I hate wasting 2 hours a day commuting. Im far more productive at home.

I find I do far less actual work at the office as I'm forever getting pulled into chit chat about the latest work thing, how to collaborate on it etc or getting caught as I walk around for a spontaneous chat.

I come away feeling like I've done eff all productivity-wise but like i have a valid excuse because "networking".

So to summarise, lazy, social me loves the office, outcome-driven me thst actually wants to get stuff done hates it.

Basically the office is the equivalent of "this meeting could have been an email".

I work with Americans.

As soin as my arse hits the train seat on the way home my phone starts going "ping ping ping ping"

I can't do anything , because I am now on a 1h30 train home . And When I get home I will have personal shit to do because I have been out all day on a 4hr commute.

UItterly pointless.

No. My team are geographically all over, so I go in, don't talk to anyone and go home.
It's all localised teams in the office passing cake round and literally skipping the tin over my hot desk where I have inevitably, accidentally sat in the middle of a team 🤣

I enjoy WFH where I crack on, have teams chats with various colleagues as part of our usual work and no commute.

It's a waste of my life to do go into the office and thank god my LM agrees and my employer is very chill about it all.

Yes I love it. I work from the office 3 days, with 2 days at home, but if I had to choose entirely home or entirely office, I'd choose entirely office. The hill I will die on is that long term, more and more businesses will return to office-based work. I think too much WFH is bad for individuals (both productivity and healthwise) and bad for business. (To be clear, I think some flex is good - a day or two from home. But not full time WFH)

I’m hybrid and do 2 days a week in the office, I hate the commute but do like being in. It’s good to see my colleagues face to face and sometimes you just need to have that interaction to get things done - mostly everything can be done remotely but it’s quicker in person!

In theory I enjoy the social aspect of being in an office but I find it makes me phenomenally unproductive. At home I can just crack through the to-do list. In the office there’s a never ending list of things people “just want two minutes to chat about”. Or discussion about TV or someone’s wedding plans etc. I increasingly find office chat draining and wasteful. Not to mention the commute which is an hour of dead time.

I understand why f2f contact is important for junior staff but candidly for someone of my age and stage its a distracting, time sucking pain in the arse and if I could get away with it I wouldn’t come in at all.

Can’t WFH so no choice! I don’t mind it, there’s only 3 of us

Also the aircon in the office in summer makes work much more pleasant than at home.

I dislike it for the most part, freezing (to me), no windows, I have a permanent desk but right in the middle of my team so people talk to me all day and I can't get any flow going. I have to be in at least 3 days a week for my staff but I get way more work done at home.

I love it. I only have to actually go in two days but now the kids are bigger I go in four or 5. I work in comms so I know people all around the business and sit with different teams on different days. But I am great friends with my own team…we always have lunch together, we often go to the pub after work and once a month have a big night out. I know some people would hate it, but for me, sitting on my own 40 hours a week is not what life is about. The putting on of nice clothes, the driving in listening to a new podcast or album, the getting to chat to a wide variety of people…I much prefer it.

I wfh full time as I’m self employed. I hate it and really miss having an office and a place to be. Co work spaces aren’f the same as they’re so fluid and you never get to know anyone. It’s the only bit about being self employed that I dislike

I’m much more productive at home but when I go in, I realise how much I hate being by myself and speaking to the little tiles on Teams! Bit of both, I think. Reckon I save more money but move less at home.

Yes, because I live 20 minutes away by train and my office is a very modern building in the heart of a really vibrant part of London. I am able to move lots of projects forward much more quickly by having face to face conversations than via Teams and every day in the office I will have at least two or three unplanned conversations with colleagues that are either just nice or help us both do our jobs better.

However, I like balancing in-office days with quieter ones at home during which I get my head down and do my writing/reading/thinking.

I also work with colleagues all over the world and spend a lot of time on Teams with people that I would not see in the office anyway. But it is always good when they visit HQ and I see them in person.

I hate it. We wfh for 4 years then a few months ago we had to go back to the office. It’s a very difficult environment, I don’t like having to be pleasant to people all the time, I have no peace & someone always wants to talk! I think this is primarily a ‘me’ problem because I wouldn’t mind working in an office if there wasn’t other people!

I really do. I wfh occasionally and it’s probably more productive and less tiring but I really miss the company of my colleagues and in the buzz of working life. Also we have a small house with two teens crashing in and out so the office is actually more peaceful sometimes.

I work hybrid - 2 days in the office, 3 days at home but with flexibility to change as needed whether by me or by the organisation. I like my office days, but there are so many more interruptions and distractions there that I do have to time what I do and when. If I'm doing large volumes of data analysis, I want to be at home. If I'm prepping a disciplinary, I want to be in the office with the others involved because it can be upsetting. I do like my office days, but it's more for the social side than for productivity. However, I would not go back to 100% WFH because I've done that and it is lonely.

I was initially reluctant to return to the office post-Covid after 2 years wfh.

However I now appreciate that I’m forced out of the house 2/3 days a week into a different environment with other people around because I think it’s actually good for us. Even with the expensive commute.

We have permanent desks though, I think I would hate hot-desking.

ETA I wouldn’t want to go back in full-time. Hybrid gives the best of both worlds.