Anyone else that WFH and expecting to go back to the office next week?

[Primetoes]

Even though we all work from and it appears to be working quite well we have management that seem to think that working from home is some kind of easy street and they absolutely hate it, you can tell by their language.

From day one the message as been that as soon as we can we’ll be back in the office. Knowing them they’ll find a way to make Sunday’s announcement fit our circumstances and we’ll be expected to go back in, probably the next day or two.

I’m quite anxious at the thought as our offices are down long, narrow corridors, there’ll be no way we cannot not pass each other and of course toilets and kitchen will be shared.

Anyone else feel the same?

We’re not expected back until about sept from what I’ve heard!

We're nowhere near going back. I'd be very surprised if we go back before the end of June to be honest.

No, I can't see my team being back in the office before Christmas. We'll be the last team to be allowed back.

Luckily our management team trust us to do our jobs regardless of where we're working.

I work in an office and we've been told there are no plans to go back in the near future. They're collating information on who is vulnerable and wants to stay at home, who is extremely vulnerable and needs to stay at home, and how they can safely accommodate everyone else.

We all work with tangible results though so it's easy to tell if someone's not working while they're at home.

I think businesses will be told that they can only ask people to come back into work if they can safely social distance everyone and they can’t do their roles from home. My company have started making plans and in an office that normally holds up to 240 people they think they can only have 80 people in at once and would start with half of that to see how it does. Capacity on public transport is going to be limited so some people won’t be able to get to their office anyway or at least on time.

I really don’t think that Sunday’s announcement will encourage anyone to go back to work. We’re still seeing 500+ deaths a day, other countries haven’t been easing things off until the daily numbers were a lot lower, nearer 100-150 deaths per day.

We're not going back for months, the ppe we have is much better used by the frontline staff.

I can only speak for our team but we all feel we are working well. Maybe a very slight slow down but nothing that I would expect to have a huge impact on the customer.

We have an email update from management a couple of times a week and the tone is always that they are looking at ways that we can be back in the office as soon as possible.

We may be able to socially distance by spreading out in offices but then that would mean passing each other along corridors etc. At least we all drive in to work as it’s off the route of public transport.

Our directors are writing off a full return to the office until 2021, with only going in when absolutely necessary.

My work will be keen to have some people back as soon as possible but nobody's expecting full teams until maybe autumn. Depending on schools.

The guidance from next week will continue to be, "if you can work from home, continue to do so." It's already been confirmed.

Unlikely. Our senior management is currently consulting everyone on how they feel about how work has changed, WFH etc. with a view to changing how we all work following all this. I'm hoping that means I'll never really have to go back to the office. DH's work have already said they won't be expected back into the office until September at the earliest.

We’ve been told we might not return for years

Went back to work this week. Quite large office, just two of us in.
Most of the staff still furloughed, but enough paperwork in the office to keep a small number of us at it.

For the large part, we're about 10 metres apart, but still have day to day issues of touching door handles, kettles etc. Wash hands as often as practicable and have finally managed to get some overly priced hand sanitiser, but how effective our measures are is difficult to know.

they have better visibility on people's performance, and they will never share it with you all due to confidential matters... all the financial numbers are with them. if they thought you guys are doing well, they wouldn't invite you back and pay the cost of running the office...

I'd love to be the one returning to the office, i just can't wait, it's so boring

My work is planning for us to e at home until September at the earliest

So maybe it’s not working so well for business as we thought. We are an office within a manufacturing organisation that is still manufacturing the goods. Am really hoping they’ll let us continue WFH as we’ve all proved that it can actually be done, albeit it’s probably a bit clunky.

I think there is still a lot of managerial paranoia about working from home.
Some folks still have the attitude that working from home is slacking, or having an easy life, feet up. A lot of companies embrace it, some don't.

I would also say that even if a company does theoretically embrace it, staff can feel they have to work even harder to prove they aren't slacking, particularly if they have office based co-workers too.

For ever company that truly believes 'as long as you get the work done, we're happy', this is probably another who says that only half heartedly, but still holds some resentment, and yet another who just can't break the coffee machine and corridor chat culture, so will never even give it a chance.

Please forgive autocorrection errors! embarrassing

Our buildings are locked and an email today has said they won't be opened for some considerable time.

Oh we're definitely looking weeks and weeks away. Our company is saying if we manage to do 4 hours work a day that's great just do what you can. They've been really good plus I have a very people focussed senior manager.

Our parent company’s head of people messaged us today and a part of that was to say they are expecting us to carry on next week as we have been.

I work as part of a remote team so my location is largely irrelevant. My boss is usually based at home and has offered the same to me before this all happened.

'Head of people'...

I wonder what other heads they have. Do they manage inanimate objects too?

Sorry, just a bit of a pet peeve of how dehumanising all that stuff is.

I don't think Sunday is going to signal a mass return to work. I think its going to be a continuation of lockdown for another three weeks but with some tweaks to start lessening the restrictions.

My own predictions for what will be announced are that everyone can go out for exercise more than once per day rather than just specific group as it is at the moment. Routine outpatient appointments and possibly also day surgeries will be allowed to resume. Play areas of parks will reopen with social distancing in place and a request to only use it for a short period rather than all day (e.g., as part of a period of exercise).

The government have already said the changes will be minimal and I don't see how they could make major changes when Scotland have announced they are extended it for another three weeks with Wales and NI likely to do the same.

In my work they are sending out quite mixed signals, but I get why:

Some staff can not wait to get back into the office. Really not coping well with being at home.

Some staff are very wary and scared of going back, want to remain working from home as long as possible. Are happy WFH.

You don’t know what other staff have been asking for. Some people could be really keen to go back, maybe they are trying to reassure those people. But of course maybe they are just trying to enforce what they want.

What might work is to ask your company to do a survey about who would prefer to go back and who would prefer to wait. They might be able to take that into account with their planning. As much as they want everyone back at once, that may not work in practice. So maybe you can use that in your favour.