If you are working from home, how long do you go without hearing from anyone?

[PimaDona]

If you aren't required to be on Zoom calls or Teams etc and you just have to get on with your job?

I haven't heard from anyone for three weeks now. I'm really struggling with WFH and feeling isolated from our team. Lots of them are still in the office as deemed 'essential to operations' but the rest of us sent home to work. No contact from manager, no welfare/how are you doing calls etc etc.

Are we unusual or is this normal? NHS by the way, not front line, department is not under undue pressure

I work with a team of 11 people and our work Whatsapp group is constantly going throughout the day.

It's not always work related though, as we all get on really well so there's lots of chatting.

No contact from your manager is a poor show though. I'd at least expect a bit of courtesy contact, unless they're massively snowed under.

But even then, a quick email takes a minute.

We have a few whatsapp groups but only between certain people, not the whole team. Def no chat on them.

I think the isolation is really really getting to me tbh

On average every 3/4 weeks. Got a meeting on Tuesday but it's the first since I stared wfh.

I emailed her ten days ago with our quarterly figures. No reply. Very much the type of manager who doesn't contact you unless she needs something so i'm not surprised but actually I don't think anyone would even notice if i didn't log on tbh

It's important to keep in touch especially now when you're working remotely. Your boss should be doing it, tbh. Can you raise it with your boss?

Ok cross post. That's not great then.

I permanently WFH, as do most of our team. I have a weekly 1:1 (not welfare based, its about working on specific things mostly) with my manager, and will chat with a couple of the others most days. I think though, your problem is that lots of your team is in the office. When the balance in our team was mostly office based (though in different offices), they got their social fix that way and would also communicate with other people directly so you got missed out. Now, we are all in the same situation and it is a lot better.

About 10 minutes

Since lockdown I've had around around 10 calls a day and 4-6 teams calls a day. On top of my actual job. Nobody can understand why I'm stressed and exhausted

It's harder to set boundaries when you're not face to face and I'm in a "support" role so just get roped into everything.

Since lockdown we say “hi” and check in that everyone is ok. I call the lady I manage on Mondays and Fridays for a catch up. We have a team meeting weekly, and I speak to my manager at least once a day, as it’s often easier speaking than typing.

@CMOTDibbler, YEP definite two teir system going on at the moment. I'd say 75% in the office 25% at home. No idea when we will be going back.

One thing you can do without making a big thing about it is to phone people rather than email or chat them. My current boss is a slow typer so started it (my old one hated the phone and I literally would speak to him outside a meeting once every couple of months max), and its much more interactive. We usually ping each other on Teams chat to see if they are free and then phone so its not intrusive if people are trying to concentrate.

We message on Teams chat regularly, and write good morning at the start of the working day. We have a bit of banter and do a quiz every Friday when we have a proper live chat.

We also have a Teams meeting about every 7 to 10 days.

Our boss is very much behind the team and encourages teamwork and is keen to keep up morale.

Our CEO also does a business presentation on Teams about every 10 days. He makes it clear that he appreciates the work that everyone does.

@CMOTDibbler, tried that last week, went to send an email and thought oh i'll call instead.

Rang twice and then sent to voicemail. No call back.

I have friend who manages another department who i spoke to about it. He said just enjoy your summer, get what you need to do done, keep your phone on you in case someone calls and just relax. He agreed it was a shitty effort on her behalf. Team cohesiveness was not great pre C19, this has shone a light right on it

@Ginfordinner, christ we don't even have a Teams group for our department!

Most are still on site, only 3 of us at home. Teams meeting once a week which is a normal weekly meeting rather than a keep in touch thing, emails as needed, maybe half a dozen a day which is the same whether I'm in the office or at home, with maybe a little chat at the start of the meeting while everyone is arriving. It's a bit odd really as we are normally very sociable. No phone calls as we don't have work phones and it would feel a bit odd, I can't remember the last time I made a phone call for work purposes. It's OK but I'd far rather be back on site.

Thst's why we use Teams for calls, as we don't have work phones.

I realise that I am lucky that I have an excellent boss. The nature of the work means that we have to work as a team and support each other.

About 10 meetings a week, 7 of those are staff welfare related (in a let’s pretend we are having a break by the coffee maker). It’s driving me crazy, I feel forced to have almost 7 hours of chit chat a week with people I don’t know about the most stupid and superficial topics imaginable. I spent another few hours a week dealing with an employee who has gone full paranoia mode since lockdown, feeling victimised by the world and his dog (and using me as a punch bag).

I would love to swap places with you. But instead I would suggest to enjoy the silence and start ringing friends to have catch ups when you have a break, I have found those conversations with friends a life saver.

Wow that's not good! My team were always spread across a few locations and we all WFH in pre lockdown times once or twice a week. Now we have a quick catch up daily, but you only need to join if you are free. Fridays we have an end of the day video social. It fills the void of not having office banter. These are strictly well-being/social calls. I have a ton of work calls everyday too. I'm thinking about cutting back the social calls to be honest though. Well being is frequently talked about by my employer, and there is a mix of front line and office staff. All line managers expected to have well being calls with reportees on a regular basis.

I have to say that despite the fairly minimal
contact at the moment we do work fairly closely, it's a small business and we have all been there years and know exactly what everyone else is doing, it is a pretty supportive set-up but I do miss the normal day to day chat. We are only using teams for pre-booked meetings, I don't need it for anything else and those on site are doing non-office work and not at computers much.

I work for the NHS in a clinical but office based role. Most of the team are working from home. One or two in the office regularly and others on an ad hoc basis as needed. We have an MS teams meeting each day, some business, some catch up/welfare. It lasts anything from 10-40 minutes depending on the day of the week and agenda. I also speak to my manager and other team members on a daily members.
Staff welfare has absolutely been at the forefront and I think this has contributed to a really effective and productive work. It has allowed us to think about what is possible in terms of remote working.
Your manager is failing in both their duty of care and also in their management role overall by taking this approach.

• Two WhatsApp Groups just for laughs really, not for work) - one for immediate Team and one for the wider Team we are part of
• Two Microsoft Teams Meetings a week (one sometimes cancelled if nothing needed, but starting point is, they are twice a week)
• Regular e-mails amongst ourselves, checking details / raising queries etc
• I've had a 'supervision' meeting and two other 'how are you doing?' phone calls individually from my Manager
• then e-mails from higher up the structure, thanking staff for all we are doing and also linking to wellfare support (finance / bereavement / mental health / other support Groups / wellbeing and also tips and reassurances that they are happy for us to shut the computer and go for a walk if that is what we need, etc etc.

3 weeks is way too long.

My manager isn't really a people person which has its plusses and minuses. But I teams chat (text) with a few on a daily/alternate day basis, I call my closest wormmate or she calls me most days, and when I'm done on a task/project I email my supervisor or manager and they respond.

Its low level contact at a rate I appreciate. Three weeks without any comms is a shit show imo.