If you're now WFH, have you bought yourself new furniture and equipment?

[Thurlow]

Minor debate at work. Our large corporate firm has everyone wfh and likely to until next spring. Some colleagues have been working for months on a sofa with a laptop and no mouse. I expressed surprise they didn't at least buy themselves a mouse (and even more that they didn't just ask IT for one!) and someone else said perhaps they didn't want to spend their own money on equipment.

Firm is now gearing up to get people proper equipment at home. But I did think, surely if you're saving several hundred pound a month on travel, as most of my colleagues are, you can spend a little on getting a reasonable set up at home of you have room...

I've recently bought a desk, and a long ethernet cable out of my own pocket; work will be providing a monitor and docking station. Is anyone else buying themself, or should it be on work to provide everything?

We got £200 towards equipment which I used for a monitor and keyboard and mouse. I’ve also bought a desk and chair myself because ours needed an upgrade anyway.

I don't know, work should provide the essentials, but as much as it isn't those working from homes choice to do so, it's not the businesses either. But you get some businesses who just cannot afford it, and some employees saving loads on commuting costs but others not. I would say if you are saving £££s by not travelling in then it's reasonable to buy furniture for your own home to make it more comfortable. But if you cannot afford it there should be some assistance from an employer.

It would depend on the type of job you have and existing equipment. If the company wants specific equipment and software used then they should be providing this.

I don't work for a company but wfh. Essentially I can just pick up my laptop and work without the need for anything extra. Many prefer the mouse/scroll thing built into many laptops. Cannot remember the last time I needed an external mouse tbh. Sometimes I require another cam and my phone does this, also have a mouse app just incase the built in one plays up and for more detailed stuff I use a pen on the scroll bar (many have this option, check your settings including Accessibility)

If I need a table at home, I often sit on a cushion of the floor and use the coffee table, I find this more comfortable. Also have one of those breakfast in bed tables! (I spend long periods on bedrest)

Day to day stuff etc - paper, ink, stationary, paperwork I bought a small deep drawer and shelf thing from Ikea years ago (one of those mod things you can add in what you want. cannot remember the range) and the printer is wifi and sits on the top.

Ethernet, extension boxes are easy to install yourself tbh and cheap. When I moved here to get a second box upstairs it would have cost me around £80. Went argos, bought 3 extension sockets and saved money!

I worked at home a lot pre lockdown so was set up for it. I have got a better webcam though- helpful for vid calls

If work are asking you to wfh they should pay. In my last job I wfh 2 days a week but because it was my choice and discretionary I paid for the things I needed.

Btw OP you can get a device that you plug in to your modem and your laptop which plugs into the sockets which avoids the need to trail an Ethernet cable through the house. Definitely worth it

Oh and another thing I have is my network is set so no matter how I'm logged in, I get printer priority.
My router also ensures that my work stuff is seperate from the main home network.

This might be something to consider.
Another issue I have realised from friends and looking at various ads for wfh positions, extension leads aren't always permitted. Could be a reason why others aren't buying them.

Personal hotspot is another option to avoid wires. But this depends on your network and could be costly.

It's a real bug bear of mine, why are employees in an office treated more favourably to one's working at home?

I bought everything, apart from my work laptop, as I couldn't work on a hard dining chair for over seven hours, using a screen smaller than a A4 sheet of paper.

So that's a desk, office chair, second screen, extension cable, upgraded internet package, and rug so that the chair wheels don't damage the floorboards.

I've also needed to remove a much loved bookcase to make room for the new desk set up.

I'm not happy about any of it to be honest, I'll vote with my feet as soon as I can.

We just had to spend £££ on a computer. Working for universities and there is no money whatsoever for new IT. My husband had a laptop, provided by work, but it's gone on the blink and despite being just 3 years old and costing a fortune it's out of warranty so there's no help (thanks Microsoft Surface).

No, but I play a lot of video games so I had the equipment already.

Work is buying stuff for us to bring home to use if we need though, they keep trying to buy me a chair because mine apparently doesn't meet their h&s requirements. I don't want a new chair!

I was WFH a day a week before this anyway and was using my laptop and a mouse I got myself. The mouse really helped to speed things up.
Whent this pandemic hit work made me go in and collect a brand new monitor to hook the laptop up to. (I didn't want it but am glad that I have it now).
I was working at my kitchen table and did have to buy a proper chair a couple of months in when my back started to hurt.

Where I work, a large proportion of the business (approx. 6.5k) people work from home if not travelling. Work will fully kit out a home office for everyone if they want it. We tell them what we need and it gets delivered.

I had a laptop, portable keyboard and mouse already. I’ve bought myself a monitor but I am still sat at the dining table. I only bought the monitor because I was getting bad pain in my shoulders and neck but that came out of my ‘fun’ money for the month as we’re trying to save where we can. I’m waiting on work to say if we can have some work from home permanently, then I’ll buy myself a desk and chair (and find somewhere to put it). For my work, they have said we can go into the office (if agreed in advance and numbers are fine) to get any equipment, even desk chairs.

DH’s work (private sector) haven’t provided them with anything and he’s still working on his personal laptop. Some in his team have been really struggling as they have one family laptop which has been needed for home schooling and WFH. They aren’t allowed in the office to collect anything.

My mum’s work is providing everyone with a desk, chair and printer. She already had the laptop, keyboard, mouse and headset. She’ll also get a work from allowance. Every company is handling it differently.

I don’t think there is a normal and people aren’t unreasonable if they don’t want to use their own money for work equipment. Not everyone is saving on not travelling in - some people walk/cycle to work, some will get a lift in with their partners so there is only one commuting cost between two but suddenly two desks, two chairs etc to buy. Some will have a company vehicle. Electricity costs will have increased with people using electricity all day - for us, we’ve got two laptops and two monitors running all day that wouldn’t usually. People are experiencing an increase in food costs because everyone is home. If everyone is still working at home in the winter, heating bills are going to be higher. Also, some people have taken a pay cut but still been working full time. DH had a 20% pay cut, is working on his personal laptop and he’s expected to buy his own desk and chair too?

I should say the entire firm is wfh and has been since lockdown. They are trying to open the office a little but not many people will be able to go in at the same time, and also as a central London office there's the whole commuting issue to consider - they've been very good and are happy that anyone who doesn't want to use public transport or who has childcare, caring or shielding issues can do whatever they need to.

So I get that if work are saying you have to wfh they should provide, and they are desperately trying to get there with the full IT set up. Good chairs I can see an argument for too.

I don't know, though - part of me does however think that we're lucky to work for a good firm, supporting everyone through lockdown and encouraging them to do whatever they need to feel safe - just looking online shows that millions of people are in a much, much shitter position, so if you're saving money every month, just suck it up and spend £100 on a desk from Wayfair...

Work have provided me with a chair, monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse. It took a while to arrive though because the whole world and his dog wanted them at the same time. Working crouched over my laptop on the sofa absolutely wrecked my back! If I didn’t know that work had already sorted it I would have ordered them myself.

Monthly connection should also be discussed - are they paying or are your claiming back through tax?

Also look into claiming back other expenses such as utilities (not sure if the same things apply when you are employed as wfh). This also includes space needed for the purposes of work that is dedicated for that purpose. (or wording to that effect).

Does your LL allow WFH, this is something that has been grossly overlooked by many which was/is understandable. Mine is ok because I use an alternative means of getting work deliveries and don't have many people come here for work purposes.

www.argos.co.uk/product/5742734?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=30f62ea9-9626-4cac-97c8-9ff3921f8558&istItemId=ixilqwtal&istBid=t&&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59158%7Cacid:532-198-3455%7Ccid:598893978%7Cagid:24310582250%7Ctid:pla-215576371490%7Ccrid:86867309210%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:8524561532415358198%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:9046960&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=598893978&utm_term=&utm_content=shopping&utm_custom1=24310582250&utm_custom2=532-198-3455&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjcfzBRCHARIsAO-1_Oo66m3wgppsVH7RPKFjYmpXt2anV_dfoSccpqOnUj0txZxN1v5FfGMaAvpUEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is what I use instead of a long Ethernet cable OP. 2 small cables are all that’s needed. I paid for it myself but it’s so much better than a long wire.

I walk to work so I'm not saving anything wfh! I really need a better chair but I don't have a proper chair at work either- and my computer has a floppy disk drive. Suffice to say my work are not big on providing equipment at home or at work!

I think London wages, with no London commute is a very, very different proposition to the vast majority of local office workers!

One good thing to come out of this is that long term I can apply for jobs outside my self imposed 20min travel time, in the office twice a week opens up a lot of possibilities!

@canigooutyet anything else? Cripes maybe consider asking your employer for unpaid leave, that would be more reasonable then your sizable demands.

Monthly connection should also be discussed - are they paying or are your claiming back through tax?

Do you mean broadband connection? If so, it's a bit of a piss take to ask for a contribution to that. Even if you didn't WFH, you'd still have it surely.

I've got the fastest broadband I can get where I am and I'd have that even if I wasn't WFH.

I have just completed Home working assessment for my employer, have been wfh since April (I was forgotten). I am using my own laptop, as I only work 2 days a week it wasn’t worth me having a work laptop. I have quite a few IT issues working from home but because I am using my own laptop IT won’t give me any support.

A domestic broadband package with fixed download is very different to a business one for four people WFH who need upload capacity as well as download.

So yes, improved upload in my case would cost an extra £40 per month - that would only double my upload capacity, which actually still wouldn't be enough when we are all working at full flow.

I haven't bought anything. We're closing down our office and working from home permanently. We're fortunate to have a spare bedroom that I have turned into my home office. I have my office desk and chair here at home now and work have bought brand new a laptop, docking station, I have a monitor from the office, a keyboard and mouse, webcam, and an office-grade printer. I'm very lucky!

Although just to balance that, I do need for example a new work bag to carry the new laptop around etc, I will buy that myself!