If you work for your local council, have you gone back to work in the office or have you been offered wfh for the future?

[burpies]

Just wondering what other local councils are doing. Haven't got a date for when we will start back but wondering if you will be wfh for a few days in the long term.

We've been told we're wfh until end of October when it will be reviewed again. A few staff who have struggled wfh are going into offices. They have to have a good reason, a risk assessment, senior manager's approval and book one of the very few available desks.
Our LA have said they will never be reopening all offices and are reviewing which buildings to sell.
We will never return to the office full time as we were before. Possibly only going in for some meetings.

BYGIDAFY my Friend works in schools, she isn't a teacher. She is going back to "normal" from September

whatever1980 if my department had to all go back whilst others were working from home a few days, I'd be pissed off too!

Of course if your job doesn't allow home working then that's fine but the majority are. I honestly think it all depends how progressive your LA is. People are still so backwards when it comes to homeworking. It was the reason my DH left his last job. He loved his job and he did some really good things there but the commute was too much and they refused WFH so he left.

We are all wfh for a long time more. There is a suggestion that those who are finding it very difficult to wfh (space, facilities or other reasons) will be able to go back first.

Limited lift space is the main issue.

I work for a LA and we are WFH until "well into 2021" My DC are 7& 9 and I have a grown up DC at home too, so I'm very lucky to be able to continue working full time.

Things will get trickier with school runs added to the mix.

Our office has reopened with a one way system in place and lots of rules about loos, handwashing, kitchen etc. About 20 people are working there full time for business reasons. And there are several bookable slots for others that just want/need a day in the office.

My team is still working 100% from home. My head of service doesn't care where we work as long as we get the work done so I don't foresee any massive change. I think come the autumn we'll probably have settled on a mixture so we can have team meetings in person and then go home and get on with stuff.

We're having a "walking meeting" this week so we can all see each other in person. I have one colleague who has been working with us for two months and I've never seen her standing up

OP I wonder if we work for the same Borough?

We are being told we must be back to the office on a rota by September.

Luckily a lot of the Heads of Department are being very slow setting up the rotas.

Every time we have an online webinar the message is 'Return to the workplace ASAP. You will NOT be able to work from home permanently and you will not progress in your career if you don't return'.

scrivette I'm in the nw in a very boring town! We haven't got a date set but I know the managers are wanting to get back to work in the office asap. 😏

We are working towards having a rota and doing 1/2 days per week in the office but I don't think we will ever be back to pre Covid working.

I work for environmental health.

The vast majority of people in my department are unlikely to return full time to our offices. We already worked from home one day a week before lockdown and actually we are all a lot more productive wfh. Our meetings are all hosted via MS Teams which has been a big saving both in terms of time and financially.

We're all set up to work from home properly and there isn't any pressure to get back to the office at all.

(I work in planning and environment services)

Small NW LA - back in office September. Been on a rota so far. I’d personally like a mix of predominantly office/but WFH on suitable occasions going forward but doubt it’ll happen. Offices being re-arranged and the building manager has been looking at walls with what I call his “Kirstie hammer”.

I work for LA - we've been told not to expect anything before New Year.

Although there is scope to attend offices etc but it's heavily guarded and on a rota basis with the queen bee allowing it on exceptional circumstances. So just not worth the agg of organising.

They've set up a new role where if I need anything printing/posting I just email someone and it's done for me within seconds.

We were trying to reduce costs so I think the lease on my office floor won't be renewed anyway and I won't have an office to go back to. Plus they've just given us all brand new laptops and phones.

I'm hoping that when I go on Mat leave next year I may be able to negotiate another paid month or two at home with the baby by saying I'll WFH again whilst the older kids are at school - regardless if we are back in the office or not.

Very much got the feeling that Covid played into their hands with the new woke variable working which they were trying to encourage anyway. I do just miss face to face contact and adult conversation with colleagues.

It's a stressful role so it's nice to have someone to bounce off or rant to, but all in all the senior managers have really looked after us throughout this.

We've been told most people back in the office some of the time by October. My building is down to 20% capacity so probably logically it would be 1 day a week for most of us. However it's a rented space and I suspect they will get rid and move more of us back to the main Council owned complex which is also in the commercial centre so would increase city centre business a little. Like others we've just spent a lot on kit or allowed people to take monitors and chairs home so I can't see a return to normal soon. We've been told to expect WFH mostly until December.

One thing I’ve found is that my office/building are very militant about going home on the dot (and often before the dot too! ) whereas I don’t mind working a bit over if it means getting a job finished.

So before lockdown I would be turfed out of the office at 4/ half 4, and would then have to drive home and set up, and then finish the task. It’s been great not having to do this while wfh!

@BYGIDAFY

Are there any LA employees here who work in schools (but who are not teachers)? Ed psychs etc? Will you be going back into schools next month?

I do. We'll be going into schools (no more than 1 school a day) and then going back home again.

Work for a LA and had to go back to the office in May as they didn't have enough laptops

We are working from home indefinitely. The CC have purchased equipment for us to have at home so we can work safely (office chairs, proper monitors etc).

We're all still WFH but people seem to be going into the office more and more. We've been told that it's being kept under review but it looks unlikely that people will be required to go into the office any time soon! We were already encouraged to WFH 1 or 2 days a week though.

I've heard of a neighbouring LA insisting that everyone comes back in ASAP with the intention of normal capacity in September!

Are there any LA employees here who work in schools (but who are not teachers)? Ed psychs etc? Will you be going back into schools next month?

No decisions made here.
It was 'wait and see where things are, come September', but certainly the expectation for meetings with adults to be done virtually. Only visits being suggested would be to observe individual dc., but no confirmation of it yet - definitely wait and see.

I work for the LA, our office never closed. There has been a Rota system for office days and WFH which is still in place.

Jan 2021 at the earliest, we all hot desk and share keyboards etc and also approx 3 x as many people as desks, so infection control a problem. Also sealed building with no windows that open, only AC that recirculates the air.

DH is a manager in our local council, he’s been wfh the whole time and they’ve got no plans to go back to office.
He has Zoom meetings every day and it’s all working so home is the best place.

We’ve been told November, I’m guessing they want to see how it goes when schools return, our office has 4 desks and 2 have been taped off to maintain social distancing so we won’t all be going back to full time in the office. We have all had a risk assessment and online training about wiping everything before and after use - keyboards, communal kitchen facilities etc.

My DH works for district council (Planning dept), and has been told bubbles are being planned for September to allow some team meetings etc, but that it will still be more WFH than office, unless the job requires on site working or you're lonely and want to go back more.