If you're wfh and expecting to stay at home due tonthe huge success that wfh has been....

[BecomeStronger]

Is your employer doing any work to find out if the customer has enjoyed it as much as the staff?

I keep hearing about how brilliant wfh has been, how people won't be returning to their offices, they're more efficient at home etc etc, but if this is the case, why is it that I am constantly dealing with businesses who cant maintain basic service levels because staff are wft.

I'm in a nationwide group of professionals who use lots of advisory services, people who really should be able to work efficiently from home but without exception, people are incredibly frustrated at the declining quality of service and lengthening response times from these businesses.

It’s not the case; people are more inefficient at home. It’s just those who wfh are desperate to stay that way so go on and on about how much more productive they are, when it simply isn’t true.

People will be back to the offices in good time after the vaccine has been rolled out whether they like it or not.

It's not normal times tho, we are in the middle of a pandemic and many workers had no childcare provision when childcare and schools closed.

WFH in normal times is totally different - time to plan, get people set up, children in childcare/school, no stress of COVID... I could go on.

WFH in normal times doesn't equal WFH as an emergency response to a pandemic.

@emilyfrost

It’s not the case; people are more inefficient at home. It’s just those who wfh are desperate to stay that way so go on and on about how much more productive they are, when it simply isn’t true.

People will be back to the offices in good time after the vaccine has been rolled out whether they like it or not.

Generalising much?

I would argue a lot of it is the lack of understanding from employers that infrastructure for wfh is different and they expected to supplant the existing infrastructure onto wfh. So of course they saw a decline.

Prior to lockdown I worked in a role that had always been peripatetic and home based in that other than seeing learners we worked from home. The structure was already set up for this , so the only change was moving face to face to zoom. There were outside rules that needed to change and they did.

I have wfh for a long time and honestly most companies have no concept that the type of management and structure needs to be different. It's very often possible (and cost saving if you know what you are doing ).

The companies I cmsaw struggle were those who were tokenistic in changing policies and systems. They expected to run the same and not have to be progressive. They then promptly blamed the staff for being lazy when in fact it was their processes that were stuck on the dark ages.

My role allowed for me speaking daily to senior managers and owners of companies (as its what I specialised in ) and the ones who saw the benefit were the more flexible ones.

I was in a specific industry though so I can't comment on all, however it was that. Wfh in a lot of cases was successful when the company didn't think they could just supplant outdated systems into people being home based and expect it to run the same.

@emilyfrost

It’s not the case; people are more inefficient at home. It’s just those who wfh are desperate to stay that way so go on and on about how much more productive they are, when it simply isn’t true.

People will be back to the offices in good time after the vaccine has been rolled out whether they like it or not.

speak for yourself

i am much more efficient working from home - i work longer hours as dont have to clock watch - i dont get close to the end of the working day and think, i need to leave soon as i want to miss the traffic, or its going to take me 40mins to get home. Its greener as well, as i dont go anywhere I need to drive to

A friend of mine in senior management has a list of people who are planning to keep working from home forever. He says if they’re not back in the office the moment the vaccine is available, they’re gone.

This is a good point. I’m WFH and an probably as productive as I was in the office but I don’t have any client contact.

What I am bloody sick of is the majority of call centres I need to use, I cannot hear a word they’re saying because they’re obviously using terrible equipment or have bad wifi/signal or whatever.

The company i work for has found that the majority are more efficient and quality has also improved. I'm staying wfh and they're good with that.

I can do my job as efficiently from home but the communications with others can be slower - and that needs work from them too.

Aside from that I think this year has made a lot of us weigh up what’s important from life. Working to live rather than living to work. I’m actually torn between the fear I’d miss the office if I WFH permanently and the desire to cut out a hectic commute. Seeing that it took my employers until October to install any Covid-secure equipment does show me that they view the workforce as dispensable.

He says if they’re not back in the office the moment the vaccine is available, they’re gone.

He's a bit of a fool then really.

Agree with shinylet. Companies need to adjust infrastructure and management style.

My recent CEO started from the point that "working from home doesn't work" so he's gone into it with a negative view. Yet customer services, marketing and pre-sales support have all improved efficiency. Sales has stayed about the same and post-sales support has declined.

On analysis it seems to be average age (24) and levels of experience that is making the difference. A younger, less experienced team needs more active management and support. Hardly surprising and not a reason to insist everyone returns to the office.

A forward-looking management team will reduce office space and adapt to new structure to benefit the bottomline, while keeping the rest of the employees happy and motivated, and not wasting their time on daily commutes.

It’s not the case; people are more inefficient at home. It’s just those who wfh are desperate to stay that way so go on and on about how much more productive they are, when it simply isn’t true.

My, non customer facing, organisation has increased our income by over 20% this year and exceeded our project/research targets, my friend who works for the police as civilian case management staff have also smashed their usual targets (I don't know the ins and outs just know the senior management have had to concede that the stats show the staff as a whole are more productive at home, assigning more cases faster).

It's quite logical as to why for many sectors the move from large open plan offices to the home has resulted in increased productivity. It won't be the same for everyone, but it simply isn't statistically true to say there is no evidence except anecdotal from those who want to remain home.

Slight tangent from the OP sorry.

@BecomeStronger

Is your employer doing any work to find out if the customer has enjoyed it as much as the staff?

I keep hearing about how brilliant wfh has been, how people won't be returning to their offices, they're more efficient at home etc etc, but if this is the case, why is it that I am constantly dealing with businesses who cant maintain basic service levels because staff are wft.

I'm in a nationwide group of professionals who use lots of advisory services, people who really should be able to work efficiently from home but without exception, people are incredibly frustrated at the declining quality of service and lengthening response times from these businesses.

No but we work only with internal clients who are themselves working from home so for our work it genuinely can be done easily from home . We deliver data and analytics so it really is not an issue for us to work from home. I can see how it would be for some jobs though

My work landline number is set up to come through to my computer at home so no Different if I’m in my living room or at the office - my email response time is also the exact same as before, can talk to anyone on my team via chat or can call their landline number ... and I’m not getting distracted constantly like in the office (open plan really loud, people dropping by desk, taking me away from what I’m doing etc!)

I'm autistic and its been a massive blessing for me. I'm desperately hoping to have more WFH in future and can't risk imagining it vanishing.

I feel like my productivity has increased because my mental health has improved, my anxiety is pretty much gone. I don't have to spend wasted hours where I'm struggling because of noise, lights, office clothing, office politics etc. I don't have to work endlessly at small talk and fitting in and not fidgeting etc.

I've successfully led some major projects this year and have been told by senior management that they value me hugely, and everyone now knows who I am and what an expert I am - all because I'm no longer held back by my sensory issues.

It would be so shortsighted to just say "right, back to your desk in the office" now in my opinion.

@Pinkroses87

A friend of mine in senior management has a list of people who are planning to keep working from home forever. He says if they’re not back in the office the moment the vaccine is available, they’re gone.

You can't plan to work from home if your company doesn't want it. We have having consultations but in the end I will do what my employer wants in terms of where I work. Who the hell is ' planning' anything as an individual without consultation with your employer. . It will be up to the company to make the decision not the employees. This senior manger sounds awful if they have not made the company plans clear to employees that they will be expected back in the office at some point and that long term working from home is not an option .

According the the person I spoke to (at work) who said he was from an energy supplier, their entire email department is wfh so not able to answer emails. Apparently I wasn't listening properly when I said I still was not going to give them my account number and personal phone number of the treasurer (who is also wfh)

I'm hoping he calls back on Monday so I can tell him that I spent the rest of Thursday having a conversation with our energy supplier and their number has been passed to the fraud department. How did I have this conversation? By email

@bumblingbovine49 I think some people have convinced themselves that wfh is the answer and their companies will nod it through (esp if they’ve eg moved out of London). He said it was fine at first, but it’s really starting to fall down now. First few months were ok, but since about six months in, people are really slacking off. Tbh that aligns with my experience of not working in an office! (But am self employed, so a bit different.)

What @Shinyletsbebadguys said.

But also Covid has been the easy explanation for anything that went wrong. Alongside the expectations that people should lower their standards....

@Heyahun

My work landline number is set up to come through to my computer at home so no Different if I’m in my living room or at the office - my email response time is also the exact same as before, can talk to anyone on my team via chat or can call their landline number ... and I’m not getting distracted constantly like in the office (open plan really loud, people dropping by desk, taking me away from what I’m doing etc!)

The thing is there are also many positive sides to being in an office together. Starting with the fact some information travels better more informally. And it’s easier to keep cohesion in the team/train new comers etc....

Just switching to whf or partially wfh or part of the team does and the other doesn’t is going to be a huge issue wo the structure.

I’d also argue that the wfh works well for those who are well off to have space. DH has been working from our dinning table. It’s not ideal and we don’t even have young dcs!

So if the people doing this work all think it's working so well why are so many customers finding the opposite?

@BecomeStronger which type of businesses? You won't be able to generalise, some people/departments/organisations will do better than others. As a customer I've experienced a mix bag this year but don't know enough about the set up to know how much WFH has impacted that. I'm sure any profit based business relying on good staff productivity and customer satisfaction will be reflecting on 2020. We've already amended our flexible working policy.

My experience as a customer of several different services is that it hasn't made any difference.

I've had phone calls with: several insurance companies/ my breakdown service/ theatre box offices / my phone company just to name a few.

All of these calls were answered by people WFH. All calls were dealt with as normal and I can't see any difference at all in productivity or efficiency in resolving my issues.

Heaps of companies / employees have no dealings with the general public though op - you are generalising