No more WFH or flexible working

[Lizzie523]

Been WFH for a year now - about 6 months ago the company MD said we had done brilliantly, was thrilled by how we had risen to the challenge etc. We were then told the future would likely be hybrid working & we all had to complete detailed consultations about our preferences RE this. Personally ive been more productive overall & I feel a mix would work well.

Imagine our shock to now be told we are all to go back to full time at the office 5 days a week. They said they would no longer consider the results of the consultations and wished they hadn't done it - many of us tried to appeal this but were just told 'no'.

I moved during the pandemic which means I am just far enough away that 5 days a week in the office is going to be a hassle (not to mention awful for the environment).

We work with a few people with young kids and it obviously isn't inclusive for disabled people either. Our main competitors have already confirmed their commitment to remote working.

Is everyone else headed back to the office or am I right in thinking most places are being more flexible now?

Now op, no ones going to change my mind on wfh, it's not only about environment but about your well being, work life balance, and for me, increased productivity. Don't care about these negative commentors. Let them travel 5 days. You vote with your feet as soon as you get the chance.

Quite.

OP, I have no idea why there are so many on this thread who seem gleeful at the idea of everyone being forced back in the office, I can only assume it’s jealousy or they’re the sort of people who rely on co-workers for company (however forced). I’d absolutely be making plans to move jobs if possible.

I’m firmly of the opinion that, post-pandemic, companies will divide into those who’ve listened to their staff and understand that work/life balance and employee wellbeing matters as much as operational issues, and crap companies/managers that couldn’t give a fuck as long as everyone is sat in an office chair 9-5, 5 days a week. The former will be the ones people want to work for.

@emilyfrost

Why not? Because it’s not your business. You don’t run it, you work there.

It doesn’t matter what you or your colleagues think. If matters what your employers think and what they decide based on that.

You may think it’s presenteeism, but most likely having had another good look they’ve realised you aren’t more productive at home (the majority of people like to think they are and will defend they are to the death, but the fact of the matter is that it’s very rarely the case).

There is plenty of evidence that homeworking generally increases productivity. BT was one of the first large employers to introduce it some years ago and productivity did increase

www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09670730310792565/full/html

It was a bold move by them at the time, with many employers just not believing that employees would work as hard at home as in the office. Some employers are still not good at looking at people’s work output instead of the number of hours spent in the office. There are people who do long hours and are good at looking busy, but don’t achieve that much.

I’m sure there will studies on productivity during the lockdowns which will be interesting.

You sound horribly jealous.

😂😂😂

I don't have to work at all, dear. Thank you for playing, please try again.

I think a lot of the 'everybody back in' attitude is coming from managers who are wanting to prove how tough they are. Where I am there are a couple of managers like that, dont believe that people are working unless they can see them sweat.

In their old school opinion WFH has made people soft, some people have actually had the temerity to start enjoying their jobs and even perhaps having a bit of home life.

@Lizzie523 that your employer has decided to disregard employee consultation should be making you think about whether you want to stay with them at all. It is a very worrying precedent they are setting.

@Floralnomad

What have people with young children got to do with anything , they should have childcare in place anyway .

Personally I will need to extend childcare or make another arrangement when we go back. For me it will be 40% of hours which is fine but my older child moved from nursery to school in September and after school club doesn't run as late as nursery. While I'm WFH and a 3 minute walk away this is fine. When I'm a 90 minute commute away not so much. I do "have childcare in place" for my current situation but returning to an office is a different situation requiring different childcare. I doubt that is in any way unusual.

What was your after school plan before the pandemic?

Agree with PPs, there's definitely an underlying theme (jealousy?) from some posters whose comments are borderline aggressive: DO WHAT YOUR EMPLOYER TELLS YOU, YOU ARE REPLACEABLE, YOUR EMPLOYER KNOWS WHAT'S BEST, WE WERE ALWAYS AT WAR WITH EURASIA.

My job became WFH with the pandemic, and I wouldn't go back full time. To be fair I wouldn't argue the point either, I'd just leave (I work in IT, and there are plenty of fully remote/flexible vacancies going). Wouldn't stay working for an employer whose views were so out of sync with mine on a topic that matters to me.

My company has introduced flexible working and given employees the chance to work remote full time if they wish. But the majority have chosen to work partial remote I believe.

It really depends on the company I guess. My OH has been expected to go into the office 5 days a week for the duration of the pandemic. The majority of his work could be done from home easily but his company is quite old school and the senior managers not IT literate enough to work collaboratively in a virtual environment.

I only know of 2 people who have been allowed to continue working from home. The rest have returned to the office 5 days a week.

@LimaFoxtrotCharlie

It’s awful for the environment to have everyone WFH and heating their individual houses too. Maybe look for a new job WFH if that’s what you want, as your employers clearly want you back in the office.

You could say that about everyone having to drive to and from work each day and the environmental factor of the car fumes etc...

We’ve already a flexible working approach. You can work from home, office, clients, coffee shop etc - it doesn’t matter. You know what work you have to do, it’s up to you to work out when and where you do it.

I think you’re having a hard time on here.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask ‘why’ when you’ve wfh, with apparent success, for over a year. When they’ve indicated that’s the plan going forward. When they’ve conducted a consultation with result in wfh/hybrid’s favour. When a lot of other companies, including competitors, are doing just that.

You are being unreasonable in stating your new commute is too far. It was your decision to move before anything had been agreed.

Go and work for a company that listens to its employees.

If I had to go back to 9-5 m-f in a noisy office again struggling to concentrate, I would be voting with my feet.
I don’t think I could actually do my job anymore in a office space with loads of people mulling around. Although I go in for a couple of days to see colleagues for certain cases.
Have a look to see if there are jobs offering some WFH in your sector.

No good reason given for this change as I said

Nevertheless there must be one; if overall productivity really was better I'd have thought they'd stick with the WFH and save themselves some money

I'm wondering if "You've all done brilliantly" was intended as a motivational boost rather than a reflection of reality, but anyway no business makes these decisions for no reason, and unfortunately employee views of this aren't always objective - doubly so if they enjoy WFH

Luckily your solution's simple - if the competitor are fully committed to WFH, just apply to them

Dp brought everyone back on the 12/4. Whilst most staff had worked well from home and were as productive, it was harder to work as a team and certain employees weren't working properly. Efficiency is better in the office and most are much happier to be back in (the one complaining interestingly is the one that was slacking for the past year!)

Wfh doesn't work for everyone

As above, cars don’t like being driven. On a WFH day I take my car out for a blast at night so the engine doesn’t seize/DPF get blocked. Triple whammy: office heated for 3 rather than 15 people, house heated for 1 and car pumping out of an evening as well.

My DH is returning with a checkered approach after the summer- 2 days one week, 3 days the next and they are closing 2 of their offices- everyone will hot desk. For him, it will mean being able to find a much better work / life balance.

I'm WFH and have no desire / need to return to the office although I do hot desk once a week and have continued to throughout most of the pandemic.

OP, there are definitely more opportunities now to WFH as eyes have been opened to the possibilities. Start looking now and good luck!

Hi OP, yanbu and your employer is really shit for having this conversation and not even listening to what the employees want. Seriously if you can find another job I'd go for it. I really hate employers who think they're all it and not bother listening. Anyway, the people I know who are working have been offer to work from home 2-3 days a week, some even have been turned into wfh completely with their offices downsizing and closing. It's as if no one has learnt anything from this pandemic and I hope employers realise that it pays to offer flexibility to their employees

Bizarre thread, I work in finance, Big 4, and all are going to hybrid model/ consulting constantly with employees over what will work best. Seems really strange that a firm would consult then ignore results. Good, top firms are mainly moving to hybrid. Your place will lose staff. Vote with your feet.

Everyone in our offices are still working from home and with no plans to go back until at least September. Every audit and performance measures have proven beyond any doubt that productivity and quality has increased. Up to the pandemic, it was very old school and no one could wfh. Our owner has done a full turn round and has consulted with all staff and we are going with a very flexible approach. Each person and department can decide for themselves what they want to do.

I am going to do a mix. Some weeks I may work from home all week and some weeks I will go into the office. Some weeks, I will have a mix of both. My team will do the same. They have proved beyond any doubt that they can be trusted to work at home and they are achieving some incredible results cause they have lots of flexibility. Some do the school run now and save money on child care, but start work earlier or work later. Everyone in the team has said that they now have a better work life balance.

We only have 1 Director who is a total dinosaur who doesn’t trust people and wants all his team back in the office. Our owner has over ruled him and more or less told him to move with the times and start being more people focused and give his staff some choices.

I am recruiting for 2 new roles and I am offering remote working with some office work to suit. I have had some brilliant applications from people who wouldn’t normally have applied if it was 5 days a week in the office.

Those work places who refuse to offer hybrid or flexible working in the future will find they will struggle to attract the best candidates, as they will be far more interested in working in a workplace with a modern and flexible outlook.

*don’t like not being driven

We're being given the option. It's cheaper, they don't have to run so many buildings. During a recent busy spell we could be working at 7am, rather than 9am. If you're travelling to work you don't have that option. Look around op as other organisations are continuing with it.

I’m firmly of the opinion that, post-pandemic, companies will divide into those who’ve listened to their staff and understand that work/life balance and employee wellbeing matters as much as operational issues, and crap companies/managers that couldn’t give a fuck as long as everyone is sat in an office chair 9-5, 5 days a week. The former will be the ones people want to work for.

Yup. Lots of bitter people on this thread. Yeah, let's just go back to the pointless, expensive, soul-sapping routines we all put up with pre-2020, shall we? God forbid anyone should be allowed to get anything positive out of the last 15 months, eh?

@NavigatingAdolescence

What was your after school plan before the pandemic?

Assuming that question is to me then it was possibly to look into a childminder, possibly to request some amount of WFH, possibly to have to leave my job altogether. All things that remain on the cards.

No reason that in the pandemic I should have needed to arrange childcare when I didn't need it.

I raised this as a need to have a good amount of notice for returning to arrange childcare to 1000 people in a company wide meeting last week which was totally accepted by the HR director so I don't think it's unreasonable!

@Parker231

We’ve already a flexible working approach. You can work from home, office, clients, coffee shop etc - it doesn’t matter. You know what work you have to do, it’s up to you to work out when and where you do it.

That is exactly how I am with my team, seems to work well 🙂