Anyone else hate being back in the office?

[Lizzie523]

Been back 2 weeks full time and I hate it. It is worth saying I've been living alone through the whole pandemic and im a mix of introvert/extrovert. Asked for flexibility and a gradual return, was flat out denied and sent back full time straight away.

I hate:

• constant noise from extroverts in the small office, they never stop talking and I'm much less productive back in already. My job requires focus and I don't get it. Don't like listening to headphones all day as a so called solution.
• I'm really struggling with the constant repetition of small talk. 'what did you do/are you doing at the weekend?' repeated 10 times on a Friday. 'what are you having for lunch' every day, can't tolerate it at all even though it is meant to be a normal social lubricant!
• the commute. Hours there and back every day during peak times is causing my anxiety to sky rocket.

Anyone else really struggling with it?

@honeybeetheoneandonly

I think it's a shock to the system. Things that never bothered me much in the office before are really irritating now. Like people talking and breathing and eating. Even just smiling seems a chore now when resting bitch had been my status quo for so long..... and don't get me started on how inconvenient commuting is. I mean, it was never my favourite part of work but I don't remember it sucking this much either. I'm hoping, I'll soon get used to it again. I'll forget how much work I could get through without distractions from home and will cherish the office's warm embrace.... just need enough tears or water under this bridge.

Yes basically all of this. I feel like I'm fake smiling all the time, pretending to be upbeat. I wasn't like this before. It's exhausting! Day one on the commute someone abusive got on.

I'm not and never will be able to get quality work done if this noise level continues. They have chosen to change where people sit and placed all the extroverts together in one corner. Maybe a PP is right and they will settle down, but it's constant atm.

They also promised a ventilated office but now they don't open windows and it is stuffy all day.

I've been promoted during enforced wfh because suddenly I was able to make my work visible to higher ups. In the office it's all cosy little corridor chats and lunches and after work drinks, which I HATE, suck at, and am excluded from.

Wfh killed all that and finally I got onto the radar of senior managers. I really think wfh has been a huge opportunity for introverts

@NoEffingWaytoSurvive

I am very jealous of anyone who could work from home.

I have spent the last 18 months in a hospital wearing a mask for 12.5hours a day.

I would love to go and work in an air-conditioned office where people tend not to die or be really ill.

Oh sorry, didn't realise that once you got a job in a hospital that was it, you were committed for life and could never leave.

Some of the people on here would have been moaning 100 years ago that its' not fair the neighbours kids can't go down t'pit until they turn twelve when theirs were working from age 5. Or saying 'nobody NEEDS two days a week off, I've survived 40 years with only a half day a week and t'were good enough for me.'

I agree with @Boopear, WFH (fully or partly) is going to be such a draw over the next few years and I think it's very likely a two-tier system will emerge where companies that don't offer it (for jobs where it's possible) struggle to recruit. It's basically a two-part wage increase - not only do you get extra time in your day but also save commuting costs.

People who want to stay WFH always say they are more productive but that's not the experience of a lot of employers.

I know that I'm more productive at home. I'm clearing 10+ cases per day when previously it was about 7. The day in the office, as I was constantly interrupted, I only managed 2!

@whiteroseredrose my experience as well, because in my work environment the first couple of hours are vital to getting things fixed and done. So I now am working at a time I was travelling (finish earlier as well).

I realise that's not the same for all, and some people have lack of space or other issues that make working from home difficult, and many jobs genuinely do not have that option. The organisations that have used Covid 19 as an excuse for poor service are often those where working from home never was an option- opening hours in banks, broadband/telecoms providers, for example.

Perhaps look for another office job which suits your preferred style of working? The consensus seems to be that there will be quite a bit of moving around once the dust settles. I’d wait until after Christmas to see what happens autumn/winter though.

I’m only back 2 days a week, thankfully, but I’m acutely aware of how much more productive I am at home now that I can compare the 2 environments. Our small team is spread out over 4 sites so we never really had the ‘water cooler’ moments I hear about - conversations were also over email or the phone, or we had a long trek to the other sites. I also work a lot with colleagues across the country so it was the same. I now dip in and out of Teams meetings and get so much more done.
The general background noise, the constant interruptions and inane small talk is incredibly irritating and destracting - I’ve come to realise that for some, a chat over the desk about non-work stuff is an important part of their day, how knows how much work they actually get through. I know that not all roles can be done from home, but there’s plenty that can, either f/t or as a hybrid model, and hopefully it will mean an end to presenteeism for the shirkers in the office and more productive working as a result . I think companies who do offer flexi working will be the ones who recruit the best staff and who move aheadas a result.

@NoEffingWaytoSurvive

I am very jealous of anyone who could work from home.

I have spent the last 18 months in a hospital wearing a mask for 12.5hours a day.

I would love to go and work in an air-conditioned office where people tend not to die or be really ill.

Same here.

I'm an essential worker so I was at work on shifts throughout the pandemic. I've got a different view: I miss the quiet of it all. Empty public transport, my job was so easy and I could do things that usually get sidelined due to a lack of time. Having fewer customers meant fewer incidents and fewer complaints. It was bliss. Now we are back to bear normal and I've struggled to adjust, to be honest.

bear *near

Opposite here. Loathed working from home and was much less productive. Didn’t have a decent workstation, interrupted by family all the time, couldn’t focus so jumping up to put washing out etc.

So so happy to be back in the office. Work life balance better, no work stuff in my sitting room and kitchen, seeing colleagues again, dealing with thing quickly by conversation, rather than endless email chains and bloody zooms.

I'm disabled. I love WFH as its easier from that perspective, although not so good from a social point of view.

I am actively searching for permanent WFH jobs but no luck so far. Most are hybrid or temporary WFH.

Those that are permanent WFH are nearly always lower paid too.

So its the balance of less pay vs flexible working

I've also noticed there's more competition now for home based jobs.

[quote userxx]@Ihaventgottimeforthis Companies house, HMRC, and the dvla have been working from home and have been absolutely awful to deal with. [/quote]
HMRC, I speak to them every days as part of my job, many still WFH, it’s been horrendous. 45 min waits on the agent line at one point.

We are in a time now when loads of people are changing jobs so that those who want to work in an office swap to an office based employer and those who prefer to work at home swap to a home working based employer or of course hybrid solutions too.

Look for another job OP.
Open plan offices are awful and I hope they will be phased out on the back of Covid!

I'm going to be discussing a return to the office with my line manager next week. In some ways, I know it needs to happen as I'm definitely not as productive, and my family can't do anything noisy between 9am and 5pm but I'm dreading it. I was one of the first to be sent home as I live with a clinically vulnerable relative.

I'm a contact centre based role, and our work issued headsets are appalling in a noisy office, I've got used to a lovely one I bought myself when WFH was going to be a longer term thing that's noise cancelling. I'm also visually impaired and our office has one way systems in place, and you can't cross different bits of the office. I'll have to completely re-learn the building. Not looking forward to the 45 minute bus ride each way, either.

But I love my team and I know I'll get used to being back eventually - although I'm secretly hoping for some kind of hybrid work situation so I get the best of both worlds.

@maddiemookins16mum I've been waiting 6 months for HMRC to action something, 5 phone calls, a ton of web chats and it's still not done. In the meantime the client is receiving letters from the debt company. Not good enough.

Agree about HMRC. I also have been having work nightmares with Total re electricity and Gas.

Their poor service, using covid as an excuse is wearing very thin and I've told them so.

I have to say I haven’t had poor service from anyone in this time. I’ve dealt with HMRC, my electricity company, various customer helplines etc. The wait is no longer than in normal times. None of these places tended to answer immediately outside of the pandemic. I think people forget that. The people I’ve spoken to have been more patient and helpful than usual too. Probably because they are more relaxed. That being said I specifically don’t call between 1pm and 2pm because it is generally lunchtime for most people. So I can see it may be more difficult if you’re trying to get through at that time.

I took a wfh job pre pandemic as I was done with open plan office working. When I trained for my role it was the early 2000s and at that time, once you were qualified, you got your own private office or at most shared with one other person. It was a few years later that they knocked down all the walls in all their offices and made it all open plan. I’ve never got used to it. I am really sensitive to noise and I do get distracted by other people’s conversations etc. I won’t go to an office 5 days a week ever again. I’d accept a hybrid but no more than that. So I do sympathise with people who are struggling with it.

I've actually been having really bad service from the DWP - Access to Work team. Numerous mistakes and extremely stressful.

I am actually having to get legal advice and their complaints process is also really shit and slow.

Service has been a mixed bag for us. Here have always taken upto 45 mins when I have called. I usually call put them on loud speaker and carry on working (I was hybrid pre pandemic). I called them a few times last year and it was just as bad.

EE and British gas have been much the same. I used to work for BG and many of my friends still do. Their issues isn't wfh, as such. It's the fact that they are replacing staff as they usually would do. So it's more low staffing than a wfh issue. I bank with 2 banks and their waits haven't been worse, ime.

But Dp had to apply for pip and it was 20 weeks from them receiving his application to receiving an appointment. And that was only because we called and moaned. Then 3 more weeks for the appointment, on the phone. Which took 2 hours. Right at the very end the woman became a bit weird and said she would have to call us back. Turned out 'the system' had lost the entire assesment. Dp has lost almost all his hearing so I sat in on it for him. It was exhausting. Especially, when they wanted details of suicide attempts made almost 20 years ago. Emotionally draining.

They are arranged for someone to call back and we had to do it a again. On the flip side he got accepted. When we expected to be knocked back and appeal. But its been 30 weeks beginning to end.

[quote userxx]@maddiemookins16mum I've been waiting 6 months for HMRC to action something, 5 phone calls, a ton of web chats and it's still not done. In the meantime the client is receiving letters from the debt company. Not good enough. [/quote]
How about 4 months for a UTR.

@maddiemookins16mum Noooooo!! So flippin frustrating!!