Do you think that now a lot of jobs are working from home, it’s a good thing or bad ?

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

I know it’s like most thjngs has it’s pros and cons
but Us humans are fundamentally social animals
so can’t help wondering what the long term impact of this will be ….

just wondering about your thoughts on the subject

It's a step towards Wall-E

Pro’s and cons. Not just for the workers but for the companies, the customers etc.

Customer service has notably deteriorated since ockdown, to the extent that there are plenty of companies who apologise for their slow services because “our staff are working from home.” As much as there are some who believe that they work more efficiently at home there are many who really aren’t. It takes a lot of self discipline to work from home.

Also never actually meeting your team really isn’t ideal. Yes you can talk to people on zoom/teams etc but it’s not the same as having an actual face to face relationship with them.

Also it is going to end up costing. Increased energy bills are going to take their toll in the winter when people have to have their heating on all day and are using constant electricity for computers, kettles etc.

And there’s the impact on the hospitality industry.

As someone with a disability I thing wfh would be ideal, but looking at it the fully wfh jobs are becoming less and less, and I genuinely believe that this isn’t a culture which is going to last, and predict that within 5 years most people will be back in th office or highbrid at best.

My DS spent the end of his undergraduate year and most of his masters degree online.
I am so glad that he has had the opportunity to do face to face jobs since then. It has enabled him to meet people and have a social life. He had proper training in a office based environment from actual work colleagues. He has experienced the cake run and the coffee round. He meets clients F2F instead of on Teams/Zoom. This week he has had to WFH as we've all got covid but he really can't imagine doing that all the time.

I really feel for younger people starting out in the world of world who rarely get to meet their work colleagues. A friend's DS started an office job just as covid hit, spent 12 months working from his bedroom and then resigned as it wasn't for him. He's now is a people facing role elsewhere.

I really feel for younger people starting out in the world of world who rarely get to meet their work colleagues. DH is 26 and has been WFH for over two years, so since he was 23/24. He vastly prefers it. So not all younger people want to be in the office!

I wonder about jobs that require your presence like nursing, police etc Will people move away from them, especially women as it's more often them that are around for school pickup etc
If I had my time over again I would definitely go for something with the flexibility of wfh.

It is!

I love going out of the house to work, if DS is poorly me or DH take the time off and actually look after him, if I'm poorly I take time off and I arrange stuff for my days off if we need workmen etc. I can't think of anything worse than being stuck behind a computer at home for however many hours and then relaxing in the evening in the same place. I love walking to work, human interaction during the day (yes I have a social life out of work but part of the job I love is meeting and speaking with a variety of different people), coming home and not having to think about work. If people want to do it though more power to them and hopefully employers will continue to offer the option.

I agree with the us and them

Our company has formally introduced hybrid working (having been almost entirely office-based before Covid). Basically you can work from home or the office most of the time, and then there are a few days a month that you have to come in to the office.

I think it works well. Some people were finding it lonely to work from home on their own and have started going to friends' houses to work from there, and that seems to be working for them. Productivity is as good as ever, and people are generally more relaxed because they have a couple of extra hours each day now that they don't commute. There are lots of little benefits - I find I can get a load of washing hung out in my tea break, so that's another 10 minutes saved (and I can hang it out in the morning knowing i can bring it in if it looks like rain, so I save on tumble drying!).

We've been able to recruit from a wider pool of talent because location isn't such an issue, which has made it a lot easier to get good, qualified people.

The main disadvantage I see is that it's harder to pass on knowledge, because you don't get those random conversations that you'd get in an office. However, we're encouraged to "chat" via Skype - it doesn't have to be all work-related - and that helps. I think as time goes on companies will find ways to fill that gap too.

We've been able to recruit a number of people who otherwise would struggle to work because of mental health issues, or who have physical disabilities which make a commute + office-based day quite difficult.

We have a couple of women on the team now who have DC with Autism; the DC find it difficult to cope with after-school care or a childminder, so these mums couldn't work because they had to do school runs and wouldn't have had time to get to the office (only really accessible by us or by car + fairly long walk) and work a half day in between; now they can fit it in between school runs because they're just going to school then home.

All that Illegallyblonder said

Been very good for me - I live in an area without many decent opportunities and was not able to commute regularly due to childcare issues. Working from home has enabled me to escape my shitty, toxic job and take a London job that only requires me to attend in person once a week. Been a total game-changer for my well-being. Remote working provides more opportunities for working parents.

I'm enjoying being sociable with people in my neighbourhood. My husband says that I'm remarkably more social now that I'm not worn out from office stuff.

I'm very much an odd one out in terms of personality type and job function in my company. I spend more time working with people in similar roles in other companies which is far more valuable than talking to my actual colleagues.

Depends - for my DD it's very mixed. She lives at home very cheaply and saves money, but never sees her colleagues in person, nor has any work-related events (job is in another city - she's never even been there).

And more importantly, you don’t socialise over the Internet.

Technology might allow you to connect with people. But it’s not socialising as such.
It might break the loneliness but it won’t help build true friendship.

That’s regardless if your age really.

I have some very good friends who are online friends, in other countries, that I’ve never met. I disagree heavily with online friends are never real friends. I’m not even particularly good with or a fan of loads of technology, but that statement is just not true.

It’s a good thing.

No. I think it's v unfair as discriminates against all those that can't eg
Nurses, Surgeons, construction workers, postal workers etc As someone who has worked on site throughout the past two years I'd love to be sat at home with time to unload the dishwasher, walk the dog, do the school run etc but it's just not possible for many people.

I don’t think it’s good all the time to be honest. I’ve no issue with hybrid working, but I do think balance is needed.

That’s just sour grapes! So because it’s not possible for everyone, those who it is possible for shouldn’t be able to do it? That’s silly.

I think it's better for people who are settled in recent accommodation as you need to have somewhere to work from and I don't think someone living in an HMO would have that so it's restricting, usually young people, from a,lot of jobs. So it's great for some but bad for others

What I think is unfair isn’t that some people can work from home when others can’t.
There has always been jobs that were allowing things Impossible with others. Let’s say working as a chef usually means working weekends and Christmas etc… whereas working in an office means having that time off.

However, it’s clear that wfh is improving quality of life for people a lot, removes the need for commuting as well as cost.
So for me, the unfairness is to treat a job that can be done wfh the same than one that requires commuting. I suspect that we will soon have things like ‘compensation for travel’ included with some jobs (just like you have bonuses etc…). Just now it’s an employee market. If companies want to attract people back in the office, they will have to make themselves attractive.

I hated it so retired, DH lasted about 6 months then retired.

Good thing.

I get to be more social wfh - seeing more of the people I want to spend time with because I'm home more, I can pop out to meet a local friend more easily, I can visit family and work from there.

But people choose their jobs they aren't forced into them. I would love to be off work all summer so I could go and be a teacher only I don't want to so I put up with my 6 weeks leave a year. That doesn't mean that teaching jobs 'discriminate' against everyone who isn't a teacher.

I would love 25% off in John Lewis so I could go and get a job there (again - worked there in my student days) but I don't want to work in retail because the pay is shit so I don't. That doesn't mean the staff discount there 'discriminates' against all non John Lewis employees.

Your argument just makes zero sense.

I think it's great. Positive impact on the environment re traffic, single use plastics, etc. Positive impact on those individuals who can and enjoy it re cheaper healthier lunches, less stress re commute, healthier working environment - my home is cleaner, calmer than work and it's not over stimulating, so I'm not overwhelmed on a daily basis and as a result I have not had a bad back or migraine, let alone a cold, so no time off sick. The list goes on.

When we bought our house we didn't intend to use two rooms for office space, that was the worse thing