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

Love wfh! It saves me around 1k a month (parking, rail, tube, lunch). It's far more productive, I can start early, have an actual lunch and finish a bit later if needed. The bad thing is less exercise.

What rot. If you want to work from home.... Don't be a nurse. Pretty simple really. Why should I be forced back to the office because a nurse can't work from home?

Well, not having to commute leaves you with far more time to socialise, engage in hobbies and activities, meet for a lunch time coffee, run or walk. You don't switch off your laptop in the evening and sit starring into space.

Although I believe in options. Our workplace has office, hybrid and WFH.

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 posted about DS wfh. He grew up socialising online. He was probably the first generation to do that, mostly with his school friends who lived in scattered villages.
However starting your career online is a bit like starting uni in lockdown. You miss out on that bonding process with colleagues as well as the mentoring and learning that rubs off in person but has to be contrived online. His employer is excellent and there were many initiatives aimed at building relationships with colleagues but it's not the same. Plus you want to move away from home when you start work. DS did move to the city where his work is based but finding new friends is eadier when you have work colleagues as a starting point.
Fortunately now he is able to go in once a week or so.

I'd count going to train & mentor a new member of staff as something essential to go in to the office for so it's disappointing that others don't!

And all the while you have many threads in here with people saying they are struggling to make friends when they move to a new area ‘Because everyone else already has their own circle of friends’

Ive never seen work as the best pace to find friends (or ta least it hasn’t worked for me!). Nevertheless, that’s how I met DH. Many people make good friends at work when they arrive in a new place.

So yes you have more time to go out and socialise as long as you already have a network around you. Then you can meet up for lunch, go out to the pub etc….
Otherwise, you end up doing lots of things on your own.

And all the while you have many threads in here with people saying they are struggling to make friends when they move to a new area ‘Because everyone else already has their own circle of friends

Which is why I said Although I believe in options. Our workplace has office, hybrid and WFH

Agree with most - there is no definitive answer and it so much depends on a hole number of factors combined.

I would also agree with pp that some young people are more than happy to wfh. I have dc, dn, d god c, my friends' dc and my dcs' friends all in their 20s and there is a real mixed response to wfh.

I had assumed that wfh would suit 'established' people like me and not young people. I don't think I would have liked it when I was in my 20s but I have been surprised how many of them prefer to wfh - including those who have started new jobs recently, who I thought would be even more keen to be "in the office" but it isn't the case for many of them. One of my friends however, is really worried about her mid-20s ds who was never the most outgoing, and now he works from home, he interacts with no-one, except her......not just colleagues, but no commute, no popping into a shop at lunchtime, nothing. I guess the shy and withdrawn will become more so.

I think it massively depends on temperament re young people.If I was working (SAHM), I’d have loved wfh because I’m an introverted, asocial type who finds the commute, crowds and generally talking to people very draining. My DH isn’t quite as introverted and reserved as me, although he leans that way, and he prefers it because he also finds social interaction in an office draining. But I imagine more extroverted people would struggle, or people who are shy but want to be more outgoing.

I like it, makes family life easier, can put a wash on, in between things or mid morning break, can prepare a casserole or something similar for dinner in lunch break. X

As a pp pointed out it is very much an "us and them" scenario. And yes, people are bitter. My dh is a hospital-based surgeon, how on earth could he "wfh"?! Yet those that can't "wfh" are looked down on.

Who is looking down on a surgeon?! I don’t for a minute think people are.

Surely he is a surgeon because he wants to help save people and make their lives better? It's never going to be a WFH role. I'm fairly certain he went into it knowing it was going to be full on, in a theatre?

I would look down on those that wfh and didn't have a room to work in especially in a public facing role where they could be discussing personal stuff in front of family members, these people should not be wfh. People won't be looking down on people that work in hospitals.

I work in an office with no option to wfh. Out of interest, where do people look for office jobs now? I'm completely out of the loop as to job search sites. I don't mind going to work, it's not the office, it's the annoying colleagues. They grate on me.

I don’t get the increased screen time argument. Even when in an office, I spent almost every minute on a screen, even in meetings they are required.

roarfeckingroarr · Yesterday 21:05
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.

Same. I've WFH for 4 years. Before that I did NOTHING with my evenings. I just came home from work, walked the dog, and watched TV - as I was so drained by a day in the office.
Now I feel as fresh as a daisy after work, have the energy for activities on week nights and have developed a great social life in my local community.

Pros

Geographic equaliser - doesn't matter where you live opening up the job market

Inclusive

Better for the environment- no commuting

Barter for work life balance

Cons

Harder to connect with colleagues

Harder to work on collaborative projects

Harder for less experienced people to gain experience

The cons can be overcome but it's hard work

It definitely needs balance as in all things. I WFH maybe 3 out of 5, some weeks not at all as I need to be at a site or main office.
This is perfect to me as the days WFH are less stressful and home life can be assisted with little jobs/more time for DC.
Then I get to chat and interact in the real world with staff and visitors and feel engaged.
One friend had a really social office team and she misses the little chats and face to face interactions as they rarely get together anymore. Yes work isn't purely a social thing but she felt it greased the wheels of the job and you often ended up collaborating on things that came out of the knowledge of what others were up to or issues they came up against.
Now it's very much do her parts of the role and shut laptop.
Companies need to offer bespoke work options where possible to suit each employee.
I know I could ask to work full time in the office for instance.

Blurp - what area do you work in? (Looks at teen autistic child who can't be left)

This would suit me but after a teaching career its really hard to find p/t wfh jobs!

I so often wish Id retrained prekids/ill health!

Options will be different for people now. For example most council jobs are wfh here - unless its the teachers/dinner ladies/social workers/etc

An nhs admin job I saw was wfh.

Its very hard to change track p/t!

I don’t think I’d ever take a job with mandatory full time office hours now.

So many benefits to it but with my current employer we still have the option to attend the office whenever we want. I think I’d be disappointed if we lost the option entirely, despite rarely using it myself, as it is handy now and again, plus some of my colleagues like to go in regularly for their own reasons. But financially it might not make sense long term

We're recently back to hybrid which is good for me. But not so good for my colleagues who have school runs.

I think it's been really bad for junior staff, not being able to watch and learn. And people can ignore their questions far more easily.

Good for me in terms of money saved, travel/emissions cut, more time saved, I'm much less tired.

It takes discipline to maintain hours and relationships. Working in the office 1 day a week helps a lot.

Wfh has allowed me to build my career. I was a sahm for many years, then split from the ex, suddenly needed full time work again, this time as a single mum. Wfh gave me a massive amount of flexibility and ability to run my life and family.

I'm now working in a hybrid role, but my own manager is in a different city and don't see him face to face more than once a week usually. There's no expectation to be in the office any specific number of days a week, although "officially " it's 3 days in. In reality, it's up to me.

I'm happier with hybrid than fully wfh, but I have access to a brilliant office space and am able to cycle into the office so I build exercise into my day, free travel, etc. At home, I have a small attic room to work in. So it's comfortable for me either way.

I don't think I'm the only woman whose career has benefited from wfh.