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Original poster

Working from home.

176 replies

Sunriseinwonderland · 10/02/2023 13:07

Its not a criticism but why are so many people still working from home. I genuinely don't know.
Im not in a job that can be done from home so I've had to go in throughout.

OP posts:
AffIt · 10/02/2023 13:19

Because I'm a consultant who works in tech for a global firm and our clients neither want nor could afford me to sit in their offices all day.

I've worked mostly remotely since 2015 and it's always been common in certain industries, particularly tech.

Essentially, OP, I think this boils down to 'some people's jobs are different to yours'.

Plantlifeonmars · 10/02/2023 13:20

Because my office is over an hour away and the same on the way home. Because it gives me over 10 hours of my life back purely by losing the commute. Because I was hired after the pandemic and my contract is hybrid. Because there's 23 staff and 10 desks in the office. Because I can do 99.9% of my work at home. Because it's less stressful. Because I don't get the days where I'm completely 'done' with people anymore. Because it's cheaper for my organisation (smaller offices, less travel expenses etc). Because it's cheaper for me.

Christmascracker0 · 10/02/2023 13:20

I agree with you, I think people should be encouraged to be in the office more. I don’t think wfh full time is a good idea. Deffo an unpopular opinion though!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Jobs
Veenah · 10/02/2023 13:21

I'm working from home 3 days a week. My job can be done fully remotely. I save 2 hours commuting time, life is just easier on the days I'm at home. I save money. My employer saves money as they have reduced their office space.

PotKettel · 10/02/2023 13:21

Increases flexibility massively in my job (finance). We work irregular hours so it can be very useful to be able to hop online to get some work done. I’ve had meetings at all times of day and night from 6am to 2am … I wouldn’t have wanted to do that in an office setting.

Also because technology lets us. I have only printed 15 pages for work in the last 2 years - needing a wet signature in all cases. Everything else is done digitally.

Smoky1107 · 10/02/2023 13:22

Because it was offered as part of my contract to do a hybrid. And I love it. I can be in the centre of London working and around people one day and the next engaging with my teenagers at 5pm after working from home. It's given me a great balance to my life and I wouldn't want to change that now

PinkPlantCase · 10/02/2023 13:22

Because my role can be done from home …

I wfh 2 days a week and in the office the other 3.

It makes a big difference to my life, on those two days I don’t have to get up as early, I can get some jobs done before work and put the washing on and do various life admin. Working full time with a toddler would be much harder without my wfh days.

In the evenings I can pick DC up before nursery closes at 6. I can’t do that if I’m in the office. It takes the pressure off DH to do all the pick ups.

Boxshibe · 10/02/2023 13:24

Because my employer is 4 hrs away and a global company. In my team I have people from Spain Italy and Canada. If I had to work in an office I couldn't work for them without moving.
Moved after pandemic to be closer to my parents. Wouldn't have been able to do that if I didn't wfh

transformandriseup · 10/02/2023 13:25

Because I can and my employer lets me.

Same, it's in my contract now.

I'm glad there are employers who allow this flexibility.

Allp · 10/02/2023 13:25

The last company I worked at, was all remote even pre pandemic, meant they can get from a bigger talent pool and just everyone liked not having a commute. It boils down to some jobs can be worked from home and if allowed, if the companies fine with it, why not.

TedMullins · 10/02/2023 13:26

WFH in itself is not a new thing. Covid has made it more widespread though. Between 2014-2018 I was self-employed and worked mainly from home. I have a chronic illness and at my last pre-Covid job that demanded 5 days in an office I was calling in sick at least twice a month. WFH has allowed me to work full time without compromising my health or getting in trouble at work for too many sick days. It also gives me a much better work/life balance. Of course not all jobs can be done from home... but I simply would not choose to do a job that demands full-time attendance in a workplace.

Original poster
Sunriseinwonderland · 10/02/2023 13:27

I was more interested in the employers aspect, I wonder if productivity has gone up or down. But certainly if I could work from home I would.
I've always thought that working remotely and living wherever you want - in my case holed up in a remote part of Scotland would be my ideal - instead of having to be stuck in a city somewhere or a big town or commuting.
Get more cars off the road for a start.
Cut travel costs, have more money for other things.
I hope it will eventually become the way to live.
DS works remotely but they insist he goes in one day a week which means he can't actually move out of expensive Surrey and into the countryside somewhere cheaper like Wales.

OP posts:
Greensleevevssnotnose · 10/02/2023 13:27

Me and my oh both work from home, him for a bank me for an accountant it is lovely 😍🤩

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 10/02/2023 13:28

Christmascracker0 · 10/02/2023 13:20

I agree with you, I think people should be encouraged to be in the office more. I don’t think wfh full time is a good idea. Deffo an unpopular opinion though!

Why?

BettyOBarley · 10/02/2023 13:31

I work for a local authority and we are mainly WFH. From their point of view it's saved them a lot of money - closed some offices, less utility costs, photocopying costs (which were huge!), paper etc etc.

We all love it and desperately don't want to go back, although they are now trying to get everyone in one day a week "to justify keeping buildings open" ... Skewed logic in my opinion!!

MaverickGooseGoose · 10/02/2023 13:31

kitsuneghost · 10/02/2023 13:10

People are using it as free childcare

They're really not in my world. If you WFH you cannot be looking after children.

Op - because it's great, I can finish work at 6, and be home at 601 instead of 730. I can get the kids out to school, walk the dog, stick laundry in before I start work at 9 instead of leaving at 730, I can eat with the kids, I save money by not commuting, I can concentrate without the fuckwittery of office politics, I can go to a morning gym class and be home showered and ready to work before 9am and I don't have to stand in someone's armpit for the duration of commute at the mercy of the train company to actually run trains on time.

Figgygal · 10/02/2023 13:32

Why wouldn't i
It saves on commute so i can work longer hours, I can get away with not washing my hair, it facilitates me having a dog, school runs are less time pressured, I can get the shopping delivered, do a load of washing.

I have the space and equipment to make it work
My main stakeholders aren't in my local office so when I do go in I'm surrounded by people I don't talk to or know.
I go out to the office when I need to or travel as required so work remain happy.

Bellalalala · 10/02/2023 13:33

Sunriseinwonderland · 10/02/2023 13:27

I was more interested in the employers aspect, I wonder if productivity has gone up or down. But certainly if I could work from home I would.
I've always thought that working remotely and living wherever you want - in my case holed up in a remote part of Scotland would be my ideal - instead of having to be stuck in a city somewhere or a big town or commuting.
Get more cars off the road for a start.
Cut travel costs, have more money for other things.
I hope it will eventually become the way to live.
DS works remotely but they insist he goes in one day a week which means he can't actually move out of expensive Surrey and into the countryside somewhere cheaper like Wales.

He could do that. He could travel in the night before. I know loads of people who live all over the country and come to head office once a week.

I wfh because I like it. I live 10 mins from HO but like being at home. It’s better quality of life for me.

Productivity is fine, so my employer has no reason to not like it.

I think people really doesn’t understand that huge amounts of time is wasted in offices. The mind set that people are productive if you can see them in an office isn’t realistic.

Bellalalala · 10/02/2023 13:35

kitsuneghost · 10/02/2023 13:10

People are using it as free childcare

Do you realise tons of people who wfh don’t have kids at all? Or don’t have kids of an age that need childcare?

Why do you think they do it?

RoseyLentil · 10/02/2023 13:36

Because it takes me just over 4 hours each way to get to the office.

MaverickGooseGoose · 10/02/2023 13:36

Sunriseinwonderland · 10/02/2023 13:27

I was more interested in the employers aspect, I wonder if productivity has gone up or down. But certainly if I could work from home I would.
I've always thought that working remotely and living wherever you want - in my case holed up in a remote part of Scotland would be my ideal - instead of having to be stuck in a city somewhere or a big town or commuting.
Get more cars off the road for a start.
Cut travel costs, have more money for other things.
I hope it will eventually become the way to live.
DS works remotely but they insist he goes in one day a week which means he can't actually move out of expensive Surrey and into the countryside somewhere cheaper like Wales.

Of course he could, go up the night before, he'd still save a load of money. Lots of people do this.

WeWereInParis · 10/02/2023 13:37

Because I can.

I work for a large international company with multiple UK offices. I've got three video calls today, none of which are with people who would be in the same office as me if we were all in. One of them isn't in the same country. There's no difference between us sitting in our houses having these calls, and us sitting in different offices having the same calls. It's the same for work generally, the people I deal with are spread out in different offices (including my direct manager and the rest of my immediate team), so it's not like I could just walk across the office to talk to them rather than sending an email for example.
I also have two screens at home, which I don't always get in the office, so I get more done then. I go in to the office once or twice a week (as per company policy) and because of the commute I work fewer hours because I don't start until 9 and leave at half 5. When I'm at home I start earlier and finish a bit later generally.

Ketchupwee · 10/02/2023 13:38

Because my employer realised that it made no real difference whether people worked at home or in the office, so decided to get rid of the office

BiasedBinding · 10/02/2023 13:39

No one in my job is using it as free childcare. It would become obvious very quickly if you were. Most people who were forced to wfh with children of childcare age during lockdowns absolutely hated the experience and were desperate for childcare settings to reopen.

Alarae · 10/02/2023 13:40

Why waste time travelling to an office if you don't need to? That's the crux of it with my team. We still meet up quarterly and I meet up with a coworker once a week at the office, otherwise unless im needed for a client meeting im at home.

My team is based across the whole of the south so realistically we call each other via Teams if we are in the office or not. It's not often we are all in the same physical location anyway so going to the office for the sake of it is stupid.

Plus my company downsized my local office and stupidly does not have enough desks so most of the time I couldn't go in even if I wanted to.