Are the days of WFH over?

[MerryMarigold]

Dh been working from home since Covid. Been 1 FtF meeting a week/ fortnight for past year.

Work have said everyone needs to be in work in central London for 3 days per week after Easter.

Not too bad for us, we live in the same place we lived before. Still a 1.5hr commute each way (plus associated costs). Not so good for others who live in the middle of nowhere.

Is this a trend or just his global company?

All the people I'm closest to work from home. Husband, daughter, both daughter's partners. No talk of them doing more than one day a week in the office. Can't remember the last time my husband went in. So not ending in my experience.

@Hellomotto2 But not everyone made the same choices as you. My commute is 15 minutes, mostly along the seafront, and has been for years. It's substantially BETTER for my health than trudging from bedroom to kitchen to desk, not to mention the human interaction I get in the office.

Could I live in the suburbs of a big city, commute 2 hours and earn double? Sure, but that's a choice I made for my work/life balance years before the pandemic.

I don’t really get all this young people need to be in the office to socialise. I’m a remote worker, early twenties and I socialise in person every week with my actual friends?? I use to go into the office before this role and no one stayed out for drinks because they drove and wanted to get home, like me.

We tend to meet up every month or so in this role in person and we all socialise then. But tbh most people I work with are double my age and as lovely as they are and as nice as it is to catch up with them in person, I wouldn’t want them to be my main source of socialisation 😂 me and my friends have much more in common, have known each other longer, etc.

It's not been something I've noticed, but try contacting your GP - and they and their admin staff are in the 'office'!!!

Its just a new variation on 'young people don't know how to do their jobs like we did at their age'

A few years ago it was that young people were coming out of uni without any useful skills, now it's that they can't function remotely

On the other hand I have a team of graduates who prefer to work remotely and are excellent at their jobs. They ask questions when needed using appropriate channels we go into the office for catch ups and training, they have the option of coming in more often when some of the team like to be around if they want to and they certainly aren't lacking soft skills.

But given most millennials are now raising children and can't be moaned at so much for eating avocado on toast it makes sense to move on to gen z having no soft skills and not knowing how to behave in the workplace because they don't go out for drinks every week (which has never been a thing in any workplace I've worked in)

Some might struggle but a lot of what's on here is people of all ages who either need company, can't focus themselves or like to micromanage. It's not necessarily an age related thing at all. But where would we be if both young and old people couldn't be patronised?

And right back at you - not everybody has made the same choice as you and or has the luxury of living 15 mins away from their job - so what’s your point? Don’t assume everybody that wfh doesn’t leave the house either - I go to the gym (after work) on the days I’m actually allowed to work from home cause guess what?? I don’t have to spend an hour an a half commuting and I’m not tired from being up at the crack of dawn! I eat better, sleep better and so exercise when I wfh - you may be an exception and can afford to live near your office, but studies have shown for the majority of people who commute - it’s bad for their health and takes years off their life! End of

We have to go in once a week. We are about to move to a much smaller office as most people work from home most of the time so it’s a big cost saving. So it will be permanent to be at home more than in the office

I think some people have the rose-tinteds on...

My first job after uni had nothing to do with my actual degree - selling advertising in a shitty regional newspaper with bullying bosses was not something I would recommend. My colleagues were all a lot older than me and at different life stages, and we had zero in common. It was back in the days when you got smoked on in the office and even cigar smoke, yuck. I would definitely have been happier working at a remove away from them!

I must have missed out because in spite of a professional career going back upwards of 40 years, the inspirational people were few and far between! That totally includes years working in the City for a then big five global accounting/consulting firm... guess what, even the most successful people have feet of clay!

I honestly can't think of a time in my career when wfh would have held me back. However, my then 22 yr old was on internships in London in 2020/21, and learned so much, made so many contacts and had so much fun, which she would never have got other than F2F.

Horses for courses, I guess.

@Hellomotto2 You're very angry for someone that's so happy 🤷🏻‍♀️

This! I'm 37 and have worked in various offices big and small in the City since I was 17. I really don't have fond memories from being an intern just starting out. Most of my bosses were horrible rather than inspirational (😅) and I had to develop a thick skin pretty damn quickly. All of us being in the office meant I got shouted at more often than not and pull all-nighters. Can't say I found those days particularly inspiring 😬

had to pull all-nighters*

No.

Everyone needs to go back to work like they did before. This working from home will end up with bad mental health problems later on.

Not if you have a nice home 😂

Or people could just accept that some people could do with going back to work before because that will be beneficial for them whereas some people are benefitting massively from being able to work from home…

You know, with people being different and what helps their mental health being different…

Dh's lot seem fine with roughly 2 days a week in the office. They're apparently making large saving on the entertainment bill so happy in that regard and given dh has the highest percentage of billable hours in the company, no one moans when he turns up one day a week and still leaves at 4. After all he regularly does 60 plus hours a week.

I couldn't stand working from home.

Some companies just lazy to work on the Remote culture and don’t trust their employees.
I’m full time remote - been that way since start of covid and it’s unlikely to change.

Well that’s a load of rubbish, WFH and the flexibility allowed me not to compromise between my job and my kid, that’s probably very healthy don’t you think?

I've only ever had one office job where we went out drinking and that was back in the 90s when I was 21 and drinking was all the rage. I also have two friends that I still see from that time. My other jobs have by and large not given me any lasting friendships. My best friend I met whilst working in a pub.

My current job, we do the odd socialising bit after something big but it's the same people who attend (and the boss and I organise them) and usually the younger ones have gone home.

I agree, I am very productive wfh, but also accept sone people will take the P.

I agree OP, there are fewer and fewer wft jobs now. It's a real shame.

Yep, excellent posts both! But some MNers are very attached to the idea that wfh is Bad For Young People and simply filter out anything to the contrary.

Yes!!!

This. Hopefully one of the positive legacies of the pandemic is that the government is now at least looking at developing WFH as a means of getting the more severely disabled people into work. As always the devil is in the detail but with the right support, those who wouldn’t be able to cope in a traditional workplace setting, may find WFH a better route. The pandemic proved it could be done, but employers need to get on board with it as part of the ‘reasonable adjustments’ requirement.

Sadly I think that will turn into a downside for many.

Rather than be embraced as it should it’ll likely be used (and abused) as a weapon to further strip support for those with illness and disability.

If we could trust that it would be “great, this is an opportunity for some, what we can we do to help” then it would be amazing. However, as a parent of two with very, very different disabilities I expect it’ll be more “let’s make disability benefits even harder still to access to stop the skivers that could work from home if they really tried taking the piss” as that certainly is the current lots attitude to the sick and disabled.

Well I was working from home BEFORE Covid hit. And have been in my remote role for the last 10 years. So how exactly do I “go back to working like I did before”, when the way I work hasn’t changed? 🙄

WFH for the last 10 years hasn’t impacted negatively on my mental health. Quite the opposite. Because the flexibility I have WFH, means I’m far less stressed in general.

You appear to be yet another person who thinks WFH only existed after Covid hit. Newsflash: It didn’t.