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?

Nope.. haven't been to my office I'm 4 years.. Civil service. Actually I don't think I have one now.. boss up north I'm down south .. we meet in the middle somewhere a couple of times a year .

With the cost of heating and lighting being so high I can completely understand why people might want to go back to the office, aside from the human contact factor.

I wfh 3 days a week with 1 day in the office. But over the winter I've gone into the office more often, purely to save my money on heating. I can honestly do the job just as well in either place, but I do actually like my colleagues and seeing them every now and then.

I can work from anywhere and have colleagues all over the country. I go into the office every month or so (my choice, I don't have to).

But on a recent thread asking what people do when they WFH as opposed to being in the office, the answers were along the lines of:

• nap
• do myself with a big dildo
• snack, snack, snack
• watch TV/Netflix/Disney+/whatever
• do my nails
• do myself with a big dildo again
• prep dinner
• give myself/let my husband give me a facial
• nap again
• play with the dog/chase the cat/let the budgie sit on my head

These conversations aren't limited to Mumsnet, they take place in real life too. Managers/employers hear them and have probably decided enough is enough and want people back in the office.

@MrsTerryPratchett

Why isn't the underperforming employee being managed properly?

My dh has 2 interviews this week for fully remote roles

I work for a business that has said 50/50 hybrid I go in when it suits though

I could write a sodding book, believe me.

Nah, we are two days a week office, but a lot of us have started doing one day a week and no one’s said anything. My employer also sold off some office space and the new office can’t hold everyone if we all showed up.

The cost of living crisis has seen a change of people going to the office 2/3 days per week (especially if they are local and can walk/cycle in)

The majority of people I work with all work out side of the area we work in.

We have been asked to attend one meeting a month face to face.

I wouldn’t take a job now unless it was wfh 🤷‍♀️ (even though I hate it) however it suits my current needs.

Yes it’s always the managers fault when someone is a lazy bastard.

Ours is one day a week mandatory and I think it will go up to two days soon (am quite senior so get wind of the way things are headed). My team are already doing 2-3 days so won't affect us though. I think that's about the right balance. Something was definitely lost by being entirely remote.

Well, that also depends on the job, doesn't it? I work in sales and if I was slacking, I wouldn't hit my targets and it would be obvious.

In my job, there's no way I could do those things that you mentioned.

If they do say staff are back to the office, they'll find other jobs that are WFH. Simple as.

No-one wants to go back to five days a week and why would they??

Maybe better for you but what about the people that now can't ask you questions?

Yup told this week that WFH is now essentially banned.

I’ve probably done maybe 15-20 days at home since Nov 2021 when I started here.

Manager sent this email on Monday whilst at home, and has no plans himself to be there 5 days a week. 3 max.

I can get lots more work done if I WFH with no questions etc
But that’s all actually part of my job,to help younger ,or less experienced staff

IMHO WFH can suit individuals very well,but is not good for the overall team

All of our staff are back at least 3 days a week,and quite a few are in pretty much full time

I could 95% predicted the staff who made a fuss about coming back

From my personal experience and our office. There are 6 of us who WFH. It's a 50/50 split. Some are far more productive, others I wonder what the fuck they do all day.

Managers/employers hear them and have probably decided enough is enough and want people back in the office.

^^
Depends on the manager. If deadlines are being met then there is no issue.

Many office based companies are over staffed now and using that as a good time to make decisions that are potentially unpopular with some people. They want attrition to increase.

Plus many have realised that spending some time together is good for collaboration, morale, coaching and learning, plus many more reasons.

@crisscross101 it’s actually a better system now because instead of asking other peers, they are expected to ask managers, so we are free to crack on with the job. Whereas when we were in the office everyone was asking everyone their opinion etc and it was distracting. Then people were getting things wrong because they were being distracted.

I’m back in the office full time, although last week I asked my boss if I could wfh for a day - mostly because as PP’s have said, it’s easier to focus away from the office. I don’t need anything from the office and most of my meetings are remote, but I think my boss likes bums on seats, they like to tell people how we’re all back in. I got loads done on my wfh day.

There’s been a big decrease in the number of jobs advertised as wfh.

I work for the nhs and a lot of the offices at the hospital where I work have been turned into clinical space and so they are actually no longer office spaces. Most of the offices have scaled down and most admin staff work from Home 2-3 days a week in a couple of days as there physically isn't enough desk space for everyone. I feel I'm very productive at home, no distractions and I get a lot more done; we have to be online core hours we can't "nip out" as such but it is handy if your having stuff delivered or if you have a tradesman coming to the house;
Management schedule a daily catch up at 3pm every day so guessing this is done strategically timewise!!!! For people sneaking out to do the school run but I still pay my childminder as I always have done

Uh huh . . . and my point is - no matter how diligent you are - you will be tarred with the same brush and be called back into the office on a more regular basis.

The feckless, indolent dildo worshippers will ruin it for everyone.

Like others, my company has massively downsized on office space. There is no intention for us to go back full time, there is no space. The focus should be in output not presenteeism - I used to see plenty of people sitting on ASOS and Facebook all day post pandemic. If someone is lazy they will be lazy wherever.