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?

I have my own company based from my home and have been working from home since 2017. However if I worked for a company pre covid that required me in the office, I wouldn’t be causing a fuss going back to the office.

Are you serious?

I'm your employer and I'm on a teams call with you, to discuss work, yet you think your domestic arrangements are more important so you can faff around half paying attention to the work you're being paid to do and sorting out your domestic arrangements in my time.

If you can "multi task" bloody well do "multi task" the job you're being paid to - not your own activities. It's taking the piss frankly.

I do specific skills training with our apprentices via Teams (and it's far more easily done via screen sharing). They call and message me on Teams for help with all sorts of stuff, related and unrelated to what I teach them, and I get to build up a good relationship with them despite only seeing them in person a few times a year. But I don't do any of the soft skills stuff, that's down to their line manager. I don't agree that my contribution is selfish or without value because I'm not in the room with them, or that I've abnegated responsibility.

@Oysterbabe definitely know where you're coming from with this. I work hybrid, 2 days a week in the office. I've recently found that if I skip a week and WFH for too long, it's quite difficult. I'm easily distracted and as an introvert it's too easy to cut myself off from my colleagues. On the days I do go into the office, I do feel healthier. Lots to be said for working from home, I love having this flexibility, I can do my job from anywhere, and it saves me a fortune on petrol.. but a day in the office does help mental well-being.

Hybrid is definitely better. We have a cycle of grads who really missed out on the face to face interaction and learning who are largely now less capable at the next rung up. We’ve also got lots of young people who can’t manage a meeting without being on their laptop. It’s like they’ve collectively lost the sense of what is appropriate. I think my team has benefited from seeing people and social interaction. I find wfh more productive and better for my current life but see the benefits for team morale and development.

I also think some companies are asking for office time in the hope that the people most resistant to it will just leave.

Mum23amazingkids please* *tell me you are not a solicitor in Scotland so there's no chance I might ever employ you.

You're taking the piss. Your attitude is also rude to any employer and anyone junior to you that you are arrogant enough to think they are less important than you doing "dinner prep".

I work from home for a helpline. I manage people who all work remotely. We work in the charity sector. The job I do is suited to remote working. There is an issue with training people remotely it is more difficult and time consuming and less effective. I don't mind going into the head office I do it fairly regularly. I have built a good relationship with my colleagues despite the distance but you do have to make a concerted effort.

I was working fully in an office prior to lock down but adapted to working remotely successfully. I have been able to take opportunities by working remotely that would never have been available to me before COVID hit.

On balance there are massive benefits for me to being able to work remotely. I had thought I was stuck with the office I was in and the organisation I worked for due to my location. Thanks to jobs being offered as WFH contracts I found post lockdown that I had options I did not have before. I have progressed in my career and have a better paid job with a great team.

However if I was a new graduate or if I was returning to the workplace after a career break WFH is much less appealing. So I do see the downside.

I had a similar situation, new job where I was directly learning from one person. They refused to come in, only scheduling teams calls 1x a week. I left

My organisation takes a flexible approach. The senior team meets in the office face to face once a moth and we tend to go in twice a week. We coordinate so when we do go in we have company obviously. Its very flexible. I think everyone is much more productive working from home - I literally get half as much done as there's so many distractions and chat in the office.

Depends what your role is but there's a lot of passing the buck to the staff who are there for them face to face.

What I hear is "oh call me on Teams any time" isn't the same as seeing in person when a senior person is free.

I work for a company where we are f/t in the office, though there is no real need just a CEO who likes to know exactly what is going on.

I managed to negotiate a little flexibility and can do some home working, but as I don't really like wfh I only do it when it makes my life easier to do so (so if I have a dentist appointment in the middle of the day for example) I had a new job that was more flexible and offered more money, and that was part of the deal if I was to stay. (oh and I got more money too, so a win:win)

Most of my colleagues don't want to wfh, you need to be on base to do it really, but for those who have a longer commute like me would appreciate that little bit of flexibility.

My job role will never be full wfh wherever I work.

claiming how much more effective and efficient they were.

Must do better . . . . and get back into the office.

I'm sure those questions include 'fancy a tea?', 'have you seen Hillarys new hair cut?' and 'what did you do at the weekend?'

Flip me, I want to work where you are!!! Ok I suppose there was the odd time (very!) when someone brought in treats, but I didn't really ever want them anyway. I can walk out and sit for a few minutes in my back garden if it's sunny, or just watch the birds from my dining room/office. There is no long way home with a nicer view for me lol, and the idea of putting a TV drama on in the office is so left-centre that it actually made me smile at the idea!! The only time I ever watched anything on TV/online was, very sadly, 9/11 unfolding, and we all did that in horror at what was unfolding in front of our very eyes.

I don't miss all the office politics - the ones who're too hot with the heat on, too cold if you open a window, offended if you eat a ham sandwich and watching the clock if you take 15 minutes for teabreak instead of 10, or use all the milk in the fridge even though it wasn't theirs to use... help themselves to stationery or equipment then look at you as if you had 2 heads when you had the effrontery to ask for it back! I don't miss trying to have confidential phone conversations on sensitive issues with the office loudmouth constantly proclaiming at top volume how flat out they were, when you knew damn well they were a lazy arse but very good at making it look as if they were productive.

The downside definitely is not developing a closer working relationship with new colleagues but in all honesty, we were always geographically dispersed anyway. I think there are ways of mitigating that too if you have good leadership and team management. I don't. I've found though that reaching out individually albeit remotely provides a good support system, even if you have to create it for yourself.

DH works in the office 1/2 days a week and finds it pointless - small team, and he often finds he's the only one in, which makes a 150 mile round commute seem a bit silly.

I don't line manage anyone, nor do I want to and nor would I want to even if I was in the office five days a week. Not everyone needs or wants to be a line manager. There are people far more senior than me who don't manage anyone. I'm not sure how that can be construed as passing the buck?

I doubt it. It's becoming clear in my office that junior staff and trainees are far more comfortable asking for information in person than calling on Teams.

I said depends what your role is.

Mine is still 100% WFH with hybrid meetings where you can choose to either attend in person or online. I personally prefer in person meetings, especially as most people switch cameras off and don’t contribute online these days.
Jobs are now advertised officially as hybrid with business need dictating how much time is required onsite, mostly the offices are empty though.

I struggle to see why anyone who successfully worked remotely during Covid, would suddenly have a ‘business need’ to be back onsite.

WFH definitely isn’t over as it’s always been a thing for some people and some roles and as pps have said some companies don’t have offices anymore.

I think we lose something when people WFH too much. A pp said they liked WFH as they were uncontactable, but what about the people trying to contact them? I think WFH has accelerated our me, me, me society where I’ll do what suits me. Where you are also shouldn’t really affect your availability to others, that’s when people start suspecting you aren’t actually working and it can start to engender a negative relationship between colleagues. Trust and rapport gets lost.

We are social beings and it’s good for us to mix with people we wouldn’t necessarily have chosen too, it’s how we build our tolerance. I think some peoples’ worlds have got smaller, staying in the same town, going to the same cafe for coffee, talking to the same people etc. Good for the local economy and I can see it’s very attractive for people juggling caring responsibilities.

It’s also causing more unfairness in our society. At my work the senior management in IT work at home mostly whilst expecting their IT support officers to go in every day. There’s no compensation for the fact that the support officers are paid less but need to pay more out on commutes, and it’s just not an inspiring way to manage. There’s less leading by example imo, and more what can I get away with.

Older people who have larger homes in commuter areas are benefitting, whilst younger people in house shares and wanting work to be a social thing are not. Especially with more mundane jobs, young people stayed in them longer when they felt they’d made friends and were part of something. I feel a bit sorry for people in their twenties.

I don’t know where we’ll end up but we will look back at this time as a fascinating period in the history of work where no one entirely has the answers.

When WFH started due to the pandemic we made it very clear as soon as it was safe the office would be open again. As the months rolled on staff were making noises regarding continuing WFH. When the office opened again we had many staff making excuses not to come in and while we were understanding to begin with our patience soon grew thin due to the lack of productivity. We don’t pay staff to save them on childcare nor be at home with dogs bought in lockdown, we also don’t pay wages to hang washing out, prepare dinner, run the hoover round, clean the bathroom or take deliveries during work time. Many businesses depending on the industry I’m sure can accommodate WFH, ours isn’t one of them. Reading a few threads on here on what people really do when they should be WFH cemented our decision on having everyone back in the office.

Just an example of diminished WFH service, last week I had cause to call my home insurer. Call answered promptly, nice helpful person, no problem. Until the call cut off 15 minutes in. 10 minutes later (and now outside of my lunch break) she called back, full of 'oops sorry, my system lost connection, perils of WFH'.

Not a major inconvenience, but one that happens all too often now and quite probably wouldn't have if she was in an office on a hard-wired connection (I speak to clients often and have never lost a call in-office). It's the drip-drip-drip of reduced service standards in that kind of industry that starts to wear consumers down.

I switched jobs during lockdown (not by my choice! - got made redundant) old company large multinational bank has scaled down offices and committed to wfh (so I hear). New company also a multinational bank has said we should be in office 20% but I don't go in that much as my team are not that office. So no I would say WFH is here to stay !

I'm wfh three days a week and I get more done at home than the days when I travel in and spend two hours in the car. I like catching up with colleagues but it means I get less done and that pushes work into evenings or weekends.

As a business owner wfh is shocking, productivity is so low, constant nagging and pushing for updates. Eveyone who wfh saying "ohhh I'm more productive"

I wondered how long it would take to get people back in.

I'm sure some people are more productive but I employ a young workforce at they are bloody useless at home, and need to be in to learn from experienced colleagues.

The global company my DD works for not only has wfh, but she’s just found out she’s allowed to work overseas for a set period each year as long as she’s in a similar time zone and can set up everything she needs from that destination.
I’m not working anymore, but I’d love to be young enough to have this opportunity too!