To think one good thing may be, more people working from home in the future?

[bingbangbing]

Lots of workplaces are being forced to consider this option now. Hopefully this might lead to more people working from home long term?

Let commuting, pollution, pressure to look good, opportunity to eat proper food, time to do other stuff as opposed to commuting.

I hate WFH. I get bored. I don't feel like I can have as much effective oversight of my team and I snack so much!

I can definitely see more companies allowing people to WFH more than they do now, and do things stagger hours etc.
Also, my husband works for a big bank and they fly around the place at the drop of a hat. This has all stopped and I think that they will see how unnecessary so much of this travel is, which is great for the environment, not so wonderful for the airline industry.

I think it will change many industries going forward, the cost of a desk in London is astronomical. If half a team can work from home or even one/two on a regular basis it will save millions maybe billions.

Meetings can be done more over Skype and travel will be decreased which hopefully will have a positive impact on the environment.

If there any jobs left after this...

I do not get the appeal of working at home. I like leaving the house every day and coming back and enjoying my home in the evening. I think if I'd been there all day it would feel like a prison. I also like seeing people and getting out in the world.

However I only have a 30 minute walk to work. If I had a nightmare commute it might be different.

Hopefully managers will be forced to learn how to manage their teams remotely. It should have happened years ago.

Yes I think you are right.

WFH is great when it works but I imagine a lot of people are going through a massive adjustment doing it full time for the first time. It's one thing to have a day of reading or report-writing or phone meetings every now and again from home, but making sure the IT works consistently, having appropriate space to work in (my family still use my office as a dumping ground because it used to be our spare room, and it drives me mad) and keeping out from under the feet of partners who are newly- or established-WFH as well is going to take a bit of adjustment, and understanding from anyone expecting it to be 100% business as usual.

My daughter worked from home as a travel agent and made a very good living until a few week ago. She was lucky enough to get a new job in a different industry and started working in an office with other people after three years at home. Now she's working from home again. She's always treated her home office as her place of work, getting dressed and focussing on her job so she finds it easy to make the switch.

I hate working from home. As people have mentioned social isolation being the main thing (and this is coming from someone who wouldn’t classify themselves as an extrovert). I have friends at work and I like spending time with them - I know having friends at work is against the MN rules but there you go.

I am actually off work for a non covid related health matter and due to go back in a few weeks. Looks like I will be wfh until June due to me falling into the vulnerable category. I am dreading it already.

But I know I’m really privileged to have a job that allows this. A lot of friends and family don’t and they are being put in a worse position than me.

Same here, I find a balance is very important. I love meeting people IRL. I find it very claustrophobic. Long term, i suspect a lot of us will crave their routine back.
Someone also mentioned the issue of abusive relationships on another thread. In that scenario, WFH is a real nightmare as there's no respite from the abusive partner.

I was talking with my mum about how WFH was "just simply impossible" until now. I hope it will lead to more balance on office-wft. I would not opt in for permanent and complete wfh but a combination of lets say 3 days in the office and 2 days wfh might be really good for everyone imo.

My son works in IT. The company he works for sells IT services and support to other business.At the moment he could work 24 hours a day and still not met the demands of their clients to set up work from home networks. The company he works for are still fully to set up their own. The whole thing is pretty frantic with everyone trying to prepare for a lock down.

There are positives, but it's sad really. We are just going to become a society who communicates wholly over phones, computers and virtually.

Fingers crossed. There are so many environmental benefits and anything that means less housing pressure on the most overcrowded and water stressed area of the UK is a positive. It's not like it has to be all or nothing either: simply a move towards everyone who currently works exclusively in an office but could do a day or two a week at home would have so many upsides. Sure, it won't work for all jobs, but for those who do actually need to be present in the workplace, the rest of us getting out of the way more will help them.

• We don’t know if it’s successful yet- How productive are people being?*

It depends on the individual and the sort of work. I work from home half time, they stopped adjusting my workload relative to everyone else's after a while.

This current situation won't really be representative because it's not been thought through, systems and kit won't be optimal, people will be distracted and also many will be having to look after kids.

We are just going to become a society who communicates wholly over phones, computers and virtually.

Not necessarily; being free of commuting and working more efficiently can give a better work-life balance including more time to be with people of your own choosing.

Not necessarily; being free of commuting and working more efficiently can give a better work-life balance including more time to be with people of your own choosing.

100%. The comments from people who think more homeworking would be negative for social reasons seem to be from those who do some socialising at work and find that aspect of it valuable. Fine if that's you, but it isn't for all of us.

Working from home can mean you're having more contact with people nearby too, for example on days when I wfh I do the school run whereas I wouldn't be doing it if I were working in the office. There seems no obvious reason why me having social contact with people in the workplace is more beneficial than me having it with people in the school playground.

When I started working from home I immediately gained 2 hours a day and and extra £40/week in saved petrol.

When I was on an employee-management committee in 2001 I suggested it to management as a way of giving a payrise without actually spending a penny, but apparently it would have meant managers having to check on peoples working (I did actually ask what managers had been doing up till then which didn't go down well in the minutes).

However, that extra 2 hours I treated as a privilege, and was more than happy to move my working day around, or undertake site visits without clockwatching too much.

Really smart employers (so that's 0.01%) will arrange for a wider level of cover for the same staff. Especially if they are dealing with international contacts who work "weird" hours.

I’ve been thinking similarly and even hoping it will be the case. It would be nice if some good came out of this awful situation.

I’m housebound and disabled (physically and very bad mental health) and currently on benefits, but I still have the ability to work on a computer and could do certain jobs from home if I had the right advice and support.

I’ve been trying to sort this for a few years but found it difficult to know:

What equipment I need (IT and peripherals)

What additional qualifications I may need and how to gain them from home.

Which companies are good to work for OR how to set up myself (and all that entails, marketing, tax & NI as self employed, managing the move from benefits to employed) but not leave myself stuck money wise.

They’re just very conservative and focused on presenteeism which isn’t the same as productivity

I was saying exactly this to someone just yesterday.

“The government should cut corporate tax for companies where the majority of the staff wfh.” While an incentive to encourage employers would be good surely the financial incentive would be in not having the overheads of an office or similar setting - commercial floor space is high cost plus electric, equipment, cleaners, incidentals that seem small but add up like tea/coffee provisions, refurbishing decor when needed etc

This is why I don’t understand employers that are determined to carry on not considering wfh, surely it’s much cheaper for them to cut their overheads?

Plus I’m thinking employees who wfh take less sick days?

Social isolation? Poor mental health? Less friendship groups? many of us who aren’t working currently but could wfh are ALREADY isolated and our circumstances negatively affecting our mh.

Being able to work and earn would actually help us a great deal.

Plus those who aren’t housebound like me can still go out and about when not working to socialise and undertake activities that help their mh.

An army of WFH labour might just be one way to deal with bots and hacks. Imagine 1,000,000 WFH keyboard warriers flooding the spam/scammers with deluges of fake details to waste time with ?

(returns to daydreaming ...)

It's at least proved to my company that long term WFH is not only feasible but works well.

I am really hoping that wfh even for one day a week would become the norm. I'm a lone parent and it would help me out so much. Unfortunately some people in my office are truly stuck in the dark ages and you wouldn't believe how many of them don't want to wfh/are scared of wfh/come to work to socialise. So far I have been told no to wfh but I'm hoping this situation may force them into me doing so and then they will realise that not only is it feasible but in fact workers are actually more productive!

Would be easier to pick kids up from school, have a nutritious home cooked meal from home and tidy up at lunch time. Would also save on travel, but heating and electricity may go up.

that's fine for the people who are computer based and can work from home but I couldn't do my job from home I don't think TGIs will bring the restaurant to my house to clean

Well obviously lots of jobs cant be done remotely. But for those that can't, more of the rest of us getting out of your way means easier commutes, benefitting you, and lower emissions caused by transport, benefitting everyone.

that's fine for the people who are computer based and can work from home but I couldn't do my job from home I don't think TGIs will bring the restaurant to my house to clean

But surely removing the people who can WFH from the roads and railways will free them up for people that need them ? Reducing the wasted (and unpaid) time sitting in traffic ?

There's also the potential to remove those ludicrous roles where you have to "go to the office" every day before then doing your rounds ?

Also WFH could become a taxable benefit ? (No, I don't either).

We are a species that put a man on the moon. Working out better ways of working for the whole of society should really be childs play.