To hope this completely changes the way society works? (working from home/non-essential travel)

[MoonBabysMagicalKalimba]

Disclaimer: Obviously this does not apply to those professions for which WFH will never be an option such as healthcare, retail, tourism & hospitality, and teaching/childcare

In the last few weeks, hundreds of organisations have had to devise and implement full WFH procedures. Many of these organisations had previously told employees that WFH was not possible or permissible, yet when the need arises, it clearly is.

If companies were to continue to allow this going forward, when this mess is all over, this could drastically change how we all work. No more ridiculous traffic in the mornings and evenings, no more hundreds and thousands of Londoners cramming themselves onto tubes and trains from 7-9am and 4-6pm simply to sit in offices all day. We are already seeing a huge reduction in pollution. The majority of the commuter traffic would be taken up by those aforementioned professions who physically need to go in to work, many of which work shifts anyway so we wouldn’t have these bottlenecks of ridiculous congestion morning and evening.

We also need to take a good, hard look at the hundreds of planes that fly around the world every week, of which probably a very decent proportion of passengers are business men and women travelling to other countries for meetings, interviews and conferences that they could most likely very easily attend via video link. Obviously this will not be the case for all business trips and some will be crucial to attend in person, but I think we could lose a decent chunk of them.

These changes would also drastically improve workers mental health and work/home life balance, I’m already seeing it with some colleagues who by losing their daily commute are having an extra 1-2 hours in bed and feeling the benefits to their health. There’d be more time to exercise, and catch up on home chores and admin during lunch breaks. This would also enable parents to drop off/pick their children up from school more often. Obviously this would be when things are more “normal” and children are back in nursery/school and not at home!

I’m not saying everyone with a desk/office job should WFH full time, as there will be those who prefer to go into the office. But a balance could definitely be met. Some could WFH FT, some go into the office FT, and the majority do a combination of both on a rota system. Even these small changes could have a huge impact on the environment and our health.

If this shit situation has taught us anything, it’s that there is absolutely no need for thousands of office workers to travel to and from work, creating or contributing to pollution and congestion, simply to sit at desks behind a screen all day.

Thoughts?

Totally agree - I waste around 2hrs 30 per day for a job that could be done permanently from home if my boss wasn't so old school!

*commuting

I disagree.

I work in tech and have been using remote working tools with colleagues and clients globally for years. But, WFH really affects my mental health. I like the diversity of working in different offices and meeting different colleagues and clients face to face to keep my energy levels up.

We have also found that productivity is lower as you don’t get the mini ad hoc brainstorming sessions that you get in an office.

I actually left a job because it was purely WFH. In 18months in that role I became a virtual recluse with depression and anxiety.

@netstaller but you could either move or get a job closer to home. At some point you would have chosen either to move further away or accepted the commute; presumably you weren't forced. I don't think your boss is doing anything wrong by being 'old school'.

@Marieo I live in big, expensive city so choosing to move closer to work isn't an option unless I win the lottery. Nor is changing jobs an option as the best paid are in the city. The job can easily be done from home f/t or at least remotely half the week, and inflexible attitudes like yours are why more people don't. In fact wealth would be distributed much more evenly across the uk and it would be much more possible to live nearer to work if bosses were less old school and more open to collaborative technology.

Agreed. Wfh needs to become the new normal when this is all over. Employers surely now will have to admit that it is both possible and feasible to do so.

@netstaller if everyone works from home then, there wont be better paid jobs in the city, so I guess it will maybe even the playing field more; some will lose out.

I think my mental health is better when I'm not forced into the stressful daily commute or the paying for parking or having to share office space with people I really cant stand. Wfh eliminates all of those things and it means I'm more productive and flexible about how and when I work. I hate going into the office and it has been demonstrated now that it isn't necessary. Sorry for those that actually like going into the office. It just doesn't work for me. I hate the tedium of office politics and the constant annoyances from people I have nothing in common with.

@netstaller just to be clear, you want to benefit from city weighting and higher paid jobs, but not travel into the city? Do you think that your job will continue to be better paid if the company doesn't have to make it so to compensate for the higher cost of living? I am all for flexible working, WFH exclusively sounds like a nightmare, and just seems to create a bigger divide between sectors.

I agree.

I’m just worried that lots of WFH employees won’t be as productive as they otherwise would be because they are also trying to homeschool their children.

my mental health is much improved with not having to commute for 3 hours every day. we have loads of interaction online, so i really hope wfh becomes the new standard where possible!

Homeschooling and working at the same time on the other hand is a killer...

I'd hate to WFH permanently. I don't have a spare room so I'm currently set up at the dining table and I'm already sick of seeing my screens etc there. As it is I feel as though I'm working more hours as I don't log off at 5pm now.

I agree that businesses clearly can be more flexible, but there are benefits of a team being together in person too. Yes we are all zooming etc and it’s fun, useful and works but being in a room with people a few days a week is a good thing I think. But I 100% support lots more flexibility where it can be offered.

Vegetable Munge are you on the wind up. 'speaking of collateral' the damage due to this lock down, will be huge, even aside from Corona.

Of course the damage will be huge. It could hardly not be in the circumstances. How is that relevant to what I posted and why exactly do you think I'm on the wind up?

I had a very refreshing discussion on this with a couple of colleagues last week. I WFH two days a week as I moved home a while ago to a place 2 hours commute from my office.

My company are very understanding on agile working but I always felt there was a bit of shame in not being in the office. It's that kind of culture, "miss it, miss out".

Working from home an extra day a week would save me £73 a day and give me back an evening a week. Both of those options are win win.

I think the conversation has turned a lot in the company I work for and if I could save that extra money (nearly £300 a month) I could overpay on the mortgage a bit more or treat the family to an extra trip somewhere.

The environmental impact is huge as well (whilst saying that I also recognise that our extra trip would be a staycation somewhere, not abroad)

Absolutely. I have a 3 hour round commute normally and my bosses Very begrudgingly used to allow me to WFH one day a week, with prior permission. I honestly can’t imagine going back to 12 hours a week (minimum) of commuting after this is all over. If my current company won’t allow more flexibility, I intend to find somewhere else that will.

My mental health has been fucked by this and it's only been a week. I need a reason to get up and out and into the world. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Maybe there could be local offices where workers who feel like you can work in an office environment without actually going to a place where there employer is. (Place like these have existed for years, I'm just too lazy to find out what they're called.)

Some of my team were already set up to work from home when they chose, 90% of them are based in London with just 2 of us in a satellite office. Out of those 2 I'm the only one who wasnt set up to do some (and a couple of part timers in the london office).

I've enjoyed working in an office, albeit a quiet one, after being a sahm for 10 years. However I can see the benefit of wfh also and I hope to be given the choice to do a mix of the two once the UK returns to some kind of normality.

I find wfh on days when the work load is light its lovely not having to find things to fill 8 hours at a desk (my work is very reactive so some days are manic & others very quiet) and I can do some washing or watch some tv or take a nap. Equally, on busy days the fact I dont have a stream of people coming to my desk means I can knuckle down and get it done quicker and get more of it done which cancels out the quiet days.

But, even if that stream of people can be disruptive I do miss seeing them all. The nature of our work means lots of staff aren't office based anyway so I dont think it'd be a big stretch for my employer to consider it for other staff.

The elephant in the room is that if your employer have just discovered you can work from home, they have also just discovered they can outsource you to somewhere cheaper.

This is an excellent point. Nothing to add, just wanted it repeated!

I’m a freelance editor and work from home. I generally love it, but if I need interaction I head into my coworking space for decent coffee and a bit of office buzz. Best of both worlds, I think. And much better for the environment!

By ‘coworking space’ I mean a hotdesking space with coffee on tap, fast internet and lots of small start ups and freelancers pottering around. Makes a nice change and I think we’ll see more of them spring up after this is all over.

The elephant in the room is that if your employer have just discovered you can work from home, they have also just discovered they can outsource you to somewhere cheaper.

I don't think a lot of people grasp how much everything will change if WFH is the norm, it won't all be yay I don't have to commute, that's extremely short sighted.

I find this thread sad because quite so many people hate their job/office/colleagues/commute that much.

I am incredibly fortunate to have never had have had that, in almost 30 years of working. Individual colleagues have been wankers, sure. Some part of the job are always boring, of course. But never to the extent shown here.

I agree and am also hopeful however I suspect there will be a strong contingent of "oh but I miss people" and "I want to see people every day"
Personally I'd be very happy with 3days in and 2 days at home