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?

My DH works from home 2 days a week and he finds it sometimes erodes the work/life balance. His phone sometimes rings after his working hours have finished, his employers often ring him anyway without thinking, and expect him to answer. They don't do that on the days he has physically been in the office because they can see his empty desk and know he has left work for the day.

He also feels as though the workplace/ home are no different on wfh days, so when he stops working he is still in the same place he does not have the commute home to adjust from one place to another . He can have a lie in though without the long journey to work on those days!

@thecatsthecats I'm not sure what you want me to discuss? I wfh because I enjoy it. I like being my own boss. I know a couple of people who need the office environment and are really struggling. You don't, thats how you feel. I didn't have a strong opinion on the OP either way. I can see some poepl would prefer it, like me, and some people won't.

@Kastanien can't he just refuse to answer beyond his work hours? He can gently let people know that after (say) 6pm he is clocked off and will not be answering calls beyond this time.

I work in an office but have had to do the above because some clients insist on calling at 7am, 8pm whatever!

Caribour He could do that but then there is usually some sniffy comments about people from home not working as hard as people in the office, even though he has done his normal working hours and some. His actual contracted hours are 8-4 but some other people stay on until 5, so he is often expected to be available until 5 regardless. It is commonplace for him to be asked to join a meeting remotely at 4- which is just when he is finishing. If he doesn't, then he misses out on what is going on and has loads of extra work allocated to him in his absence

Your only really talking about office workers tho. And it isn't always best working from home. My husband has been here for 2 weeks so far working from home and he has not been as focused on his work as he would be at his workplace. Not to mention it makes you lazy, he sits under a blanket on the sofa all day with his laptop. He literally doesn't move and I bring drinks and meals to him. He also snacks alot. He's put weight on already. When at work he doesn't eat like that at all.

Not to mention it makes you lazy, he sits under a blanket on the sofa all day with his laptop. He literally doesn't move and I bring drinks and meals to him
But aren't you encouraging him to be lazy by bringing stuff to him? Its healthy to have breaks when working so he could make a cup of coffee or get a snack?