The future of working from home

[Maighdeann]

Before the virus there were campaigns pushing towards flex working/working from home. Do you think now where it's shown it can be done (for certain jobs) companies will allow it to continue and is that a good thing?

I certainly hope so as I think it’d be much better for the environment. Unfortunately there is a lack of trust amongst employers (maybe justified in some cases).

I hope so, i love working from home and i am just as productive as i am in the office. If anything they are getting more out of me as i am logging on 30 minutes early (as i am up anyway), rarely take my lunch and mostly log off on time but if something comes up i can stay logged on and sort it out where as in the office i had to leave bang on to pick DD up from the after school club.

We have proved that we can work from home but i know it wont happen forever as a couple of people i work with are very vocal about returning to the office. I dont know why as they have the biggest commute to the office.

I'm thriving working from home even in our shoebox flat. Getting far more done and saving time, money and sanity. Dreading going back into the office TBH.

Dh is loving working from home, no commute, more productive, happy to do a bit extra at the end of the day as he isn’t rushing to beat traffic. Eating better as he’s home and not spending on petrol. He doesn’t ever want to go back. I miss the social part of office life but would be happy with a day or two per week.

DH' s work are considering 3 days wfh and 2 days in office once this is all over.

My work is already proactively planning what long term working will look like, basically a lot more working from home/flexibility/less travel to other locations too. I'm very happy about this, as it will help with better work life balance when things are more normal!

I think so.

If companies can reduce the size of premises needed, they can save money, so I think there will be a fair few who will find that attractive. They will benefit because staff won't be rocking up late, because of traffic delays or signal failures etc, and I suspect sickness would be reduced because people won't be catching colds etc from colleagues.

And I know that I am more productive wfh. I did a piece of work this morning that would have taken me twice as long in the office, because of distractions.

I'd love to stay working from home and see no reason why it would have a negative impact on the business - I get more done without listening to my idiot colleagues for a start and I'm more flexible so get things done as and when they're needed, not just in work hours. But I gather my company are already putting things in place for us to go back and I feel very heavy hearted about it.

I've WFH 2/3 days for 10 years.

I will never work FT in an office again. I wouldn't take a job that expected that.

DH and I are both working from home and are both loving it. I just used to have a 5 minute walk to work but DH spent 3 hours per day travelling. We are both getting lots of work done (in different rooms of the house). We have lunch together and a rare coffee together but its great. We are saving a fortune on petrol, coffees, lunches etc and have much more time together and a better work life balance (and he’s much less tired and grumpy). My only gripe is i haven't got an office chair and my shoulders and neck hurt much more than they do when using my office chair at work. At the moment while the sun is shining I have the patio doors open and can hear the birds singing I don’t ever want to go back to work however it might be different when its freezing cold, heating bills are ok and its wet, dark and miserable outside (or if DH goes back to his work place I might feel lonely).

I was doing one day wfh a week, mostly because I live 3 hours away from where I work (I stay near work 3 nights a week).
I am loving it - we keep joking that I caused the pandemic by wishing I could wfh!
I am probably the same level of productive - I get distracted more but waste no time commuting (as opposed to at least 2 hours per day).

On the flip side I expect a lot of people won't be able to cope working from home. Not having interaction and chats with colleagues would probably cause mental health issues in some especially those who live on their own and the only contact they have is with people they work with.

I would absolutely love to have a job working from home. Have tried looking for one but I don't seem to have the skills to be in the right sort of industry...and everyone appears to want to work from home.
I can but dream....

I'm loving my home office and working harder than ever, a few days I struggle with motivation but that happens in the office too! I notice I take less breaks at home.

By the way 'my home office' sounds too posh, it's a corner of my bedroom 😂

You shouldn't' be working if you aren't well, but if you have a sniffle you might be fine to do a few hours behind a computer screen but not be fine to travel into work. So that's an advantage too.

Also if you don't need to be in the office very often an employer can widen their talent pool as people don't have to be as local - and equally employees can widen their choice of employers if eg they only have to be in the office two days a week.

I would love to see more remote working for those who want it.

I do wonder what will happen to all the co-working hubs that have sprung up if the government says hot-desking isn't allowed. Some people are happy to work remotely but would prefer (or need) to work away from their homes and like co-working hubs where they can talk to people.

My only gripe is i haven't got an office chair and my shoulders and neck hurt much more than they do when using my office chair at work

That's interesting because I am the opposite, I use a normal dining chair with a couple of cushions and hate office chairs.

I will never work FT in an office again. I wouldn't take a job that expected that

Me neither, I couldn't bear having to hang around until 5 or 5.30 for the sake of it.

I have loved WFH, I used to do it twice a week but have really enjoyed doing it full time.

Which is handy as we've been told that we'll be working from home for the foreseeable future and possibly into next year.

WFH isn't a panacea - some people do not have appropriate setups to do it safely or happily for an extended period of time - hard to work sat on the bed using the ironing board as a desk because the dc have commandeered the kitchen table for example. Some of these things can be resolved by the provision of equipment but some people don't have appropriate environments to want to wfh longer than they need to.

I think generally the expectation will be that people who can wfh should continue to do so as much as possible but there is a flip side that it's not an ideal solution for some workers and employers will need to be cognisant of that and manage risks e.g. inappropriate chair/screen setups causing H&S issues. More about safeguarding the workforce than because of worries about productivity, though.

I don’t mind WFH but miss interacting with colleagues. Not helped by there being less to do. I don’t think it would be good for my MH.

I work 3 days a week at the moment, I wouldnt want to work from home all the time, but having the option of doing, say, 1 day a week at home would be good.

I really like the wfh bit, not so much home schooling at the same time but that's a different thread.

I agree with a pp that they are getting more out of me because I log on earlier and I don't have to rush off to the afterschool club. I love the fact that my mornings aren't a rush and thinking that if DD is ill I won't have to feel bad for not going in to work. I'm definitely not as tired from all the rushing from work to school to activity and saved lots through not buying petrol and the odd cheeky sandwich/coffee here and there.

I think if I could wfh one or maybe two days a week that would suit me perfectly. I am a lone parent and really would make my life soooo much easier. There are some aspects of my job I can't do at home but with a bit of swapping about with colleagues, I really do think its possible.

We were office 3d/2, wfh wd/w before Covid-19, now fully working from home. I love wfh days, I'm more productive, I can sleep more (I get up at 7am not 6am), it's cheaper, no rushing for car park space, rushing for my train, cramming on to the tube then doing the whole thing in reverse at night.

We have been told we'll be wfh "for months" and I'm happy with that.

I think working at home some of the time is quite nice, but doing it all the time is really bad for my mental health. I worry so much more about work when there's not a clear division from home and when I don't have other people around to chat about things with - silly little things can become quite big in my head. The irony for me is that I actually changed careers last year and a big goal was being part of a team (I used to work alone most of the time) and having a more regular, 9-5, leave work at work routine - and I feel like I've lost them both at the moment!