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 imagine a large number of jobs will be outsourced abroad. Why pay a British worker when it can be done abroad? The NHS has already outsourced some audio typing. Some financial services firms have outsourced all secretarial work overseas to people WFH.

I'm my work's welfare rep and I've been getting a lot of feedback about this - it's interesting the real mix between those desperate to get back and those who would happily WFH forever more.

As TroysMammy says seeing colleagues at work can be the most significant social interaction many people get. Even those who live with partners and children etc. enjoy speaking to adults outside of their immediate family. MN is often disparaging of people who get too close with their colleagues but I have made some of my best friends through work.

Our work has been really good in encouraging us to pick up the phone or skype to chat to colleagues to keep in touch with everyone but I think there's a danger of forgetting that the reason we feel comfortable and happy doing that is because we have already built up the relationships by being face to face. I'm happy to chat via any medium to someone I already know well but wouldn't do it to someone I've only ever emailed.

I don't think new starters who go straight into a complete WFH environment will ever get to that same relationship.

Ideally I would like a mixture whereby everyone is encouraged to come to the office at least twice a week but can WFH (or not) the other three days as they prefer.

I bloody HATE working from home, despite having a large, and fully kitted out, office

As soon as I can, I'm going back to work. Full-time. All day. Every day!!!

Our work has said there will be no decisions until September at the earliest. After that, IF we go back the teams will go into the office on a rotational basis, probably only once a week 🥳 We’re able to order more office equipment for home Which looks promising. I’m loving it.

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

I have put my chair on the table with laptop on the seat so I stand up to work, took away the backache straight away.

I am surprised by how much I enjoy wfh. I am a people person and thought I'd really miss everyone and also thought being home with teens would be hard work. I was wrong on both counts!

Yes, definitely - in well run companies. Because those ones trust their employees to act as competent and motivated in their work, and have hired well, meaning their employees are actually competent and motivated.

I'm hoping to keep my UK based job and move back to my home country after this in a few years, the company has offices in a few counties, though not currently in my own one - hoping if I do a good job wfh I can demonstrate it can be done.

I think it will be much more commonplace and for some it may be a long time before they go back to the office. It's been suggested to us it could even be next year before our office re-opens fully.

I imagine a large number of jobs will be outsourced abroad. Why pay a British worker when it can be done abroad? The NHS has already outsourced some audio typing. Some financial services firms have outsourced all secretarial work overseas to people WFH.

This is a very good point. Why employ a secretary from Bristol if you can get an equally competent English speaking secretary in Mumbai for a fraction of the salary? If they're not required to come into the office, then why not?

Maybe people should be careful what they wish for.

I think a 50/50 split is good. I wfh just now but just find it quite isolating and lonely. I quite like the chit chat and social aspect of being with colleagues.

I would love to wfh as I hate the daily grind of the commute. Where are these magic jobs that have been giving you the opportunity to wfh when we haven't been on lockdown? I am a book keeper, accounts assistant & currently in a full time credit control job. All I ever see when looking for wfh jobs are rubbish like paid surveys! What do you all do as a job?

Not enjoying working from home at all. Can't wait to get back into the office.

All the big firms : google, twitter etc announced today no office till 2021, so all home working will continue.

Wished I worked for a big firm like that.

I have only found one advantage (for me) to going into the office. If I have a bad day then the drive home takes my mind off the office and I've more or less got over it by the time I'm home. The walk from the dining room to the front room doesn't have the same effect.

I never want to go back to the office again in all honesty. However, they've already started talking about getting us back in (with safety measures in place). This doesn't make sense as the only reason why they want us adults there is to keep an eye on us, yet they keep bleating on about what a good job we're doing.

I'm thinking once this is over and if we are expected to work full time back in the office then I might be looking for another job. This is obviously into next year most likely.

@Lockdownhair your job sounds like it can be done fairly easily from home at least part time? It's more about the values of the organisation toward flexible working imo rather than the job. For example, my company does digital 'stuff' so a lot of roles can be from home, but the company is one that always did offer flexible working, eg 'you're a grown up, manage your own workload, we trust you to do your job well without micromanagement' - the current situation has just pushed that to the next level.

Have a look at large organisations in your field, see what they say on their social media and LinkedIn about work life balance and flexibility, and I'd bet those are the ones that will offer more wfh as a perk to employees in the future.

I’d love to get back to the office. I live on my own through choice, wouldn’t have it any other way, but being on my own all day too is going too far - even if I do spend half my time in Zoom meetings. I’d much, much rather be sitting with colleagues, having lunch together & then meeting friends for a drink / going to a yoga class afterwards.

I’m not working from home a day longer than I realistically have to.

I’d like to think that more companies will look to move their data to cloud based technology - I’ve been pushing my boss for the last 2 years to move all our stuff online and even had a local company out to quote for it, but she’s said it’s too expensive, I’ve tried to point out it may look more expensive at first glance (£2000 set up costs and then £70 per month per user going forward but that includes everything - Office 365 subscription, full IT support, fully integrated hosted desktop, backups, virus protection, the lot!) when compared to what we currently pay for (IT support contract and back ups/virus protection) but I’ve tried to lie to out that we have to run a server that would cost us £10,000+ to replace if it went down (this has happened once in the 18 years I’ve worked at the company, 10 years ago). If we had the hosted desktop we would literally just need laptops and a WiFi connection.

Currently we are running things with TeamViewer which works fine enough, but if our office burnt down we’d take at least several days to recover backups and buy new equipment.

I’d also hope that forward thinking employers might start to pay employees a “broadband allowance” of, say, £25 per month to allow them to have the best possible broadband connection at home which will help in productivity when working from home.

I'm loving wfh and would rather never go back to the office. Public transport and hot desking usually so can't see how my employer can possibly make it safe. Work just as well if not better from home.

The main issue for me is that a member of my team has a really bad work ethic and I imagine she is spending all day watching Netflix...Unfortunately our boss doesn't manage her properly when in the office and it's really obvious so doubt she will manage her any better when wfh.

I cannot wait to get back in the office. I usually walk to work and I really enjoy the exercise, scenery and ability to process my day and switch off by the time I get home. Working from home means I never really switch off.

I also live alone and I miss the daily interaction with my colleagues, going into town for lunch etc. My job involves lots of personal meetings too and you can't get a sense of people's emotions as well over video or check in after to make sure they're okay.

Luckily my workplace will definitely be going back. If I had to work from home all the time in a normal situation I would find another job

I'm quite enjoying working from home and when there is work available I fell more productive. My colleagues however just seem to be using it as an opportunity to just pop out for 45 minutes, go for a Drs appointment ( despite only working part time), queue up at the supermarket to do their shopping at 9am when they should be at their desk etc. Boss seems to be taking a very relaxed attitude.

Working from home is shite, lonely & isolating and boring.
I can’t do it for much longer. I have no motivation to do anything

I'd like to be in the office maybe one day of the week, but don't intend to return to being in the office every day.

the only problem with working from home is that after avoiding it for a few weeks, my cat has decided it's now her favourite place to sleep, whenever I get up to make tea or sit on the sofa for zoom meetings, I have to weigh up whether its worth making her move.

My employer is making good noises about it, but we already had option to wfh whenever suited us, with caveat that if we were needed on site we would be. I only chose 1-2 days a week so I never tried it on for doing it daily as I like the office also, so I had the best of both worlds already Imo. Employer is V flexible and pro work-life balance.

*it - the new office chair

I love it! We're a tiny company (5 people) and have decided that we're going to close the office altogether and permanently work from home with a monthly team meeting (and loads of daily teams calls) I'm very happy!

If I had to work from home all the time in a normal situation I would find another job

Me too.

weanh... I want my not-home office back. Probably will WFH for another 12-18m, though.