To think I’ll never be going back to the office again?

[BirdieFriendReturns]

I’m in the civil service and we’ve been told we aren’t going back this year? You CAN go into the office if you can’t work from home but we are meant to be WFH.

I keep reading on here that people are being told they are never going to back to the office.

Is this the end of offices then?

No. I would imagine practically all will go back. YABU

Both private sector here and both wfh for the foreseeable. No-one is talking about selling office buildings yet, but everyone is working productively at home and it's less bother than trying to rejig desks etc to 2m apart etc.

No. I work in an office and we can't work from home - I'm in manufacturing and there are too many factors that make it impossible. We need to constantly liaise with the factory workers and be able to look at the products while they are being made if any issues arise. Also we deal a lot with physical paperwork and we use specialist printers.

I’m in the private sector working for a large company - around 3,000 staff, majority office based.

We’ve been told that we won’t be going back for the foreseeable future, and it looks like we’ll have more options to work remotely regularly once we do go back into the office.

I think a lot of businesses will definitely downsize their office space, but I don’t think this is the end of offices completely!

Friends who work in City banks are being told they aren’t going back this year.

Friend at a university in the south-west has been told January.

I hope we don't go back. I like wfh, makes my life so much easier. Saving tons of money, can eat healthier, not snacking as much, can do exercise easier at lunch time. So much simpler.

We are off until at least the end of the year if we want to although we have an rto plan in place but had the desks will be taken out, no meeting rooms, masks required, no kitchen facilities etc.

Personally I can't see my role ever needing to be in office again. I was at home two days a week before this anyway.

Tenants are already rationalising their office space and looking at lease event. Landlords are considering the possibility of converting to resi. I work in the real estate sector.

Private sector 1500 U.K. employees 5000 worldwide.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3915931-anyone-surprised-at-how-long-they-will-be-wfh This thread seems to imply that most people aren’t going back.

I'm civil service too and I am really hoping we don't! We were planning on moving to a smaller office (again) as we keep downsizing, now I'm hoping we can WFH and perhaps have a once-a-month meet with our team in rented office space. I have a two hour commute and have to leave really early to avoid the traffic so WFH full time would be a delight. And tbh I am waaaay more productive at home as I have no distractions. Really!

I think it depends on where you work.
I work for a large business and they want to do a hybrid model of office and remote based work. There are certain meetings (creative brainstorming types) which don’t work very well over zoom, but then if you want to blitz your to do list then working from home with no distractions is really helpful.

The emphasis seems to be on staff choosing their balance of work and home (within reason..you can’t just decide to WFH when you have a large board meeting for example). I’m interested to see how this works and what the general landscape of UK offices becomes.

I work from home full time anyway. I'm kind of looking forward to having more WFH friends to co-work with.

It also seems a bit mad that if shops, hairdressers and schools are open, office working will still be banned. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I work for a university, we've been told office-based staff are likely to be phased back from September, but some staff may still be WFH until January. Staff who need access to labs or specialised equipment will be earlier.

I wfh anyway but she has been told he can go back to the office late aug/ early sep.
I think when we have recovered a bit the offices will open as usual

She was meant to say dh

I think “never” is a bit far fetched but we will see more home working as the norm. Especially with this contact tracing mullarkey if the alternative is endless 2 weeks off work

I'm saving a fortune on train fares, lunches and coffees. My office is a typical call centre open plan type place. Wfh was never ever an option before this. Now we have agents taking calls at home and doing really well in terms of meeting targets etc. Can't see a return to the office in the next 4 months at least. I've more free time as well due to no commute but I have noticed I need to be more proactive in getting out of the house or cabin fever starts to set in

And if we are on lockdown again over winter...some people seem to think we will be in and out of lockdown for months.

Civil service here too and currently wfh. We've not been given any indication yet though how long we will be doing this? It would be good to have some sort of timescale though I know that's hard in the circumstances. I do like wfh, it's so much more flexible as I have 2 dc too, no commute etc. I am no more or less productive than in the office to be honest, about the same.

It also seems a bit mad that if shops, hairdressers and schools are open, office working will still be banned

Not really, I think it seems quite sensible. If you can do your work from home then it makes sense to keep those social contacts reduced. The other places you cited need to be open to be able to function. I think the recommendation to wfh will be the last thing to be lifted

Yes you're right birdie , companies maybe trying to make wfh work as best as possible in case there's a s3cond wave and further lockdown

My office have been told not to expect to be back this year. Personally I can't wait to get back to the office! Piles of paperwork sat around my only spare room and a laptop which is always there means I'm working later than ever before and struggling to switch off from work mode in the evenings.

I'm office based and my company are telling us all to come back in. It's infuriating as my colleagues and I are working very effectively from home, with some onsite working when needed.

I think it depends very much on what type of work you do. Dh is a software developer and comfortably doing his work from home without any disruption. He's had no indication of when or if he'll be going back to the office.

I'm public sector and we have to maintain a physical office where the public can come in. I can imagine our workforce dividing into those who can't work from home having priority over desk space in the office and those who can wfh being required to stay at home.

It (surprisingly) works for me as DH is military and being posted elsewhere for a few months so I can continue to WFH.

Normally I would be annoyed as I miss the office and my colleagues. And wearing a nice dress and heels everyday etc.