WFH - What are your employer's plans going forward?

[Burntbiscotti]

Was on yet another empty train at rush hour this evening which has inspired my question. Apologies if this has been posted before, but I thought it would be good to have a thread specifically to see what everyone's employers are doing about "going back" to the office.

I should be returning in September and personally I'm really excited, although I totally get why some people aren't. I WFH part of the week anyway (before Covid), so I see the variety as a good thing. It seems that September seems to be the general goal for many of my friends' companies too.

I wonder how many out there will end up going half and half, or straight back to the office full time. It will be interesting to know!

Looking at mid 2021 at this point for any meaningful return.

We can go to the office for a few hours or a day if there is a compelling business need.

WFH for the last 11 years with office meetings when required. I work for a large national charity and pretty much everyone is home based.

Large household name company. Our department has been open throughout for people that need to go in, but it was like a ghost town at the start. It's getting much busier now.

There is increasing pressure for us to start coming back into work. They hated WFH before and there is a culture of presenteeism. I'm seriously considering looking for a new job if there's not an increase in flexibility going forward.

Work in education, non student facing office role. Prior to lockdown I wfh 1-2 days per week.

From September am required back in even though job can be done 100 per cent from home.

I may look for something else with another company where wfh is a full time option.

I'm an office worker too. The rumour is that we won't be back until January as the office can currently only accommodate 25% capacity. I'm hoping it will be January if not later. I am saving a fortune working from home and certainly don't miss the daily commute on public transport.

We are back in September. We’ve outgrown our building and will be getting a second unit in 2021 to cope with the growing workforce. It changes daily for me, currently my manager is adamant we won’t be hot desking and wants everyone to have their own desk and be in the office. I’m hoping the higher management are going to be more flexible as I really enjoyed been at home. If not I will consider looking for a new role where flexibility for home working is available.

I can't help feeling jealous, as a teacher going back to 300 teenagers in my classroom per week. There's no point resigning as I couldn't leave until Christmas and the only jobs available are in care work and retail. I don't want to but I do want to stay well for my children.

I mostly wfh before March but nobody in our department is expected back this year. I will happily wfh 100%. I appreciate some colleagues want the social aspect though so they will be keen to get in.

I work in an office and we are all very happy to be back working together in the office! No more wfh for us unless the gov changes the rules. I’m absolutely loving it, life feels slightly more normal!

I have asked if there is an expected office return date, there isn't. Our office lease ends in March and we don't have any viable replacements yet. I like wfh, it would be better when the kids go back to school or if we had a bigger house where I had space for an office. I miss the odd day in the office.

My manager is working on the basis that we are all fully back in the office from 1st September. Nothing has been communicated to us about risk assessments of the clinically vulnerable or clinically extremely vulnerable. Some of our role involves going into schools. Again, we’ve been told nothing!

With people wfh on a semi-permanent basis salaries may also eventually change. Facebook have said salaries will be linked to where people live and I think I a lot of global companies will be looking at this. Companies may stop offering say London Weighting if you are only in office 2 days a week.

My employer is saying we don't have to go back until January at the earliest. If people want to go back sooner they can make special arrangements to do so, the office is open but has limited facilities eg canteen closed.

DH has split everyone into two teams and wants people back on alternate weeks from late September. However, I don't think they expect every day so it might just be 1-2 days a fortnight. Again, you can make special arrangements to go in now if you want to.

We are able to book desks if we need to at the moment. Should anyone be struggling WFH for whatever reason.

Otherwise we are not going back in until January at least. Even then, I can’t see how things will be very different. I enjoy working from home, & always did a couple if days a week anyway.

I might feel differently when the children are back at school, (& I’m alone all day) but right now, I never want to return to the office.

I did see a different approach to all this - saw a post on Linkedin a couple of weeks ago about a small company which had taken more space in its building so that it could get everyone back in the office but spaced out more! But I can't see many firms doing that in the big cities, it's just too expensive. Although if a lot of firms move to smaller offices and remote working, perhaps those who do want their staff together will take more space as it might end up being cheaper (though I doubt cheap enough).

We are getting rid of more than half our offices nationally and most staff will WFH going forwards. We will go into regional hub offices every now and then, maybe every 4 - 6 weeks for specific reasons.

I am lucky in that my "local" office is a regional hub that will be spared the axe so I will have a 20 minute commute for those days when I do have to go in.

Still not commuting into London for meetings but I think there are plans to reintroduce that if we are not in lockdown again by January.

Certainly no working from any office, anywhere for the remainder of 2020.

My company are looking to have all staff back in at beginning of September

We have been separated into two bubbles and will be in the office on alternate days from September. Our CEO says that going forward they will be much more flexible with WFH but knowing that they are someone who's big into face to face meetings and people being 'seen' in the office I'll believe that when I see it.

School, not in the UK.
At the moment the plan is for everyone to be back, but all staff will have a test first.
This will be changed as/when/if necessary.
Looking forward to it!

After Christmas at the very least. But now they’ve realised lots of us can do our work from home, more efficiently, I think they’ll probably look at the overheads of the office costs and the need to reduce our carbon footprint and make it permanent for those who don’t need to be in.

Scotland here. Non essential indoor offices still can't go back. I however am no longer able to work from home (because I'm sick of losing personal space to work space). We are just waiting on NS saying back you go and happily off we'll trot. We are all sorted for returning, desks moved etc

Companies may stop offering say London Weighting if you are only in office 2 days a week.

Our house price/mortgage is what it is because we're a

@Rainbow12e

Not true about the salaries. My DP is on 125K a year and works exclusively from home, except the very odd day in the office.

Well, it is true about Facebook. And where they lead, others may follow...

Also some would say that companies should increase salaries to pay for increased electric/gas usage at home..?