To think people are over looking the benefits of going to work

[Poptart4]

I keep hearing about how great working from home is. No commute, saving money, more family time etc.

But I think people are over looking the benefit's of actually going to work.

• Getting out of the house, personally I dont think its healthy to spend all (most) of your time within the same 4 walls.
• The social aspect of working. Alot of people make friends or at least acquaintances through work.
• I know alot of people who met their partner through work. And alot who just had fun casual hook ups with co-workers. Either way there will be less chances at romance because you will have less social interaction.
• As a mother I find going out to work gives me a life outside of being mammy. It gives me a little independence for myself. If I was working from home all of the time I would never be away from the children. Never get a break.
• No after work drinks, office xmas parties etc.
• I've also read some threads on here about couples fighting because one or both of them is working from home and there getting on each others nerves. Couples need time apart.

I really think once the novelty of working from home wears off alot of people are going to miss the hustle and bustle of office life. And alot of people are going to end up depressed. Especially for people who live alone. The lack of social interaction will impact them the most.

Everyone is different and I'm sure there are people who are longing to get back, but I don't care if I never see the inside of my workplace again.

Getting out of the house, personally I dont think its healthy to spend all (most) of your time within the same 4 walls

You don't have to go to work to get out of the house, and the four walls of your workplace are no less monotonous than the walls of your house.

The social aspect of working. Alot of people make friends or at least acquaintances through work.

You can still talk to them by phone/office communicator etc. If you're good friends, you could still meet outside of working hours.

I know alot of people who met their partner through work. And alot who just had fun casual hook ups with co-workers. Either way there will be less chances at romance because you will have less social interaction

I'm married, so not looking for romance.

As a mother I find going out to work gives me a life outside of being mammy. It gives me a little independence for myself. If I was working from home all of the time I would never be away from the children. Never get a break.

I'm childfree so being at home has no impact at all on my independence.

No after work drinks, office xmas parties etc

That might have bothered me 20 years ago but now I see it as a bonus not to have to make excuses to get out of them!

I've also read some threads on here about couples fighting because one or both of them is working from home and there getting on each others nerves. Couples need time apart.

I've trained my husband not to come into my home office unless his query is urgent or he's bearing a .

@FinnyStory

The thing that troubles me is staff development. Yes, if you've been doing the same job forever you can probably work well at home but how are you going to share skills, inspire others, be inspired by others, train your successor etc etc?

It works "now" in many cases, with an already established staff but I don't think it works as a permanent model. Imagine being the new guy on an already established team and trying to build relationships and learn the culture/industry from people you never meet because they're all happily avoiding the commute.

Long term that has to be bad for business, even if people can kid themselves they're more efficient at home, they're efficiently doing what they always do, there's no incidental interactions for sharing ideas or inspiration, no progress.

In my current role, and in fact my precious role, I have had no team colleagues in my local office. I had plenty of Teams/Skype meetings booked in with my manager and colleagues when I started, to get me up to speed with processes etc (granted I moved within the company so I already knew the culture, but in both cases I came into the teams completely cold in terms of knowledge of the work itself). I had occasional trips to other offices to get face to face training - which is still doable even with reduced office space and even if people usually WFH, it just requires coordination.

That's not to say it would work for everyone, but equally you can't say it wouldn't work at all.

There's a balance. I did not like rushing out of the door with the two children, often far up the road to get to my car, holding: laptop, handbag, school PE kit, two lunch bags, son's nursery bag (I have arthritis 😬).

I do like seeing my work mates, wearing my nice clothes and feeling like more than a homebody!

I'm supposed to be back in the office some of the time when my eldest is back to school, and that should work ok.

YANBU but neither are people who would like to WFH. DH used to WFH once a week before lockdown, now when they go back it will be other way around with one day at the office. He’s an introvert and is loving working from home, no interruptions, more time for (work related!) training and development... most of the things you mentioned don’t really appeal to him at all, and he still speak to his colleagues/friends most days.

I am self employed and WFH anyway so no changes here.

I agree. I've been furloughed since March and going straight into maternity leave next month with no return in between. I've really missed being at work - being productive, social interactions with colleagues, dressing professionally, even just the slog of my morning commute and getting a big flat white as my reward!

I think it completely depends on the individual. My husband couldn't care less about going out for drinks after work or to Christmas parties or even the social aspect if it. He is quite happily to work from home but I do tell him he needs to take some time out & he'll go outside and do some gardening/wash his car and has even done some painting during his lunch break.
He said this is a pro as he's managed to get so much done in the home/outside until now.

The pros here are:
He gets to spend more time with his children.
He gets to have dinner with us every night at 5 p.m.
He gets to stay in bed longer and go to bed later if he likes.
He gets to enjoy the gardening on his lunch break.

I actually do have to go to work so we don't get to spend 24/7 with each other, which is a good thing and I feel it makes our marriage balanced.
He is quite enjoying working from home. I think it is because he is an introvert. I couldn't do it personally as I'm extrovert.

Happy to WFH forever.

Oh and DH dresses professionally even when WFH, same clothes he would wear in the office (apart from the slipper ).

I think a lot can depend on your age and stage of life. I’m in my 40’s, married with 2 DC. I’ve worked for the same company for nearly 20 years and I am so done with office life. WFH has been great for me.

Before lockdown I was doing the school run in addition to commuting to work and I found it tiring and stressful. I don’t feel I will be in the same 4 walls as I’ll still be doing the school run everyday, and I’ll be able to walk to the school instead of driving which I’m really looking forward to as never been able to do before.

I also dislike having to dress smartly everyday and felt under pressure to look good, plus the spending of money on work clothes. My work colleagues aren’t a very social lot, so nothing to miss there. I’m sure we’ll still have an Xmas do though. I’m sure I’d feel different about things though 20 years ago and single.

YANBU to feel that way, but people who want to stay WFH aren’t BU either. Personally I’d happily wfh forever - it gives me a better work/life balance, I can get on with chores while working, go for a walk if it’s quiet and be around for my dogs. I’ve actually made loads of local friends since lockdown that I regularly see - you can still socialise and exercise even if you wfh so I’m not sure why you’re implying it means you’re stuck indoors 24/7.

If a job does not require someone to physically be in the office they should be given a choice, so everyone can work in the environment that best suits them. I’d be willing to go to the office once or twice a week if I really had to, but I’d rather not!

Same as casaluna, normally my commuting time is so annoying because my kids go to school and childminder in a different town to home and work! It's o my a 25 minute drive there and back, but at rush hour it's about 45 mins, twice a day. On bad days it's more like an hour or more

• Getting out of the house - I do a big morning walk after nursery drop-off/before work, and again at lunchtime. It’s nice having the time to explore my neighbourhood instead of a business area
• The social aspect of working - I’m old, I’ve got enough friends and I never liked socialising with workmates anyway, I work with them all day, why would I want to socialise with them too?
• I know alot of people who met their partner through work - already got a partner
• As a mother I find going out to work gives me a life outside of being mammy - I don’t need to go to work in an office to do this, WFH while she’s in nursery is fine, and easier because then there’s no rush to drop off/pick up. This is my No1 reason why I want to WFH forever, it’s a godsend to skip the rough commute and use that time to lark about with the toddler/put a wash on/go for a walk
• No after work drinks, office xmas parties etc - thank god!!!!!!!
• I've also read some threads on here about couples fighting because one or both of them is working from home - this one I’ll give you, we squabble, but we make sure to give each other plenty of space and rarely see each other in the work day anyway

In conclusion, YABU. All I miss is spunking my salary on lunch instead of making it every day myself (my GOD, the meals are just RELENTLESS) but hopefully if we have a WFH revolution all the Prets and Tortillas and Eats will come to the suburbs, or there’ll be neighbourhood sandwich ladies with massive trolleys.

I am looking forward to going back. Mainly for reasons of fashion (no go out, no coat no bag) but YABU for thinking that people have over looked the good bits.

They haven’t, just for most people WFH is better, cheaper, happier.

I think the benefits of wfh might depend on your age or stage in your career. I met my partner at work and enjoyed socialising with colleagues in my early 20s and 30s, whereas once I had children that aspect wasn’t so important. Being mentored by older experienced colleagues helped me develop certain skills too.

I think it’s difficult as we all tend to see things from our own perspective and convenience ( no commute, being able to drop kids off at school) rather than see how wfh affects society as a whole, such as loneliness and isolation in young adults.

I guess the ideal scenario may be that there is a balance in the week between wfh and some attendance in a work place. Also it would be great if homes were affordable in large cities, especially London, so that workers had less of a commute.

I hope the best that comes out of this is more flexibility, so that people who want to work from home (fully or partly) have more opportunity to do so, either in their existing employers or move to new employers with a more enlightened flexible attitude.

I also hope that the centralisation of office jobs is reversed and we can get back to the big companies having smaller regional satellite offices rather than a single huge office in London. Big firms, banks, utility firms, etc always used to have branch/regional offices throughout the country, so people could live out in the regions but still get good jobs in the big firms. All that's gone and now there's a brain drain out of the regions when the uni graduates can't get decent jobs near their homes or Unis and end up forced to relocate to London.

I think for those not set up for WFH, like the pp who always works from home anyway, the novelty has worn off now. It's uncomfortable, more non work stuff going on, so it feels messy and distracted, no air con, even less exercise due to no commute, no nipping out for a sandwich at lunch etc.

I do agree in principle. But I much prefer WFH. I think being away from the office made me realise how unhappy I am in my job.

I'm not part of a team and work in an office on my own. It's so lonely and boring I really miss having colleagues and its so hard to learn things when there's no one to ask. No one would notice if I didn't go into work all week. So I'm much happier on my own at home.

I need to find a new job!

10 years ago I’d have agreed I socialised a lot at work and with wider work colleagues

Then started a family

Even a few years ago we had a good team onsite and all supported each other, were good friends etc but now there’s only 2 of us and we barely see each other as not in on same days. Bigger team is national and we actually talking more not leaving our engagements to the quarterly face to face meetings

I had a job where I wfh half the week anyway so the transition to lockdown work life wasn’t massive anyway
It’s definitely going to make kids drops at nursery and school easier

I’d happily go in now when i need to for meetingS and hot desk giving up my desk

Everyone is different though

I totally agree @Poptart4

Especially for our young people just starting out. My boys are almost at the working stage, it will be soul destroying for them and their lives if that work is on my kitchen table.

Extroverts will miss it, introverts definitely won't!

Many of us who are enjoying WFH find the lack of social interaction a benefit, not a drawback. Open-plan offices are hell.

All of those are things that some people find worthwhile. Some just don't like working at home.

But on the other hand, some people do like working from home and dislike many of the things you mention.

The romance things is a two-edged one though. Increasingly employers aren't keen on employees having "fun hook-ups". Too much potential for harassment and similar headaches.

I do think though that many people now live in developments without many shops or public spaces, and in towns or cities far from family. So working from home could seem very isolated, especially if you were single.

I think those who want to stay at home are lifes takers. I'm very much an introvert, I am happy working at home and I can get "my" job done fine but I recognise I contribute much more widely in the office, developing and mentoring younger staff, helping out a colleague in crisis etc.

Whilst I'm sure people can deliver adequately from home they don't seem to have any concern for the bigger picture, which is fine for them in their own small world but it won't be fine for the long term development/prospects of their employersor for the next generation coming through. They must have benefited from this kind of input themselves at some point in their careers but don't seem to feel any need to give anything back.

I also think being an extrovert/introvert has a massive impact on the pros and cons.

In my role it's taking longer and more effort to resolve small queries. We are likely getting a new staff member, the thought of anyone having to learn the role remotely 😳🧐😩 it was difficult enough in the office with desk instructions and actually people that could quickly look at both your screens and explain what was going on.

Informal news sharing in the kitchen, definitely less information sharing going on or the opportunity to find out more about what is happening in other related work areas.

All around a 50:50 split would be beneficial.

I don't have much of a commute so all I've gained is an increase costs by WFH. Dreading how cold I will find my "office" over winter...