Who is looking at increased wfh long term?

[jorgeous]

Hello all,

The plan at both mine & DHs company was to go in on a rota basis from September. This is still going to happen but far less frequently than we anticipated eg 4 days a month in the office. Plus it's completely voluntary. Companies are making noises about this becoming the norm, reducing HQ space & competitors are acting similar & some have made the switch.
There are lots of benefits to wfh although I do like the social aspect of the office. However because we are not allowed meetings of more than 2 people, gyms, canteens, coffee stations etc are all closed very few are coming back so there is little social aspect.
If this is the norm we really need to rethink our home environment & have a proper office for both of us.
I feel a little sad tbh, anyone else in the same boat?

[bevelino]

I am looking forward to spending some time in the office as I work with junior employees and some of them have found wfh hard. Some of our juniors say they are in a flat share with limited space in which to work. Some are working while sitting on their bed, some have broadband issues and some employees need a lot of support and feel awkward messaging and asking questions, whereas in the office they would just ask.

I don’t know about other cities, but in London the wearing of masks and social distancing is not enforced on public transport and that might be enough to put people off returning to their offices.

[Rockybooboo]

It's all very sad. All the poor maintenance. Reception and cleaning staff who are going to lose their jobs. What if you don't have the space to have office space at home?

[TheKeatingFive]

They did a survey and showed most people want to do 50/50 in office and at home so can see that becoming the norm.

Yes I think most people want a balance.

[megletthesecond]

We're WFH for the foreseeable. There'll be a skeleton staff on a rota system to go into the office. I work 3 days a week and will probably have 1 day in the office.

TBH our organisation is really safe, limited numbers and large office space. It's the idiots in the rest of the building that worry me. We have a call centre within the building and the staff are a pain, it's like a nightclub and they trash the loos.

[Equimum]

The company DH works for has already suspended the lease in one of their London offices and announced that the ‘new normal’ will be two days in the office and three days from home. Managers can agree to a fourth day from home. Nobody is expected in the office until January (although some people are choosing to return from September).

I think it is mainly junior staff that are choosing g to go back in, and I know that somebody who lives alone and in a small flat has requested an additional day in the office. DHa team, though, are already globally based, so it makes little difference to him whether he videocalls from the office or from home.

[WanderingMilly]

I began work this week after being on furlough for so long....only setting up but how glad I was to be back! I wouldn't work from home even if I had a choice, I miss the camaraderie, the laughs, the gossip, the company...

Home is a lovely place to get back to after a day out or a day at work, but being in it all the time, it becomes tedious. I also wonder why we think it's detrimental for children to be school-working at home (they should be at school for their mental health, socialising etc.) but why don't we think the same about adults??

It wasn't so long ago working from home was unpopular as people didn't want to "mix work and family life", now no-one wants to be back in the office and suddenly don't seem to think it alters the work-life balance at all......

[jorgeous]

I also saw in the news I think that pwc are keeping offices as a large number of their staff are new graduates living in small flats and houseshares where home office is impractical.

makes sense

[Meruem]

I think once things are settled then it will work well. Going forward, those who would like to work from home will have a lot more choice/opportunity, those who want office based roles can apply for those. I think it’s actually the one good thing to come out of all this. Those of us who had to commute in the past were often out of the house 10-12 hours a day, it’s too much. Previously I personally had no life mon-fri. By the time I’d got home, cooked eaten etc I was too tired to do anything but flop in front of the tv for an hour before bed. Even weekends were full of things I hadn’t had time to do during the week, that awful Sunday night dread of the week to come. I couldn’t relax properly. I found a wfh job pre COVID for all those reasons. I think this change is long overdue.

[Aridane]

I LOATHE this extended WFH and do not find it a delight and a privilege

[DrDreReturns]

I also saw in the news I think that pwc are keeping offices as a large number of their staff are new graduates living in small flats and houseshares where home office is impractical.
A colleague of mine has to work on her bed. She lives with her parents and her sisters and there isn't much space in her house.

[WhyIsItSoHardToPickAUsername]

I feel sorry for people where this will be expected of them when they live in a small house with a few children. Not great for productivity or family relations tbh.

[Aridane]

I don’t think this will be the trend longer term, no.

There will certainly be more wfh, but when we get a better handle on this and the fear subsides a bit, the drive to get people back to the office a few days a week will start.

I don’t see many companies giving up their office space entirely.

I really hope you’re right - but fear you may not be and we have undergone a paradigm shift in the way we work. And employers such as my own have realised the HUGE amount they can save by jettisoning expensive showpiece offices

[BumDiggyDiggyDiggyBumDiggyBum]

I only work 3 days a week, before all the shit I only went into the office maybe once a week anyway, but now I’ve changed to wfh permanently. I work in a wee portacabin at the side of the runway in an airport, guys are always airside or in the workshop so there’s very little social aspect to miss. I also support guys from all over the UK so it really makes no difference to them where I work from.

Still on flexible furlough so only working 1 day a week just now, will be on that until it ends. Work is very sporadic but picking up slowly in the part of aviation I’m in. I’ve dodged redundancy so far, the guys I support are all older and really quite protective so they’ve been giving me all the work they can to make it look like I’m busy and they need me! Most of them earn more a month than I do in a year so getting rid of my salary won’t even make a dent in any company savings.

[Parker231]

I’m back in the office for the first week in September with the full team to plan the way forward - we are normally travelling long haul on a regular basis. Going forward it’s wfh four days a week with office based meetings on one day each week. I’ve an office at home so easy to wfh.

[jorgeous]

We live fairly close to work because it's near family & I never was interested in a long commute however we would definitely consider moving out for more space & a longer but less frequent commute.

[jorgeous]

And employers such as my own have realised the HUGE amount they can save by jettisoning expensive showpiece offices

see this is what i'm starting to think. Our environments did have a culture of presentism & I'm quite surprised by how relaxed they are about it all now that Sept is almost here.

[BrightYellowDaffodil]

Frankly I’m more than a little bit pissed off at this: www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/28/media-blitz-to-get-workers-back-to-offices-amid-pandemic

I understand that the city centres are quiet but having been scared into our homes in March for fear of the virus, we’re now being bullied back to offices for fear of the sack?

Never mind that a lot of offices aren’t open, don’t have the capacity etc, but we must all be good little capitalists and go back to spending hours on a commute just so that we can buy an overpriced Pret sandwich.

The government and the CBI need to understand that the genie is out of the bottle - workers have seen how much better life is without the trudge to an office 5 days a week, employers have realised the benefits of not having massive offices and everyone knows that WFH works. If Boris/the CBI think we’ll go back to the days of the City being rammed any time soon, if at all, they’re in cloud cuckoo land.

And aside from all that, why do I want to pu myself in a a situation where I could be more likely to be hunted down by Test and Trace and find myself quarantining for 14 days? If I stay at home it’s a lot easier to stay away from others and have more control over what people I do come into contact with.

[CeibaTree]

@Ginfordinner

All of my team have had their contracts changed to WFH. I have a full office set up in a spare bedroom with a desk, office chair, PC with 2 widescreen monitors, keyboard, mouse, headset and softphone software. It is much nicer than the office I was on with its arctic aircon.

How has that worked with people who don't have the space at home to have a decent set-up? and have your company paid for all the extra equipment like office chairs etc?

I work in a very old building so it has been hard for it to be made suitable for social distancing. We are allowed to go in two at a time, so I have been going in once per week. Although this is entirely voluntary - my employer seems to be still encouraging people to work from home as much as possible for the foreseeable future. A lot of staff in other departments are still on furlough, so I can't see things getting back to normal for a long time. Before the pandemic, WFH was not really an option available as there was not the IT infrastructure for it, but since April, they have finally sorted out remote access and have sent us all a work laptop, so I think even when there is a vaccination, the working culture has shifted to a more balanced mode or both working from home and going into the workplace if/when necessary.

I work in a part of London that is very tourist orientated but with lots of local businesses/cafes and it has been sad to see how empty everything is, but on the other hand not commuting a 3 hour round trip everyday has done wonders for my physical and mental health in terms of having the time to exercise/cook proper meals and experiencing a much slower less hectic pace of life.

[caitlinohara]

I work in a school admin role. I could easily wfh (as long as my kids are in school) and have been doing, but am expected to go in because everyone else is and I guess they need to show parents that it is “safe”. I am torn between feeling this is really unfair and putting me and others at risk needlessly (especially given lack of ppe) and the fact that I actually prefer being in...

[Alez]

Theyve just started letting people go back into my office but you have to book the space and numbers of desks are reduced. The office was already overfilled and sometimes it was difficult to find a desk (we hot desk) so not sure how the numbers work out. They've told us we can continue wfh though if we wish to, and I think most people are doing that.

I've actually been in two different teams over lockdown. The first team was fantastic for maintaining team spirit/connection. We had daily short catch ups for a chat, messaged each other loads, everyone happy to have a quick 1 minute chat about work. My new team does much less of that though and I do feel more isolated. I think it shows that there's no need for people to feel isolated though as long as we recreate the social opportunities that existed in the office.

[jorgeous]

I also wonder why we think it's detrimental for children to be school-working at home (they should be at school for their mental health, socialising etc.)

Well myself & friends, colleagues have found it hard & worried about DCs because we have been juggling work too.

[jorgeous]

@BrightYellowDaffodil That's one of the reasons I started the thread because the press is so negative. Plus I'm not convinced life would go back to normal in terms of associated spending because we still need to social distance.

[hamstersarse]

@Aridane

I LOATHE this extended WFH and do not find it a delight and a privilege

Me too

I have been working 50+ hours a week from my kitchen table for 6 months now.
I feel totally burnt out.
I miss the travelling, the social interaction, the punctuation to the day (I.e. that work has a start and finish), the moments of respite on the commute, the ease in which you can just have ‘incidental’ conversations with colleagues about a topic you need to explore. I work in a knowledge industry and it takes collaboration and conversation to share that knowledge and develop the knowledge...home working makes it just so much more difficult.

Motivating yourself EVERY DAY, day in day out is tiring. When you are around others you get motivation from them, spurred on, and inspired! Working solo loses all of that and it’s much more wearing.

I’ve just put myself forward for some volunteering yesterday because I need something else other than my kitchen table.

[Parker231]

With huge costs of commuting in time and money, by wfm people can save up to three hours a day on the train and several 000’s a year on a season ticket. Not much incentive to return to the office.

[TheGlitterFairy]

We were due to go back next week but our wfh has now been extended to January at the earliest and then will be on a rota basis in the office when we do go back.
DH is wfh too til January - we’re lucky enough that we have enough space at home to (now) both have an office space which helps.
I miss some of the social side of it also and going forward if I could be in the office 2 or 3 days a week then home the rest of the time, that would be a great balance.