I work in Higher Education in professional services. We were all sent home at lockdown and have been wfh ever since, like most people.
The uni have been working really hard to get student-facing staff back on site for the new term. All Prof Services however are to carry on working from home "at least until January". There is talk of a "new working model" where Prof Services colleagues will work mostly from home, with perhaps monthly team meetings and the odd day hot-desking.
I am absolutely gutted at the prospect. My job was never the most thrilling - my role is pretty ill-defined so I just end up doing whatever it occurs to people to give me; and the work is pretty boring. It has peaks and troughs, so a lot of the time I have way too much to do and other times I am more or less plodding along. I'm not customer facing particularly, so very rarely have meetings. What made my job tolerable and even lovely before was my colleagues in my team - who I absolutely love - and our nice, pally office in an attractive building.
I had a great space to work in, friends to talk to and go for a drink with. If work sometimes got me down, then that was manageable because of the upsides.
Now we Teams a bit but it's not the same at all. I'm working in the attic, which is a much better home work space than many have I know, but I am not comfortable up here. And I am so so lonely and bored! I miss seeing something other than the inside of my house. I miss seeing other people, talking to other people! I'm left with just spreadsheets. Endless spreadsheets. And the longer it goes on and is predicted to go on, the more depressed I am with how my life has ended up through no choice of my own.
I also feel like a freak as everyone else seems to love wfh. I feel like the only person in the world who doesn't love being free of all distractions, slobbing in my pyjamas etc.
And although my situation is objectively good, I feel like this decision has been made with no consideration for how different people are set up for home working. I have a junior colleague who had a bespoke work station to help with health problems, RSI, back pain etc. Now he's at home on the dining table. The best option work have come up with is 'come into the office to collect your stuff'. This assumes he has a spare room (he doesn't) or a big enough dining room to accommodate a full-size adjustable desk and a huge specialised office chair (he doesn't). Their solution seems to be a shrug. Questions about whether work will reimburse staff for the purchase of suitable specialised equipment (as well as increased bills etc from wfh) have been met with another shrug and the suggestion that people will be saving so much money on commuting they can do this themselves. My commute was a ten minute walk! I am saving nothing, I am losing a lot, and this goes completely unacknowledged.
Does anyone else feel like C-19 is being used by employers as an excuse to completely wash their hands of their responsibility to ensure their staff have a suitable work environment? Not for the short term emergency, but for the long haul?
Also please tell me SOMEONE else hates being at home all the time - I feel like such a needy weirdo!
Wah. Massive whinge but I am just so bloody miserable facing another lonely day in the attic 