I don’t want to go back to the office(s) unless absolutely necessary.

[Carpedimum]

Before the pandemic I worked at home as often as possible, but my workplace hadn’t fully embraced wfh culture and I was told that I needed “to be seen” in the office at least a couple of days a week. I also travelled to two other sites regularly, one 60+ miles away and the other 200 miles away. I went to my home office 2-3 times a week, but I dislike it and much prefer wfh. I dislike the commute, the bus from the remote car-park into the office, the distractions of the big open-plan and I can’t work nearly as efficiently there as I do at home. Obviously, the pandemic has been wonderful for me, in that I have worked full-time throughout, all from home since mid-March.
I welcome the vaccines etc. and the prospect of a return to normal life, except I am dreading needing to go out to work again. I have proven over a long period of time that I can do my job very effectively at home, AIBU to hope that I’ll be able to continue that with only very occasional trips for meetings in the future? I realise that the economy is a complex web of supply & demand, and part of that is the commute etc. I just can’t face the idea of going back to “needing to be seen”.

I’ve been wfh for 11 years. DH was for years until a job change forced him back into an office. He has been wfh since March and has already told his boss he will not be easily convinced to return to in-person work.

I am expecting to return to the office c.50% of the time for quite a while. I've been in for one day since March so it will be a shock. Like you I have a number of offices to cover. My intention is just to see how things go. We have allowed some home working for a few years and if I have a day clearish of meetings then I will prob avoid the travel. I do miss people tho. And being in town at lunch. And work clothes. So I'm looking forward to it - but not every day.

If it's any consolation a return to 'normal' is some way away OP, the vaccine roll-out won't happen overnight, so on one hand not worth worrying about too much.
On the other hand, depending on your work culture - your company may decide WFH is better, but if it doesn't there will certainly be those that do and decide new ways of working...

Some of my job can only be done from the office. I'd like to go back 2 or 3 days and then the rest from home. I like seeing my colleagues. Some parts of my job is more efficient from the office. Some I do better from home.

Thing is it’s completely your companies decision. I do agree to a point that completely home workers can get left behind /forgotten about so it’s good to keep a presence in the office if you want to progress. Could you agree a couple of set wfh days each week then work in the office the rest?

YABU it's a couple of times a week. Yes horrible commute but at least it isn't all week.

That’s almost never true about working from India from a customer perspective when they use a service desk.
Anyway OP hasn’t said what kind of work it is. Not all jobs are the same. Employers are going to have to face the reality soon that lots of employees work differently and they get the best out of some people when they can work at home quietly. It’s true that other workers might enjoy the office more and that’s fine too but it shouldn’t be a macho presenteeism thing. Being ‘seen’ when remote is just as easy on a Zoom call, just put your hand up and talk. The main problem with remote i notice is silo working but that was always a problem in organisations long before lockdowns started. It’s not a new phenomenon we’ve all just heard of. If you can show your boss you’re actively making an effort to catch up remotely with people from any other teams you need to, and your productivity is up then you can argue it doesn’t make sense for you to return to the time-drain of in-office working. We’ve also all learnt about doing interviews and inductions virtually, I think it can work really well. Many organisations do a daily informal cstch up online and i feel more connected doing this than I did working in the open plan office where the culture was silence and everyone hated taking or making a phone call because of the audience so we emailed each other across the room. Why do bosses think that all the chat functions and platforms are so popular in offices- in our place it was people sitting next to each other asking if they want to go to get a cup of tea or asking a group about turning up the heating... Open plan is for a lot of people not a productive, natural or conducive way to work and it’s good that this is being talked about.

He has been wfh since March and has already told his boss he will not be easily convinced to return to in-person work.

They don't need to 'convince' him though? It's not a negotiation; if they say he has to return to his regular place of work then that's the end of the matter.

Depends on your company OP. Some may change their position on wfh, but I suspect once all restrictions are lifted many will return to how they were before.

I don't think YAB at all U to hope for that, OP, and to seek to amend your contract to permanent full-time home working if appropriate. Whether or not you get it is another thing and will depend on your company - they may well have dropped their hostility to it - but it isn't an unreasonable request or thing to want.

I think fewer companies will keep offices so more people will work from home. But it is down to the individual company. I work from home alot anyway and I have proved that I can deliver but delivery is the bit that matters to my line manager.

YANBU to hope, but you can’t demand it.

I really miss my colleagues and I am one of the ‘love the office’ people but I can’t now think of a good reason for attending more than a day a week. Why would we? We’re all available on Teams.

Like you I work at different sites , though mine are all fairly close to each other. I am a contrctor so I dont have my own space or a desk ( no spare desks at any of the sites but one ) so I tend to have to use the small break rooms , two sites have outside seating so if the weather is nice I will sit there but other wise I feel like I am getting in the way .

Up untill three weeks ago I was still expected to go to each site twice a week but because I use public transport it was decided that i could 'contaminate' the sites so i have been told i should only go to each one onces a month .
I am happy with that , I find it much easier to work from home , except a lot of my work consist of printing documetns out and though I company a printer at one site I am now expected to print all my work at home , not only does it cost me a bomb in ink but carting a heap of paper to each site is a pain in the arse ( and back )

It's not a negotiation; if they say he has to return to his regular place of work then that's the end of the matter.

Exactly. People appear to be getting carried away with their own perceived power. Unless their contract has changed, it isn’t their decision.

I agree wfh appears to encourage silos. I think you also lose the ability to brainstorm things on the hoof. I usually have meetings with a company who does work for us with say 2 or 3 people in the room - in a big meeting, it might be up to 10. What I notice now with Zoom and teams is those meetings now have 20 people on, last big one we did had 50. It's not necessary but people invite other people and before you know it, you've got an auditorium.

Ultimately it's not up to you unless you're in the v rare position of being so important to the company that they will let you do what you want. The company will make the rules and you'll make the choice!

Apparantly it is to early to expect my brain to be able to spell

I posted yesterday about how more and more of my colleagues are back in the office despite the guidelines saying not to be, and how I’m worried those of us who are choosing to wfh are seen as less committed despite me actually putting in more hours at home.

I don’t want to go back to all day/all week in the office - I get so much more done wfh and it’s a nicer working environment. I’m happy to go in when needed and am confident my job is not suffering as a result of working this way but ultimately if my employers want me there I’ll have no choice.

I don't want to go back in ever again unless absolutely necessary. All that happened in every office I've worked in is I've caught every single illness going round. Doesn't matter how many times I wash my hands, don't touch door handles etc I still get them, just because of the bloody air conditioning units that spread every bug across the whole building. And then there's the people who cough or sneeze without covering their mouth or nose.

I can do my job from home and I havent been sick in months, it's been amazing. I'd imagine now my immune system is even worse than it already was so a cold will probably wipe me out. If they force me to go back in and I end up off sick, least I have a reason for them to let me stay at home in future. I guarantee that if they force us back in, I'll probably be ill the first week.

@RockStarMartini

I posted yesterday about how more and more of my colleagues are back in the office despite the guidelines saying not to be, and how I’m worried those of us who are choosing to wfh are seen as less committed despite me actually putting in more hours at home.

I don’t want to go back to all day/all week in the office - I get so much more done wfh and it’s a nicer working environment. I’m happy to go in when needed and am confident my job is not suffering as a result of working this way but ultimately if my employers want me there I’ll have no choice.

I do think that this will happen in a lot of places, and that people are being quite naive about it currently. All my colleagues think we'll be working from home whenever we like forever but I've noticed how senior management were back in early on. At the moment we're all at home again so they can't revert to normal practices where lots of things are done informally and based on who happens to be around, but I really don't think that's gone for good. There was a big talk at work the other day about 'blended meetings' where some people are in the room and some are on Zoom and people were talking about how great this will be; I think they're kidding themselves if they think that the ones on Zoom will be getting an equal say and that there won't be any further discussions around the edge that they miss out on.

I agree that those who choose to wfh will be seen less favourably than the ones who troop in. Missed opportunities etc.
Not saying this is correct but it’s the way it is...

My company have been saying for a while that when the time comes, the default position will be back to working in the office, not WFH.
I was quite disappointed really as I believe we’ve all proved it works really well, but when it comes down to it ultimately we have to do what the company say. If I could chose, I would do 1 week in the office then 1 from home.

You’ve also proven your work can be done remotely and there may be people willing to do your role for less money.

Any one can wish for what they want doesn’t mean an employer who wants to see their staff have to comply. They do till four employ you - unless your free lance ..

This is intriguing me - I am CS and before covid WFH 2 days a week - under protest despite being able to do our jobs just as well. I can't wait to see how they try to persuade us that we have to be back in the office in the future. TBH the Government could save millions of pounds on rent for CS depts by people WFH, our office could go down to a couple of meeting rooms which could be anywhere within the city I work in.

I don't think you're being unreasonable in what you want, but in the mid to long term you probably would be better off transferring to an organisation which embraces working from home rather than hoping your organisation's culture will change.

My employer is using the pandemic as an opportunity to shed its expensive London flagship offices and open up satellite offices in the regions which will only have capacity for 40% of staff on any one day. However, it's been on the cards for years: it's more that the pandemic has given management the impetus to act rather than a complete shift in organisational culture. Other employers will maintain office-based working, but it seems likely in future there will be a wider range of options between organisations, and it will be part of the overall employee package. (And if employers are expecting office working, when their competitors aren't, they may need to throw in sweeteners to encourage people to take on the commute.)

Whether moving jobs now is the right thing however... Given the likely state of the economy over 2021, it is probably worth sticking where you are and accepting some office working in order to maintain service and redundancy terms.