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”.

carpedimum - fair enough. It's just that it's been far from wonderful for some of us. The sentence just struck an uncomftorble chord with me for that reason

@thedevilinablackdress again I disagree, I find it much easier to PM someone to get their time than I do hovering over their desk worrying I am interrupting them, especially senior managers. Their status clearly shows if they're available, quick Pm which leads to a phone call.

I've quite enjoyed getting back I to work the last few weeks because wfh is mind numbing, I eat too much and I was losing my social skills. I feel much more cheerful now.

However, bearing in mind that mumsnet seems to have an unusually large number of people who don't have friends or want to socialise (judging by some threads) a group where people interact online might not give the most balanced set of replies

mumsnet seems to have an unusually large number of people who don't have friends

nice.

That's true actually, hardback - I don't mean to imply that everyone should start demanding fulltime WFH as some kind of ultimatum, that would be foolish. Just that in some organisations, especially smaller ones who have previously been more resistant to WFH or flexible working, they may find people who are key to the operation asking for it (which is the position I'm in - although, as you/someone else pointed out, I was already in a position to dictate where and, to an extent, when I work). And that will filter down and effect change across the board in that it'll become more normalised.

I think broadly most people will go back to mostly in-office work but I think the shift towards flexibility will remain. I might be being optimistic but managing a team this year where we've had to be incredibly flexible at the drop of a hat for unexpected illnesses and tests and childcare issues and so on, we are increasingly taking a view as a business that actually, our team are more than capable of handling their workload in a way which suits their lives and while we've no intention of selling our offices, we do anticipate a much lower

% of staff in on any given day in future :-)

I was in the office today and speaking about this to somebody who has been WFH successfully since March. She is pretty senior and has been told that WFH won’t be an option post covid. She was quite upset because she enjoys working from home and there is absolutely no reason why she needs to return to the office other than higher management want people back in.
She is in the company over twenty years.

My own preference is to work from the office. Every day. I loathe working from home and am delighted not to be doing so.

Teams and Zoom can go in the fucking bin, where they belong

@Thismustbelove I think WFH has been a challenge for certain types of senior manager. Not being able to see work being done and having to rely on looking at results has made some senior managers nervous.

The two line managers above me are new to the industry and both have had to recognise that they cant bluff their way through. Both have had to actually learn rather than rely on snippets they have overheard then regurgitated later as pearls of wisdom.

For some senior managers it has been a revelation to them that some people are really rather good at their jobs and do better if they are managed with a light touch rather than having someone constantly breathing down their necks.

Not sure how much this will be retained when things start to open up again. The people who like breathing down people's necks tend to be the ones who shout loudest and will jump on any 'evidence' to show that 'it' would all be better if we were in the office.