To feel sad that the world of work as we knew it has gone forever?

[Youngatheart00]

My work confirmed today we are moving to 100% remote working and will only get together a few times a year for team meetings. I find this so sad. I loved my working life - I know realise so much of that was down to the people. Now all I do all day is stare at screens and give myself a migraine.

They are justifying it by saying ‘most people’ want this despite me never seeing any such survey. It’s a blatant cost cutting exercise.

Anyone else fed up and lonely?

Just going over to a work colleague for advice or a chat, help is invaluable.
You can’t get that support virtually, surely?..
Of course you can. We're a close-knit team and we Teams chat, or Whatsapp each other all day, with queries, check-ins etc.

But the good thing about that is that if you are genuinely busy, you can ignore the text or whatever until you're free. In the office, some colleagues would think nothing of plonking themselves down in my office 'for a chat' whether I was busy or not! Much as I genuinely like most of my team, I much prefer having more control over my working day at home.**

Sorry I disagree. I prefer human interaction, and like going to a physical work place. I like having a cuppa with a colleague on a tea break.That’s just my opinion. But I’ve always done jobs with camaraderie anyway, working mainly in public service.

For me personally I've just agreed that I will be in the office once a week and work remotely the rest of the week. Part of me thinks that maybe I would have preferred 100% remotely but once a week feels like a safer bet as I will still get the chit-chat, team vibe. Once a week will be enough for that for me. Appreciate that everyone will have different preferences though.

But I’ve always done jobs with camaraderie anyway, working mainly in public service.

I work in 'public service' too, and have 'cameraderie' with my colleagues . I simply don't need to be in the same room as them.

God, this thread is weird.

Love wfh. Better for family, for environment, for health (less tired) and pocket... You can still propose to socialise after work, no one will object.. But you must accept others may not feelike you do.

@MyDcAreMarvel

Couldn’t disagree more. Wfh gives you so much more of your life back. No commute so hours extra to do as you please. No stress of a commute, better for the environment Lie ins , comfy clothes, no small talk , more time with family, in for parcels, can eat lunch at home, use your own toilet. Absolutely no negatives at all.

This! love wah :)

Depends on your job. I work in a profession where collaboration is really important and, to be honest, most of it is completely spontaneous. You can’t replicate it via Zoom calls - it’s no substitute for building face to face relationships and ad hoc interactions with real people. Also, our annual trainee intake are getting a pale imitation of training - all those occasions when you just pop your head round their door and grab them for a meeting or call just don’t happen any more. Out of sight, out of mind.

I think the response to the virus has catapulted us into a future that ideally there will be a technical retrospective catch-up to.

no commute = no motivation to exercise (I walk, run or cycle to work)
no stress of commute = no time to unwind after the day and make a break between work and home
lie ins = can't sleep in past 7 anyway
comfy clothes = no differentiation between work and home life
more time with family = squashed together all day in a small flat
no small talk = no social contact
in for parcels = getting interrupted while you're on zoom
can eat lunch at home = no chance to go out for lunch
use your own toilet = this is the ONLY advantage!

This is why I like working with people, everyone will think differently about the same things it's always interesting!

Do people feel weird that they are always recorded?

We aren’t always recorded?

@flexx

I think people take WFH literally. You don't have to work from HOME. You can work from co-working space, from coffee shop, you can meet with some of your coworkers and work at their place. There are tons of possibilities. I think many people find WFH stressful because of the specific situation that we're in. Once pandemic is over you can do all those things you mentioned with being in office all day.

flexx

no commute = no motivation to exercise (I walk, run or cycle to work)
no stress of commute = no time to unwind after the day and make a break between work and home
lie ins = can't sleep in past 7 anyway
comfy clothes = no differentiation between work and home life
more time with family = squashed together all day in a small flat
no small talk = no social contact
in for parcels = getting interrupted while you're on zoom
can eat lunch at home = no chance to go out for lunch
use your own toilet = this is the ONLY advantage

My take:

no commute = no motivation to exercise (I walk, run or cycle to work)=your choice to exercise. Also see below.

no stress of commute = no time to unwind after the day and make a break between work and home=unwind by going for a walk
lie ins = can't sleep in past 7 anyway=circumstantial. I sleep

comfy clothes = no differentiation between work and home life=who wants to differentiate, work is a big part of our lives. You can choose to dress up if you want anyway

more time with family = squashed together all day in a small flat=well I get that, but not everyone is in a flat, so really, depends on your circumstances again

no small talk = no social contact=you can small talk on your zoom, teams, meet after work, socialisation choice is yours not a situational obligation

in for parcels = getting interrupted while you're on zoom=that's a good thing. Also, you can ignore the door if you like

can eat lunch at home = no chance to go out for lunch=depends on your cooking skills, and choice to cook I do better than pret sandwich

use your own toilet = this is the ONLY advantage=nope, loads of advantages. See how many times the word "choice" has been repeated above

I think it suits older people more who have families and partners , more space and often a very established set of friends/social life. My 22 year old son in a London flatshare has hated it. I think companies need to offer flexibility - it won’t suit everyone .

I voted YANBU because in your situation I can see why you'd be sad about the changes.

Dispute the world of work as "WE" know it if that is supposed to encompass everyone who works - my work is the same as it ever was, only with added PPE. Think there's a number of us like that tbh. Sometimes I wish I could just wah and not have to see people!

@Abijay1 you really think business will pass on those savings to the end user , more like the shareholders

Surely being at home pretty much all the time and spending more time with family can be too much of a good thing though?
Don’t we all need our space and spend time away from family can be a good thing can’t it?
Coming home and telling my family about my day at work makes conversation.

Hearwego

But surely family are out doing stuff- work/school/college.
I work from home and during non covid times get plenty of time away from my family. I love having the house to myself.

My husband is always on zoom meeting and his companies keep it recorded for liabilities. He is in meetings all day long. In person, they don’t always record people’s conversations. But in this case, any slip up can make my husband look bad

Can you look at maybe joining a coworking space/band together with other colleagues who feel the same as you to meet up somewhere to work together?

Remote working offers so many benefits that drastically outweigh being in an office and few places will take 'because you're lonely' as a reason to pay for office space, but I can see lots of coworking spaces/room hire places springing up for people who don't want to work from home/want that in person interaction.

In the meantime can you look at redirecting your need for face to face interaction to joining a club etc when these things start up again? It might make WFH more tolerable if you have something to look forward to.

For those that have mentioned time
/Commute cost savings, my guess is that bosses won't be obligated to pay you the London salary/large city salary if your expenses are reduced due to less travel and no need to live within a 2 hour commute to the office.

We use two widescreen monitors, and many of us have PCs with full sized keyboards and mice, so it isn't practical to work anywhwre other than in our own homes or at the office. We have been told that as WFH works very successfully we will only meet up every couple of months or so for meetings.

Remote working offers so many benefits that drastically outweigh being in an office and few places will take 'because you're lonely' as a reason to pay for office space, but I can see lots of coworking spaces/room hire places springing up for people who don't want to work from home/want that in person interaction.

I find it utterly bonkers that this thread of people not only brightly informing OP that, don't worry, she can just start paying for office space out of her own pocket so her employer doesn't have to but also insisting that also the 'choice' to pay for something her employer used to provide is a great boon to the OP.

WFH doesn't suit everyone. My daughter is in a house share, four 20+ somethings. The communal space is limited and they're all working in their bedrooms. Far from ideal. Needless to say, they're all going a bit loopy. What suits one person doesn't suit another.

Blueberries0112 It's not normal to record every meeting but even so, your husband should be capable of not saying anything dodgy in a work setting. It's a pretty basic skill for an adult!

@Hardbackwriter

Well, what are we supposed to say to OP? DEMAND that your boss rents an office space just for you? Quit your job and don't look back?
She needs to look for solutions. As far as I can tell she's got 3 options : 1. WFH as other people in her company 2. Change the job, so she can work from the office 3. Rent a co-working space.