To ask if you would want to wfh full time?

[LadyCatLover2]

The thought of going back to work 5 days a week seems excruciating, but I'm unsure I would want to wfh five days a week either.

I recently had a job opportunity, but turned it down as it was 100% remote and I thought that would be bad for my mental health. I don't have many friends so work is my main interaction. But maybe I'm mad - wfh has benefits like no commute, privacy, more time in the evening etc.

Would you want to wfh full time, permanently?

Ps my commute is 20 mins drive rurally, so I don't have that as an issue to worry about when I am in the office, it is an easy commute with free parking.

Yes. My disability is getting worse so I'm happy that I don't have to deal with getting to the office. My team meet several times a week and tbh we've really talked in a way we wouldn't in the office. I know some of them will go back for some days but I really hope we can do our meetings a couple of times a week. I've cried with laughter and we've really pulled together.

I am currently wfh four days a week and applying for a job working full time from home. I used to hate it but am getting more used to it.
The benefits I find are that I can walk the dogs in my lunchbreak, pop out to do bits of shopping. I finish at 4.30 which means time to pop to the shops and prep tea. I can pop loads of washing on and get it pegged out, the dogs love me being home etc.
I don't miss my colleagues really, I have little in common with them. I do miss people generally though.
I love the fact I can roll out of bed at 8.15 and be at my desk by 8.30.

It's been asked on here loads over the last year.

For me, I hope that in the next few months, things will return to what I had pre-2020 which was at least 1/2 my time at home and the rest out and about on various meetings, trainings, visits, assessments etc.
It was the perfect balance for me.

If it were a simple choice between being at home 100% or having to sit in an office 100%, then I'd choose the at home option without a doubt, but I don't really like being at home all the time.

But so much depends on so many other things - your age / stage in life...your experience in the job.... your interdependency on others in your team or if you mainly each have your own work anyway..... if you have a quiet, dedicated place to work at home...... what your commute is like..... what other interaction you have outside of the home (or even in it) if you don't go out to work..... how self disciplined you are..... what age your dc are (if you have any)....etc.

There' s never going to be a solution that suits everyone.

I would love it but I I haven't been able to WFH so don't know how it is.

I'm currently looking for work atm (have been a unpaid carer for last 7 years). I am desperate to now get back to work doing pretty much anything but I would draw the line at a job that was purely work from home.

[quote NothingIsWrong]@Megan2018 there are many many jobs that require large screens and/or confidentiality where that kind of set up won't work.[/quote]
There will be provision for all types of office based jobs including those that are highly confidential. DH works in financial crime and his employer is investing.
There’s a few pilots already planned by some large financial institutions-the local spaces will have IT infrastructure in situ like multiple screens, and spaces that are open plan and individual offices with security. There will be small central HQ’s eg in London and then hundreds of these local “satellites” instead. People will mix between literally their home, a local hub or HQ to suit.
It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight but 10-25 year plans for remote working are a million miles away from a laptop on your kitchen table or desk in bedroom. Office jobs won’t generally be static anywhere.
It’s going to take time but young people now won’t all be working from their bedrooms-nor commuting in large numbers into the city daily either. It’s going to be a sort of reverse of the industrial revolution I guess. Covid has just accelerated it.

I do wfh full time and it's such a relief.

I'm a single mum, work full time. For the last 9 years I've battled with wrap around care and inflexible employers.
Now I drop ds at the school bus, am home by 8 to start work, get loads more done, collect ds between 4.20 and 4.50, then back to do another hour. No stress, no unnecessary disapproval by presentee boss, no miserable commute, no wasted petrol. At the age of 57, I'm finally being treated like an adult .
When covid ends I'll have a couple of meetings a week so no more isolated than I want to be.

Quality of life benefits like I can put washing on at 8am, peg it out at lunch, no need to do it at weekends. Last week I took 15 mins out of my lunch hour to make some pizza dough, left it to rise until 6.30 pm, home made pizza for supper. Life is less stressful, less expensive, more natural. I'm actually in my community, not just passing through.

I do wonder what will happen to public transport, I assume services will be reduced & in a few yrs time a 1 day ticket will cost what 4 days did!

I wfh fully before the pandemic, I never want to work back in an office. I recently changed jobs and there was a lot more fully wfh jobs advertised then when I changed 3 years ago.

@tecatea

I do wonder what will happen to public transport, I assume services will be reduced & in a few yrs time a 1 day ticket will cost what 4 days did!

I hope trains are nationalised. I think the enforced WFH has bought home to a lot of commuters just how extortionate fares are.

I’d WFH permanently. I can start work earlier, I don’t have to talk to people I don’t want to, I can work in my pyjamas.
Save tonnes not having to commute or buy lunch.

I’m not a people person though, I find people annoying. For more sociable people it’s harder.

I have been wfh for 15 years. Absolutely love it. I rarely go to the office because doing so requires traveling by plane.

I can't WFH in my job anyway but I wouldn't want to. I need people around me to motivate me.

@tecatea

I do wonder what will happen to public transport, I assume services will be reduced & in a few yrs time a 1 day ticket will cost what 4 days did!

As a non driver that would be a disaster for me!

I don’t have such luxury of working from home. However I would personally hate it, I like leaving the house everyday and seeing ppl.

I couldn’t wfh all the time as it would drive me mad. The novelty for me has worn off and I find it really demotivating. Can’t wait to go back to the office.

No!! Even with my hour and a half door to door commute (which includes walking, train and bus or tube) I love being in the office. I love my job, and enjoy being with my colleagues.

I live on my own, and miss seeing other human beings.

My DH has been since the beginning of March 2020. He used to go to the office 1 day a week and then be off on sites 2-3 days a week. He is struggling now with the isolation. I can see that I would be exactly the same. I think hybrid would work (though not in my current role, I have to be on site 120% of the time!)

No way my job doesn't allow me to. I have worked all the way through this and i do not work with computers either. I'm an outdoors person.

I’ve wfh full time for a full year now. Of course there are huge benefits, getting house work done, just generally less hectic etc etc. However I suspect I’ve had a gradual cognitive decline because of this very lack of multiple pressures.

I feel less creative, just not firing on all cylinders. I guess an easy life doesn’t do much for my wellbeing overall, it sort of numbs me. I’ve realised I need a bit of everyday pressure to keep me on my toes and to feel alive. At the same time, I’m so institutionalised now to my home prison that the thought of getting to the office everyday is overwhelming...I’m going to have to wean myself back into it. And I will because I feel like I’m rotting away stuck at home.

As a parent to young children I love Wfh. Just before lockdown I'd had to fight to be "allowed" one day from home as my boss wasn't keen himself so almost didn't believe anyone could be effective at home
but now our organisation is moving to a much more flexible model and I plan to only go into the office once a fortnight, and only when it's necessary and coordinated with other team members.

I used to have a great social life at work pre children, but at this stage I prefer the time and cost savings of wfh. Also more social stuff is opening up on evenings and weekends so I don't worry about being lonely or isolated as I fully intend to throw myself into an evening social life, which working in an office left me too drained and time poor to manage around my kids before

No, I absolutely hate it. Live on my own and the last year has almost broken me. Our office has been permanently closed and lots of people took redundancy. I’m hoping that once things start to open up again and I can go to the cinema, meet friends for drinks and meals etc it will get better. If not, I’ve told my boss I’m looking for another job and why.

Yes, it would be my ideal as I am fairly antisocial really We are probably going to hybrid work with two mornings in the office and the rest from home as this is the most popular option

Yes and I am. Before covid I was part time in the office but WFH suits me so well that I went FT. Might as well be paid as I'm home anyway. I don't need that extra day to catch up on chores as I can do them around my work now.