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?

Yep, I can't go back to the daily commute now. I've already told my boss if they try to make us go back I'll quit, but luckily it looks as if we'll be able to choose for ourselves. I'll have to go in occasionally to work with physical documents and that's fine, but no way can I get up at 6:30 and sit in a car for hours a day when I now know it's completely unnecessary.

@SinkGirl

It’s interesting that the things people say they miss (chatting to colleagues, being sociable) are the non-working things that don’t really benefit employers directly (I realise happier staff often means more efficiency but most employers don’t seem to care about this).

DH and I have both been working from home for years - I could never go back to a 9-5 office job, would drive me absolutely insane.

Apart from staff wellbeing and morale, which demonstrably improves efficiency and staff retention and therefore is of interest to employers, the chats that take place at the coffee point often centre around or include work. I’ll often have a discussion with somebody which will get a project moving more quickly, or result in being invited to a useful meeting I hadn’t previously known was taking place, or just clarify a piece of info which hadn’t yet been widespread knowledge. I’ve found that frustrating about this year, things often take longer because it’s not the same when you have to actively call somebody or only see them in a designated Team meeting.

I’ll often have a discussion with somebody which will get a project moving more quickly, or result in being invited to a useful meeting I hadn’t previously known was taking place, or just clarify a piece of info which hadn’t yet been widespread knowledge.

I often see these kind of remarks arguing for the pros of office working... i use the phone daily to speak to people because i'm in a global firm. It always includes both chit chat (family, weekend shennanigans) and work chat "oh you guys are thinking about this? interesting... can you loop me in if going ahead"

if you're talking about watercooler or unrelated-to-work social chat with unrelated teams, that usually has zero productive effect. You can also do the same at your local gym etc.

The fact that my company and many others in the same industry had record breaking year in covid is telling. Of course, this is not the same in some industries but for office or head office type environments, it is totally possible to replace virtually.

No, I wouldn't. I've worked from home part or all of the week for 12+ years. It's very normal in my profession. But I wouldn't want to work from home all the time, every day, indefinitely. I actually enjoy my commute (very long one, by train, to Central London) and I enjoy getting out of the house and not by default doing the school run most days because I'm geographically closer. I have always worked from home some of the week and I'll continue to do this and may do full weeks at home more in the future. But I definitely wouldn't want to wfh 100%.

It's interesting because my colleagues and I do a mixture of wfh and going into the office. There are a lot of parts of our role which require at least one of us to be in the office per day. Every time I am that person I am so busy! There are so many things in healthcare which can't be done remotely. I feel my trust will keep on pushing for us all be in FT and to be honest I can see why. If I'm completely honest, I don't really have enough to do at home. When I'm in the office my role is mostly running around the hospital sorting IT problems, taking laptops to meetings, answering the phone, running meds charts to on call doctors. At home I have to call someone in the office to sort this out for me which makes me feel sort of redundant. If I mention this to management I would most likely make myself the least popular person in the whole office

Chickencrossing I don't get that argument either. In the old days I'd go over to a colleague's desk to ask a question, now I type it as a Teams message. Both ways involve the same small talk and level of discussion. And you can always call them if you think written messages are somehow inferior to spoken ones.

I do a mixture now, which I love.

I have a few days to knuckle down and do project work without distractions and interruptions.

And a day a week in the office.

If I was never in I think I'd lose touch with what is going on.

I love WFH. It really suits my personality (homebody, anti-social ). I no longer have a long, tiring and expensive commute. I like my colleagues but they are just that - colleagues, not friends - so I don't miss the general chit-chat and I adore not having to deal on a daily basis with a couple of the more pass-agg ones.

However, I'm fortunate to be established in my career with a lot of control over my own diary / work pattern anyway, and space at home to work without significant interruption. I know not everyone is in that boat and I do think flexibility and options are absolutely key whenever we're considering what work will look like in the future.

I'll be more than happy to go in when it's necessary for me to be face-to-face with someone. But I would really hate to go back to a culture of presenteeism where people are expected to schlep into the office 9-5 every day 'just because'. That benefits absolutely no one.

I do miss a Pret mango sunshine bowl though!

No. I like WFH, but not full time. 1-2 days in the office would be ideal.