To enjoy going to the office? I'd hate to WFH forever.

[YesEllis]

Just from the social side, I'd be so isolated working from home everyday. My office is my only interaction with other adults sometimes. I would become such an introvert working from home permanently. Yet everyone I speak to seems to want to forever! I get their arguments, and the environmental ones of course but it's not for me. Does anyone agree with me? Or is everyone pro WFH ongoing after covid?

I do the sort of job that involves a lot of telling people bad news. I hate having that in my house. I much prefer to go into the office and have some separation between home and work. I have always had a very flexible working arrangement and so working from home had always been an option, and as soon as my office opened back up i started going in a few days a week to keep me sane. When all restrictions are lifted i'll go in most days and only work from home when i really need to. Our nanny hates us WFH too, it just makes it much harder for her to do her job when the kids know we are upstairs.

I would hate to WFH permanently. Half of the point of working for me is to interact with other people & Zoom/Teams isn't the same. Would be happy with a mix though - currently I work 2 days a week out of the house in a job that can't be done from home, switching to a 3 days a week job that I think could possibly have a day from home - that would be nice.

I’m working from home and I can tolerate it just about most the time. Some weeks I absolutely hate it. I really miss being in the office. I changed jobs last year so have struggled learning my role and have only briefly met my manager so far. I really regret leaving my old job. I can’t wait to get in the office and get back to normal life! How can anyone enjoy sitting there all day on their own staring at a screen?

Why on earth would you be unreasonable? Different people, different preference.

There are countless jobs who are completely incompatible with WFH, lockdown or no lockdown!

I love WFH. I can work efficiently and concentrate on work, and it frees my time to have a proper social life and make it so much easier with my kids.

Many of us never had the luxury to a "9 to 5", and forget about work evenings and weekends. Just because you came home never meant we didn't have to catch up with things at some point anyway. I don't find it hard for a minute to switch off because I work at home.

How can anyone enjoy sitting there all day on their own staring at a screen?

when it's necessary to do your job, and you are not interrupted constantly by colleagues, bloody tea rounds, waste of time meetings, inane chit chats with colleagues, and so on on.. it's bliss to be home. And more free time to do something else than work and see people!

Yes I’m the same - I think I’d like two days working from home moving forward but so miss the office! A few of us from our team are going in ad hoc once a week, and even though it’s like 4 people in an office for 150 I LOVE it. Those days are my absolute favourite days of work, I go home feeling satisfied and content and love walking back home and relaxing in a space I haven’t just spent 8 hours in, having a story to tell DP about the outside world and my day. I understand wanting a mix but don’t understand wanting to be at home full time - even healthier to be in office as so much more active that day commuting as well. If I had to WFH forever I’d get fat & be miserable and flat. Vive Le office!!

I much prefer working from home but I don't see how you could be unreasonable for having a different preference.

I’m also so sick of constantly cleaning! In our previous lives we would leave the house tidy and come back to it tidy. These days I feel like I have to tidy up for an hour after work before I can relax into the evening.

I very much advocate a hybrid arrangement of 2 days in the office and 3 days WFH. Or extra days for busy weeks.

WFH I have no work/life balance; starting work early (I'm up at 4.30am for the gym and home/showered by 7am so I start work), then keep on working through to 6 or 7 at night.

I find it incredibly challenging to manage and mentor my team remotely; my junior team members in particular need the support of face to face. And I fear their growth is being limited.

And I miss the socialisation! Going out for a coffee or lunch or walk and talk is so much better than the 5 to 7 hours of virtual teams meetings I'm currently on.

@HareofEasttown

We are social animals and need the interaction, particularly the young and those who live alone or in small, cramped spaces.

It's more abnormal to want to closet yourself away at home for ever.

I would hate my children to think that they will have to wfh - how on earth will they make friends, meet a parter, learn on the job?

I live alone and am generally happy WFH. If I had to choose between the 2, I'd opt to WFH.

The benefits of not having to dress in work clothes, no stress when the 1-mile commute takes 25 minutes because of traffic (essential car user, so have to have my car at work), the ability to pop a load of washing on and hang it out during the day etc (earlier, I did a bit of weeding while discussing a case), no people coming in and out or chatting away when I'm on the phone or trying to concentrate on something complex, no driving 30-odd miles to meet clients but doing phone or zoom calls instead, no hanging around the tribunal centre for hours because they're running late (hearings have been done by telephone since Covis), all outweigh the disadvantages for me.

But I can go into the office if I want. Sometimes, if two of us need to go in to collect papers that have been posted or print stuff, we'll synchronise our visits and have a catch up, so I have the best of both worlds.

And next week we're having a "real" team meeting for the first time in nearly a year, which will be an adventure. When groups of 6 were allowed out of doors last year, we had a team meeting on the beach - we never would have done that if it hadn't been for Covid and it was great.

I've always split between site working and working from home, and I find it ideal. It means I can enjoy the convenience of being at home some days and the social aspect of being out working other days.

I'd hate to work at home full time, but I know we're all different. Some of my friends are seething over returning to the office.

I work full time, and as a lone parent, wfh is absolutely perfect. I recently changed jobs and wfh is part of my contract. I am always welcome in HQ (when they reopen) but my team took on new hires recently (not just me) and we are scattered everywhere. Wfh is here to stay, and that's fine by me.

I absolutely hate wfh and have volunteered to go back from start of July. Even if there is nobody else there I cannot wait. Fed up of my home being an office. Need that separation between work and home back.

Not all of us are fortunate to have room for an office and have been working from our sofa or coffee table for over a year - there is a reason why they do regular work desk assessments for H&S, that’s went out the window in the last year. I know a few people who have had to get forms of physio due to sitting in bad positions working while at home

Interesting that some of the points raised as a positive of wfh I see as a negative. In my experience of the last year productivity has definitely been impacted - before you could just turn round to someone and ask them a question. Now you have to wait until they are free to phone them, schedule a call or message them and then have to wait until they reply. That is very inefficient and does impact how quick things turn around.

The nice lunches at home - in the office I had a multitude of lovely places I could get lunch from around the office and I also had time to do that. Now I’m lucky if I have time to make myself a sandwich in between yet another call (probably somebody asking me something they would have asked across the desk)

And for the patronising poster who asked the OP if she had any friends or family I do too but quite a few of my friends are from work (I know that’s a big MN no no ) and I haven’t seen them in person for a long time based on where we all live

A lot of people in my team are waiting on someone else being the first one to go back and have already said since I decided to go in they will likely start coming in too

My bosses have closed our office so we now have to permanently work from home. I hate it, it’s intrusive as you feel you are permanently at work, no interaction with colleagues, no closing the door on the office as it’s also our guest room. I feel boundaries are slipping as bosses message outwith hours and I feel anxious whether I open the message or not. I’ve looked and most roles that’s I could do are now work from home so I feel stuck.

I 100% agree with you but we seem to be in a minority. I had a lovely office where we were all friends. I worry about the mental health implications for people being isolated and feel that a lot of this is being done too hastily and wonder if employers will end up regretting it when productivity tanks. My home set up is less than ideal and I'd have never chosen a job working from home so it doesn't seem that fair really.
I feel like I've lost a major part of myself somehow.
I really feel for younger people post uni, maybe living in a rented room or similar. This isn't what they signed up for, sat alone with a laptop all day. I loved lunchtime shopping, networking and going for after work drinks at that age.

@womencanlift You are so right about H&S. Ironically I did some training yesterday - 30 mins about adjusting your desk correctly! I currently work from the sofa

I love the office!! WFH is so isolating and demotivating.

Also I think will become even more so as more and more are heading back in.

On the other hand my neighbour (senior lawyer) loves WFH because she can work while doing other chores eg school drops and from her bed!!!!

I’m a SAHM with social anxiety issues so would suit me
DH does a compressed week working 4 long days he’s not office based but does need to do office things when the first lockdown happened he was a nightmare he so needs the social side of working he now goes in later so does his office stuff at home then out and about doing the job seems to suit him

Like others I'd like hybrid. I do like working from home but it does get very flat and tedious. I'm lucky enough to have a separate office space shared with my DH, and so at least I'm not trying to relax in my work space. I started a new job a few months ago so have had to start remotely and that's not been easy at all - I hadn't realised how much learning you do in a new job by osmosis, just hearing conversations in the office and picking stuff up as you go along. It's been much harder remotely.

Ideally I would do two days in the office and three from home, but work is saying that any fewer than three days in the office will mean we will be on a home-based contract so paid less (no London weighting). We're pushing back on this a bit but it may well end up being three days in the office and two from home. That's fine apart from it means 6 hours commuting in the week, which I am not used to!

I commute 4 hours every day thanks to slow public transport where I live, I love WFH

I am pleased to be going officially to a hybrid arrangement, although will see how it plays out in practice.

However pre covid I had complete freedom to.work from home or office anyway the expectation was majority from the office, now it will be 2 days in the office. But will see if they become prescriptive of days I will be in as previously it was as suited.

I also think the nature of your work probably plays a part in your preference. The majority of the people I work with at any one time are scattered over a few countries so we don't see each other in person much anyway.

Perfect scenario for me would be 2 days in the office and 3 at home. Thats best of both worlds

Three hours a day for me, it was. I love wfh too. Life transforming. Plus I can spend time with people I actually like at lunchtime rather than those I have to try and get on with through force of circumstance.

I hate wfh, we are doing it permanently now. I thrive off speaking to people and bouncing ideas off them. Every day drags, I dislike looking at myself on Zoom or Teams.
DH is also wfh and has taken over the spare room, I'm in our bedroom which everyone tells me is no good but strangely has no practical suggestion on how we resolve this