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 love WFH. No long horrible commute, saving money on petrol and parking. No having to listen to irritating people prattle on non stop all day ( I used to put my earphones and and listen to podcasts). My job doesn’t involve endless meetings so I don’t have to worry about that and I like to just get on with what I need to do. I speak to my colleagues who I need/want to regularly so definitely don’t feel like I’m missing out on the social side.

I get that others feel differently though and my company does too so if you have a preference to be in the office full time you can, but most people will WFH 2-4 days a week and be hybrid workers. I think for quite a few people looking forward to being back full time won’t like it as it won’t be the same as it used to be.

Personally I’d WFH full time if I could but I think I’ll have to go in once a week or maybe every other week if I can get away with it!

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?

Lockdown has proven that many jobs can be learned perfectly well remotely. It might not work for my grand-parents, but youngsters used to virtual help will thrive.

How do you make friends etc? By having a life! By being encouraged to follow their hobbies, by taking care of their mental health and not going from work to slobbing on the sofa like too many people used to do.

You are so much more likely to make friends through a shared hobby or shared sport.

I much rather go for a coffee in my local high street than downstairs from my office.

We used to buy properties that were commutable to our offices, nothing stops us from buying properties in lively areas where to have a social life.

Many jobs will never be done from home, there's still a lot of choices around.

I've been WFH since March 2020 and am so ready to get back into the office although we're only going back one day a week. Constant Teams meetings are knackering, I often have my first one at 8am - that would never happen in the office!

I'm looking forward to driving to work (yes, I even miss the commute now) and having a nice big desk for a day instead of a camping table in the kitchen.

I thought I would never want to go back to the office but it has become very tedious being at home all the time. I woulndt want to go back full time though - the time wasted on commuting and literally sitting at my desk for 8 hours a day when there wasnt enough to do was mind numbing and exhausting. I think a mix would be good. I'm dreading we will be made go back full time. I only shared with 1 other girl though who wasn't always in. Sometimes I'd be in and not see anyone all day.

We are all individuals.

I love working from home.
I love the fact I don't commute and can dovetail household tasks into a working day.
So I can put on laundry, work for a bit, hang it outside, work some more, nip to the supermarket, work again, Prep dinner etc.
I can be in for workmen and deliveries and if work gets a bit too much I can take myself off for a walk.

Perfect!

@speakout

We are all individuals.

I love working from home.
I love the fact I don't commute and can dovetail household tasks into a working day.
So I can put on laundry, work for a bit, hang it outside, work some more, nip to the supermarket, work again, Prep dinner etc.
I can be in for workmen and deliveries and if work gets a bit too much I can take myself off for a walk.

Perfect!

I’m wondering what sort of job allows this way of working. Is it data-crunching or something like that which doesn’t require any consultation or interaction with others? Does work not involve actually, you know, being on work tasks during working hours?

Pottedpalm

No data crunching or interaction with others. My hours are totally flexible.

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.

Fully agree with this and I’ve found it to be the case as well. So many people have mentioned how much they like not being interrupted by colleagues any more. Perhaps those interruptions were actually part of their job!

I have to say I love WFM and have no desire to go back to an office, in fact the thought fills me with dread.

@speakout

Pottedpalm

No data crunching or interaction with others. My hours are totally flexible.

But doing what?

@speakout

We are all individuals.

I love working from home.
I love the fact I don't commute and can dovetail household tasks into a working day.
So I can put on laundry, work for a bit, hang it outside, work some more, nip to the supermarket, work again, Prep dinner etc.
I can be in for workmen and deliveries and if work gets a bit too much I can take myself off for a walk.

Perfect!

Same here, love that about wfh

This - For some people work colleagues are friends, whereas for me they are work colleagues only, much as they are good people to work with.

Work is not my social life, and it’s been wonderful to have more time back to actually see friends and not have to worry about trains running to time and being packed in like sardines and paying a crazy amount of money for such a terrible and unreliable service.

I just want to get my job done, chat to a few people over teams who I need to catch up with and then close my laptop and get on with my life after work.

This last year has definitely made me take some me time back. More work to live rather than live to work which is how I used to feel pre-pandemic

I’m wondering what sort of job allows this way of working. Is it data-crunching or something like that which doesn’t require any consultation or interaction with others? Does work not involve actually, you know, being on work tasks during working hours?

@Pottedpalm I'm not pp, but I can give you an example. Many professional jobs can be done in less than 8 hours per day. So I'm internal audit. I obviously have to do work, investigations, pitches, attend meetings etc... But rarely am I booked in back to back all day. In the office we would spend 10 mins making a cup of tea, chatting in the kitchen. Now at home I can water my plants and stack the dishwasher while the kettle is boiling, it's hardly taxing.

When I was younger and at the start of my career I put in crazy hours and worked constantly. I burned out and at the end wasn't actually that good at my job. Now that I can take my time a bit more I can look into and ponder things more deeply, find trends and discrepancies which I might have missed if I was trying to go go go all the time. Funnily enough I made a "breakthrough" this week while weeding the flowerbed and thinking about a case at work. My mind just wandered and made connections

What has came to light for me across all these threads on this topic is there is definitely a divide growing between the wfh/office camps

There is also a bit of an “I’m alright Jack!” attitude with some people. They don’t need/want to go into the office because it suits their lifestyle but some don’t think of the impact this will have long term on some of their younger colleagues - people that they may be managing and responsible for their development. They have the space to comfortably work from home and they are likely established in their career, that is a very fortunate position to be in.

I feel so sorry for those just starting out in their career. They are not getting the experience to learn from colleagues via informal chats and/or observing, not getting the chance to understand the corporate environment (not office politics but how people interact together which cannot be replicated on a screen), not getting the opportunity to build relationships and networks in the same way as their colleagues did when they were starting out and not having the luxury of living in a multiple bedroom home in which there is space to work

I am a mentor for several of our junior colleagues and all of them have mentioned how isolated they have felt at times as they don’t know immediately who to call for help or even a chat and have to rely on people like me or their line manager to do introductions, which in normal times would take two minutes. Now diaries need to be aligned so intro calls can be set up. Their mental health is also being impacted as most live in shared accommodation so both their personal and work life has at times of severe restrictions been pretty much concentrated to one room

I work with a global team so the interactions are all calls and video conferences anyway.

I can do video calls in a quiet room alone rather than an open plan office where everyone else is forced to listen in. I get to have dinner with DC. I can receive deliveries. I can work late after dinner without a miserable exhausting commute taking up 2.5 hours of my day. I can nip out if not much is going on. I actually work more from home so beats me why offices, aside from landlords, want people back.

@Womencanlift

What has came to light for me across all these threads on this topic is there is definitely a divide growing between the wfh/office camps

There is also a bit of an “I’m alright Jack!” attitude with some people. They don’t need/want to go into the office because it suits their lifestyle but some don’t think of the impact this will have long term on some of their younger colleagues - people that they may be managing and responsible for their development. They have the space to comfortably work from home and they are likely established in their career, that is a very fortunate position to be in.

I feel so sorry for those just starting out in their career. They are not getting the experience to learn from colleagues via informal chats and/or observing, not getting the chance to understand the corporate environment (not office politics but how people interact together which cannot be replicated on a screen), not getting the opportunity to build relationships and networks in the same way as their colleagues did when they were starting out and not having the luxury of living in a multiple bedroom home in which there is space to work

I am a mentor for several of our junior colleagues and all of them have mentioned how isolated they have felt at times as they don’t know immediately who to call for help or even a chat and have to rely on people like me or their line manager to do introductions, which in normal times would take two minutes. Now diaries need to be aligned so intro calls can be set up. Their mental health is also being impacted as most live in shared accommodation so both their personal and work life has at times of severe restrictions been pretty much concentrated to one room

Completely agree with everything you've written here. I'm late 20s and among my friendship group, those who live in larger flats or houses with their partners are much more likely to enjoy WFH than those who live in house shares with multiple housemates.

I’ve WFHed full time for years, long before COVID, and I miss the social side of things. I also feel like I live at work, rather than work at home. I can see some people like the novelty of being able to work in their pyjamas, no commute, lunch at home with the family, etc. But those of us who have done this for years don’t see it that way. I never work in my pyjamas. I certainly don’t wear a suit but I do get dressed as if I were going to an office. The thing that bothers me is other people’s perceptions. They assume that because I work from home I can do things around the house all day and wait for a delivery or a tradesman. My husband has a terrible habit of walking into my office and asking me random questions such as “did you buy any sliced ham when you went shopping?” Or “where did you put that bill from the window cleaner?”. I have to remind him that if I worked in an office block in town he wouldn’t be able to just walk in and ask these questions.

@JeanClaudeVanDammit

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.

Fully agree with this and I’ve found it to be the case as well. So many people have mentioned how much they like not being interrupted by colleagues any more. Perhaps those interruptions were actually part of their job!

And then there are those who are popping to the shops or stacking the dishwasher whilst “working”. It grinds my gears when I have to not only message someone on Teams or call them just to ask a simple question but also have to wait 20 minutes for them to respond with “sorry I was feeding the cat/prepping tonight’s dinner/swapping the washing over…” etc. Usually followed by a winking emoji.

I love wfh but I have to go into the office regularly- at least once per week, and have done throughout this. It probably helps keep me sane to be fair so will try and continue the pattern.

My relationship was teetering on the edge before lockdown . We were stuck in the same house through lockdown so being able to go into the office was my escape. I have since moved out of the shared home but have opted to stay working in the office. I find it hard to get motivated at home but when I am in the office I am in work mode. There are so few of us in the office I have become friendly with some people I had hardly spoken to before.

I don't like wfh but I'm coming up to retirement so it doesn't really matter for me. But I think it's really bad for young people in all kinds of ways and it concerns me.

Pottedpalm

I make and sell things online- think Etsy ( although I don't actually use etsy). So much of my work is physically making stuff, packing, posting dealing with emails etc.
Not just a little side job for pin money though, my profits put me into the higher rate income tax bracket.
I can work the hours I like, can down tools and go out whenever I want.

I don't miss the commute and a lot of my colleagues are overseas so I'd not see them anyway.

But I really miss going to work, speaking to people, asking questions having those natural breaks in the day for meetings, lunch and chats. I miss being able to buy lunch and overpriced coffee.
And I really, really miss aircon.

And I miss my home being my sanctuary away from work.

WFH has made me realise that my job bores the life out of me and it was actually only my colleagues that made me stay. Sounds silly but a lot of us had worked together for over 20 years so we were genuinely friends as well. The company has decided to close the office permanently and is now wondering why a lot of their senior staff are leaving.

Iheartmysmart

Time to move on perhaps? Life is too short not to at least try to find some enjoyment through work.