WFH, suddenly taken away, are we really just going back to the old way?

[80caloriesofbiscuitplease]

Today my (public sector) employer announced we were all expected to be back in the office, full time from a months time, with home working only to be used in emergencies.
I know that response to WFH has been mixed from other professionals and some employees have frankly been less productive from home. I would have been happy with one day per week from home as a compromise.
My argument is that there should be a consultation period where we could put forward our rationale for being able to maintain an aspect of home working. Also are we really going to go back to the old way, packed buses, packed trains, traffic, pollution, all for presentism?
I feel that we've seen another way, with happier employees, healthier employees and an improvement in the environment. I work in a grey concrete wasteland where I regularly sit at my desk all day without a break. At home I can open my doors, hear the birds, stroke my cat. My mental health has improved so much and that makes me a better employee. Today two of us were in the office and four were working from home. They really want to go back to six of us coming to work all day, every day to answer emails and input data which we could do from home?
I know I could look for another role but I like my job and I'm quite good at it. I don't want a role which is completely home based, but I feel saddened by the whole world going back to the way we lived before.
And yes I know some have worked out the house the whole way through. It's not a 'my life is harder' competition.

@iggly it is a sweeping statement, but in my experience all the people of public sector who work from home are having an easier time than those I know in the private sector. You could argue that's down to private sector bosses being horrible... but when you're waiting for various different councils feedback on things and in some cases it's taking up to 6 months, it's clear it's not just one bad apple at one council. It's endemic. Plus my public sector friends are allowed half working days on full pay so they can cope with child care etc. There seems to be a disconnect that when you're working from home, your working. You're not multitasking home and work. What would be required of you in the office is required of you from home. I even know of one council worker who buggers off on day trips because as long as she has her phone and can take calls, it's fine. That's literally not acceptable, especially with public money.

Everyone has the right to request flexible working arrangements that also include working from home. You don’t have to have any caring responsibilities to do this it is available for everyone. Google flexible working gov.uk - Businesses have to follow a procedure to assess and reply to the request and explain why (if they turn you down) the role is not suitable for flexible working and offer an appeals process if you don’t agree. I think some places will struggle to say roles can’t be done WFH if they have been that way for the last 18 months. You do have to have been employed for 26 weeks though.

NHS and retail have worked all the way through and many many people have lost their jobs and businesses have gone under so

Hmm and on the other hand we are being told that there is a labour shortage due to Brexit, so maybe employers will have to change their recruitment and retention practices. Another thread maybe, but employers have had it their own way for too long. I actually thought a trapped labour force not able to work in the EU anymore would be a bad thing, but because so many EU citizens have gone home/elsewhere due to covid, there is now a labour shortage (and not just in hospitality). Maybe employers will have to pay staff more, invest in training and treat them better generally, which means flexible working where feasible,.

@moreofthisagain

WFH is also shit if you are a new employee, like me. My manager has refused to help me to develop in ways I need to as 'its too hard remotely'. He is also one of those managers I need to manage to get him to do his job as a people manager and that is nigh on impossible working remotely. WFH has allowed him to completely ignore the ' people management/ developmeent' side of his job that he clearly hates.

He sounds useless. I am not sure that being in the office will make up for his lack of management skills - for your sake, I hope it does.

I think you’re extrapolating your own preference to all your colleagues. Many will be overjoyed to get back to the office. If you feel that you want to change to wfh you can put in a flexible working request, everyone is entitled to do so. Your employer doesn’t need to consult with you as the wfh was an interim, emergency measure. It’s really the other way round and if they wanted you all to continue wfh they would have to consult with you

@Dutch1e

CastawayQueen yes, you make a lot of fair points, and even companies that were designed from the ground-up as fully remote understand the value of being physically together sometimes, especially for training and mentorship so yes, at some points hybrid can be great.

I also agree that shifting the cost of working infrastructure to employees is dodgy.

The need to address nuances of remote work still doesn't necessarily make a great case for traditional long hours + commutes to office enclaves.

Having actually read the OP properly (I know! Don’t castigate me) she isn’t U - company should definitely have had a consultation.

Not sure what ‘long hours’ you’re referring to - most people have been working longer during the pandemic because of how hard it is to switch off.

I don’t think either full time remote or office is the answer - however another point of consideration is the management skill required with the hybrid approach. Companies that force 5 days a week in one location IMO won’t be that good to work for anyway

It's a shame so many of these businesses don't have managers capable of independent thought, who can make case-by-case decisions based on the health, circumstances and productivity of their own team members.

Maybe they are making those case by case decisions and coming to a different conclusion to your business because they are a completely different type of organisation?

The set up you described would not be appropriate for my team and my sector. That’s not me being a dinosaur or a grumpy old man or a presentee micromanager or a Pret shareholder. That’s based on my experience of managing my team through this. We will be going back as soon as senior management allow.

I think it’s a very complex issue. I’ve started a new job during the pandemic and onboarding and building my network has been much more difficult even for me as a senior and experienced person so I think there will be a significant negative impact on those at the start of their careers. My organisation has moved a large cohort to permanent home working, with contractual changes, and I think the offshoring of those types of roles is pretty inevitable in time. The rest of us are supposedly going to be working a hybrid model but in practice the justifications for booking office space are limited and stringent so I don’t think we’ll be in more than once a month or so. I have space at home to work in peace, a full office set up which doesn’t impinge on our home environment, but many don’t and this decision has been imposed on them. Ok they can order all the kit they need but that doesn’t help when space is the issue. It’s also creating sensitive and complex management issues when the organisation have imposed home working irrespective of personal circumstances. What we put up with in extremis isn’t necessarily ok to carry forward, from either perspective. I’m used to working from home some of the time but I’m missing the differentiation between work and home, if not the commute. I’m missing the getting dressed for work and the office environment and what someone mentioned earlier, the soft intelligence. On the other hand if there is no requirement to be in the office regularly, location isn’t an issue in terms of looking for roles or talent. I certainly wouldn’t have taken this one had I thought I’d ever have to be in the office every day, although I did think it would probably be twice a week.

In my experience the public sector workers 'WFH' are having a right jolly. The private sector ones are still working hard... but you try speaking to someone from the council. Covid is a constant excuse. If public sector workers can't work normally from home, get them back to the office.

I fucking wish. In parts of the public sector, the pandemic has pushed workload through the roof. I’ve been working my hours than I ever have. This bollocks about opening the door to hear the birds singing is a pipe dream in my sector.

Wonder how long it will take for work to be moved abroad for cheaper costs if everyone is allowed to wfh??? All those suddenly redundant jobs....

As a business owner one of my frustrations is that as long as people WFH, I can't recruit anyone with less than 5 years ex

Having actually read the OP properly (I know! Don’t castigate me) she isn’t U - company should definitely have had a consultation.

Why? Why should they have "had a consultation"?

It's a business not a fucking democracy.

[quote checkingusernamezzzz]@iggly it is a sweeping statement, but in my experience all the people of public sector who work from home are having an easier time than those I know in the private sector. You could argue that's down to private sector bosses being horrible... but when you're waiting for various different councils feedback on things and in some cases it's taking up to 6 months, it's clear it's not just one bad apple at one council. It's endemic. Plus my public sector friends are allowed half working days on full pay so they can cope with child care etc. There seems to be a disconnect that when you're working from home, your working. You're not multitasking home and work. What would be required of you in the office is required of you from home. I even know of one council worker who buggers off on day trips because as long as she has her phone and can take calls, it's fine. That's literally not acceptable, especially with public money.[/quote]
Well as someone who worked in the public sector, a chronically underfunded public sector where jobs have been cut to the bone for the last ten years, but the work hasn’t…..

I take massive offence actually. Of course it’s endemic because local authorities have lost over 40% of their funding over ten years. It’s harrowing.
Covid was appalling - my colleagues were running around trying to do their day jobs and buying supplies for vulnerable residents who were shielding from covid because they were failed by central government.

Local authorities had to pull staff from other services to help with the covid response eg getting PPE to care homes, because they were failed by central government. We lost colleagues from covid who were working with the public.

So, make your sweeping statements all you like but 🤷🏻‍♀️ You have no idea.

And on top of this, many of us had to home school our kids. With no respite.

When I think about how hard some people have worked throughout this shit show, the whole stroking the cat thing made me cringe.

@checkingusernamezzzz

In my experience the public sector workers 'WFH' are having a right jolly. The private sector ones are still working hard... but you try speaking to someone from the council. Covid is a constant excuse. If public sector workers can't work normally from home, get them back to the office

Are you pointing the finger at all council employees? Im one and i work fucking hard. So hard i have 43 hours of flexi to use up, on top of my annual leave which i cant take as were so busy. I have 17 days to take before the 31st of October.

Dont use that brush on every one.

@ThanksIGotItInMorrisons

Wonder how long it will take for work to be moved abroad for cheaper costs if everyone is allowed to wfh??? All those suddenly redundant jobs....

Oh dear... Because everyone has a job that can be done abroad

Not sure what ‘long hours’ you’re referring to - most people have been working longer during the pandemic because of how hard it is to switch off

I was reluctant to say "40 hrs" as some people work longer/shorter. Maybe I should have said "full-time." And I do remember from my first couple of years working fully remotely how difficult it can be to switch off. I'm self-employed but I do know of a couple of fully-remote businesses who address this specifically as part of their onboarding for new employees.

Agreed that forcing 5 days in any location is awful... and yes, managing a remote or hybrid team is a particular skill. I see a large gap in that market just begging to be filled.

@PleaseCanWePutAGrownUpInCharge

As a business owner one of my frustrations is that as long as people WFH, I can't recruit anyone with less than 5 years ex

Which is costly.

This.

I have found that those that weren't productive in the office but managed to hide it by pretending to do something, are the ones that have been not productive at home either (however they now can say X told me to do something that's why I haven't done your thing).
Those that were productive in the office were equally as productive if not more so whilst WFH.

@iggly none of my gripes there come down to funding. They're about the lack of accountability to people in the public sector. The work from home for half a day person is on circa £50k. That's not acceptable. Work full time or give up half your wage to pay for extra colleagues. The day trips away person is on around £40k. The covid excuses were acceptable at the height of the pandemic... they're not anymore yet I still get them when I deal with the council.

OP I wouldn’t worry yourself over this too much.

IF WFH is lifted next month because they were foolish enough to still go ahead with ‘Freedom Day’ whilst numbers are rising fast, they will soon realise their mistake and reverse the decision. It may take a few weeks even a month or two but sure enough the WFH mandate will be back.

Meh. I think if it's feasanmble Hybrid working is probably the way to go.

I'm another new job starter and it has been bloody awful and I'm having something akin to a small mental breakdown. (there are other factors that may or may not still apply outside of the pandemic). I can't overestate how much knowledge transfer happens simply by being around other people at work.

Having said that: I do have a long commute by public transport and although I can use that time quite well, I really don't miss it.

That does seem harsh. Public sector really is fixated on presenteeism

I manage a team of 5 in my office and 30 out in the community. Everyone else who is office based has been working from home since the original direction and I've come in on m own most days, though now we have one other person in a different office each day. It has been hell. despite having excellent IT systems it has inevitably meant that I have had to do my own job and part of the people working from home too.
I have also had to put up with very poor service from most of the other organisations (public sector mainly) the constant excuse is that they are working from home due to the pandemic. well, I have no; sympathy for the people who signed up to do a job one way and now want to lie in every morning, fit in odd domestic tasks and enjoy lunch at home. I shall be delighted when this extended period of freeloading ends and we return to efficiency.I've no doubt that there are certain individuals who will want to carry on economising on child and dog care but it isn't going to happen.