Returning to work in real life

[Sandra15]

We are having a Zoom call about returning to work. Regardless of the need to feel safe, a member of staff has said that she can find quiet places to work at home, and she is stressed and anxious about people coming in and out of the office and will find it distracting.

What? That was normal 18 months ago. AIBU to think this is snowflake-ish?

Many organisations aren’t having staff return to their office as they have realised that productivity is now higher and employees are happier not having a commute and travel costs. These employers are now saving money not having office premises.

I think customers are getting fed up with the 'staff wfh covid' excuses for shoddy progress or customer service.

Plenty of young grads are desperate to get back into offices

I guess some employers will allow a hybrid model and some may well say get back in now with lots of people being vaccinated. It will be tough for those who moved on the presumption that wfh would stay or got a puppy or gave up on child care support.

Newsflash

People are different

Many people always struggled with the office environment, just sucked it up before , and find working from home great

Now that in many cases it's been shown they can be at least as productive at home, they wonder why they have to put up with a crap environment

Other people hate wfh
Other people have no choice because of the nature of the job
Other people are just less productive at home

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could please the maximum number of people

The issue I see is that an employer could decide that wfh can be done as easily from India with lower wages than Darren in Slough on 30k

@Parker231

Many organisations aren’t having staff return to their office as they have realised that productivity is now higher and employees are happier not having a commute and travel costs. These employers are now saving money not having office premises.

Yeah, so they said, but many who said they were going to give up some of or all of their premises have decided that they actually want 2 or 3 days in the office on a rota. I work in a property related field - I cannot tell you how many people have moved away from e.g. London and are now screwed.

According to this magazine www.hrmagazine.co.uk/content/news/is-working-from-home-as-productive-as-it-seems 28% of employers saw an increase and 21% saw a decrease

@coldwarenigma

The issue I see is that an employer could decide that wfh can be done as easily from India with lower wages than Darren in Slough on 30k

No. They really can't.

This has been hashed out on several threads, by people who actually know about these things.

Lots of jobs can't be 'just shipped abroad' and it's really not that easy to 'just ship jobs abroad.

The jobs that have already gone abroad, were jobs that were already high risk of going abroad. And since moving jobs abroad is a long process, many were planned before the pandemic.

I think it also depends on where you work and how you get to work. I'm not tgrilled about the prospect of cramming on public transport again to then be in an office full of others who have also cranmed onto public transporr to get there.

Having said that, I live with someone who is vulnerable so it's not me I'm concerned about as such. I also really miss my office and know I'll have to suck it up at some point.

"Snowflake" is up there with "Karen" in terms of an insult.

Overused and unimaginative.

I think the vast majority will be back in offices more or less full time within 3 years, regardless of what employers are saying now. Men will be the first to go, having fewer ties at home and being glad of the excuse to miss bath time. In the years it takes women to realise they need to do the same, so many opportunities will have been lost. In theory of course, it's possible to maintain a profile remotely, but the reality will be that opportunities go to people who are make themselves most visible.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could please the maximum number of people

This. Why the race to making people unhappy for the sake of it?

@Staffholidayclubrep

I think customers are getting fed up with the 'staff wfh covid' excuses for shoddy progress or customer service.

Plenty of young grads are desperate to get back into offices

I guess some employers will allow a hybrid model and some may well say get back in now with lots of people being vaccinated. It will be tough for those who moved on the presumption that wfh would stay or got a puppy or gave up on child care support.

My employer is going to do a hybrid model however I now have the issue that the level of childcare we will need is going to be so sporadic and low level that noone will accommodate it.

The only option I am left with just now seems to be putting in another Flexible Work Request for remaining as a WFH employee.

Surely now the school and childcare closures are over you need childcare when you're working even if you're wfh? It was different at the height of the pandemic when everyone was having to manage the best they could and employers were forced to be accommodating but in normal times you can't work and mind children.

Part of me wishes everyone would just stop moaning about it. The levels of people feeling anxious are getting ridiculous in the extreme. Absolutely nothing at all wrong with feeling nervous about change. Pandering will not make things better.

There is absolutely no reason why your boss shouldn't at least consider a reasonable request to stay home or work a hybrid model but it's by no means a 'right'. But If everyone who is anxious stays home behind closed doors how will they ever get over feeling anxious? Which, in my opinion is a normal feeling to have in times of uncertainty, as opposed to being diagnosed with anxiety.

@Intherightplace

I think the vast majority will be back in offices more or less full time within 3 years, regardless of what employers are saying now. Men will be the first to go, having fewer ties at home and being glad of the excuse to miss bath time. In the years it takes women to realise they need to do the same, so many opportunities will have been lost. In theory of course, it's possible to maintain a profile remotely, but the reality will be that opportunities go to people who are make themselves most visible.

Maybe. I think if everyone is back in it is more likely to be because flexible working is not actually working for employers. Which is hard to argue with, even if done I is don’t like it.

If left to employees themselves, I think there will be a fair number of people who either aren’t impacted that much be being remote progression-wise as so many teams are geographically dispersed now anyway or would actually value wfh/flexibility over career progression. I am in that latter group. I was already working at home a few days a week having been warned by my manager that they didn’t advise it. Work environment is more important to me than further progression.

Not surprising. We have probably all worked with people who will try and interrupt you when having a cup of coffee, lunch, or are just not nice people to be with. Then whilst the OPs colleague did not mention it, the journey itself, either on the roads with the BMW/Audi and other drivers with small penises, or on public transport with either unreliability and/or people with different/poor standards of personal hygiene, or men leering if you fit their idea of attractiveness.

My own feeling is that if you could only be in an office one or two days a week and everyone was organised, you could get most if not all of the benefits and keep most of the wfh advantages.

"Work" is an output, not a place.
I'm lucky enough to have been told that we can permanently work from home.
Work wise I get more done, always available via Skype.
Health wise, I gey an extra 10 hours sleep per week, no stress of commute.
Environment wise, less pollution from my car.
If you can Work just as well at home, why go into an office.

Its better for everyone and the environment.

How ridiculous can people be. If it's fine for others to have worked for the benefit of, and have been exposed to, the general public throughout, and it's fine to do all the things you want to be free to do, get the fuck back to work.

YANBU. I've worked out of the home throughout so I'm finding the attitudes really pathetic to be honest. If you want a permanent WFH role then look for one, but if your employer wants you back in then you need to suck it up.

YANBU. They need to get another job if this one doesn't suit them!

@Siite the person who op is talking about didn't have a job where they needed to work outside the home. Your job isn't really relevant to them.

I don't get 5-6 weeks off in summer. But that's not because I am not a teacher. My job has no relevance or impact to what teachers do or don't get.

@Waxonwaxoff0 so you don't believe people should ever ask for working conditions that are better for them.

If someone developed a physical condition or disability that made getting to the office more difficult, would you expect them to suck it up. Or enquire about how their employer may be able to accommodate them?

I think job adverts are going to have to be explicit going forward. We recently advertised a job in the West Country and had applications from Nottingham and Milton Keynes who assumed office = WFH. Lots of jobs say "temporarily remote" with no info on what the location will be when "temporary" ends.

Before she might not have thought there was any real alternative so she just put up with it. Now, after months of working in a way which makes her happier and more comfortable, she's expressing that because there obviously is an alternative.

I'm an employer. We've moved to a 'do what makes you happy' model. Some people are in 5 days a week, some come in 2 days a fortnight - we have one fixed day a month where we get everyone together, that's it. As long as your output doesn't suffer and the work gets done I couldn't give a shit if you want to work from a treehouse, your bath, or your holiday home in Scotland to be honest. In the months since we've implemented this model we've had an increased in sales and incredible results in our 1-to-1s and a happier workforce who feel like they can do what they need to be productive.

I personally work best at home - I have sensory issues and too much noise is impossible for my concentration. So that's what I do a lot of the time. Why wouldn't I want to extend the same possibility to the staff that I trust and like?

[quote Katedanielshasakitty]@Siite the person who op is talking about didn't have a job where they needed to work outside the home. Your job isn't really relevant to them.

I don't get 5-6 weeks off in summer. But that's not because I am not a teacher. My job has no relevance or impact to what teachers do or don't get.

@Waxonwaxoff0 so you don't believe people should ever ask for working conditions that are better for them.

If someone developed a physical condition or disability that made getting to the office more difficult, would you expect them to suck it up. Or enquire about how their employer may be able to accommodate them?[/quote]
A physical condition is a bit different.

It's fine to ask for working conditions that are better for them but it will be up to the employer to decide if that works for the company and clients as well.

All we’re missing now from this thread is “wfh doesn’t work because I can’t get through to my bank” and “but what about teachers?”