To have completely changed my mind about WFH?

[MauvePinkRose]

I know there is a WFH thread but I mean this more generally than the specific things about it that are driving me to drink!

Pre pandemic, I would have said that WFH was a positive thing that employers should absolutely allow, reducing traffic and therefore pollution, allowing more quality time at home.

Now, I’ve changed my mind.

I think it’s having a negative impact on public transport, which in turn will lead to redundancies and reduced public transport, which is bad news for those who can’t drive. It is also having a knock on effect on things like coffee kiosks and sandwich bars.

Then, I’m not convinced that WFH is as productive as people think. I don’t know what’s going on with DVLA for instance but I am still waiting for a driving license I sent off for three months ago and you can’t get through on the phones.

It’s turned family homes into workplaces and thus impacts everyone. I’ve had some really stressful and unpleasant times because of it.

And I do think it’s not very healthy. Dp rarely leaves the house without me, has gained weight and falls ill all the time as I just feel he isn’t gaining any natural immunity.

I’ll probably be flamed by all the WFHers now

I think wfh works well for some (those with their own office and big houses) and others struggle for all the reasons you suggest. I prefer office work as I like the social side of it. The chat and my mates. But I recognise for some wfh is best for them for whole host of reasons and they are more productive.

I think it's about choice and flexibility.

Your driving license application has either been lost, or your bullshitting. I applied for a replacement and it took 2 weeks to arrive.

My husband has worked from home for 15 years. It's fine. We've learnt to negotiate it. If you can't deal with even a few days a week working at home you are a bit precious IMO. If everyone worked from home 2 days a week it would be better for the environment, for the planet, for families. It makes sense.

My real pleasure at going to an office, especially in winter, was a busy atmosphere; lights on, colleagues to chat to in the kitchen, go out to lunch with, and have meetings with. WFH has its benefits of course, but it can be lonely during the dark days of winter.

Im an advocate for WFH because it suits my personality traits. Im not interested in office banter & especially not the politics; just want to do a good job & then go off & do other things. I love my job, I find it fulfilling & I also like the people I work with but Im not interested in personal chat. if Im at my desk (if we are on our way to the canteen or whatever, feel free to engage me in personal info sharing!) I oftentimes have to train others or develop their understanding of a process & haven't found any issues with that when working remotely so far. WFH has also made it possible for me to stave off the colleagues who insist on 'a quick word' by arriving uninvited at my desk with no thought to my schedule or looming deadlines. I try to think of it this way: what if I saw an ad for my dream job but the company worked purely remotely; would I not apply for the job? Personally, I would •always• apply for the job so to be successful in that role, I need to be in control of the negative aspects of WFH based on my personal experience & traits.

To touch on the point about city centre businesses; when the UK went from being a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy (shipyards, steel...), many things changed and many people suffered through that change. Now, we are lucky to be able to say that we are not changing our economy at that level but it IS changing & businesses will adapt as they have always done. You may have noticed that its the small entrepreneurial businesses that have adapted best to working through a pandemic because they can be flexible in their marketplace by not having to apply a corporate solution to the problem of making money & staying afloat. Already there are ideas being bandied around about how best to convert the expected glut of obsolete office stock into homes or other things. That would change city landscapes, re-creating lots of high streets in our towns, like those present many years ago. This type of residential plan is purported to support small businesses & not corporations (not sure about that one tbh) which in turn provides opportunities for people who don't enjoy working ion corporate environments to be self employed, autonomous and in charge of their own destiny. If we can create homes in built up city areas, we also protect our fast depleting green spaces which are being sacrificed to new housing at a rate comparable to the deforestation of the amazon. Instead of overloading village schools as their local area is engulfed by new boxes houses.

On a personal note, I have also had an enjoyable time creating a desirable home office space with the help of Pinterest & Houzz. Although most of those pictures are purely aspirational for me personally, putting effort into creating that space was a therapeutic task in the transition to WFH which I think set me up for success tbf. As to work/life balance: yes, Im aware of my workspace being present in my home; I can't really avoid it but I don't let it take up too much mental space. I think where you see the difficulties, you have to be willing to try the multiplicity of tools & suggestions offered online etc. to help you.

I love WFH personally.
I became a FTM during the pandemic and WFH has allowed me to return to work from maternity sooner than I would have done if I’d of had to go into the office as I still get to be with my babe all day long :) I travel to my mothers house every day and she provides full time child care for him while I work from my laptop but I get to breastfeed on demand and spend lunch breaks with him which I absolutely love…this would never have been a possibility before the pandemic and I feel very fortunate to be earning a full time wage while not losing a moment of time with my baby.

[quote gibletjane]@Rozziie do you work remotely? I don't understand why you are criticising others. [/quote]
Perhaps if you actually bother to read my posts, you'd get it.

My real pleasure at going to an office, especially in winter, was a busy atmosphere; lights on, colleagues to chat to in the kitchen, go out to lunch with, and have meetings with. WFH has its benefits of course, but it can be lonely during the dark days of winter.

My real pleasure at WFH , especially in winter is having the time I would normally use to commute to attend an early morning yoga class, have a little chat with like minded people, do some exercise, and still be back by 8.30 am to start my working day.

My dh works from home, it has saved us a fortune on petrol, we have more time together every day and we have both lost weight. He’s not wasting money on coffee and treats every day . Public transport will still run even if it doesn’t have as many people on it.

You can change your opinion, of course, probably to suit your own set of circumstances but you can’t possibly know that everyone is not as productive. Maybe you are basing that on your own performance?

I much prefer wfh. It takes a lot of cars off the road here, the air is cleaner and there aren't constant traffic jams. I don't have a dedicated office but find it fine. We don't use paper these days, so it's just a laptop. I have health conditions and no longer feel permanently exhausted. Dh is home to help with more household stuff. DC are teenage, but we're here, if they've got a problem with homework or something. We get more time to exercise and cook without the commute. I go in for meetings and see colleagues enough. The town is still busy with shoppers. I expect there will be an adjustment to the types of shops. I think there would have been anyway with the recent tax rises. I wouldn't be buying coffees and sandwiches any more.

@Mumontour85

I think everyone should be given the choice tbh, and compromise is key. My office is reasonably close to my house so I tend to make a decision on the day as to whether I'm going to go in or not. We are a small team of adults and treat each other as such and always with respect. I do love the days I'm in and other people are also there, however I also love the peace of just working at home by myself. If you're WFH and not setting yourself clear rules and times then that's on the individual... I sit down at my desk at 9ish, and work through til 5ish. I will sometimes have a super slow day with no motivation so I'll do a bit of work into the evening. I fully disapprove of coffee shops and the huge amounts of waste they create anyway, I am a bring tea from home person even if i do go to the office. I never understand the culture of sheer laziness of buying a cup of coffee 🤷‍♀️. Public transport is a public service, its not going anywhere just because some commuters stop using it. WFH does need some discipline, and a dedicated work area. If it is 'interrupting your entire home life', then you're doing it wrong! I also think this goes for putting on weight and not looking after yourself. It is up to you to get out the house and not put weight on etc. Unhealthy lifestyles can be found anywhere, I quite like that my partner isn't 'having a couple of beers' after work every day. I quite like that I am not eating biscuits at work all the time!

I guess each to their own, there are definitely arguments for both sides!

You think public transport service isn't affected by user numbers? How much of a bubble do you live in? Plenty of places have no or almost no public transport. My local line is down to two trains an hour, and I'm in London. Very inconvenient and not covid safe, because the trains that do arrive are pretty packed.

But let me guess, you're alright because you've got a car?

Public transport will still run even if it doesn’t have as many people on it.

Of course it won’t, unless the shortfall is made up by taxpayers.

I genuinely I'm starting to think you're either purposely misinterpreting absolutely everything I've said or just a bit thick

Nice! You mean you can't see your own hypocrisy.

Fair enough. Not much anyone can say when you call people selfish, for doing exactly what you are doing.

I find it really odd on these threads how every assumes public transport is actually usually for large amounts of people, everywhere in the country.

Pre pandemic and now the only people here using public transport are the elderly. It's not frequent enough to sensibly use for work. Also skips far too often, it's just not reliable. Most people drive, walk, cycle or use taxis. The vast majority of people in this area are working in warehouses. Rather than office workers

There's the same elderly people on the bus now as there was before. But wfh, isn't impacting it.

I agree with you OP and I’ve WFH over 16 years. Too many companies have just sent their employees home without any of the considerations or H&S that mine did over a decade ago.

wHF is not easy, the workplace has to be right, the H&S right, the support right. If it’s going to be long term it has to be right.

@Hekatestorch

I find it really odd on these threads how every assumes public transport is actually usually for large amounts of people, everywhere in the country.

Pre pandemic and now the only people here using public transport are the elderly. It's not frequent enough to sensibly use for work. Also skips far too often, it's just not reliable. Most people drive, walk, cycle or use taxis. The vast majority of people in this area are working in warehouses. Rather than office workers

There's the same elderly people on the bus now as there was before. But wfh, isn't impacting it.

So because you don’t use it, people in other areas shouldn’t either? There’s an excellent network where I live, that’s currently only being sustained by £30M+ extra government subsidy this year. If it goes under that means millions more journeys on the road with all the resulting pollution and congestion.

You think public transport service isn't affected by user numbers? How much of a bubble do you live in? Plenty of places have no or almost no public transport. My local line is down to two trains an hour, and I'm in London. Very inconvenient and not covid safe, because the trains that do arrive are pretty packed.

But let me guess, you're alright because you've got a car?

If someone has a car and drove to work anyway, whether they WFH or not has no impact on public transit usage or funding. But are you seriously trying to argue that people who don't want to return to the office should be required to do so because some of them will commute using public transit, thus increasing its usage figures and shoring up its funding? And that those reluctant to do it are the selfish ones, while those demanding that everyone else rearrange their lives for the benefit of a minority of people who rely on public transit are just "doing what's right"?

@Rozziie I can't be arsed to scroll that far back & I don't have the filter thing.

I saw something about having to do it but I'm confused by your stance.

@speakout

My real pleasure at going to an office, especially in winter, was a busy atmosphere; lights on, colleagues to chat to in the kitchen, go out to lunch with, and have meetings with. WFH has its benefits of course, but it can be lonely during the dark days of winter.

My real pleasure at WFH , especially in winter is having the time I would normally use to commute to attend an early morning yoga class, have a little chat with like minded people, do some exercise, and still be back by 8.30 am to start my working day.

And mine is not to have to leave my house in the dark and cold to wait for a train that probably won't turn up for hours if at all, if it snows, rains heavily or is particularly windy. I can start work at 7am from my cosy house rather than losing hours standing on platforms, then go for a walk at lunchtime to make the most of the daylight.

@FantaCoke

I hope to see all the big chain coffee shops and high street shops to shut down by the end of this, and we go back to local businesses, run by local people so I feel I’m helping someone who needs the money. Buses are ridiculously expensive, so if they have to cut their fleet, so be it. Drivers are needed everywhere at the moment.

WFH is brilliant. I can walk to work but I still prefer WFH. I can watch TV whilst I work, and get things done in silence without my colleague pulling me away to chat and have a tea every 2 mins.

Yes, well watching tv while you work doesn't sound very professional to me. I recently had a conversation with someone distracted by his kids and presumably wife. It was really annoying to know he wasn't focusing properly.

So because you don’t use it, people in other areas shouldn’t either? There’s an excellent network where I live, that’s currently only being sustained by £30M+ extra government subsidy this year. If it goes under that means millions more journeys on the road with all the resulting pollution and congestion.

No what I am saying is in some areas, wfh hasn't impacted who uses the limited public transport. And that people didn't use it before and won't use it after....so wfh is irrelevant to public transport in some areas.

Never mentioned people shouldnt use it.

Simply mentioned that not all areas are impacted the same.

But again, you can't expect people in areas where public transport is shit, to care make a decision about returning to the office based on someone having a good transport network elsewhere.

And people here aren't going to go back to the office to help public transport. Because its unreliable. So even if everyone had to go back, there would be no positive impact in this area.

A hybrid approach would appear to be the answer going forward.
It was stressful for me as my daughter who lives at home had a baby last year and it was difficult to have video calls with babes screaming in the other room.
I’d agree with you on the lack of getting out, as unless I force myself to leave the house I wouldn’t get out Monday to Friday.
You mentioned coffee shops, in my area a whole bunch of independent coffee trucks have popped up, by using them you are supporting local businesses rather than large chains.

@FuckPolitenessSSDGM

Your driving license application has either been lost, or your bullshitting. I applied for a replacement and it took 2 weeks to arrive.

My husband has worked from home for 15 years. It's fine. We've learnt to negotiate it. If you can't deal with even a few days a week working at home you are a bit precious IMO. If everyone worked from home 2 days a week it would be better for the environment, for the planet, for families. It makes sense.

It's been all over the media for weeks that there are long delays for some driving licence renewals due to staff shortages and WFH.

Any big shift in working style & pattern impacts the economy & individuals. I'm not sure why it's anymore selfish to remote work then it is to holiday abroad despite cheap overseas travel leading to decline of the UK seaside resorts. Or shop at Amazon despite it destroying book shops or use chains that swallow up independents. Or buy cars that used to be made here which are now manufactured abroad. Or go to Lidl or Aldi instead of Tesco or Sainsbury's. Or using youtube for exercise instead of a gym. Or buy a coffee machine instead of buying a coffee.