We all currently WFH, our employer has said that this is the way forward, and we won't go back to working even weekly in the office - indeed we can't as our building has been partly sold off so there's only room for a limited number at any one time . The suggestion by our organisation is that within our teams and workgroups we try to attend the office 'a few times a year'. Apparently the ideal is once a month but there's no hard and fast rules.
As a department, we're currently trying to make arrangements to get people in the office a couple of times before the end of the year. But the level of anxiety is unbelievable.
Most people are vaccinated (personally I'm not, but the majority are), under 50, and with no underlying health conditions, not carers for those who are high risk etc. Very few have had Covid (that they know of)
Yet so far we've had some refusing outright to come in at all because they don't feel safe, others saying they would come to the office but refuse to use public transport as it's too dangerous, some saying they would come in if everyone had done a LFT beforehand (this is not required by our employer, though they are doing other checks) some saying they'll come in but want to sit 2m apart from anyone and if we get together for a meeting insist on everyone wearing masks or that we'll have to sit outside. Someone else wants to go home at lunch because 'its not safe to eat in the office' and so on. There are probably even more examples of what people won't do.
These people all worked side by side 18 months ago, ate lunch at their desks, chatted by the water cooler etc, all very normal. Yet now it feels like they're scared to leave the house.
Are we just unlucky or are other people this concerned? It feels like any semblance of our work environment will never return!