To want to know when WFH will end ?

[fizzypop100]

Because this has dragged on for so long

Soon I hope. Otherwise I will be finding a new job which involves working at least the majority of the week in the office!

How on Earth are people who live in small spaces with multiple kids able to WFH? Just extremely difficult and frustrating.
Many people will be hating it

Judging by the roads by me, everyone's back. I loved it when people were wfh. Cut up to 10 minutes off my journey.

I wonder if it will become the new norm. There may be some hybrid type working, with shared office spaces being used, so those who want to go to an office, can go somewhere. In my local town there is a new business lounge opening where you can rent a desk. They are advertising using messaging such as:
"If you're struggling to work-from-home, but you don't want to go too far, come over and give coworking a try at xxxxxxxx. You can give it a try for as little as £12.50 for up to 4 hours. We've got booths, high backed benches, open tables, meeting rooms, armchairs - however you like to work, there's a space for you at xxxxxxx"

I can't see a return to companies having many floors of buildings occupied by just them. Gathering people together so the entire company is in the same place does not seem to be desirable by everyone. Some people like it and some don't, in the same way as some like to WFH and some don't. So I expect to see more choice available... maybe companies operating nationwide will have small regional hubs where staff can hot desk and use a meeting room, so they can meet others in person, rather than via Zoom.

Paying for a co-working space instead of a season ticket sounds like a brilliant deal if your commute is two hours into London (a demographic massively overrepresented on MN) but the average UK commute pre-pandemic cost £66 a month (www.yourmoney.com/household-bills/british-workers-spend-492-days-of-their-lives-travelling-to-work/), which doesn't buy much time... I think it's possible that employers will transfer the cost of providing working space to their employees in this way, but I don't think it's ethical or to be applauded.

Hopefully never! I'm loving WFH as is DH.

My office want me in the office full time - everyone else is hybrid. The way our office is arranged means I barely see the couple of people who are in each day. It's not the job I loved so much anymore. I'll be retiring sooner than I'd planned (I can afford it) so that I can actually have daily human interaction (I live alone and my cat isn't a great conversationalist). I don't think it will change, which for me is shit.

What happens when a new person starts? How will they train if everyone that does their job works from home? Perhaps they will work from the office for a few months to learn?

@StarShapedWindow

What happens when a new person starts? How will they train if everyone that does their job works from home? Perhaps they will work from the office for a few months to learn?

DH has on boarded about 20 people during the pandemic, all WFH exclusively and with no issues at all.

It’ll vary between the different countries of the UK - there isn’t one answer. Not all companies will insist on a full time return anyway. Many employees’ lives will be little changed.

Very mixed feelings.

I think that a lot of the time the person WFH loves it but perhaps no one else does.

I’m also not convinced it’s as wonderful as people claim.

But then I’d love to WFH so partly jealousy!

@PonyPatter44

It will probably start to wind down when businesses realise how badly they are pissing off their customers with poor levels of service. Everyone i know who works from home reckons they're more productive - I see response times declining miserably, people being unable to cope with dialling into bloody Teams (you've been using it for TWO YEARS, Laura!!), everything taking ten times longer to get done, and hearing people's kids in the background of sensitive calls. Its poor, and companies need to get their collective acts together.

Think you missed out the word SOME here I work a hybrid system and love it as do my patients. As a regular outpatient attender both for myself and one dc I no longer have to absent from work for a while afternoon nor does my child miss 3/4 hours is schooling to attend an appointment

WFH is shit. I absolutely hate trying to work from the kitchen table in a house full of people. No way is it more productive

Never for me, I have worked at home for the past decade and the day somebody tells me I have to go back to the office will be the day I put in my resignation, but for those who were office-based before the pandemic I would expect a partial return to offices from early Spring. Some will never go back and some will continue 'hybrid' working, because working from home saves firms money and a lot of employees like it.

@dementedma

WFH is shit. I absolutely hate trying to work from the kitchen table in a house full of people. No way is it more productive

Yes, that does sound awful.

Not everyone is stuck on such circumstances.
I’m wfh in a private home office, with a proper desk, incredibly fast internet service, in a home that has networking cabling in every room. We set it up this way because DH and I both have wfh for years. We are definitely more productive at home without the stresses of being in an office.

Not everyone is stuck on such circumstances.
I’m wfh in a private home office, with a proper desk, incredibly fast internet service, in a home that has networking cabling in every room. We set it up this way because DH and I both have wfh for years. We are definitely more productive at home without the stresses of being in an office.

... good for you? What did you think saying that to someone sat working at their kitchen table not by their own choice achieved?

I will be doing a mix of WFH and going in occasionally, as unfortunately will have to still be on site sometimes. I know a lot of people who will now be at home permanently though, might see if I can find a job I can do completely from home too.

I started a new WFH job a few months back after 15 years as a SAHM. Training been done effectively via Teams and I have found it quite easy to take it in at home, more so that if I’d been distracted in the office. We are in constant communication as a team on Chat and video call regularly as well which is lovely so it’s not lonely.

I was told to take whatever screens I wanted (2) and a chair from the office so have set myself up nicely in my bedroom in front of the window on an old dining table that was too small.

I love it as I was dreading going back into the workplace after so long, a commute, making conversation etc, but that’s not been an issue and I’m at home and have all my home comforts!

My manager has made vague comments about this September as we are moving offices and the new one needs work which won’t be completed until then but no one will have to go into the office unless they want to apparently. It might be nice to have the option to meet up once a week though.

DD works from home as well but deliberately just moved jobs to a hybrid working one as she wants to get out. Her old job had no plans for office working again and had moved to smaller office space which wouldn’t have even fitted a quarter of them in.

@dementedma

WFH is shit. I absolutely hate trying to work from the kitchen table in a house full of people. No way is it more productive

Thankfully we have spare room that we've kitted out in to a very decent office. Absolutely no way could I WFH in your circumstances, though I do sometimes work in the living room with the fire on!

@TheAvetageForumUser, with all due respect you're staying the obvious. Of course it doesn't suit everyone, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't worked that out by now.

I’m just really getting tired of the blanket statements that WFH is awful. Yes, it is awful for some people. For others, especially many of those who are not NT, it is an absolutely wonderful change. I don’t want to go back to a world that was built for only one type of person. Wouldn’t it be better if there were a mix of working environments available depending upon what worked best for the actual person?

We were hybrid working long before covid so why do you think it will end?

@twominutesmore

BBC has just reported that the government directive to WFH will end at the next review, end of Jan.

The Times was reporting it last week as well. Another 10 days, OP.

Some who live in flat-shares or bedsits have nowhere to work from that is comfortable and suitable. They are desperate to get back to the office

Sigh. Have none of these people heard of co-working hubs?

@Bitbloweyoutthere

Judging by the roads by me, everyone's back. I loved it when people were wfh. Cut up to 10 minutes off my journey.

This! It would be great for me if people continued to WFH. Before lockdown I was either sat in traffic or taking rat run after rat run just to make sure that my 7 mile commute took less than an hour. Ivan now do it in 20/25 min even with a bit of a delay near the school.