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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to know when WFH will end ?

255 replies

fizzypop100 · 16/01/2022 17:37

Because this has dragged on for so long

OP posts:
MrsJBaptiste · 16/01/2022 21:46

Why not go to your local library, a cafe, a hotel, a co-working hub?

How can you work in a library when you have Teams meetings every hour? Sometimes it's constant, nobody wants to hear me in meetings and due to GDPR, I do not want random people listening in to what I'm talking about!

NothingIsWrong · 16/01/2022 21:46

@JuergenSchwarzwald

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?

Sigh right back at you. I work on projects on secure covert sites and would be booted so fucking quickly from my job if they found me working somewhere unsecure.

Luckily they have let me go in whenever I want, currently 3 days in and 2 at home. Full time WFH is shit and I would walk if told that is what I was doing.

saltandpepper234 · 16/01/2022 21:49

Hopefully never! You can rip my luxurious potter about the house in the morning getting odd jobs done from my cold dead hands

Dontfuckingsaycheese · 16/01/2022 21:56

Beautifully put @saltandpepper234 ❤️

LittleWins · 16/01/2022 22:01

@saltandpepper234

Hopefully never! You can rip my luxurious potter about the house in the morning getting odd jobs done from my cold dead hands
100%

I absolutely love WFH and never want to return. Luckily I only have to do 2days in the office but I’d rather do none.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 16/01/2022 22:05

@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
I think you need to squeeze a desk into another room. Surely even working from your bedroom in a proper desk chair is better than this.
PinkSpring · 16/01/2022 22:09

I don't want to go back to the office at all. We have been told it's two days a week in the office, three days WFH which is the absolutely maximum amount of days I am willing to go in the office for...... we did get told it would be one day a week but they backtracked and tried to enforce three days a week - it did not go down well and most people ignored it.

I hate being in the office, I am more productive at home where I am not surrounded by constant noise, talking, phones, people stopping me to ask stupid questions, etc.

My job can be done from home perfectly well full time, we did it for 18 months without issue. There is no need for us to go back in but the "higher ups" seem to think it's needed.

If they do try and enforce three days per week, I for one will be looking for another job as most jobs around here are permanent WFH or 1 day per week in the office

kittymamma · 16/01/2022 22:09

Many good companies have embraced the benefits of both. Some people are genuinely happier working from home. I know plenty of companies now doing a "book-a-desk" set-up to allow those that want to work from the office to go in whilst maintaining social distancing and enabling others to stay at home.

I think WFH is great.

It saves my family a small fortune in childcare. My husband works from home and takes his lunch break and goes to pick up our children from school. I don't have to rush home from work. Our children being ill no longer means that either one of us has to take the day off work, just set the kids up in bed, with the telly, and check in on them. My dog is happiest of all as she is never alone. My husband does now go out for a drink with friends or colleagues once or twice a month, where that was almost unheard of previously. With the saving on fuel, childcare, and his expensive lunch habit, it still means we are up at the end of each month when WFH. It does help that my husband hates most of his colleagues though, so he doesn't miss working alongside them.

My BIL has done amazingly well out of it. He used to travel an hour to work each way, 5 days a week to a job he tolerated. With the move to WFH, he was able to transfer to a different department within the same company at the other end of the country to a job he does enjoy. He also gets to walk out of the home office at 5 pm and not miss a moment more than he needs to of his small children.

Anyone suggesting going to a public place to work from home, I would really like to know what industry you work in. None of my family members or friends that have worked from home could possibly do this. We once joked about setting up a home hub with the 4 people in our family able to do this, however, two of them worked for different companies in the same sector dealing with customer information and suspected it would be against the rules. 3 out of the 4 couldn't even work in a room with a working Alexa.

MarshaBradyo · 16/01/2022 22:10

Plan b will end soon but then it’s down to your employer

Sunnytwobridges · 16/01/2022 22:25

I love it but would want it to end soon if I had a partner that also wfh lol

Fairyliz · 16/01/2022 22:45

@JuergenSchwarzwald

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?

@JuergenSchwarzwald You do realise that people live in shitty bedsits because they don’t earn much money? At £25 a day they won’t be able to afford to work in hubs.
FourTeaFallOut · 16/01/2022 22:47

I think there's a good chance it will go at the next review of the restrictions. So, in about ten days.

RichardMarxisinnocent · 16/01/2022 22:49

Has it? It only came back in December.

For some people maybe, the rest of my NHS non clinical team have been wfh pretty much full time since March 2020. I've been full time back in the office since late summer 2020, a couple of other people come in for a day once every few weeks, but other than that everyone's at home and I'm lonely and totally unmotivated alone in the office. I can't wait for my team to start spending time in the office, I really miss bouncing ideas around with people, and the "accidental learning" I saw mentioned on another thread.

Nat6999 · 16/01/2022 23:03

My brother working for Royal Mail IT systems has been WFH full time since the pandemic began. He always did a couple of days a week even before then. He thinks that they will continue to WFH permanently now as it has worked well, all meetings have been on Teams, saving staff travelling the length of the country.

justustwoandmoo · 16/01/2022 23:06

Most new jobs out there are now recruiting with at least some WFH if not all of the time. I worked for the Fire Service and have been in the office pretty much all of the time. Start a new job in a week and it's predominantly wfh. I'd like a balance of the two tbh.

I honestly can't ever see the world of work returning to pre-covid days. Companies are seeing the benefits of hybrid working.

justustwoandmoo · 16/01/2022 23:08

@saltandpepper234

Hopefully never! You can rip my luxurious potter about the house in the morning getting odd jobs done from my cold dead hands
🤣🤣 love this response!
Hrpuffnstuff1 · 16/01/2022 23:25

@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?
Mrs HR has gone back to the office to train a new recruit. Probably 4-6 weeks. The commute is up to 3 hrs a day.😑😬. Then she'll go back to hybrid 4wfh-1office.
Spidey66 · 16/01/2022 23:40

@JuergenSchwarzwald

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?

I'm a community mental health nurse. I'm working pt in office and pt at home (on a phased return to work after spending 3 months off sick with broken shoulder). I work 4 days a week, when im properly back I'll be 3 days in office, 1 day at home.

When I'm WFH I'm involved in Teams meetings and phoning service users (as well as reports and letters). If you were one of my service users would you be happy for me to be discussing your mental health issues in a public place?

Thought not. Keep sighing. The only member of my household allowed in the room when I'm WFH is the dog.

Spidey66 · 16/01/2022 23:43

Oh and there's the cost. If the previous quite is correct, neither me nor the NHS will fork out £25 per day!

immersivereader · 16/01/2022 23:49

Long live wfh. Bloody love it

Powaqa · 16/01/2022 23:50

Hopefully never for me.
My firm has just given up the lease on our office building and we are moving to a much smaller office.
It physically won't be able to fit us all in so we are being told that from April we only have to go in one day a week or a Maximum 2 days if necessary and until then we work solely from home.
The only thing I find in my case when wfh is that is more hours than my contract t states. Sometimes it's hard to turn off.
As my husband also wfh 3 days a week we are saving up to buy a home office so we can claim the kitchen table and the xorner of our bedroom back.

WhatsitWiggle · 16/01/2022 23:56

I hate it, I miss being able to get up and walk over to a colleague to ask a question. I can get my work done but I do find things take longer. I've been going in 2 days a week since last April, and I've noticed more colleagues doing the same - we've got a chat now so we coordinate days so you know there'll always be someone to chat to. I've found myself interacting more with people from different teams who come in - I'd never do that if we're at home as there'd be no business need.

I don't cope well at home, it's not good for my wellbeing or physical health as I'm not walking anywhere. I have a small house and it's just not geared up for 2 adults trying to do jobs that involve constant calls and meetings.

dratsnotyouagain · 17/01/2022 01:43

@Blossom64265

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?
I think is the most important thing, there is a type of person that thrives in the office, often the loudest person in the room, that thinks because they are miserable, not thriving and underperforming, everyone else is too and also can't wait to be in the office like them, or is a lazy bugger if they don't want to be.

WFH works for other people. I wouldn't give it up for anything and am actually looking for a role with full time WFH as opposed to the hybrid arrangement my employer is offering. I am disabled and all the 'reeasonable adjustments' in the world are not enough to exchange the comfort of being home. Plus the extreme fatigue that comes with commuting meant I was just existing before, but now I have enough energy to cook daily, clean often and play with DC. I'm not giving that up

Ozanj · 17/01/2022 02:09

It won’t end. Companies in big cities have done it for ages to reduce overheads all that’s changed now is everyone else has started. If you really hate wfh then I suggest now is the time to review career options and move into a career where you can’t wfh.

MintJulia · 17/01/2022 02:14

Never I hope. Wfh cuts congestion, pollution, emissions. Avoids the vast amounts of time, money and stress wasted on totally unnecessary commuting.

Since wfh, I can put supper in the slow cooker at lunchtime, so I get an hour of my evening back too. No more stress around afternoon school run.

And I get more done! It's bliss Grin. I'm never going back.