To think it’s daft to make big life decisions based on WFH without checking it’s permanent?

[GoldenOmber]

My work used to be office-based. We’ve all been WFH since March 2020 because of government rules (not in England).

This week the government lifted that rule, and later that day our employers told us what the plans were to start bringing us back. This is pretty flexible - not starting for a month or two yet, will still allow a lot of WFH for people who want it (like 9 days a fortnight with one in the office). Most people are ok with this. Some people really aren’t.

Now we are having drama over email with a small but vocal group saying how angry/upset they are, because they have made big changes based around getting to WFH and it will now be difficult for them to go back at all. Even 1 day a fortnight starting in April. Changes like moving house far away from office; getting a dog and not wanting to leave the dog alone; selling car and not wanting to get public transport b/c germs (not just covid, all germs).

Work have ALWAYS said WFH was temporary though! I have some sympathy for how long it’s going to take you to commute from your new house in the middle of nowhere, but SURELY you’d factor that in when you bought it?

YABU - no, after 2 years of WFH working fairly well it was reasonable to expect it to continue without checking.

YANBU - yes, they should obviously have checked.

@DottyHarmer

People have always been clueless. I had a steady stream of clowns come into see me to ask for a pay rise “because I’m getting a mortgage” or “I’m buying a car”. If pay were linked to lifestyle then everyone would be out buying a yacht!

That made me smile. Nothing to do with their exceptionally high quality work or additional responsibilities. Probably the same people who have moved to Devon and are now wondering how their commute to Vauxhall will work and who is going to walk their three lockdown puppies. Not to mention that they have no childcare in place because of course you can work effectively around school runs and feeding the twins.

Actually that's made me think. Our childcare all revolves around DH being able to take and collect as my new business means I can't. We haven't expected it to last forever but I guess it's been so long you kind of just carry on and everyone has been too scared to even try and look to the future for two years!

@cocktailclub Yes. The response was that we're a family friendly organisation and need to do everything we can to help out employees with caring responsibilities.

@Butterfly44

Always thought WFH was a temporary measure - the pandemic was never going to last forever. Those that moved and made different life choices - all well and good but short sighted for when things revert back

I have worked from home in some capacity since 2005. It was never going to be temporary!

@GoldenOmber

I don’t get why 1 day a fortnight is so hard either. Maybe they think they’ll be asked to do more and more days in the office if they agree to that? But probably best approach is to show that 1 day a fortnight works fine, not “but but but I’ve sold my house and moved to Narnia”.

Totally agree with this - I can't see that one day a fortnight is remotely unreasonable so they really shouldn't be kicking off about it.

Why do people assume working for a company or business is a permanent arrangement.

@MabelsApron well companies like that are not going to be very effective!
Employees are there to work (shock horror)
I'm all for support and adjustments where it's fair but this sounds ridiculous