Are you still working at home? If so what industry?

[longtwrn]

Anyone still not bothered to go back to the office?

What industry are you in if you're still at home and not being pressured to get back to the office?

University lecturer.

I did have a few face to face classes since lockdown, but at the moment all my classes are online.

TV post production. The offices have been closed completely, so it’s not about not bothering to go in.

Publishing. But have to go in to the office twice a week. I hate having to go in.

From the way you say 'haven't bothered', I'm assuming you think it's most people's fault/choice that they are at home? Do you know that a lot of companies have got rid of their offices and are making people WFH forever to save money? No office rents or bills for them, higher bills and less space at home for their employees.

I think it's awful for future mental health, creativity, people skills and productivity. But it's not employees faults, it's the way the world has gone.

There's the occasional upside. I only work 3.5 days a week anyway which is in schools (dance teaching mostly with some other performance subjects) but I now also teach adults one evening a week, online from my home studio. Most of the attendees live in very rural areas or abroad where they've never had access to group dance classes before. So that's a good thing I guess. I don't really like teaching online but it opens up more opportunities and new markets.

Financial services I run a change team in IT so not customer facing. Go in once a week my choice no one asking or forcing me to.

I’m the opposite to a lot of people, I was one of those who did go the office during 2020/2021. At one point one of only 3 people in a building for 150. However, since the firm moved to a new office (capacity 54), I now wfh 90% of the time.
Love it.

Oh and yes, I’m in financial services/accountancy.

Yes wfh permanently - local government EHCP coordinator.

Most of the offices / floor space has been rented out to generate income so no office to go back to.

The little space we do have isn’t big enough to accommodate all the teams.

Pharmaceuticals, work from home 3 days a week as a hybrid work model had been introduced post covid.
Will go into the manufacturing site as and when required, depends on the type of work being undertaken by the team

I'm in data support/analyst and I'm not bothered in the slightest to go back in. Most of my coworkers convinced our manager to let us WFH. She likes to go in and so does one or two others on the team but realized she was going to lose good people if she didn't let us work from home. But even before the pandemic when I was working at another company I WFH three days a week. I didn't mind going in two days back then, but I liked my coworkers more so it was fun to go in and be around them. I wouldn't mind going in one day week just to get out of the house, but any more than that would have me looking for a new job lol

Communications. I’m still at home more than in the office but going in a couple of times a week.

The powers that be are pushing people to go in and tbh it’s becoming a bit unpleasant. They are trying to turn the clock back to 2015 and recreate a bums on seats = results ethos and I think it’s massively counterproductive.

Yes there are many benefits to having people in sometimes but the pandemic has also exposed this pointless presenteeism for the fraud it was and trying to recreate this is daft.

Just started as a contractor Team Coordinator (Team Sec) for a multinational corporation.

We're required to be in the office 2 days a week which suits me fine.

I had an interesting Zoom call with a head-hunter the other day who said a lot of his clients want more days working in the office and not WFH. I said fine, but that doesn't suit me. At 50, me and my friends have been there, done that, got the t-shirt and after work socialising doesn't hold the same appeal sadly.

Having said that, I've done an office social after work (go karting), am going to an open air office/team party soon and where I work it's amazing for lunch/dinner/drinks options so it's encouraging me to get out and about more. Train services are cut a lot though, not that many during rush hour and I'm zone 3/4.

Public sector. In my organisation we’re meant to be in a certain number of days a week but I mostly haven’t bothered and my boss hasn’t either.

Oh, my job will more than likely be made permanent which is fine by me. They value their staff, lots haven't left for years.

Genuine question to those WFH permanently - are you ever concerned about your job being outsourced overseas where wages are much cheaper?

I agree with you from friends who work in public sector, they've hardly gone in and if they do it's rarely.

One of the departments is the one which is fairly low paid compared to others and they're always putting pay rise cases to HMT (always denied!), if you factor in rising rail fares and cost of living you need to WFH to be able to live, stuff lining Pret A Manger's coffers I always preferred EAT anyway, especially their pies with gravy

Tech company

Very home based

No because it’s a specialism

I don't WFH permanently, but no, not worried, they won't do this.

You could be worried if you work for eg HSBC etc but then they also have staff WFH in UK. I hate to say it but several call centres I've dealt with over the years with staff based in e.g. India, I've sometimes been barely able to understand them, had one woman say to me she was leaving to go home now (at the end of the call) and so then cut me off and so on - that was with a major high street bank who now don't outsource to India (I believe).

Financial services. We have the option to go into the office, but nobody wants to.

I work in IT for a government department.

I go in 2-3 times a month for meetings. Before the pandemic I was wfh once a week. I don't live far from the office and wouldn't mind going in more often, but there is no point. My organisation is giving up up about half of the office space to save money.

I've worked from home for 10 years. A couple of times they have threatened to outsource our jobs only to realise that what we do is not as simple as it first appears. We have a new CEO now who actually appreciates that so we should be safe from any more f these attempts for a while.

I'm in a head office function (part of finance) where I'm speaking to people all over the world so it doesnt matter where I'm located. We no longer have an office so I'm 100% home based.

Aerospace - out sourcing overseas has been happening for ages, no concerns at all, in fact I train our overseas colleagues in my role, one day I might hit the jackpot and they will pay me off, they need to get round export compliance for that to happen, meanwhile I’m WFH until the autumn and then possibly 2 days back in the office.

Genuine question to those WFH permanently - are you ever concerned about your job being outsourced overseas where wages are much cheaper?

They've tried to do this a tiny bit for the more junior/less skilled roles. It was a disaster.