Genuine question for those still working from home

[HeritageQuay]

I'm a manager in a company that employs about 100 employees across several locations in the south of England. We are in an industry that stayed open throughout Covid but apart from that we think we are a fairly normal business, i.e. we sell things, and then we deliver those things to our customers.

However, we have always been puzzled by the concept of people being able to "work from home". We think that our employees perform a full range of business functions and but none us have ever been able to work from home, even at the height of the pandemic, because our jobs mean that we have to be in the workplace.

So my question to those currently working from home is "what do you do" and "what industry are you in"?

Is this going to be one of those toady faux-naive posts where OP will be back to say she also only needs a computer but work is so much more than that so how do we manage to communicate with colleagues with no face to face interaction?

TV producer here and most of my work is done from home unless I NEED to be in the studio or on location filming. I get way more work done now from home - I can work at any time that suits and work into the evening /night when things get busy. My editing has come on leaps and bounds because I can sit and concentrate properly whilst I sync multiple cameras and sound - I was always being interrupted and there was too much noise around me in a very echo-y open plan office. I find some TV people like to backstab and bitch so I'm quite relieved to be spared from the worst of them on a more regular basis.

You really don't know which office jobs can be done from home?
Basically most of them that are conducted on computers/ the internet

However, we have always been puzzled by the concept of people being able to "work from home".

Without sounding obtuse @HeritageQuay , what are you puzzled by? There are countless jobs that can be done from home nowadays, providing someone has access to a computer/internet.

• goady, not toady

Oh and my job is a remote working consultant - not even joking My job is to help organisations give staff more flexibility, set up remote working tech etc.

I did it before the pandemic but obviously it’s got a little busier in the last couple of years.

Any job that requires only a laptop/talking to people can be done from home. HTH.

We also "make and deliver" things and are still majority home working. Accounts, design, graphics, customer service all can be done remotely. The only ones in regularly are fulfillment who need to pick and pack.
We are all in the office 1 or 2 days a week otherwise.

Work for the council social work department in an admin role.

I’m an HR Manager for a charity that employs around 75 people across 12 locations. I can do my entire job from home no problem, though I do do one day in the office now for socialisation/culture reasons, we’re hybrid as an organisation now.

Im very surprised you think NONE of your organisations jobs can be done from home?

Civil servant, hybrid working, 2 days in the office, 3 at home.
Less distraction at home (ie no-one to talk to) so I get more done.

Not me because I’m a teacher but DH works from home. His job is answering HR queries from employees and directing them to the right people. He uses his computer which is set up to receive calls. Perfectly able to do it all from home.

I don’t understand how you can’t possibly conceive of any role that can be done from home.

I'm a research manager, so lots of reading, data analysis, report writing, all of which is better done in a quiet environment. Meetings over Teams. Started this job during covid, so didn't even meet any of my colleagues for the first nine months. Now I work three days from home and two in the office, and it's a nice balance.

I manage L&D for around 30,000 people. On a computer. Pretty simple.

Except the bleeding obvious (dr, teacher, any directly customer facing / replenishment & delivery jobs etc, please explain what desk based jobs can't be done from home, OP?

Data quality - all I need is a laptop and a quiet place to work - hence working from home.

Publishing. I worked at home two days a week pre-Covid, so the switch was no problem at all - they just had to quickly increase server capacity.

Although we do sell a physical product it doesn't come from our offices - we send digital files to printers all over the world, and it's distributed from there (saves shipping costs).

What tasks do your staff so that can't be done at home? I'm intrigued.

Dh is an office based electrical engineer for a large manufacturer.

Talent agent.

Pre Covid I was about to take a desk in London one day a week but now WFH completely and just go up for meetings

Publishing - pretty much all departments can be online
DH works in online recruitment

I assume @HeritageQuay that you were deemed an essential worker/service that had to continue during the pandemic. The divide is quite easy to see from the pandemic
THe services that HAD to continue face to face
The services that were furloughed because they needed to be face to face but not essential
And those that could continue with working from home

I worked from home around 60% of my time prepandemic and there were a few things that I needed to be in the office for. All of those things were quickly solved by May 2020 because solutions were needed, money was spent setting up the infrastructure. The infrastructure that was needed but remains. Even now we are only required in 1 day a week and that is for socialisation.

Supply Chain in a large company. I can do everything at home other than visit suppliers, sites etc

I manage projects. I visit sites once a month or so but the rest of the planning and coordination is done in an office that can just as easily be my home office (and it is).

I work for the NHS in Procurement. Used to be predominantly office based with occasional home working however since the pandemic my whole team now wfh. All of our clients seem to be wfh too so meetings are easy to set up online.

I feel I get more work done at home however I can struggle to get motivated sometimes and miss the office chit chat.

My colleagues and I chat constantly on teams though and often video call one another for a personal catch up. We also meet for lunch now and then or for walks when the weather is good.

I think most people who work from a laptop can now wfh with ease.

Business consulting, digital marketing, and ad hoc virtual secretarial stuff whilst being a home educating parent. My days are full, but not busy since I have the entire day to do all the tasks as I please with room for flexibility around the schedule. So if there's more work on we do more at home that day. If there's less work on that day we go out and do educational and fun things.

I take phone calls a lot in my job and use a computer. Still can't work from home. I am a midwife. Your post should really read does no ones job involve only doing the tasks you listed, and nothing else - as they could WFH.

Clinical research (back office, not front line), and working in a hybrid capacity, but could do the job perfectly well 100% from home.

Some companies are bizarrely still not set up for wfh tho. I know people who have been in the office throughout the pandemic because the computer systems apparently can’t be accessed from home…