To feel WFH has had its day a bit?

[Seaswimminginwinter]

Bosses think workers do less from home - bbc article

My job doesn’t lend itself to WFH but I have noticed on nearly every thread on here about WFH, people insist that they are more productive. However, I have to admit that this doesn’t match with my experiences. But I am one person so maybe I’ve been unlucky, except this article is quite interesting about perceptions.

I also think it changes homes and areas. My own DH is WFH today and it is my day off, meaning I will spend it feeling as f I am I the way in my own home. Homes aren’t meant to be offices.

I get there are advantages but overall I don’t think it works well at all.

[Angelinflipflops]

My dh loves it so he can be more involved in his kids lives

[OhmygodDont]

I’ve never worked on site for my current job. It’s cheaper for them that way and it means when they have a rush job it’s me that gets it since I’m home and set my own hours I can do the work at 10pm or 1am whatever I feel like. While their on site staff clock off between 4/5pm, I pick up all that. But I wouldn’t if I was on site.

Plus other people are distracting that’s when I make mistakes. Be home have some music on her the job done..

[UnnecessaryFennel]

I work a flexible hybrid model - some parts of my job do actually require me to be on-site but otherwise I'm at home. Those days vary - at the moment I'm in a run of several weeks of exclusive WFH but in a couple of months I'll be in the office 2-3 days a week. It just depends what needs doing. Works beautifully for me and I would never go back to a job that expected me to be in the office 'just because'.

Productivity-wise I now work much better from home because it's quiet and all my work stuff is within arm's reach. My manager emailed me just this week to tell me how fabulous my work is, so I'm not worried about being perceived as a slacker . But I look back on pre-pandemic days and can't believe how much time I used to spend walking round the building looking for a free and working printer, for example! Plus, we're now hot-desking, there's never any stationery etc and our desktop computers are soooooo sloooooooow - my laptop at home is so much faster. Most of the computers in the office don't even have webcams, so if you have Teams meetings in your diary you're better off at home anyway.

And finally, the joy of not having to do a regular commute is life-enhancing. I'm never going back to that soul-sapping shit again.

[dubyalass]

We do hybrid working and it works well for me but I have a dedicated space and live alone. I enjoy going into the office but my setup at home is better than the office so I am definitely more productive there. However I've recently started in a new team and I really appreciate being able to chat face to face with people in the office and ask questions where otherwise I'd need to ring them. We all try to go in on the same day so we can catch up, but we're based in the same general area which makes that easier - no three hour commutes!

[UserError012345]

No I don't think it has. People love it. Saves money effort etc.

[LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee]

My own DH is WFH today and it is my day off
most people can choose which days they WFH though, couldn’t your DH choose a day when you are not there?

[Hearthnhome]

@MossGrowsFat

WFH does not help new starters (ie our children) it only helps those that are already established.

That’s a sweeping statement. How do you think international teams have worked for years previous to this, where all workers (even entry level) are spread across the globe?

A good employer, who is completely wfh will have a robust process to ensure entry level roles and young people are not left behind. Ones that are hybrid will too, but it’s easier.
We recently had a young person starting on a different team that shares our office. Although we are different departments, we very much see us as a whole. All my teams chose to come in for the starters first few weeks, to welcome them and ensure they felt as part of our office as everyone else. We supported in all their new start training. Just like before. My teams chose to do this until the new start was ready for hybrid working. And between my teams and this one, we do ensure no one is ever in on their own.

And let’s be honest the vast majority of jobs are hybrid. Not fully wfh. Most require occasional attending of the office.

Theres always every chance that if a company can not support young people in entry level roles when wfh, they weee pretty poor at it, in person.

[Ellami]

Works better for us as a family and I think better for the roads/environment as a whole.
Hybrid working helps too and although I love my job, I fell less of a ‘worker bee’ having to needlessly commute for work I could easily do at home. The idea of technology was supposed to be that it made our lives work more efficiently and saved us time - remote working does that.

[GoldenOmber]

I loathe it myself and have decided against applying for jobs I’d otherwise have gone for because they were WFH.

But it can work really well, if you have the right kind of organisational approach and the people working for you like it. I don’t think it makes people more likely to slack off.

[Clockwatching54321]

im way more productive at home in terms of work and home life. I get an hour back each day not commuting, less chatting in the office or distractions. I can pop to the post office at lunch, put a load of laundry on in the morning and hang it out at lunch. I love wfh and if my company forced me not to wfh anymore I would be looking for a new role.

overall I’m less anxious which was awful before covid, the balancing children and working and running a household. It’s only been positive for me.

[MikeWozniaksMoustache]

For YOU. It doesn’t work FOR YOU.

It’s almost as if your situation and everyone else’s aren’t the same. Weird I know.

[orangeisthenewpuce]

People who love working from home because it suits them always say they are more productive to justify it. For me, it drives me mad when I need to talk to someone and I can't because they are at home and I can't contact them and I can see that they have been away for 20 mins for instance doing who knows what. If they were in the office I'd be able to walk over to them and talk to them, or ask their colleagues if they knew if they'd gone to a meeting and if so when they'd be back. Our department is far more efficient when we are all together but that doesn't seem to matter.

[Ohtsd]

You do need a very large house as even when DH was in the spare room I could still hear him on calls if I was upstairs, our house is not that big but fortunately no DC and I don't think he would have been able to work in the caravan if it was very cold

[PuttingDownRoots]

The upside of DH hybrid working is he's home more
The downside is he's home more.

[deflatedbirthday]

A hybrid scheme works for us. DH is three days at home and two days in the office. I'm in the office on his wfh days, I wfh one day and the other is my non working day. We have a good routine in place that allows us to run one car instead of two and all school runs are accounted for.

[WildfellAnne]

WFH is compulsory in my job. The offices where we worked have all been closed. It’s a big saving for the company. Productivity is measured by the minute and remains the same. Many staff would like to work in an office, but that’s not available now.

[Doyoumind]

I wfh 2 or 3 days a week now. It suits me because when I'm in the office I have a long commute, which makes things harder in terms of time with DC, childcare etc. Pre pandemic I was rarely able to avoid the office and I definitely prefer to have a mix. There are certain tasks I find easier to do at home and I can wor well. But I've found overall my productivity at home has gradually reduced if I'm honest.

[Ilostmysocks]

WFH means that more disabled professionals like me are able to build our careers.

Even hybrid is amazing. 2 days in the office and 3 days home. Game changer and I'm about to go Full Time for the first time since 2012!

Wish me luck 😁 I still worry that disability will get in the way, but I'm feeling more confident than ever before.

[HRTQueen]

It has to work for the team not just foe the individual

I’m my experience few who have taken up working form home since 2020 it works as well for the team no matter how productive they claim they are

also gives them more time to arrange more team meetings for the rest of us who don’t have the time to sit in another meeting

[Notreallyhappy]

Oh yes...can my OH go back now so I can have my home back..😬

[GeneralSOneill]

I think it depends on your work. Hybrid works well for us. We visit service users at home so WFH adds lots of travel time to visits that people don't make up, but trying to do teams meetings in a busy office is just really hard so hybrid is very effective.

DH WFH permanently and is much more productive than he was in the office - no long lunches in town and works during his commuting times and as his home office is set up permenantly he'll often go back to work after dinner.

We're lucky that our home office is in the loft conversion so away from the rest of the house and doesn't feel invasive at all.

[stuntbubbles]

I’m timesheeted and my billability is calculated at the end of the week: it’s ALWAYS higher working from home than in the office. In the office I get dragged into watercooler chats, my work is slower because the office is open-plan and full of young people loudly bantzing whereas my role is “head down, focus, do a thing”, and there’s generally a million in-office meetings that aren’t replicated virtually so I get to skip those WFH, get my hours done, clock off early.

I also get to do nursery runs, laundry, cooking and a sly bit of quiet DIY – paint stripping, painting – in camera-off calls. Doesn’t affect my work performance.

[KathyWilliams]

I personally think that WFH is the spawn of Satan. I am sick of not being able to ring up any organisation and have a sensible conversation with someone which isn't interrupted by children/dogs/postmen. Either that, or whoever I'm ringing up wants to tell me their life story, presumably because they are missing the social side of being at work. It's a bloody nightmare, and one of the very worst things about Covid.

If my husband has been WFH, we would have been divorced far sooner than we were. I would have loathed having someone around the house during the day. Houses are homes, not offices.

[blebbleb]

@Ohtsd

You do need a very large house as even when DH was in the spare room I could still hear him on calls if I was upstairs, our house is not that big but fortunately no DC and I don't think he would have been able to work in the caravan if it was very cold

Yes you definitely need the space. My husband works from home 99% of the time. We have a 2 bed small terraced house and he works in the lounge (long lounge so hidden in the corner and we can move past without being seen on camera). Overall it's great as he can avoid the long commute and see our son more and do pickups, and I'm in the office m-f. It is annoying if I'm at home with my toddler though as we can't really go in the living room for massive chunks of the day. Husband doesn't mind us coming in but I'm sure it's distracting and looks unprofessional with a toddler shouting. We could do with more space to make it work!

[Forebt]

Try bring a trainee and just wfh, it’s shit, you don’t learn anything. I’m looking for a new job now because I hate it so much. There’s no culture or way of networking and when you do finally get into a meeting it’s all about the one person that hogs the mic and their personal life.

I’m glad some people get a positive experience though.