To think WFH has gone too far now?

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I am very lucky to have a fully flexible role in a very understanding organisation. My colleagues come from a range of backgrounds and have various reasons for appreciating the level of flexibility we have - not all are parents.

We are now almost entirely home based, which in principle is fine but in practise becoming frustrating. Our work is desk based and requires quite a lot of collaboration.

My issue is that people are becoming so much harder to talk to in the day because it’s as if work fits in around their home life when it suits. Almost everything has to be booked in as a meeting, rarely is anyone available for a spontaneous call / chat on teams as you would have done in the office. We are supposed to be available core hours 10-4 for a 35 hr week, and either side of that as you see best.

Recent examples when I’ve sent a message to ask if people have five mins for a chat - sorry I’m making bread / feeding the horses / talking to the plumber etc etc. I’ve also noticed people are booking in more and more non-work appts in the working day yet still expect to clock off by 4.30. They are things which could easily be done before / after work day. We have a colleague (who does some important work for me) coming back from mat leave in summer who is planning to have her baby at home with her on at least a couple of her work days because flexibility.

AIBU to think that people are becoming less and less available and that it’s affecting our work and working relationships? I’m quite a collaborative person and I like exchanging ideas with colleagues (but I don’t overdepend on them before anyone starts!).

Starting to wonder if this is the right place for me but before I decide what to do I wanted to see what other peoples experiences are. This is not a large corporate company, it’s a small design firm where we work to super tight deadlines but we do lots of client facing work too eg pitches.

I think I'm in a minority but I'm finding the whole culture of WFH really frustrating too so YANBU.

In theory it's great that people are getting a better work life balance but in practice it's near on impossible to work as a team. Because of this, productivity in our team is down on pre covid levels.

Ideas cannot bounce off each other without spontaneous conversation.

No I prefer it but I make myself available for calls and prioritise those. I find zoom call's annoying though because I will be stuck into something else and someone calls on the pc. That just makes me want to ignore it. It probably isn't the right company for you. Some are more flexible, some are less and you find your own people don't expect them all to fit to you now if that's the culture.

Recent examples when I’ve sent a message to ask if people have five mins for a chat - sorry I’m making bread / feeding the horses / talking to the plumber etc etc.

It is frustrating, but I think there's a line management issue here if people are permitted to put non-work events into their work calendar as fully visible. I regularly book meetings so I see what's in calendars and people do block out time for the school run but not for horses and plumbers. If I have an occasional commitment that doesn't relate to work, eg medical appt, click and collect outside core hours etc. I mark it as private so it isn't shown it's non-work, but it reminds me and I work it into my day. It doesn't disrupt my availability though.

If it's a work-related conversation, I would change it from "can we have 5 mins for a chat" to "I need to talk to you about xyz, can we have 5 mins as soon as possible/by end of today/before 12 o'clock". Having a chat is all very well, but people won't drop everything for that.

wfh can work well, but it has to be part of the management culture in an organisation that everyone behaves professionally. Sounds like your place of work isn't set up well for wfh, if there aren't clear guidelines on what is acceptable.

It depends on the job really. My DH was mostly WFH before the pandemic but he's a computer analyst so doesn't need to be present collaborate a lot. I'd say some jobs aren't suited to it..

That sounds like a your workplace problem, not a WFH problem. DP and I both wfh FT and it’s very much bums on seats as usual, the only difference is I get some work done because I’m not in an open plan office full of chatterboxes.

We have core hours too but it is becoming much more flexible. I can do my work at 2.30am if I so choose. I can’t go pick up a prescription at that time. So, I’m finding it’s far less that people are working less, in fact we’re still all probably working more than our hours (public sector), but we’re doing it at wildly different times.

But I find that that’s brilliant because we all have diaries and can schedule time in, while still making our work and lives fit around each other.

I love the fact that people can’t just ‘drop by my desk’ to ask me something now. I have ADHD, and the knock on effect of that constant disruption to my focus meant I rarely got anything done at the office and often had to start early and finish late to get through it. Now I can do work when I have the spoons with muted notifications, still be there for colleagues at times that suit both of us and deliver more as a team than we ever did before.

All my colleagues are remote, have been for years; we are an international work force. People are expected to be available during their office hours, and generally are (as much as in an office - time for lunch, breaks, sport).
If your colleagues are not available when they should be then management need to.....manage.

You have a people problem imo.

I WFH a lot before the pandemic for health reasons. I operated the same way I would in the office, probably more (so as to avoid the quotation marks re WFH).

Office phone diverted to my home phone. No radio/tv on in the background. Wouldn’t dream of putting a wash on (because risk of spin cycle when taking a phone call). Started earlier/finished later as no crap 2 hour commute. Got more done as no one stopping by your desk for a catch-up.

I honestly think companies need training re which candidates are perfect for WFH. There are definitely people out there where that setup is perfect. You end up with staff who are really productive and you can cut down on the costs of office space.

Completely understand that some people prefer to be in the hubbub of office space. But companies need to consider both options and interview/assess accordingly. Great teams could be built by employing/facilitating both types of working personalities.

This sounds like an issue in your company tbh.

As a manager there’s no way I’d agree to letting a staff member WFH without childcare with a baby that small… they can’t adequately work or parent and will fudge both. Same with the other issues, if you’re expected to be available then this ought to be addressed.

It sounds like some workers are truly taking the piss. In the work day work should take priority. They are getting paid to work and it sounds like they are doing other stuff. If it was a one off, sure but feeding horses is a daily, having a young child at home is non-stop interruptions.

It may be time to document and bring it up with your line manager. No need to name names, or do depending, but bringing up the regular lack of availability for actual work would be good.

The manager could then oversee more and observe what is happening and actually manage and direct.

It’s your management at fault here. During core hours it should be bums on seats unless time off has been agreed with the boss. Unfortunately managers are often the worst offenders.

The situations that you describe, not being able to have a 5 minute chat because feeding horses, delivery man etc are unacceptable. Why haven't you nipped that in the bud?

I think culture is what matters here - it’s become acceptable to mix work and gone during the core hours. My dh works from home 80% of the time and the biggest issue he has is back to back teams meetings (often over lapping!) because people just fill diaries. It’s so draining and where as before he would have had journey from one to other to decompress that doesn’t exist! He might not be able to drop everything for 5 min chat but the culture is certainly very different to what you describe!

Have you raised this with management? What do they say?

I much prefer wfh and we do generally operate as you describe, doing some personal things in the day but obviously fulfilling hours and workloads. However we're not very collaborative so it doesn't much matter about different working patterns.

In your situation you do need people to be available. Presumably output has dropped so I'd expect the manament to be all over it. Why aren't they? If output hasn't dropped and they're saving money on office space and are happy then your take on the situation isn't accurate and you'd do well looking for another post.

My current job, doing accounts for small businesses is entirely suitable for wfh, but I'm not doing household stuff during that time, I'm sat at the desk working.

A previous job in the finance department of one of the largest steel companies in the world, it totally wouldn't have worked. Huge department we all knew what was happening where (export) we knew how to react to changes in exchange rates and if any sanctions were put in place.

These years were the best years of my working life, the gossip, banter and finance nights out, all missing from wfh.

And the baby... definitely not. If the mother just had work to complete then it may be ok with a tiny baby but if she needs to be available for impromptu calls then you can guarantee she won't be.

One of my colleagues did similar, but through the whole preschool years. I feel so sorry for that child, you could always hear cbeebies or crying in the background, that's no way to spend 8 hours a day at that age.

Almost everything has to be booked in as a meeting, rarely is anyone available for a spontaneous call / chat on teams as you would have done in the office.

This is the bit I absolutely love with wfh. I’m not unavailable because I’m feeding horses, talking to a plumber etc. I’m 100% available BUT I absolutely hate/hated it when people just rocked up to your desk in the office and started yakking, work related or not. Happy to speak but book that time with me ffs and wfh makes that so much easier to enforce.

i think WFH is great and if people are taking the piss then it’s a management issue; I think your core hours principle sounds very reasonable- are you saying those ‘appointments’ are within the core hours times? Sounds more like management problem or people misinterpretating than WFH being the problem. It’s well overdue in our society to have a better work/life balance and I think it’s a good thing. You could always just book appointments with your colleagues etc so you know they will be free. Are other people complaining of the same thing as you? I also wondered if you particularly like team working or if your colleagues work more independently? Are you missing project deadlines? If the bottom line isn’t suffering then I don’t think there’s a problem even if the workflow doesn’t go how you want. x

I'd much rather be in the office. I like to get out of the house. I spent far too much time at home during COVID. I do a volunteer job that can easily be done from home but I requested to be based at the office. I like the lovely (scenic) commute and the hustle and bustle of busy high streets.

As others have said, this is a line management/organisational issue. I have a significant degree of flexibility when wfh but that also applies in the office as we are trusted to get on with our jobs. However, we are expected to be available and if we were making excuses like the ones you described, that would be managed appropriately.

WFH and hybrid working is revolutionary for a lot of people, and teams have been working together internationally without face to face contact for many years in lots of organisations (which lots of anti WFHers seem to forget!) - but it has to be managed appropriately and expectations set.

It sounds like your colleagues have forgotten they’re supposed to be working - wfh is great as long as people don’t take the piss

I would hate to wfh, and would never apply for a job where I had to. Thankfully I never will have to - it's hard to be a receptionist for a place with a lot of foot traffic from home! I love contact with actual people and couldn't stand being stuck at home all day. However OP, I understand what you are saying - the business I used to work for had everyone working from home earlier in the year, and I kept seeing the staff in town, quite obviously not working.

One of the wonderful things about WFH is I can concentrate on my work and not have colleagues "dropping in for a chat" constantly, so I vastly prefer people being thoughtful enough to send their question via email or save it for a scheduled meeting. Of course I am always polite and helpful when phoned, it's work and I make myself available, but perhaps your colleagues are trying to subtly push you in the direction of not interrupting them all the time.

I work remotely and it's not like that at all, so it seems like your company's problem. Unless even with these issues they meet their targets, so the management doesn't need to intervene?
Also even when I worked in the office before pandemic most of my team was working remotely, so I'm used to collaborating this way. It's not for everyone I guess, but it works well for me.

Having colleagues "dropping in for a chat" is one of the best parts of work in my opinion. Also, I like to keep work and home separate, and would hate to have to use my home as a workplace. I can't help but worry about the long term effects of people sitting at home all the time and not actually talking face to face with others.