To think WFH has gone too far now?

[FlairBand]

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.

WFH is the work of the devil. YANBU in the slightest.

I think what's happened is that employers were forced into unplanned WFH as a result of Covid, and some have not been proactive enough in developing the necessary policies and cultural expectations now that it's become embedded.

Personally I think that having the flexibility to attend to the odd personal thing during the working day is one of the aspects that a lot of people value about WFH, but these things need to fit around work, not the other way around. If people are working in roles that require collaboration with colleagues and are persistently unavailable for trivial reasons that should be treated as a performance issue.

If there are serious problems at home, then that is another matter and i feel for you. Going to work/school would be an escape route. There are helplines out there for people to reach if this is the case.

If you are happy at home, paying a massive mortgage - but never being at home because of having to go out to work for most of your life - it is kinda sad.

We use Team meetings of videos and it works better than sitting in a meeting room. I take part of one meeting to another.

It is afterall, work and nothing else. Covid era made us re-think and revalue things.

I work as part if a team in various parts of the UK so makes no odds to me if people are at home or in the office.
Personally as long as people do their hours/work it doesn't matter if they are not available at 2.35pm. I rarely ask for ad hoc calls anyway, I prefer to either schedule a call in or just message them to ask them to call me when they are free, they usually do call back.
I prefer to log on early but finish early, others log on later but work later. I will make medical appointments during the working day if it suits me more but always block out my calendar so people can see I'm not around

I have been working from home for more than seven years now, so I have had time to adjust. In my case, I have a great deal of autonomy with respect to how and when I work. However, this is because I can organise client calls for times that are mutually convenient, and the other side of the work can be done at any time I have a computer available.

There are enormous benefits to me with respect to WFH, insomuch as it allows me to fulfil my caring responsibilities. Most of the time I can stop work to attend to something that needs doing with respect to my caring role. I can also work at times that suit me (early morning, late evening, for example). Yet, if there are scheduled work-related meetings, I will prioritise these and be available.

The main problem is 'work-related creep'. My home is my workplace and I find myself dipping in and out of work tasks whenever I have some spare time. There is no definite 9-5 structure, work is integrated into my daily life, and I simply try to get the tasks done. I can start work at 6 am (5 am in the summer) and not finish until 10 pm. I do not work continuously, but often, all the little spurts of work activity will add up to more than 8 hours a day. Weekends and holidays are also workdays, often catching up, or getting things done because I don't know how much time I will have the next week.

WFH, for me is the only way I can work, but it is lonely, and although I have people who I can consult, if I have a work-related problem, I miss the social side of work. That is to say, I miss the odd joke or the quick chat in a tea break.

Blame the government for forcing the nation into a series of lockdowns and creating a financial crisis.

Don't blame people for acclimatising.

On the point about calendars filling up with Teams/Zoom calls with no breaks, in my workplace we have 5 minute breaks built in, so if eg you want a call between 10 and 11, it automatically schedules it to 10.55 so you can have a loo break if you have another meeting at 11. Also I do look at the person's calendar and if I can see they finish at 11, I schedule the meeting at 11.15. But that only works if you are only trying to schedule with one person, otherwise it gets too complicated.

She stopped at the stroke of 1730 and literally put her phone in a drawer. Same at weekends.

If she’s only paid to work until 5:30 Monday to Friday, why the fuck shouldn’t she?

Why are all of you so desperate for work to rule your lives?

Then others even senior managers interrupting meetings and training to get parcels at the door

I don't really have an issue with this, you can't schedule a parcel delivery to arrive when you are free, they come when they come, and it's seconds to answer the door and bring in your parcel. I don't like pets and kids interrupting meetings though, there's no need in the vast majority of cases.

I agree - there was a post above about people wanting to defend WFH until the end of time.

But people defended office working until the end of time, despite the bad effects it had on peoples' wellbeing (mainly caused by unreliable, time-consuming and expensive commutes to be fair).

I have had to interrupt meetings to answer the door. Not a parcel delivery, just someone knocking on my door. Strangely I do not have a receptionist to deal with that.

your colleagues are not actually working, that is the problem.
no one can work longer term with a baby at home - in my company that is not actually allowed as a solution (one time off sick, ok, but not a couple of times a week).
as a team, we find it used to have a check in (half hour team meeting in the morning to discuss what is on) and to have “office hours” - blocked set time where we are available to be consulted on things.
but…. Just because you prefer a certain way of working doesn’t mean it’s the right or only way - flexibility works differently for different people.

I absolutely love it when there’s a cat in the team meeting! A terrific WFH bonus is all the cats. And also nosing at colleagues’ decor. I also enjoy the odd housemate in pyjamas drifting by.

Flairband, sorry, just another thing, the managers, senior staff need to change their work style to monitor work and good practices. It is weird that people are telling you that they have to feed the horses for example. This should not be accepted, staff need to be available all times they are paid to work.
You need to update work practice for WFH to enable proper working schedule, availabilty, communication is a must.

I WFH permanently for a consulting company. Only 7 of us in the UK. It works because we are responsible enough to get the job done and do what is needed without micro management.

Lots of the dogs just stare into the camera silently like the cats.

I get worried that people's pets are plotting something.....

My cat had a full on wash in the background of one meeting. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to stop him appearing or snoring other than shutting him outside and that won't be happening.

I do wonder if the majority of people who love WFH have big enough homes that they can have a separate office and can shut the door on work. I live in a one bedroom flat and the living room is now really my office and I'm sick of it to be honest. While I agree it's great for a lot of people, I don't think companies have put any thought into how it affects all their staff.

I do wonder if the majority of people who love WFH have big enough homes that they can have a separate office and can shut the door on work.

This is fair. I enjoy WFH but I do have a small spare room that is dedicated as an office. I shut the door whenever on a call/meeting to prevent disruptions. I also tend to have someone else in the house who can answer the door etc.

I can well imagine this makes a massive difference.

Unless it's a fireman or paramedic asking you to move your car, you don't need to interrupt the meeting, like you wouldn't answer a call from a friend while in a face to face meeting.

@FlairBand I’ll swap with you. I’m a designer for a large marketing & design agency. I’m currently battling them wanting me back in the office 3 days out of 4. I am sat at my desk all day apart from toilet breaks, always available. I have a 1.5hr commute so obviously would prefer to stay home. I guess everyone’s different but your place sounds like bliss to me.

But how do you know unless you answer the door?

God you sound a delight.
Whilst I agree with some of your points you sound like a old fashioned manager. Do you manage a call centre?

Believe me I don’t take it for granted!! That’s why I worry that people are taking the piss - we’ll all lose the benefit if it’s not managed properly (which I think having read the responses here seems to be biggest part of the problem). Sorry to hear yours has gone the other way, hope you can make something work

@MusicstillonMTV windows