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.

YANBU - people are taking the piss now.
We have one who ‘can’t come in’ to the office as she has a dog now (Lockdown Puppy).

Probably not all kids but mine do. 6 and 9 they have a snack and a drink and some screen time whilst I finish my day.

I actually can't believe how many in the UK seem to wfh. I'm not in the UK, and I don't live in a city - I believe a number of people in cities here do wfh, but where I live most people only did it during lockdowns and then returned to the office. Some might wfh once or twice a week, but it certainly doesn't seem as common here as there.

WFH for people who work for HMRC seems to be a nice cushy little number. I phoned mid October to chase up a query that was submitted online in June. The recorded message told me that they were only dealing with queries submitted May and before. If all staff were WFH properly there wouldn’t be over a 4 month response time!

The culture of your workplace has gone wrong.

Not wfh.

My workplace is almost entirely virtual and people don't behave at all as described in the OP

I work for civil service and people work from home and this doesn't happen. People are available for a teams chat all day and if anyone was doing things outside in working hours they would be disciplined

@Simonjt if you're not blocking the road you'll be fine.

I didn’t realise that doorbells are exclusively an alarm to let you know a vehicle ia blocking the road. I shall re-educate couriers, friends, family, the concierge and anyone else who calls our intercom.

I don't have a car. Guess I don't need a doorbell either

@Simonjt you jumped on the original point I made and are now completely ignoring it to try and make some silly point.

Those things aren't emergencies and you shouldn't interrupt a meeting for a courier delivery or concierge.

How do I know its a courier or concierge if I don’t answer the intercom?

@Simonjt just go back into the office.

Okay, I’ll just ask the CEO to buy a lease on an office so I can work in one, I’m sure they’ll comply.

Whilst I agree that is a fairly appalling service, I’m not sure how you can conclude that it is due to WFH.

It could just be good old-fashioned staff shortages - as mentioned upthread, many organisations are really struggling to recruit right now. Especially to low paid front line roles.

Yes I totally agree with this.

OP I am not saying this is you but I really (in my experience) the self described “so collaborative” people really do annoy me with constant chatter about things that have little to do with what I may be working on. I also hate office chatterboxes because I do have to leave on time to catch a certain train to be on time for DC pick up.

My work is extremely deadline driven - think legal and regulatory filing deadlines - so at certain times of the month I literally do not have the time for random unscheduled chats. My diary HAS to be rigidly managed because I need to review other people’s work quickly and across different time zones so that they can get on with the rest of their work and the process so everything is filed and paid on time for clients.

I too am client facing but in large corporate, so not that same as a media/design environment but honestly being left alone to just get on with my huge workload is bliss compared to all the coffee machine chit chat in the office.

When WFH I am able to start at 8 after drop off and log off at 6 with a short break for pick up due to the lack of commute so that is 2 extra hours just there for the company’s taking and boy do they take it.

I am disciplined about honouring requests to chat but I just hate random Teams messages and pings when I am knee deep in a massive spreadsheet. It’s irritating as hell. Client meetings are all scheduled in advance so that works.

I am pretty disciplined though so I do declare all things like plumber coming or doctor’s appointments to my Partner in the normal way - ie at the beginning or end of the day and not unless I can’t sort it out on the weekend.

Also I have a time sheet to complete every week and so there is no way in hell you can shirk around that :-).

What workplace allows someone to do a job with a child at home? It’s a baby, not a 10yrs old. It’s actually dangerous to have a baby present and someone pre occupied with work. I’m not sure many places allow parents to work at home with babies, if they do they are in the wrong. I don’t see what’s wrong in expecting parents to have childcare in place when they return to work. We are flexible more than many places. But we do expect our staff to actually do the work we pay them for, and not care for babies at the same time. There’s no way you can commit to your job with a baby. If that’s old fashioned then I guess other companies are just letting parents bring babies to work all the time now, I know we are more flexible post covid but that’s ridiculous. Our HR policy says children of school age only can be present occasionally, so it’s a breach of the policy as well as dangerous to allow homeworking to care for a baby.

I also just disagree with the idea that I should have to go to the depot to pick up a package rather than take 30 seconds to answer the door.

All my colleagues do it, I would be so bemused if a colleague let their door bell keep ringing rather than answer it in a call.

Sure if it's a super important board meeting or whatever, I might not answer the door but that's all

They are used to doing their studying in their bedrooms and collaborating with people online to do some if it, so working is not much different to them.

Why not, if it's cheaper than travelling into work, or is more comfortable? It's a lot cheaper than building an extension or a garden shed. And you'll save £££ on heating bills. Some are expensive, but most aren't, there's one near me which is £25 a week!

Don't be silly, it takes 30 seconds to open the door, take in your package and sit down again.

Anyone who tried that one with me would get told they were coming into the office or could find a different job. I have no sympathy with people who moved away and/or got lockdown dogs. There is such a thing as doggy daycare, use it.

I think there is quite a concentration of MNers who live in the south-east and have professional jobs, or their partners do. I don't think the WFH rates are nearly as high in other parts of the country.

I’m not in SE but looking for public sector/ third sector jobs, and yes, it’s all home working, ranging from one day a week in office to team coming in once every six weeks, in places I have spoken to.

I feel trapped in home working forever, and I absolutely hate it.

WFH saves lots of money for companies and most staff like it.

@lieselotte again depends on the job
If I'm on to a customer I can't say hold on while I answer the door. And I can't just wander away from my desk without putting myself unavailable

Mostly I just leave a note on the door for the postman to let himself in - after 2 years we have a routine where he opens the door, puts the parcel in and closes it again or my neighbours take it in and I collect it when I finish work