To ask what your employers are doing regarding wfh?

[Starwarslover]

I’ve recently started a new job which officially has no set days required in the office, although I keep hearing things that imply they want people in more. It doesn’t bother me as I’m in 60% anyway but it made me wonder if most employers are like this now, not wanting to put in minimum days but actively pushing for more than people are choosing to do.

YABU - employers are being honest and open and putting in set days

YANBU - they are saying they officially don’t mind when really they do

In my organisation, it depends on your job role. Which does not go down well.

For instance, I can work fully from home. I try to go to the office three mornings a week, no set days, just when I feel like it. Mornings only because they're starting to piss me off by that point 😉 The staff in that office have to be in four days a week (pro rata for part time), with an admin day at home. They're frustrated that others can work from home when they can't and they're pushing for all staff to need to work in the office (not going to happen). The difference is, I'm in meetings for half of the day, the other half of the day is working alone. They're seeing service users.

If I was to be in the office all day, I'd just be hogging their meeting room.

My employer is completely flexible, but I wish they weren't! There are too many people that are difficult to contact virtually, and a lot of meetings that would be better face to face rather than hybrid.

The official message is that people should come in if needed for specific work purposes. Too many people have interpreted that as "if I want to" and managers are too wishy-washy to enforce.

I'm in an industry with a skills shortage though - I think there is fear around alienating people.

Go in one morning a month for a team meeting. Just had a request from a team member to push this to every two months. We meet on teams weekly and throughout the day on calls as needed. Personally, I have zero interest in commuting or listening to people chattering, moaning and falling out about windows/blinds/air conditioning in the office ever again so I’m quite tempted. Our requirement is ‘regular’ team days, with the regularly left to the discretion of each team. Some teams do several days a week in the office, others much left often.

We have to do 3 days in the office with one set day a week everyone is in and wfh on a Friday but which day we pick as our second wfh day is fully flexible as long as there are 3 people in the office. We are expected to be in if there is a 'business need' eg an away day or project. I don't think I want to work in an office full time again. Wfh suits me perfectly and my partner who works nights I wouldn't get to see them otherwise!

Officially we're meant to be either in the office or meeting clients three days a week, with the other two either at home or in the office depending on personal preference.

In reality some teams are pushing this more than others, and in general as long as you show willing and go in once or twice no-one is really bothered.

DH's company is completely flexible. His team chooses to all go in on the same day, once a week for team building reasons, but not pressure if it doesn't suit for any reason.

I wfh permanently in fact I was hired on a wfh contract. My employer sold off a lot of their buildings during the pandemic which meant they could recruit people all over the country.

Some people who already worked for them have chosen to spend time in the office though as they feel it gives them a better work life balance. But that’s it.

I love working from home, it is far more convenient for me esp as I work shifts so a commute would be a bit of a drag, and I wouldn’t want an office job again.

Having said that, I do find it somewhat surreal that I have done all my training, all my team meetings, every contact I’ve ever had with anyone remotely and that I’ve never met any of my work colleagues ever.

I do wonder what kind of effect this is going to have on people going forward when so much of our face to face contact happens at work, and working from home has completely changed that dynamic meaning that people just won’t see people any more. How is that going to affect the younger generation who already spend too much time in the virtual world?

Old employer - fully remote during covid, re opened the office and expected 2 days a week in office. Then 3. Got the impression that certain managers wanted their teams in office. While themselves continuing to wfh of course! The blatant unfairness of it all was hard to swallow. Plenty of people called their bluff and went in 1 day if that, again depends on specific managers and teams how that went.

New employer - Office closed permanently as a result of covid, it's now an income generating event space. There is a hot desk area with a handful of desks and staff can book part of the venue space for team meetings if wanted. The expectation is to attend monthly meetings in the office and wfh the rest of the time, though I'm free to go to the office if I want and some people who live locally actually do that. No expenses paid and I'm 100 miles away so 🤷‍♀️

Complete flexibility, staff drawn from a huge geographical area and the premises wouldn't be big enough for everyone to work there anyway. So I say complete flexibility, but if everyone suddenly relocated to commuting distance and wanted to be in every day I don't actually know what they'd do. Not happening though!

Full-time WFH here with the occasional meeting/team meeting in the office.

Was full-time office pre-pandemic and although WFH took me some time to get used to, I now don't miss the 45 min commute each way to the office and getting stuck in traffic and stressed. I actually hate that journey now when I do it occasionally yet used to do it 4 days a week.

WFH has enabled me to increase my hours to full time (4 long days a week), which I wouldn't have been able to do if in the office as I start work at 7.30am from home.

100% WFH except for a few weeks of travel per year. I ensured that was baked into my contract when I joined. I haven't done a 9-5 in an office since the late '00s and I don't intend to ever do so again.

My current employer shut its London office during Covid (I still ensured WFH was written into my contract in case they reopen it). But in any case all my direct colleagues are international anyway (all in different locations) - I haven't met most of my team IRL (and there have been zero issues with us bonding or getting to know each other).

Office based staff asked to do 3 days in the office. Otherwise we can change onto home based contracts. Majority of my team are based at home around the country so might not be a like for like situation.

I’m pushing myself to go in the office now and it’s great. I love having other adults to chat to. I love having a canteen. And I really love coming home and not having my laptop on.

Full time in the office with my employer

Our was encouraging peope to come back to the office but it didn't happen for all, so now a set number of days has been set out. Still doubt the stubborn few will take heed.

Employer has announced they want people to be in the office 50% of their time, however they haven't made it clear what happens where there are exceptions to that rule (e.g. people with disability, sickness or other issues). I don't mind that proposal from the employer when it relates to teams who are all physically situated together - so people come in and work with their colleagues - but I think it's mainly pointless for teams who are remote and situated all over the country . There's no benefit to sitting in the office, on a teams call all day, and having zero interaction with people.

DH’s work is having to discourage people from going in.

They got rid of so much space during covid that now more people want to be back for work/life balance and costs (their wfh set up is really big and lots of people are sick of having it) they are struggling with desks for them all.

WFH doesn't mean I don't see people. It means I have more time and energy to see my actual friends. I do agree that it's quite surreal to be several years into a role without having ever met some of your closest colleagues IRL.

Yes, people and colleagues are not synonymous.

minimum 2 days in office.

totally flexible but we have to notify the office a week in advance.

My contract is 100% remote working

Husband's job was 20% in the office, now insisting on 40%. For no real reason, 90% of the people he deals with day to day are in another country. I just wish they'd actually agree something contractually so we know where we stand. We're looking to move and location will be dependent on how many days he's expected in the office

Large company
Pressure for everyone to be in the office 40%
So far this is being ignored and people are doing whatever suits them best.
If it's enforced then a lot of people are likely to leave and company will struggle to replace them.

My company already offshores a lot of labour and is looking to expand this considerably. Sadly I think WFH has proved jobs can be done remotely and this is driving employers to find cheaper labour sources overseas.

Ours is officially flexible but also role dependent.

Customer facing teams have a mandated number of days in the office for team time. It's never more than 1 a week but can be as little as 1 a month.

Teams like mine that are geographically spread out anyway can work from home as much as they want because being in the office makes no difference. However we are required to travel to other sites for team meetings as necessary.

Our company has sold off massive amounts of real estate. I can't see permanent office space being a thing for the immediate future.

It can be though depending on your industry/hours.

My job is shifts, every week is different and I work anything from 7 AM to 10 PM including weekends. The capacity for seeing people outside of the work environment just isn’t there, and that is likely the same for a lot of people who work in certain sectors.

It’s a bit like being a SAHM, it’s almost impossible to forge a social life away from your kids, which to all intents and purposes at that time is your job.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking working from home. I personally wouldn’t want it any other way and I never did have a raging social life anyway.

But I do think that as much as we need to acknowledge that office working is detrimental to some, so home working can be as well. There’s no right or wrong answer.

And yes, I think that for certain industries, outsourcing will become more common. Even first direct, who used to pride themselves on having only UK based call centres now have an off-shore team since the pandemic, and the depreciation in customer service to match.

We can do 2 days WFH officially - I just do 1 day WFH atm, my manager has made it clear that he prefers people to be in. He's one of those "I come in every day, so everyone else should... "