Working from home am I the winner or the company?

[justasking111]

First lockdown everyone worked from home company sold Head office in the centre of London, this year they've sold massive office in Brighton which will be millionaires apartments. Meanwhile everyone beavers away at home. We did get laptops but no pay rises. Little chance of promotion. Now heating Etc increased staff bought own desks rearranged their homes.

Is this unusual, unreasonable or should we be grateful we no longer have to commute despite the fact is that there have been no pay rises since 2019

AIBU I should be grateful for a job
YANBU the only loser is you

Don't think the lack of pay rise is due to working from home. My company have given pay rises and we all wfh. Probably got whatsherface Liz Truss to thank for your dilemma

Not sure it is as straightforward as that. How much was your commuting cost? How much easier is your home life for having your commute time back? How much more convenient is it to pop to your fridge to grab something to eat / pop a load of washing on etc? These are all benefits

It’s not as clear cut as that I don’t think, and will depend on so many different things, what was the commute, how much do you value the convenience of wfh etc.

Is the little chance of promotion issue related to home working, or just a general issue?

Some companies (including mine) provide a WFH allowance which covers things like extra heating, electricity etc.

No WFH allowance, line manager, gone through three, heads of departments, directors changed through retirement etc. There's no cohesion, no-one knows anyone else. Training up juniors remotely isn't satisfactory for them so they move on. Had to make teams WFH redundant. Was asked to do that in person.

You don't seem to say anything about productivity when WFH.
It seems it is so popular as you don't commute or pay fares, and for young people because they can start late and lounge about half dressed.
Can't see how it suits management, and getting staff to attend the workplace appears to be difficult as they like WFH. So they are gaining, not the employer.

It’s two separate issues really; lack of bonus is not good, working from home being good or not really depends on personal preference and how much it was costing to commute. Overall it doesn’t sound a good company though

Wfh is a red herring, if you aren’t happy with your job look elsewhere. Plenty of roles are still office based or at least have the option if that’s what you want.

Surely this isn't a simple yes or no answer question.
Every body will have their own opinion depending on their own mentality, work ethic, lifestyle and job.

So it sounds like the issue is that you don't like your job anymore. It's up to you to do something about that, not your employer.

Depends on perspective, doesn't it? I WFH and I certainly think we are both the winners. I'm winning because I gain two hours out of my day that I would have spent commuting where I can be home, because I don't need wraparound care for my children due to above, because I can do chores during breaks at work and not need to spend time in evenings or at weekends with my kids doing housework; my work wins because I am more amenable to working over my hours sometimes because I don't have to factor in the journey home, because I'm less likely to take sick days when I don't have to leave the house and be around other people when I'm a bit unwell, because staff morale is high and people work hard at home in my company.

But a poorly run company is poorly run regardless of WFH or not.

Oh and also my work wins because they have been able to attract some very experienced members of staff who wouldn't have joined us if they had to attend the office, due to geographical location. We have staff up and down the country, and the talent pool WFH has allowed us to fish from is now a lot more competitive because we aren't bound by location or someone having to move to near our offices.

I think it sounds like your organisation (I was going to say workplace.. but that no longer means the same when the place of work is home!) .. is, from your perspective, disfunctional.

You can see that the organisation has made vast profits from the sale of property and that these profits have not been shared with the employees either as a bonus or pay increases.

You can also see the downsides of working from different locations, onboarding, training and staff retention as well as changes above you which have left you feeling unsupported.

Unless you are in a position to make changes, I would be looking around to leave and find a work culture that suits you better.

But... don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!!

How is your worklife balance? Do you enjoy working from home? Do you enjoy your work? Do you get adequately paid for the work that you do?

I find that my personal life is more positive when working from home. I can largely plan my day however I want, pop to the gym at lunch time, sit in the garden, have a nap etc. No commuting cost is a massive pro. But I'm also paying electricity, heating in winter, go through much more tea, coffee and snacks at home.

Hybrid is the way forward in my opinion.

I'm part-time 2 days a week, and I save a total of 5 hours in travelling time every week (20 hours a month), so this more than makes up for any heating/electricity costs on the basis that time is money.

I did have to buy a desk, but it was only £30 on Ebay and it's a really high quality type.

I wouldn't want to be office based ever again, but also I'm older (50s), so I've done all of that throughout the years, and I'm fine working on my own.