To never want to work in an office 5 days ever again

[halloweensweets]

Pre-covid I worked in an office 5 days a week and never considered it could be any different, even though the jobs I've worked could all be done from home. I would commute 90 minutes to sit in an office and have more distractions than I did at home.

I hated the temperature politics in offices most of all - I am a very cold person and usually my (male) colleagues would want air con or windows open even if it was 5c outside.

I don't mind going in occasionally to have face to face interaction with colleagues, but on these days I am much less productive as my role requires me to do everything online.

But the thought of ever doing 5 days in the office, sitting for 8-9 hours with colleagues again is horrendous. I would rather go back to working in retail or another customer facing job, at least then there is justification to be actually there and present plus you can move around rather than sit and freeze.

I hear you I’m the same! Did it for years until covid as it was the norm.
Couldn’t go back to that maybe 1 or 2 days max ….

Are they asking you to come In 5 days a week?

Sod that

Ugh I agree. The office is always very uncomfortably cold. I hate it.

After 7 years doing 9-5:30 in a micro managed to the limit office, I went on mat leave and never looked back. I couldn't face that life again.

I was a stay at home parent for a while and qualified as a teaching assistant. Shorter days, something different every day, making a difference, being trusted to manage my workload without someone breathing down my neck.

Won't make me a millionaire but I'm way happier for it.

After decades of office work im starting to long to for the easy manual labour I did in my student days. If only my body wasn't so worn out I would love to stack shelves, work on assembly lines or clean floors. No interaction, no small talk, no eye contact. Hard work but blissfully solo.

Where I work we have to be in the office 3 days a week. 2 wfh one of them being a Friday. If this changed back to 5 days a week, I would leave. I will never ever go back to 5 days in an office. My job can be done remotely I don't see the need to come into the office if the job can be done at home. What's the point? As long as you're not taking the piss why shouldn't you work at home.

I agree. I'm easing myself back in with 1 day a week in the office at the moment but it feels pointless and not particularly enjoyable.

I'm hoping we never go back to fully in the office.

I've never worked full time in an office and never could. Even before Covid I knew it wasn't something I would ever cope with. I can't handle the politics.

I’m with you on not going in 5 days. For me it’s not temperature but all the wasted time and expense. My train was cancelled today so I’m going to be starting work close to two hours later than I would at home. Luckily I’m only required in 3 days a week and now I’m pregnant and only 2 months to due date I’m going to be working from home soon everyday up to maternity.

Same - I wfh exclusively since March 2020, and it's actually bliss. No tea rounds, no birthday collections, no Bake Off charity days, no "did you hear this ones shagging that one", no people coming to you with questions that aren't difficult or even within your remit, no watching the clock til 5pm.

I havent worked full time in a office for around 15 years, and there is not enough money you could pay me to go back to it. I am so much more productive at home, and more willing to be flexible with hours etc when not commuting.

I'm the same. I wasted 30 years commuting pointlessly. Just think of all the time & money wasted, the carbon emissions.

Now I work one day in the office, four from home. I get far more done. But more than that, I am much less stressed, I can do school run, am a better parent, we eat better, the house is cleaner because I'm not wasting 2hrs a day on needless travel.

And when I go into the office, I enjoy it, I am pleased to see my colleagues, and they me. All those minor irritations are forgotten. We work better together.

If my boss insisted I go back to full time office, I would resign. I'm not prepared to go through all that again. I hope my ds always has the choice.

I love working hybrid - best of both worlds.

I would hate to work in an office FT.

Absolutely agree. I'll find a new job rather than go back in 5 days a week. Which is unlikely as we only have seating for 40% of staff in the office and the wfh trend was established and growing before covid.

I'm used to controlling my environment now: lighting, temperature, noise levels, erganomics. I find the office noisy, and too bright, and office chairs just aren't good to sit in. I often leave with a tension headache. So I go in on Mondays and Fridays, which are at least quieter and try to make sure I move around as much as possible.

Yeah I wouldn’t, max I’d do it two days in office. That said I have moved further from the office since covid so that probably plays a part as I used to walk to work before.

Amen to that. After working in various offices for years I now WFH 5 days a week and it's bliss. Comfy clothes, fresh homemade lunches, and complete temperature control

Me neither!

I do 3 days a week in the office and 2 days WFH and that works great. Wouldn’t change it / ever move to a job that required 5 days in the office.

I can see it being a struggle to fill people facing roles in the future - teacher,nurse etc when you can be in your own comfortable space.

I was freelance wfh for one main client for many years (before covid) and I remember thinking WTF do the others all go into an office to sit at a computer in a big office all day when they could do exactly what I do - sit at a computer in my own home.

TBF though, this was me as a trained professional of many years. I can’t imagine how new young people cope trying to learn the job from home.

I never fancied wfh but now I will never do 9-5 in an office again.

I'm now remote with the odd in-person meeting. I don't even fancy hybrid.

My DH has wfh for more than a decade

Of course you aren't BU to pursue working conditions that suit you. I enjoy being in the office though and my current arrangement of 3 days in, 1 from home works for me.

Love the hybrid option! I'm actually in most days as it's an easy walk from home and very nice surroundings etc, but if I want to WFH I can. They expect you in 6 days a month which I think is very reasonable.

I USED to commute to London. Cost a fortune, stressful, not enough sleep... Never again.

I don't work at all now, other than on a casual basis, but I just don't get this love for wfh. I would hate it, and if I was asked to do it would have looked for another job. The best thing about working in my opinion is going into the office and interacting with my colleagues. My home is my sanctuary from the outside world, no way would I want it to become part of my work. You couldn't pay me enough money to want to do it, not even for one day a week.

I quite liked it in my 20s when I worked on magazines – 10am start, largely a party atmosphere, could express yourself through fashion knowing there was always someone more outrageously dressed, subsidised canteen, endless flow of cake and champagne and nonsense on the freebie table, the £1 beauty sales! Sometimes we even got a bit of work done, although “work” is debatable when memorable phrases bellowed across the open plan include “who else did nipples this season?” and “has anyone seen the vagina layout?” Happy was the day my drunk boss got caught in the lift doors; better yet the day she left her G-string on the loo floor.

Most of those magazines are gone now, and they’ve shuffled all the sub-editors into hubs, and the budget is gone – magazine paper is like tissue now. Wouldn’t work in an office five days if you paid me, and luckily my job pays me to WFH. Mind you I resent even that: you want me to spend my one wild and precious life attending Teams meetings that could have been emails, about nothing? Like, daily? Are you insane?