Why does it seem most are against WFH?

[user6776]

Just read an article that has said civil servants are now to work from the office at least 3 days a week. I'm not a civil servant, but my company adopts the same approach. WFH is generally frowned upon and they are all about being in the office as much as possible.

I prefer WFH. Less time commuting, more productive as no office distractions, can get stuff done on my lunch hour. It's a no brainer for me. I agree going in the office periodically to meet with the team and for important meetings but other than that I don't benefit much

What does everybody else think?

I also worry about WFH being forced on staff who don't feel comfortable objecting.

I had to support one colleague to be allowed access to a full time desk space when I realised she was WFH on her laptop sat on the stairs. Overcrowded house and a child with additional needs at home - her partner was at home to care for him, but he wouldn't understand why mummy was ignoring him or why he had to be quiet. She was embarrassed to bring it up.
We've had other young staff who if WFH are sat on their bed in a houseshare, or can't afford to put the heating on, that's not healthy either.

It needs to be a mix, it there's no one size fits all and to say it's jealousy or over zealous managers is missing the point.

Civil servant and since 2022 we’ve had to go in x3 per week. Was x 5 before lockdown and then totally WFH until 2022. I like the hybrid system, best of both worlds. My preference would be to work from home x 3 or have the flexibility to work from home more than x 2 days if the type of work I am undertaking that week, is better suited to quiet concentration at home.

I personally loathe working from home. Fortunately I am in a part of the Civil Service where its not really an option. On the rare occasions when I do work from home, I get really frustrated that I've constantly got to call or email people, when normally I can just wander around and find them, and sort out a couple of other problems on the way.

Lots of our staff thought they were more productive at hone
As employers we did not agree
So back to the office it was
A couple of people left,I could have told you in advance who they were ,no loss
It is essential for our business post covid that we have as strong a performance as possible,otherwise everyone will be out of a job ,including me.

Wfh is :

Better for women (as let's face it, childcare falls to them mostly) as it offers more flexibility for childcare

Better for the environment

Staff are more productive in their home office

Less money used on renting office space

Work don't pay for WiFi/loo roll/coffee if staff are WFH

Saves money on public transport/ petrol

Supports local businesses more

Better work life balance.

Wfh is the way forward.

My workplace is remote first. I have colleagues all over the world, and working remote doesn't impact my productivity or career progression negatively.

Remote job opportunities benefit women, carers, and people with disabilities. This is a good thing.

Wrong place!

I guess it also depends on the company and the type of work being done. For me, it would be noticeable straight away if I WFH and did nothing. I wouldn't be able to get away with it. I have a job where we have very strict deadlines that have to be met

The managers must read MN because there are always threads about looking after DCs and WFH or WFH in a spa etc.

I think many people work well from home but a few take the piss and then ruin it for everyone else.

Dh works for the local council. Being unitary, colleagues are based across the county so he goes into the office to meet the arbitrary requirement then sits on teams calls with colleagues in different offices…. he might as well be at home. Total waste of petrol and time commuting.

not all jobs are like that but many are output based so managers can easily manage productivity. Traditionalists hate change and want bums on seats in the office so they can have their safety blanket of working in the way they always have.

in my office we are adults who decide where we work and so long at work is done and relationships working well, it’s all good.

@Night409 Agreed. There are a couple of people on my team who have small children at home with them and can often be heard in the background of Teams call etc. That I don't agree with, and those people taking the piss should have to go into the office

I prefer to work in the office.
I don’t have the space to work from home really so sit at my sofa with the laptop on a little table.

working from home means I use more electricity and more of my tea bags!
I can’t find the motivation to work as well as I do in the office.
I prefer the collaborative environment when in the office- and the social aspect too. Have a good “social life” at work then you’re more likely to get answers to questions rather than constantly sending emails.

I think for those that have a dedicated “office space” at home, WFH works well.

I work from home 5 days a week.

I work in sales and always hit my targets, so I don't think my managers are concerned.

We'll never been allowed to work from home again except for 1 day per month (given grudgingly). This is because during lockdown, when we did work from home, a lot of people took the piss; not answering their phone, not joining Teams meetings or having their cameras off, not meeting deadlines, building home offices during working hours (spotted by a neighbour), having children at home, going for hour-long runs, running their own business, etc. etc..

The MD took the decision to ban it for everyone instead of disciplining the few offenders.

I worked for a communications company and we did WFH through the pandemic, productivity soared for most, some had teething issues. Then out of the blue they pushed for hybrid, made it compulsory.

When you went into the office it might not always be on the same day as others from your team so made no sense it being compulsory, and morale went down from all the unnecessary cost in travel, childcare and time.

I swapped to a competitor and we WFH full time and it's amazing! We've got more mums working, we've got more people with disabilities, there's more support for new families, no background hum drum or office distractions, and there's no office feeders bringing in home baked goods every week and insisting you eat them while they stay skinny as a twig not having a nibble (looking at you Donna!)

Don't think I could go back to working an in office job unless it was something that I found personally rewarding because I feel like I've just got so much of my life back.

60% sounds like a reasonable balance to be honest. The article I read earlier also said staff would be reminded that they could apply for flexible working as is their legal right should there be reasons working fully remote is needed which you'd hope departments would be sensible with and allow when needed.

I don't think most people dislike it, I think there's a lot of bitterness and assumptions made about it online, but not sure it's something many people chat about in real life or feel particularly passionate about? I do think going into the office for a portion of the week is good, undoubtedly there are benefits even if people never want to acknowledge it; but the flip side is there needs to be enough desks and common sense applied ie not forcing someone to travel 2 hours each way to sit in an office none of their team are based in and sit on Teams.

I've been doing 3 days in office and 2 at home for a while, it's great as get the best of both worlds. I save my 'head down crack on' work that requires a lot of concentration for home, or if there are long remote meetings etc- and then in person meetings, training, business as usual work for the office.

I would also like to add that I still send my kids to nursery, but not having the commute makes looking after my children and picking them up so much easier. If I worked in the office I would spend more time away from my children.

I think the forced shift to wfh and the resulting mixed economy that has emerged afterwards has really exposed the abysmal management skills that the UK is notorious for.

A lot of the issues people raise - kids in the background, people not turning up to meetings and generally taking the piss - aren't inevitable, they're the result of pisspoor management that was probably quite bad before. In addition organisations have expected to work in more or less the same way but replace offices with computer screens, which is also terrible from a management perspective. But too many companies don't have the skills or the determination to really find ways to balance out the pros and cons.

I have a teams totalling about 40 that are based in several locations across the country. Hybrid has been great for being better able to integrate those teams and their work; there are definite downsides that we need to manage actively. We have core office days each week for each individual team and whole team "scaffolding" days a couple of times a month where everyone is in the office at once and we block off routine meetings so we can spend the time face to face, particularly focusing on staff support and development.

We have clear rules and expectations, and any piss-taking isn't tolerated. It's work to make it work. You can't just switch from one mode of working to another and expect it to be straightforward, or expect not to have to be inconvenienced sometimes.

I think it works well for people who are well established in their job, have a very good social life outside of work or for people who have severe social anxiety and it may be the only way they can possibly work.

For me, especially in my 20s (actually from 16), work was my social life. I made amazing friends, went out for lunch or drinks after work and found a few boyfriends along the way! It was also very, very good for my social anxiety and my general development into a more confident person.

From my own experience of working through covid, leading staff meetings over zoom was a million miles away from doing them in person. It felt like I was giving a lecture (with the same couple of people popping up to respond) rather than the interactive, collaborative staff meetings when we physically got together. Management meeting where we all sit round a table also just felt so much more constructive than trying to do it over zoom.

From my husband's experience, he started a new job, and a new role for him, while everyone was wfh due to Covid and he really struggled not being in an office with other experienced members of staff to help train him, either officially or just to go to for advice. He also never got to know his colleagues in any way like he had in previous office jobs and never really felt any connection to the job or the team.

productivity soared for most

Always curious as to what the fuck people were doing previously in offices that wfh was substantially more productive. Sure people perhaps chat more in an office (which also saves time as can ask someone rather than chasing via email or a call they don't answer), sometimes you'd grab a coffee with someone or whatever- but I can't be the only one that got plenty of work done, it's very strange.

I run my own business from home, DH hybrid works.

For DH... it is a better home life balance. But because we have no separate office space, he's in the living room. I have to tip toe around really. The kids can't watch TV after school. I can't run the hoover around...

With a dedicated office it would be brill.

He will be back in the office full time from early next year. I'm both dreading it and looking forward to it. (He weekly commutes so he will be away Monday morning to Friday evening instead of Monday evening to Thursday evening)

My work lets us WFH 3 days a week. I prefer being in the office actually but i WFH because it's nice to be around for teen DC when he gets home from school. My team leader goes into the office every day but doesn't expect us to.

There's not enough room for us all to be in every day anyway. There are thousands of employees so it has to be done on a rotational basis.

I think employees should be given the option.

I've worked from home for 7 years. My base is 1 mile from where I live. However, there is no point whatsoever in me going there. No one I work with works there, they work 200 miles away! When I go to the office with the staff I actually work with, it costs my employer a minimum of £180 in train fees.

The difficulty for us is that it causes resentment with those that can't work from home, and there's push back from those staff. Fortunately, my employer gets that not everyone needs to be in the office. Those that don't have to be just don't.

The work/life balance is much better. I generally also work longer hours as I'm not rushing at the door at 5pm.

Everyone says that they are more productive whilst WFH.
The truth is that so many people take the piss when wfh.

They don't want to give up the privilege and will fight, tooth and nail , to be able to keep working at home, in their PJs while walking the dog, going out for long lunches , going for a quick run and doing the ubiquitous "life admin," and also ... caring for their pre-school children.

I'll be slated for this but I know so, so many folk who do exactly what I've said.

Employers have cottoned on and so contracts are now starting to reflect a more in -person approach .

I'll not forget various stories , both on here and here and in the media, about people , in the Home Counties, who were given the opportunity to wfh and then started to move out to the Lake District, Yorkshire, Wales etc... only to be 'appalled' at being asked to return to the office for at least one day a week.

I started a job 100% working from home in COVID, to be honest I never really got into the job and wasn't very productive.

I switched jobs and forced myself to go into the office everyday to make sure I fitted in, and was more confident with what I was doing.

Some people are more productive WFH, but in my opinion most aren't.