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 do hybrid and it works really well for my team and I.

I think you'd need to be organised and well planned to make it effective at trainee level - i think there's a year or two at the start of most office based career paths where you need to be in with other more experienced staff 4 days a week.

It's not just about you though is it? There's much more to it than just how the individual works

Staff are more productive in their home office

Well there's the rub of it, the presumption that everyone working from home is doing so from a home office with a proper work area and appropriate equipment. Rather than doing so from the kitchen table, in the living room, sat on the stairs or perched on the end of their bed.

I'm in the office full-time, it is what it is, but the idea that everyone is much more efficient WFH is absurd. (And that's before you get into the piss takers)

It is slightly ridiculous for the civil service to bring this in as if everyone actually did it, there wouldn’t be enough real estate to cope. They’re relying (I think) on enough people having reasonable adjustments to wfh more, or duties that mean they work places other than home or the office a lot (eg site visits, at court etc) to make it work. And of course some will fly slightly under the radar doing 40/50% because no one is counting precisely.

A certain amount of office working is important to support new joiners and have a team spirit, I do agree. People need to spend some physical time together. But I think around 20-40% office working achieves this in most cases - it doesn’t need to be 60%. Setting it at over 50% smacks of mean spiritedness to me, and trying to appease the daily mail. Plus retired voters who “worked 9-5 all my life” - yes and only 9-5, with a stay at home partner doing all the stuff most of us now fit around the working day.

The whole point is they are being paid to work from 9-5 and clean are not doing so. If you work part time you can do as you please in your own time but when you are being paid to work for your employer you shouldn't be cleaning or using your home gym.

I don't mind going into an office when there's a reason and happily attend meetings or events. About every 2 months I do an overnight, have done full weeks in London and do appreciate the value of face to face but my team is very dispersed and no one is near me so I wouldn't see them anyway.

Personally being in 3 days a week would be pointless, my local office is generally a base for field based people so when I'm in I'm sat alone all day on teams calls with the odd 'hello' as someone pops up to pick something up. Not really any different to being at home where colleagues and customers just call me anyway.

I started the job on the basis that it'd be mostly wfh, it works for me and they're paying for my experience and skills that are unaffected by where I am sat. I really think that rather than a blanket mandate employees should be trusted to do what's right for them, with manager discretion to ask some to be in the office when there is a need.

Tbh WFH has been a career opener! I found it easier to get hold of influential people, build relationships, and deliver. I am very productive.

I do go into the office. This is only for tedious meetings for those who like tedious meetings. These days are just me drinking coffee and chatting.

I think it's younger people. They just can't learn actual skills remotely. I do notice they struggle.

I would hate to wfh, and if I was in a job which required it I would be looking for another one. I never really enjoyed working anyway, the only thing that ever made it worthwhile was interacting with other staff, and customers.

It's not common where I live anyway.

I think like anything, whether WFH works depends on many factors. The type of job you do. Your motivation/ how easily distracted you are. Your age. Your living arrangements.
But really the main one is the type of job you do and if you truly are able to focus while at home.
If you have a job which involves talking to customers, especially about important things, you need to be focused on them. Someone earlier said sometimes their child might be making noise in the background of her husbands calls but she's looking after the child not him so it's fine. It might be fine in some situations. But not in others. If for example I'm trying to discuss with a bank manager about why I can't pay my mortgage and I'm terrified I'll lose my house I don't want to hear a child screaming in the background because it's distracting for both me and the person I'm talking to. I don't know if the person im talking to is worrying about the child and not really listening to me. But if I was just ringing a colleague quickly to check if they sent an email I don't really care if there's a child screaming.
I work in a job that cannot be done from home. Earlier this year I got to work and my computer was buggered. I rang IT. The guy I spoke to talked me through what to do, but nothing worked. He then said he couldn't help me further because he needed access to something or other and because he was working from home he couldn't do it and he would get someone to get back to me the next day. I mean how does that work?? He's in the IT department yet can't fully fix IT problems from home, so why is he working from home? So because he couldn't fix my problem, I couldn't work either and as a result needed to cancel lots of patients.
I couldn't have cared less that he was working from home. But the fact he said he couldn't fix my issue BECAUSE he was at home to me is ridiculous. Surely if you can't do your job fully from home then you don't work from home??

I don't think I've ever had this from a service company - can you share what sort of companies these are?

I agree, and going by the large number of MNers who can't seem to cope with normal social interaction anyway wfh is only going to make the problem worse. My flat is my sanctuary from the outside world, no way would I want it to be my workplace as well. Imagine a world where people rarely stepped out of their own home - it makes me shudder.

I think I'm one of the few who actually like going in to work. Yes WFH is great in that there is less commuting etc, but I find it harder to concentrate when I can see the dishwasher needs loading, or when the doorbell rings, or my mum wants to drop in for a coffee 🤦‍♀️ I do have my own office at work so I guess that helps drive down the distractions for me, but I definitely feel more productive in the office. I also hate the feeling of 'living at work' and find it hard to switch off - if all work stays at the office I know I can't be doing any of it at the weekend. Each to their own....

I’m guessing many employers don’t agree with their employees’ self-assessment of being more productive at home.

I agree it's bollocks. You might think you're more productive at home but is that perception or reality.

I'm sick to death of wfh. The IT system had a massive fuck up last week. The admin staff were in the server room talking to IT staff trying to explain what they were looking at. IT staff were all sat at home. What's the point of wfh if no one us there in a crisis?

Admin staff get annoyed as their job can't all be done at home. They aren't paid as much as the lawyers who can and do take the piss with wfh and ignore the days they're meant to come in. So low paid admin staff have to pay fares to come in whilst high paid staff don't.

There are just too many issues with it.

I love the office for the office gossip , whos' having x affairs etc
In consideration of the prevailing work, intelligence projects , many tasks can be executed remotely. Consequently, I am eg traveling in Germany for a specific duration, followed by a stay in London for an equivalent period, and a brief stopover in Alaska.

Why did they not take photos for the i.t team to analyze ?

How much quicker would it have been for the IT team to be there and look at it themselves?! As it was we didn't get any work done for the rest of the day and it wasn't fixed until IT actually came in the next morning and were physically there.

It's just ludicrous why are people so against being at the premises they employed at.

Team supervisors and managers need people in front of them to lead. Clinging onto their jobs ….

I snorted when I read in a post up thread that companies want people in because employees are working too long and aren’t taking required breaks.

I'm self employed and work with a wide range of public sector teams. Because they are the customer, I don't think they feel the need to hide their work schedule from me. The new norm is no meetings before 9.30 due to school run, none after 3 for the same reason. This is both men and women. People go away on holiday and do calls from their holiday home. Phone calls from their car while driving kids around. Kids in the background on calls.
I get that wfh makes the employee's life easier, but in some companies/organisations the impact on productivity must be huge.
I can't comment on the private sector because I don't see much of it.

on reflection on my comment sometimes when its the equipment itself then i can see your view

It's so this. I don't need supervision! My manager had no complaints. However, crap managers want this. Or they don't add value.

I used to work mostly from home, but then I noticed that there was a gradual slide in my productivity. I'd put a wash on, or turn the camera/mic off during a meeting and fold the laundry or do the washing up. It blurred the lines too much for me I think and over the last couple of months I have started going back into the office more regularly so that I get a clean break between work and home.

anyone else have certain colleagues who are green on teams but never answer an incoming call - always call you back?? They can’t always be at the loo!

Haha yes, it couldn't be more obvious could it! In my previous team it was hard getting any info from anyone to be honest, whereas in the office it's harder for them to weasel out of answering a simple question about work they should have done. I'm not a manager checking on staff either, but for colleagues you work alongside on stuff it's so irritating.

I think the issue is the lack of flexibility by some rather than how long they spend in the office. The IT example for one, we have someone always 'on call' to come in within office hours if needed (with a reasonable lead time ie not expected to teleport) if the team can't have someone in the office everyday.

Managers have their own actual work to do alongside managing though. There still needs to be levels of management with different levels of responsibility etc- not sure of this argument about them wanting to justify their existence.

The reason that people are 'more productive' when working from home is not just because they're not engaging in chit chat but also because they don't get bothered by other colleagues questions and queries...

Also working fully from home is very different to a well integrated hybrid set up where people will have the opportunity to have higher productivity part of the week and benefit from team collaboration the other part.
Where I work, the people who come in twice a week are far better integrated with the team than those who only show up a few times a year.
Also it's silly to generalise that WFH is better than in office, even if WFH works well for you there are so many scenarios where it is not going to work well, I live in a small rented flat and WFH would mean working in my tiny kitchen or on the sofa, it's definitely preferable to sit at my own spacious desk in the office.

I personally enjoy the office socialising, despite being introverted, neurodivergent and having sensory issues because I get to have interesting discussions with colleagues and great gossip, making my very boring job fun and exciting.

I would presume the reason many people are "chained to a desk" (why is working in an office setting always described as that, I've never heard of anyone being "chained" to anything else, and plenty of other people work eight hour days, five days a week?) 9-5, Monday to Friday, is so that their clients know when they are available. What a great world it would be if no-one outside your home knew when you were actually available to be contacted.

My ex workplace had a short spell with the admin staff all wfh for a month or so. Every time I went into town I saw at least one of them. Who was taking the phone calls while they were out and about? - oh yes, that would be the staff who actually were at home, working.