To be filled with panic about WFH culture becoming a thing of the past?

[themusingsofaninsomniac]

prefacing with please read the context before blanket responses 😊

I am stressing away as I tend to do lately on the same topic. I have WFH since the pandemic, with the odd day or so in the office I am lucky to have full flexibility with.

I have Autism. I also have ADHD. The combo together is quite the clusterfuck to navigate as a newly diagnosed female. Essentially the pandemic shone a light on so much and I'm so grateful that it enabled me to seek diagnosis, as much as it's an ongoing struggle.

From working remotely since the beginning I've never felt more stable and successful in my career. I was able to secure a promotion into a field I'd never have had the confidence to try in a non-remote setting in the first place, and I've been fortunate to earn a fair bit more as a result.

I feel completely at ease in my own environment and with the ability to tailor things to what works well for me. Having that commute time back has helped my wellbeing, as has having my lunch breaks in my own home. I am in a routine that I feel helps my mental health and the challenges neurodiversity brings me massively.

My current employer is great but they are the type of company that won't be around forever unfortunately. And from a lot of media and on here etc, it's becoming obvious that things are shifting to either back in the office or a hybrid with a good half your days expected in the office.

This absolutely fills me with dread. I feel like it would turn my world upside down. I'm sure people who don't relate to this will think I'm being dramatic but change and environments outside of your own control are so so hard especially once you've had several years of the opposite.

I guess I'm just wondering where this leaves me. I still have a few friends who WFH but not in my industry. I'm not sure if there would be more flexibility for me, but I also worry about how that will reflect towards my colleagues and I don't want to get anyone's back up. I guess I'm catastrophising that if I need to find another job I'll never be able to maintain what is working so well for me.

Not sure what I'm seeking here to be honest - reassurance maybe or just help to navigate this and whether it's best to be upfront with new employers from the start, or whether that might reduce my chances of being hired. I've been told I don't present as autistic, or typical ADHD but I guess the mix of both means it's a lot more blended. Either way I have generally got good feedback from interviews so it would likely not be known unless I was transparent.

I'd especially like to hear from someone in a similar boat too, if there is anyone? Probably not at twenty to one on a weekday though I imagine 😅

Thanks to anyone who has read this to the end as I know that got wordy!

Isn't the obvious answer for companies who "want" workers in the office to pay more to cover the cost and time of commuting? After all, we've had "London Weighting" higher wages in London for many years to reflect the higher living costs, commuting time/costs etc.

Over time, there'd be a differential where WFH workers were paid less than office workers, just as we have today where London workers are paid more than Newcastle workers.

If you say so.

On the other hand, I've had one day off sick since I started in my current job nearly 4 years ago.

Had I needed to go into the office 5 days a week I would have had more days off.

So my employer has had a lot more productivity from me. I am pretty sure that applies to most people working from home, and it is also a ridiculous accusation to say that everyone who works from home is looking after kids when they are doing it. Funnily enough, some of us have older kids. And those with younger kids tend to have childcare, despite the odd silly post on MN. The odd silly poster is not the norm.

The reverse - people say that if you are not having to meet the time and cost burden of commuting, you should be paid less.

In fact in my view it is irrelevant, you should be paid for the job you do.* *However, there is an issue with salary differentials for those based in and around London and the equivalent employees whose home office is say Manchester. Not sure what the solution is. How is someone who eg lives in Birmingham and could have either office as their occasional home base to be paid. But that is not a reason to ban remote working.

Yes very similar here - I also get migraines from time to time, and if I have a very heavy period it is much better to be at home. But neither stops me from working for an entire day.

I think this poster is in denial that she herself may be disabled and wasn't granted the reasonable adjustments that she needed. Acknowledging that involves accepting that stigmatised label "disabled" and also recognising that you have spent your life being mistreated and facing that trauma. I remember when I got my autism diagnosis, there was a period of about a month where some past incident where I screwed up would cross my mind and I'd start crying because I'd blamed myself at the time when in fact it wasn't my fault. Recalling incidents from primary school would have me shouting at the walls "how could they not have seen it?" even though I know that autism was considered a boys-only condition at the time. That trauma is painful and I can understand why someone who has spent her life fearing that her migraines will cost her her job would double down on arguing that she wasn't disabled and how she was treated was fair sooner than consider that she was disabled and was treated unfairly.

autism was considered a boys-only condition at the time.

It also wasn't considered autism unless you were entirely non-verbal and an incredibly gifted artist...

I can only speak for myself. I have worked from home for 2.5 years.

I only had 1 sick day, when I had Covid and was really struggling.

Apart from that I forced myself to work, even if I felt really unwell.

When nursery calls to ask me to pick up the kids, I always use my holiday to look after them. According to HR I could also use sick days for that, but I prefer using holiday for that, so that it can't be used against me. :)

As a manger I would be really unhappy about people continuing to work when sick. It is a welfare issue.

I make it very clear to people if they are not well they should not be working.

And then I hit absence management trigger points, putting me on a pathway that ends with being dismissed.

What I have seen is organisations in London/south east with less competitive salaries for the sectors, where embracing full wfh has meant they've been able to recruit at those wages when they maybe couldn't have otherwise. So it's nothing as formal as having a policy of paying office workers more and remote workers less. But the ability to employ people not living in commuting distance of the south east may mean wages not being driven up as fast.

Poor service coming from those working from home needs to end now.

@Daphnis156 plenty of us aren't even customer facing.

Poor service is just as common from people working in a call centre or office.

But some people seem to care about it much less.

If I am really unwell I don't work, and one day in my current job I felt awful and stayed in bed.

But if I have a head cold I might not be up to a 90 minute commute, but I can easily sit at home and work.