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!

The world of full time work will pass soon enough. This command and control of where and when and how you do your work regardless of productivity or results is the death rattle of Jurassic employers. AI will replace many of our roles and not just the menial tasks (see Elon Musk’s interview with Rishi for a start. He said AI could ‘become your best friend’ as it would know you like no one else. This suggests it would supplant roles that require emotional intelligence). The trick will be finding a way to fund ourselves and finding purpose. I am in a semi creative role so will have to start rethinking what I do in the next 5 - 10 years.

This has played out at my place and provides good leverage for the hybrid argument

Yeah, people have this idea that there's an inexhaustible supply of highly qualified, dirt cheap, perfectly English speaking talent in India. It's nearly always India they default to. But the reality is quite different, especially for jobs with niche skills. And people who are very employable, even in India, increasingly want to be paid properly.

Disappearing for hours, impossible to get hold of and missing meetings? Why is nobody tackling this issue with those people rather than blaming WFH. 🙄

Sounds like pretty incompetent managers rather than a WFH issue

Ask your workplace for an occ health assessment. Your workplace should ideally be able to make adjustments for your specific needs

Thanks to the PP who mention this hypocritical government. Bringing Civil Servants in 3 days then in the same breath demanding disabled benefit claimants get a WFH job??? Which is it??? Makes my blood boil.

I am the like the OP, but wangled a reasonable adjustment as I’m very good at my job and they would rather agree than have me leave.

I feel the direction of travel is clearly towards hybrid, but there are differences depending on industry.

Tech seems to be the biggest hold out for wfh.

Some fully wfh jobs will continue to exist, you need to hunt them out.

I'd say have a look at the third sector - there are lots of jobs in a range of functions that have full WFH options. Charities need the staff, but need to streamline expenditure as much as possible so WFH is welcomed in many organisations as a way of reducing costs on office premises. I work for a large national organisation with hundreds of employees and WFH is the norm for us.

I hear what you're saying - I'm adhd and controlling my environment means I can function for work. I can listen to podcasts and work piecemeal when in distracted mode, and work solidly without any noise when in hyperfocus mode. I'm not uncomfortable or worried about irritating colleagues while eating at my desk etc etc. I'm not struggling with the chaos of transition between different states and travelling with higher stress levels trying to stay organised enough to get out the door.

All of this makes me sound a bit pathetic, I know.

But I earn 52k and my colleagues love me, I am very good at what I do.

I specifically went for remote roles when I changed jobs from a hybrid role. I couldn't cope with it, and had to leave. There are loads of remote-first organisations out there, especially in tech (who still need plenty of non-tech staff), who know that this is the best way to get the top talent in their teams.

You'll never be without remote opportunities. The genie isn't going back in the bottle.

This is good advice.

The cost of premises is a big issue for some organisations already, and that number is likely to increase as time passes and fewer of them still have their pre-2020 leases. It's a very obvious area for cost cutting.

There's a lot of get the woke from home civil servants back in the office type messaging about, at the moment. It could easily enough morph into entitled public sector expecting the taxpayer to fund their face to face meetings that could've been done on zoom.

And also, I've worked from home since before the pandemic, then moved to a hybrid situation, and now back to fully remote. In my recent experience there are still about 50% or more of open roles advertising remote working.

woke from home civil servants

😂

This is a ‘reasonable accommodation’ and you could get a medical note to cover you, it wouldn’t have to go into detail.

Don’t worry about anyone else, I’m sure you would not care if you heard ‘your colleague Anna was working from home on medical grounds’ you would not even question it.

Dong meet trouble have way. Be prepared but stop worrying. It’s like sitting on a rocking chair, it’s keeping you busy but getting you nowhere.

I wish you all the best and well done btw!!!

I totally get where you are coming from OP. I’ve never been happier since I’ve been wfh. It means I get to work in a nice quiet room away from distractions and all the office politics and gossip. On the odd day I do go in I get far less done and end up spending money on things I don’t need. When I work in the office I lose an extra hour and spend money on fuel. The last time I went in I had to sit there and listen to the office gossip slagging off a member of the team who wasn’t there and moaning about all the people who wfh all the time. I think some people see going into the office as a badge of honor.

I feel for you OP. But like others have said enjoy what you have. Sounds like you’re doing well do for now don’t worry. There’s a trend back to the office but it’s not all jobs. So wait till it happens.

I’m love hybrid rather than 100 remote.
I also love the flexibility. The reason firms are getting people back to the office is because of the number of people that take the absolute piss. Loads of people work hard (including you OP) but a lot of people have spoilt hybrid working for the rest of us and have caused this shift. I would say about 25% of people work shorter hours, and do less work if I take the two offices I’ve worked in over this period. There’s certain people I know will not be around after 3.3@/4 wven though they don’t have a specific arrangement. The other 75% pick up the slack and now are having to contemplate full time in the office! Sorry for winge OP

It's not going to become a thing of the past. Companies like that they have more choice of candidates, that people will accept lower salaries and that they don't have to pay for as much office space.

All of the negative stuff is largely from people who are not allowed to wfh and those with city centre property portfolios. In terms of absenteeism and people 'taking the piss' they surely have to actually deliver the work and if not then they will end up under competency? People have always taken the piss (Monday sick days etc) and someone sat in an office doesn't mean they are working.

The only true negative for me is in terms of team training and that I don't think it's great for young people.

The genie's out of the bottle. I can't see WFH disappearing entirely, especially for senior staff who don't require supervision

Oh for heavens sake. Do not believe this rubbish. It is not a reasonable accommodation. It could be but that very much depends on the employers model, what others are needing to do and some account of the employees needs. As ever the rubbish trumped here is that reasonable adjustments always trump....the word reasonable often being forgotten. The reality is no ET is likely to sanction full or mostly WFH if it clashes with the business requirement.

My team have done hybrid for a while but we all fully accept the benefits of being together in the office and particularly learning from each other which isn't great on MS Teams. The challenge is that the employer wants now no more than one day a week at home but the accommodation ratio for my team is just over 1 desk for 2 employees so just doesn't work!! Currently I'm in the public sector (more recent) so I look on with amusement at reports of rows of desks in the civil service left empty...perhaps they could share elsewhere.

The reality is many sectors will never remove it, especially tec as this is the model younger workers want and they move to get it. My friends son has just moved last year onto a contract which gives him 4 weeks a years working from anywhere in the world so he spends time with relatives in Spain working during the day and enjoying evenings

Husband works in tech and can't recruit if he doesn't offer work from home! People expect it as part of their package.

To give a slightly different perspective to your situation.

My DH, who we both strongly suspect is ASD, was hybrid for a year before lockdown (3 days WFH, one in the office) then has been fully WFH since March 2023 in our very rural property.

Prior to us meeting he had been travelling working as a diving instructor, and living in a house share in London and working office based.

My understanding of ASD is that a lot of effort is required to learn social skills that are instinctive in NT people. As with any learnt skill though, practice makes perfect, and skills need to be used to be maintained.

I feel my DH is loosing these social skills now he has been WFH for so long, and it is impacting on our marriage and other aspects of DH life as he is becoming increasingly socially isolated.

OP, you say people say you don't present as autistic, which suggests that you have refined your learnt social skills. If you WFH for ever more then you may undo this hard work, and then what happens in work and life?

I think their needs to be balance, and hybrid seems to be a reasonable compromise for employers and employees in this situation.
However, I do appreciate that hybrid working may not be the solution for a NT employee who is physically disabled in a way that makes travel or being away from the home challenging).

I agree with this. The amount of people I know who’ve told me when they WFH they take the piss a bit, don’t make up hours and expect bosses not to notice. The good ones don’t do this. You see it with school pick-up and drop off but it’s not limited to parents. Don’t get me wrong I’ve been guilty sometimes of taking extra time off and then not making it up but generally I do, either shorter lunch freaks, log on later etc.

OP, you coped before with a work office based model so you may have to compromise with hybrid if you can’t get a fully WFH job. I’m similar to you re preferring WFH/hybrid models though I’m NT.

If you don’t already follow Flexa on LinkedIn, they are a company who promote and champion WFH/htbrid.

Its worth getting reasonable adjustments agreed and in place with your employer but also any future employer, autism is classed as a disability and therefore workplaces need to have reasonable adjustments. Obviously this doesn't work for certain industries/jobs and wfh such as a vet or nurse.
Maybe even having it agreed with your work now will put you more at ease and it's then a document you can take with you?

I have one in place due to long covid and fatigue. Being in the office actually makes me far worse I do like going in so try for a few hours a week. From experience I would say how easy or hard it is depends on the line manager. My old one I had to go over their heads to HR and senior bosses as they saw it as not being fair and I should be doing or working towards the 3 days a week like others.....which ironically was then leading to me doing less work as I was ill after attendance.

Join a union as well mine were amazing support when needed.

Loads of people managed to go missing for hours pre-WFH imo. I've worked in plenty of places where some people managed to use work as an extension to their social life, wandering round the building chatting to all and sundry for hours on end.

This was especially true when I worked somewhere that had 2 buildings, approx a 10 minute walk apart. One colleague would return from a long trip to the other building having had a haircut and changed his library books.

From what I can see, most companies don’t care if their offices in India are chaotic and don’t know what they’re doing. DP works for a huge successful retail company who have outsourced a lot of work to India. It saves the company a fortune, and the managers don’t see any of the down sides. It’s the frontline staff who bear the brunt of ineffective working from the India offices, having to pick up the slack and take over when things go wrong. The employees in India aren’t stupid, but their training consists of a couple of weeks in the UK when they start, and that’s it. And often there’s a significant language barrier.

My view on WFH is as others have said - it’s fine for experienced people who don’t take the piss, but for new starters or professional slackers, it’s a disaster.

But this can only happen with poor management and it's only a problem if the work isn't getting done. Potentially the job isn't full time if someone is "missing for hours" but the work gets done. If the work isn't getting done and the person isn't putting in their contractual hours then who is managing this person?