To ask how often you’d go to the office if it wasn’t a requirement?

[Orangegreen]

I work in quite a small team where people are rarely in the office all at once unless of a training day or larger meeting which is infrequent.

I’ve fallen into a pattern of working from home a bit more lately. Nobody has said anything about it. Nowhere is it mandated or discussed how much we actually should. For instance, some people go in for the morning and go home at lunchtime to work from home. Nobody bats an eyelid.

I haven’t been in a while so I am considering going in early next week. It will be ironic that if I go, everyone else will have probably chosen to stay at home though.

Commuting in is quite expensive and I don’t have a good reason to work from there other than to be visible. Would you go, or WFH until requested to do otherwise? As I say nobody has said anything and it is usually our choice but I don’t know if you stand out by not going in as often as others.

I go in everyday, we have children who are at home on my working days, so it would be unfair to expect my husband to keep them quiet when I’m working. We have to go in for 75% of hours on a weekly average and everyone has to work a full day on site on Wednesdays. New starters are 100% office based for the first eight weeks/40 days

We require everyone to turn up once every 2 months for an all staff meeting. (Travel expenses paid)

Otherwise it's a choice and out of 50 staff about 10 regularly use the office (1 or 2 days per week)

I personally go in a few days a month.

Never.
Perhaps once a fortnight as I think I would stop getting dressed otherwise, but I do nothing in the office that I can't do at home in significantly more comfort and fewer annoyances.

I go in once every couple of weeks, usually for on site meetings and training but if nothing like that is happening I'll go in for a change of scenery and to see colleagues in person. I only live 20 mins drive away though so it's not too expensive, also sometimes I go in and leave in time to do school pick up and then log in at home for the rest of the day. I have no issue with people who never go in unless absolutely necessary, if I lived further away I would probably go in less often.
I don't really see the point of going in every day if I'm just going to be sitting at a desk on teams calls especially when the desk is less comfortable than the one I have at home

Civil servant, currently on 40% office attendance, that’s being upped to 60% from May.
if I could choose, I’d WFH 100%, I can do my job just as well at home as I can in the office, so I’ve I’ve just sat a successful interview for new a permanent WFH position, sad to leave my correct role, but home working suits my family life much more.

I think we'll see people in a bit more often where i work in CS when the people who refuse to come in more than once a month realise they've just got a met score for end of year. Seems to be a common trend across a lot of managers, their staff still do an ok job from home and meet their objectives but no evidence of exceeding any, and evidence against the behaviours objective is low as they can't score them as they never see them

I'd go in for specific reasons, mainly 1 to 1 chats with my manager, certain other things. One day a week would be enough to do that.

Maybe once every month or two. I work remotely completely (and our whole business of 80+ people is fully remote), since before covid. I absolutely loathe commuting after spending 10yrs of my life 3hrs+ on a daily commute (London); we moved up North and bought a house with 2 offices (well, DH uses what's officially the dining room and I use the smallest bedroom).
If they'd somehow ask me to go into the (non-existing) office twice a week I'd quit on the spot.

Also re not being able to score people - lol. We do performance reviews twice a year (used to be 3 times). We use slack extensively, as well as Google Meet. I manage a wider team of 20 people. Advertising agency; we work with some of the biggest brands (UK and worldwide). It is perfectly possible to a) do a decent job remotely, consistently; b) manage people remotely and c) figure out who is our isn't pulling their weight or underperforming.

It isn't. I rock up 2-3 times a week.

Once a month if at all. It feels so pointless because I spend money on petrol and waste time on travel when I can do the work at home. In fact I get a lot more done at home because I’m not chatting to colleagues so much when I’m at home and can focus while working in a nice quiet office in my house.

I'd go in when there was a reason to do so - face to face meeting or training; or a piece of work that I'd rather do in the office, or if for some reason there was disruption at home or a heatwave (we have aircon at work). It would probably average to 1.5 days a week over the whole year.

Good for you. I feel sorry for those in the civil service. It just seems like a box ticking exercise to keep the DM and Telegraph readership happy.

Every day, can't stand working from home

3 days is the sweet spot for me as it’s good fit motivation and team relationships. Though I am senior leader nowadays. Pre covid I did fulltime in an office including through years that my kids were younger and I’d not like to go back to that.

I went in to the office yesterday - first visit since August last year!

Could not agree more!

Never. I'm struggling to understand why all those painful gains we made in the wake of COVID are now being sat on by presenteeism addicts who can't live without their face to face meetings.

Not only can get way more done off site without being dragged into stupid schoolyard squabbles, I don't have to waste ten hours a week on the commute if I can WFH. That's the equivalent of a working week lost every month now.

How, exactly, is that whole setup more productive than WFH?????

I go in once or twice a month. I find it difficult to get much done in an office- too many distractions and too much noise. I make.sure these days don't involve sitting at a desk typing, and are used for things that are productive to do face to face (eg catch ups, appraisals, collaborative work, training)

The wider team have coordinated that we see each other at least once a month, and the team I manage generally have two days a month together.

I don't mind going in, but wouldn't want to go in any more than I do as it allows me to work more productively and also spend more time with family.

I'm quite happy working from home, the drive to/from the office is horrendously slow and long. We do 1 day a week but if the boss isn't in I don't go in. If I had to do more I'd have to look for another job.

I’d never go in if I didn’t have to. Unfortunately we’re supposed to go in one day a week and it’s frowned on if we don’t 😢 😢

I go in 2 days a week. I would probably only go once given the choice. I go on Wednesdays because of a particular meeting but it’s quite a frustrating meeting with long repetitive discussions about things we’ve gone over before. But even saying this I do know that going in is better for my well-being.

Not required where I am, I go in once a week so i can put shoes on an remember how to get out of the house with laptop, lunch handbag etc as one soon gets out of practice I find. Probably 35 min commute with the only things that slow me down being tractors and the sheep going to the auction which I have worked out is on the same day as I go in. There's always someone in the office, not usually in my team but i have been there a while so I know most people.

I was thinking today I’d prefer to go back to the office full time, I only live a short drive away and I prefer being in an office full of people, I get distracted at home, but it is nice to roll out of bed and log in so I’d need someone to mandate I have to go back in because I’m lazy!

3 to 4 days a week, which is my choice. Only required to go in once a week but I would not be able to do my work as well and I enjoy being around others.