How is almost everybody physically able to WFH?

[someladdersandsnakes]

This is something I just don't really get. I work at a company which doesn't pay that well in a city where housing is very expensive but still basically everybody has somewhere at home that they can work every day. I currently have an office at home because it's a 3 bed and I'm now expecting our second child, when the baby arrives it won't be physically possible anymore to do regular WFH because the only place will be the dining table in the front room, only really suitable for occasional use because there isn't enough space around it for a proper office chair or anything. Nobody else at my company seems to have a similar problem though. I thought appropriately sized housing was a major societal problem yet somehow since the pandemic everyone has a suitable permanent workspace in their house? Including families, young renters, people still living with their parents, etc.

Proper ergonomic setups are not the default in many offices either.

At home you can control your own setup, you have more time to exercise, you have more freedom to get up and stretch your legs. WFH enabled me to get really properly fit and healthy.

If you're surprised, factor in that lots of people found in person work to be very unhealthy and unsuitable too. Exhausting commutes, inadequate space in offices (ever heard of sick building syndrome?) working environments that weren't conducive to good mental or physical health generally.

They'd have the same issue in the office too, it's nothing to do with working at home.

Anyone tried to speak to a GP recently

Yes, got seen in 5 minutes? What's up? Are you sick?

I don't think GPs are working from home, are they?

I wonder, too.

Isn't there legislation (if that is the right word) which states employers have to ensure their employees have good WHF set ups if their WFH status is agreed contractually?

I WFH, but not for a UK company so I am not sure. My company would happily pay for whatever I need in my home office.

None that I am aware of.

I completely agree. Employers need to ensure that their staff have the necessary equipment for working from home; it should be a standard part of the contract or agreement.

Office chairs are usually provided, along with a budget for purchasing a desk and other essentials. Mine did, thankfully.

Since I only go into the office once a week, having a top-notch home setup is crucial for me. Spending 8-9 hours in the same place means it has to be comfortable and conducive to productivity.

I am also full time WFH. It had taken me years to get the right office chair when I was in the office. I asked if I could buy it when I left and they said I could keep it. I literally wheeled it out of the office and into my car when I left!

@gannett @Vod I WFH and am very much pro WFH but I think if people continue to take the piss in regards to childcare and some of the set ups I've read here (that I really question the quality of productive work) it's going to tar it for the rest of us. I really don't think people should be WFH for large portions of the week sat on a bed!

Public sector bodies won’t be able to afford to pay for their staff to have ergonomic home set ups, they are cut to the bone as it is.

As a fellow remote worker, honestly I'm fairly bemused by the idea that I might be 'tarred' because someone else works on their bed. I mean, why?

Poor management I imagine.

6 WFH workers.
3 take the piss.
Manager decides that all 6 must return to the office rather than address the issue with the 3 piss takers.

@CharlotteBog yes that's it basically, just look at the civil service, 60% across the board mandate (I appreciate it's more political and financially motivated than that, but any Daily Mail gammons looking at this thread would only have more fodder).

I’ve worked in an arms length public body as a full time homeworker for 20 years, and yes, they do prioritise this and give us an allowance to get set up properly. We do workstation assessments every year. After 10 years the allowance is available again so you can replace anything that breaks. If an Occ Health assessment shows you need something which falls outside the allowance then they will pay for it - like my colleague who has a spinal condition and has a chair which has been basically designed for her. Some public sector bodies recognise that having a fit and healthy workforce is important. Local authorities are much less able to flex their income to allow for this sort of thing, I will concede.

@MrsCrumPinnett that hasn't been my experience in the civil service post Covid. I haven't done a DSE since pre Covid. They used to be really hot on it. I assume I could ask for equipment (and an assessment) if needed, but it's certainly not done as standard in the 2 departments I've worked in post Covid, I suspect a lot of people will be scared to ask now in case they get told they must come into the office instead.

I've been working from home since at least around 2009 at least part or all of the week. For many years, I worked from the dining table. Then I had a desk in the lounge and a second one in my youngest dc's bedroom (for when I needed to work after dc were home, as I was often doing calls across time zones so not unusual to need to have a meeting in the early evening). I do now have an actual office with a door at home, but for many years, it was literally just working from whatever space I could find. I only need a laptop, paper diary and a notebook really for work, so it doesn't take up much space.

I work in higher education and have literally never been reimbursed for anything re: home office. If I asked for any kit, they'd just say come into the office (even though the bloody internet often doesn't work in the office, hence why I work from home!). We do have to do an ergonomics test every year to check our home set ups, but the advice is simply to find a book and shove it under my laptop. 😂One of the top, most expensive universities in the UK, but they definitely don't pay for anything unless they absolutely have to.

That said, the willingness to supply the right equipment and set ups is not limited to home working. My actual office in the office is pretty much in a broom cupboard and very uncomfortable. But no one is rushing to buy anyone a new desk or chair there either.

Working from bed might not offer the appropriate setup or convey a professional image, especially if you're customer-facing. That's not something we do in my department.

In my view, the same standards should apply whether you're in the office or working from home. For example, if you're too unwell to come into the office and want to work from home, then you're too unwell to work from home as well.

But presumably you know that remote jobs may not involve any physical image at all? So there's no reason to suppose that someone working from bed would have any kind of customer facing role or need to appear professional in their looks and setup, much less to assume this is relevant to all remote workers as a whole.

There's plenty of that around, no doubt. Some of whom have then got unpleasant surprises when it turned out that although they could stop people working from home, they couldn't stop those people leaving and nor could they replace them with others who'll work in person.

But lots of us are lucky enough to be well managed. My boss would be as bemused as I am at the idea that some other unrelated people working in bed has the slightest thing to do with me and her (she's also remote).

That's bullshit.

I'm disabled. I work from home a lot more than others due to struggling at the office. Shall I just not work then? Oh wait, I won't be allowed that as an option soon will I. What do you propose I do?

I work from the sofa and have the corner of a table I use for meetings. Few people have actual offices.

Good point.

And it's just plain fact that people with all kinds of conditions, both temporary and permanent, may be in a situation where the travel is the problem, rather than the work itself.

I WFH but am self-employed. Live on my own, so if I didn't get the work done, there's no second income to take up the slack. You get on with it and get the work done to ensure you've got income to pay the bills and mortgage.

I'm lucky though in that I have a decent sized 3 bed house to myself, so plenty of space for a dedicated home office.

I have worked from the dining table in the past, but it's much easier to switch from 'work' mode to 'relax' mode if you've got dedicated workspace where you can leave the room and shut the door when you're done.

Desk in a child’s bedroom.

If you're disabled, then that's an exceptional circumstance. Do what's suitable for you.

What are you referring to as being bullshit exactly?