To wonder how we ever did 5 days a week in an office?

[OptimismvsRealism]

I work hard and love my job (legal). Spent a day in the office today for the first time in months and honestly feel sick. The people flu! I couldn't go back. All those blokes in the City saying WFH was an "aberration" are deluded.

I get that some people love it and there's enough diversity in this world for everyone to find their niche but Oh My God am I glad I don't have to do the daily traipse any more.

To answer the OP’s original question of ‘how did we all used to manage 5 days per week in the office’ well god knows. With hindsight it was brutal (and we had to look ‘corporate’, too) and I’m so grateful things have changed.

And also, a lot of people didn't manage. They got pushed out, or just decided it wasn't worth it.

Except the OP pretty much told everyone who worked out of home to retrain, and/or get a different job/ career so they too could WFH. With very much the undertone that those who didn't were, quite frankly, a bit stupid.

Not sure if you're a troll or not but assuming not... People are different. Different people like different things. Obviously people who love their jobs and being out in the world should not retrain. Being in an office sucks for me and for a lot of people.

She really didn’t say that though. People are saying they have no choice but to go into work as they work in shops, factories or some other such place where the work can’t be done at home.

if someone is desperately unhappy in their job for whatever reason, there are other options. No, it doesn’t get handed to you on a plate, but the choices are there.
i worked in a shop, hated the hours, weekend work, bank holidays, Christmas etc, so I applied for every single office job going, got turned down for sooooo many and finally got one - it was through a temp agency and from there I worked bloody hard and now I’m in a stable full time office job where I can wfh.

More that work has moved away from where people live, i.e. the closure of regional branches and concentration into London, SE and a few other large cities.

You do have a choice! Assert it. Your employer doesn't own you.

Switch jobs!!! There are loads of options out there. I will never go back.

You don't work in communist Russia. You could choose to do another job!

Just some of the comments the OP made. These were in response to those saying their job could not be done from home.

But, she's right though! Those people could do that if they wanted! She has never, not once, said that ALL jobs can be done from home. Just that if you can't work from home and that makes you unhappy, then you have the option to change jobs.
Same as if my employer decided to shut the office and make us all work from home, then I would leave and find a different job where I would be in an office.

Exactly this.

My employer switched to wanting me back in the office most days, and I although I could almost certainly have argued it on disability grounds I just chose to move to a new job which enables me to be almost fully remote

I love wfh and would massively struggle back in an office. I accept though it works because I’m older. Have family that still need organising and taxi driving if not actual childcare. We live very rural with limited public transport so I need to help them get places. And professionally I am senior. I can work effectively autonomously. A younger less senior person couldn’t do my job remotely. They need mentoring and supervision and professional development. I also don’t need water cooler chat. A younger person might. I see the benefits but downsides too. I don’t need to help mentor anyone as I have no team. I work with a few all well established people all in different roles.

FFS! We have a whole generation of architects, engineers, bioscientists, designers, sales people, PR hopefuls, HR wannabees, unable to learn from more senior people who can’t get their arses into the office to share their knowledge and experience.

People who say that WFH works for them are often only thinking of their own experience. They’re pulling up the ladder that got them to where they are now. ‘I get more done at home” often means ‘I tick off my task list’ with no recognition that their seniority carries a responsibility to grown and develop the less experienced members of the team.

Our economy is built on learning and collaboration. Covid has resulted in a very selfish older generation who care only about themselves. Wake up!

It's really old-fashioned and blinkered to insist that being in an office is necessary to learn your trade. It simply isn't. For me, remote learning would have been a lot better. I know not everyone is like me. But plenty of people are. Why should we be pushed out?

Ask young architects who aren’t satisfying requirements to qualify after 6 years of education whether it’s working for them. How do sales people learn their trade? It’s from listening in to ace sales people. How do structural engineers solve issues -by collaborating with colleagues around a problem.

Remote learning doesn’t give the full picture. It’s a shit way to learn to be honest. But if it suits you to sit in your trackies and log on to a teams call between walking the dog and putting a washing on then just forget how much your peers helped you gain that privilege. You owe the next generation your knowledge. Pretty poor to not acknowledge that.

I have quite a bit of experience of professional level teaching. It's disappointing that there's still so much ignorance about different learning needs and styles.

I've found it much easier to get promoted while WFH too.

Particularly so when people take it on themselves to insist that they can speak for a whole generation in this respect. That they're usually not even part of.

I’m ‘older’ and I agree. I spent a lot of time in shared and / or less than optimal housing during my early career and cannot imagine what I would have done or how I’d have coped had the pandemic happened back then.

Luckily when it did happen (I haven’t gone back FT even now) I already had my own workroom at home.

Speak for yourself - I go into the office most days - I’ve had quite enough of WFH thank you….

Covid has resulted in a very selfish older generation who care only about themselves. Wake up!

👏👏👏 hear hear

And I say that as part of the older generation. The first year after Covid we had four grads start with us, one reported into me and I made the effort to be full time office based for the first few weeks of them joining to get them settled. The other three ended up unofficially looking to me as their manager as each of their managers couldn’t be bothered coming in. One didn’t even meet his in person for 6 weeks.

Worked out well for me as I got a pretty decent bonus that year, with it noted that a lot of that was due to how I had basically taken on 3 additional line reports that I didn’t ask for

Following feedback from the grads themselves to the country head, the other 3 managers found themselves not being very popular with the management team and there is now a structure in place where graduates and their line managers need to be in the office together for at least the first 4 weeks of them joining plus a formal development plan to give them as good a start to their career as possible

I agree with pp’s that it’s selfish of the experienced members of the team not to offer the same as what they benefited from when they were just starting out

There isn't a single broken arm that can be fixed, or a home that can be built, or a single item that can be manufactured, by people working at home.

You are free to indulge in home working as you please, but as you do so, bear in mind that someone's hands built everything around you.

I mean I like my employers they are amazing people but I love it when they’re in the office not WFH. 😂 I’m a nanny.

And I assume they chose to!

I just find it better health wise. Immunocompromised so not around people if I WFH, and fatigue is better managed when I don't have to get up as early
Office is noisy and I struggle to hear callers sometimes

Social wise I don't really speak to colleagues as you can't when you're on the phone all day!
Just as efficient as the job means you have to be at your desk so there is no vanishing off for anything

Have my desk in the living area which is open plan so no washing going on as you would hear it!

The op never said WFH was available to everyone

I'm sure she realises it isn't?

But I work alongside university STEM educated colleagues with professional qualifications, so we can all be trusted

^
Lol at this

I have an arts degree but manage not to be a total slacker at work

"The "learning from being in" argument is used a lot but I don't believe it. My job is done in my head and confidential phone calls and conversations shouldn't be happening in front of other people unless they're invited."

Ah i think it depends on the job. Hearing two very senior people having a quiet chat about how to deal with a difficult client is the kind of thing that you learn from, but you'd never be invited to listen into on Teams.

Also it's easier to notice if juniors are stressed/overwhelmed if you can actually see them. A green light might tell you someone is online at 10pm but you won't have so much of a sense of if they've been hammering it all day and missed lunch, or are just logging back on in a relaxed way to do a bit of gentle admin.

And easier to judge your moment to pick someone's brain if you're around them, rather than Teams calling them when they're in the middle of concentrating on something.

I do agree though that a strict 5 days a week in office is ridiculous for most jobs these days. I think sometimes it's great to work from home if you need to get your head down and concentrate without being interrupted. But sometimes (not all the time !) it's worth being around to interrupt.