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.

The companies they work for are profitable at the moment. Things change.

You surely don't think only unprofitable companies are interested in keeping costs low, though?

When money is flowing, businesses and organisations aren't as bothered about sharpening their pencils when it comes to cost control. It's when a businesses sales/profits start to fall or when the grants etc start to run dry for a non profit organisation that they start to show more interest in cost control, cost cutting, etc. When things are good, inefficiencies and unnecessary costs creep in and the people holding the purse strings aren't quite as paranoid about shopping around, comparing different options, etc.

Are you for real?? I have lots of friends thanks. But for many people, work is how they make friends. Some of my very good friends are people I have met through work in the past.

The OP doesn’t seem to get that though!

A company I used to work for bought a company in South Africa during covid, moved loads of jobs over there that had transitioned to WFH during covid and made the U.K. employees redundant 🤷🏼‍♀️

Not 'as bothered'. Bothered. Not 'more interest' but interest. I assume you don't think that offshoring has only ever happened when organisations are unprofitable?

Because it’s already happening…..

Yes. It's also already not happening.

I'll leave out the return of previously offshored roles for a moment as that's a more complicated issue, and focus just on roles that have never been offshored.

There are loads of jobs in the UK being done fully or nearly all remotely, and that's been the case for over 4 years now. It's not plausible that there are lots of employers who have somehow not noticed this.

The UK is also suffering from a skills shortage and a general labour shortage at the moment, and not all remote vacancies can even be filled. So there'd be a substantial incentive for organisations to offshore if it were viable. Not even just financial ones, which is just as well since the cheapo Poles and Indians stereotype some MNers seem to have is rather out of date, but sometimes simply a bums on seats (faces on Zoom?) incentive.

Yet there are clearly lots of jobs where it's not happened. There must be a reason for that. You can't just say this is going to happen more in the future because it's already happening sometimes, because that argument could just as easily be flipped. There needs to be an explanation.

Seeing someone tell other people to “check their privilege” really winds me up.

K.

I get 3 work from home days a month. I love it. I get up at 6:50 and start at 7. I get loads more done than in the office. When I'm between jobs I put the washing on and hang it out but I have no more down time than I would in the office making a cup of tea etc. if I could work from home full time I would but it's not an option.

During covid I had my contract changed so I'm permanently WFH couldn't have it any other way (I'm legal too).

Ummm, I think you find that a lot of people dont have a choice. Teachers, the police, nurses, doctors, fire service, paramedics, postal workers, shop workers, delivery drivers, carers, train drivers, do you want me to go on ?. You have a very privilged attitude op, assuming that everyone can work from home like you. Personally I couldnt think of anything worse than wfh, I know I wouldnt get much work done. To me, the best part of work is going out and socialling with people, talking to pepple face to face. Making friends with your colleagues. Leaving my house for 12 hours a day (I do 12 hour shifts), rather than being stuck in it all day every day.

Ummm, I think you find that a lot of people dont have a choice. Teachers, the police, nurses, doctors, fire service, paramedics, postal workers, shop workers, delivery drivers, carers, train drivers, do you want me to go on ?.

But this thread is about those people who CAN work from home and how it’s made life much easier (not those who have chosen careers where you can’t)

We all understand traffic wardens can’t WFH

Yeah and people choose their jobs. No one is assigned teacher for life.

Quite!

There are currently 162,000 members of a FB group dedicated to teachers trying to leave the profession. It's a particularly difficult move to make, unless you're in the position to not have to worry about paying the bills.

I an fully aware that this post was about people who CAN wfh, but the smugness and ignorance of some posters is quite astonishing.

Nonetheless it's a hard line of work to qualify into. Nobody woke up a teacher - it takes years. If you chose it, it's weird to complain that you chose it and now don't like classrooms (and WFH workers are "smug" for not having spent years qualifying to do something they don't actually like??).

I love classrooms, I love my job.
Sadly my physical health isn't keeping up with the demands of it, and I'd love my weekends and evenings back.
I need the money to pay the mortgage.
I just know I'd be in a lot better physical and mental shape if I could wfh.