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.

I don't understand this. I work solidly at home. I get far less done on my day a week in the office. I actually like hybrid work I wouldn't like to work fully from home.

DH works mainly in the office, I work mainly from home.

He does more school runs and house work that I do. Because my job is actually more pressured than his. I often don't manage to break for lunch. WFH doesn't mean lying around at home. I still have to hit my targets

What did you do during lockdown?

If it's a call centre then nothing to do with WFH

I WFH and can't go to the toilet without someone knowing about it. The calls answer themselves automatically. Your lunches and breaks are timed
If you are too long using "comfort break" then someone will be asking why
There are stats hourly, daily, people asking why you have spent over 5% of your time in after all

Couldn't agree with you more.
Never again.

Lots of work places were still open during lockdowns. I still had to go in at intervals. DH had to go in several times a week.

It's all very well for a mum in legal. You may have:

A partner
Friends
Children
A separate workspace or at least an adequate one
Training
All the shadowing/mentoring and input you need
A comfort with technology
Emotional regulation

A young person starting may not. How many people met partners and friends at work? How many times did someone step in when they overheard an issue, a training need, an emotional need? How many times do I have to hear, "my mic/teams/zoom/speakers/headphones aren't working"?

I have friends who have high earning jobs in the private sector that post-pandemic told them they had to be back in the office 3- 5 days a week.

My job is not high earning, it’s just slightly more than the UK average - and if they told me to go in 5 days a week it would be a no and I’d be off to a new job. It would cost me hundreds more and I’d probably get a cleaner to keep up with housework.

But yeah when I think of all I get done at home I wonder how I used to WFH five days a week. I’m very grateful.

Because of laundry loads, school runs and dinner prep and fitness classes. All being done during working day (officially during 1 lunch hour 😁).

I think its great for many people but for younger people and those early in their careers I think they miss out a lot from both the social side of being at work and the mentoring side in their careers

Yep I remember the days of timed breaks when I worked in a call centre!

@EatMoreFibre many of us worked 5 days a week during lockdown. Out of the home. All those services people needed, we ran them.

The future was already different for young people. Online dating is the main way to meet a partner. Can you imagine that in our day?? Personally I'd have loved to start out with WFH. The office doesn't suit me at all.

You addressed partners but not all the other things. Working in a bed sit from home is really different.

Worded it much better than me ! I agree so much with all of this.

WFH while I get its appeal is yet another thing that the internet is helping to unstructure the world as we used to know it.

Lucky you. I dont have an option. I work 6 days in a row in an office environment

Yep but you can't fight it and we do it because it works for us.

And even when I worked in an office I took regular tea /water breaks in the kitchen , walked upstairs to the canteen, strolled over to chat to another person at their desk etc. it’s just now I’m WFH those 5 minutes breaks are used for taking out clean laundry or marinating meat for dinner or dance 😅yup, I do regular dance breaks so I’m not too sedentary 😆 and then there’s the one hour commute each way I save time on as well that I do various things in. I do creative stuff in the morning.

That said, some of my closest friends are from previous work places I was at in my 20s, so I’m not sure how I’d have felt about doing WFH as soon as I graduated. I agree that it doesn't suit everyone but then nor does working in an office.

A lot of people think they are "more productive" working from home. It doesn't make you more productive if you load the washing machine in your lunch hour.

I have to do one day in the office. I do it but hate it. I am neurodivergent and find being in the office around all those people, difficult to say the least! If I had to do it 5 days I just couldn't. I have three children and hats off to those who do it with three children.

But the housing/public transport/cost of living crises coupled with years of wage stagnation especially in the public sector have made living within commuting distance of the office completely unaffordable for many

No but it doesn't make you more productive if you're trapped for half an hour by the printer hearing about someone's holiday or sitting for 90 minutes a day on the tube or distracted by the sniffing and coughing and loud phonecalls all around you in an open plan.

I think a lot of people believe it's not "real work" if you're not suffering!

I like hybrid working, go into the office a couple of days a week which is good in terms of learning and team building, but bad in terms of noise levels and my concentration.

I am more productive at home, and I know I am, because my work is quantifiable and the figures speak for themselves.

I feel lucky to have the option though. It's a much better work life balance.

they do indeed, my colleague did just before her 67th birthday last year.