If employers were mandated to allow employees to WFH unless there was a clear reason to need someone physically in a workplace

[OptimismvsRealism]

All the trains and buses at commuter time would be so much less hideous

Infections would be down

Diets healthier

Work life balance more serene

Why do humans always work against their own interests?

👍👍👍

Not this one

The office makes me sick

I eat so much more (crap) and move so much less when I'm working from home.

My husband started a new job during wfh / lock down and had such a shit experience trying to learn the role without being in the office where he could just go and sit beside someone to learn.

Fabulous for people who have an already active social life and/or family close by, but I have SO many memories and friendships build from coworkers, especially in my 20s. Going out after work, pub lunches, friendships and the odd relationship, met my husband at work in my late 20s. Can't imagine just how different (and miserable) my life would have been working from home in my 20s.

I see SO many people (online and in real life) using wfh to also double as childcare. My husband's coworker has just resigned a move she asked for as she hadn't realised she wouldn't be able to wfh every afternoon in her new role as she did in her previous department and has no childcare in place.

My child is doing an internship. She struggles some days as all the meetings are on Teams and she has few people to speak to or learn from. She wants to go in every day and pick up skills. And socialise after work with new ‘colleagues’. Very hard from a laptop.

Being 19 and wfh is very different from being 39.

Shame on seniors hiding at home and refusing to be role models and trainers.

Fabulous for people who have an already active social life and/or family close by, but I have SO many memories and friendships build from coworkers, especially in my 20s. Going out after work, pub lunches, friendships and the odd relationship, met my husband at work in my late 20s. Can't imagine just how different (and miserable) my life would have been working from home in my 20s.

Same here. I treasure those memories of my working twenties. Esp as I had the most disposable income of my life then as we had no kids!

OP are you ok? I really mean that. Not in the passive aggressive MN way. You have posted threads on the menopause being a decade of pain and suffering. You were freaking out about drinking water when you were a houseguest. And you talk about the office making you sick and have some quite extreme views on working with others.

You seem quite agitated about lots of stuff so I wonder if there is anything else going on for you.

Yes I agree, it’s us seniors in the companies that should be in the office helping the new intakes. We had it at the start of our careers and it’s selfish to not give the same to the new ones now. Hybrid is fine and is a good compromise, but it really annoys me when some of my team members moan about coming in just 2 days a week.

For you. They aren't essential for you. But not everyone is you. Why are you so insistent that your way is the right way?

She's making excuses and she'll have to adapt.

And she will have to find her own social stuff.

Also during lock down, I lead many staff meetings over zoom and they were just so so much harder and less productive than in person.

In person staff meetings: sitting face-to-face, catching up with colleagues for 5 minutes before the meeting started, getting to know everyone as humans (and I am a TOTAL introvert, but do understand the importance of some social interaction!). Working collaboratively on an objective, running ideas by people you actually know, flowing conversation, laughs.

Zoom staff meeting: meeting leader lecturing to participants, one person piping up all the time to ask questions while the rest are silent, at least one or two with their camera's off ('technical issues' ie. doing something else). Awkward flow in any conversations. Everyone just trying to end the meeting as soon as possible.

Oh fuck off. Now I know your just trolling.

I'd soon teach them why WFH is better🤣

Except it isn't always the case.
It might suit YOU and YOUR role but that doesn't mean that works as a blanket approach.

There are aspects of my role and working life that are significantly more effective and enjoyable in person. I know others feel the same.

Don’t be silly now. She is bright and motivated and wants to be involved more in projects. She has plenty of friends from school and university but was hoping to hang out with colleagues.

I think you are right that staying home is the right thing for you.

I assume most who wfh have got used to no commute, no being around people, time during the day to do house stuff etc so they are very unlikely to want to go back. While I believe there are many who do likely work better from home and are professional, there are also those who take the piss (I know both). I can imagine it becomes boring and it's too easy to get lethargic, being in your home, it all becomes mixed? I've found, always having been in a job that involves human interaction big time, you have no choice but to perform, interact, show your best. Xx

I'm not. I'm a manager and this is what I tell people who complain that "it's not fair". I suffered an office life for 20 years. Now it's time for a change.

I WFH. Makes no difference as I have to log on, do my shift and nothing else so there's no piss taking allowed
If I go into the office I don't speak to anyone all day except hi and bye due to the nature of the job so I may as well be at home

This!! Your employer is paying you to be at work, really annoys me that since covid people think it's their employers responsibility to pay them a wage to sit at f***g home.

Performance is awful.

There should be a workplace bonus for everyone who would find it impossible to WFH!

Excellent! I look forward to that...

WFH is pisstake for many. As shown in thread after thread on this very forum.

Now it's time for a change.

Because you say so??!

The best part of my job is meeting and working with people. I don't want that to become fully remote. It's nowhere near as much fun.

Someone upthread mentioned a 2 tier society, I see this happening already. Having a job that you physically "go to" seems quite sneered upon now. People working in retail, deliveries, education, emergency services all there to service and facilitate the lives of WFH-ers who are the smart ones with proper jobs.

And bore off with "just find a new job" - when you're a menopausal main earner with a mortgage you don't have the capacity in any sense of the word to slip off and find a new job

I am glad gen z is so stuck on the internet that gen x will be the last of the office insisters.

I wouldn't be so sure about this. Gen Z kids are the most enthusiastic of anyone about being in the office in my work place.

Yep. They are a breath of fresh air. The OP is jaded and unhappy. We need people in offices who want to be there.

I totally agree with this. I honestly think it is a regressive step for women.

It is making women retreat back into the domestic sphere, unquestionably.