That ship has sailed

[Grooveisintheheartbaby]

My company want us back to the office 5 days a week. As far as I and colleagues are concerned that ship has sailed and we will not be coming back we will leave. AIBU to think that businesses need to accept that things changed in covid forever and they can't reverse it without massive disrest and unhappiness?

"Surely there can’t be all these jobs where companies are paying people to do things that don’t actually need to be done?"

The amount of unnecessary things I've done at work over the years lol.

😂😂😂

And it's rubbish anyway. Many young people today are great at forming relationships in the online world and a perfectly capable of learning from others in that environment.

My company did it and didn't give one single shit that the staff were unhappy about it. People left and didn't get replaced - win win, cost saving. Thank fuck I just got made redundant.

I don't think it is completely rubbish, I don't think it needs you to be in an office five days a week to do that. At most two, one if you plan your time well.

Same here. We're a medium-sized public sector employer. We were slightly slow to get our hybrid policy finalised, and during this time, we really struggled to recruit staff, as no one would commit to joining us until we were clear on this.

And now, potential new recruits ask more questions about hybrid working than they do about salary.

Indeed. A whole new team of strangers to take a chance on. All of whom will have full employment rights from day one. So it's not like its easy to get rid of them if they prove worse than the last lot. That's if you can attract them in the first place when you're competing against employers who do offer hybrid. And NMW roles paying £25k.. Employers really are going to have to wise up and adjust to what the world looks like now rather than what they think it should. Because with the cost of commuting and the closing gap between entry level and experienced salaries they need to either dig deep and be very competitive with salaries, or offer staff other incentives.

There are many jobs where the best ideas are floated around the coffee machine and chatting over lunch.

Ah, the mythical 'water cooler' conversations ....... Which are generally about holidays, sport, last night's TV and John's new car.

Ditto. I couldn’t work out whether the OP meant ‘distress’ or ‘unrest’.

I think that chit chat is important actually. We are humans, not just workers.
Of course, it can be done with hybrid working, some days in the office, some at home.

Totally depends on the type of company.
in my business teamwork and information sharing are really important and are much easier with face to face contact.

You could just read the other 1000s of threads on this subject.

I used to get terrible headaches and feel so tired in the winter in offices with artificial lighting all day, and arriving and leaving in the dark. Some days the weather was bad and they’d just shut the blinds and it really isn’t good for your circadian rhythms.
And yes - so many bugs! I remember when we all went down with swine flu years back. I also now can wfh if im not feeling as good as I don’t have to drag myself on a 1.5 hour commute.

Yep in nearly 25 years of working in professional services I have never known anyone discuss anything work round the coffee machine/kettle/water cooler. It’s usually the place where people go to slag off work colleagues/wind up the office politics/stab others in the back. Minimising these conversations can only be a good thing.

There aren't many new WFH jobs about, the majority of people who do it were either WFH pre covid or as a result of it.

I agree WFH must be nice....I'd love to be able to do it but I can't imagine leaving a job because I refuse to go into a workplace

But presumably you don't work for the same company as the OP? And your employer isn't insisting on a return to the office?

Whereas - an employer who is insisting has clearly been through the thought process of "what if" and decided that the advantages of their plan outweigh the risk. So the OP's employer is unlikely to give two shiny shits, even if your employer would. The OP threatening to moan, whinge, be miserable and flounce is unlikely to get them to change their minds...

I also think that there's a wider economic benefit to people being back in offices more. Cafes, sandwich shops, dry cleaners etc were all fine pre-covid and when there are fewer people in offices they get impacted.

Whilst I agree to a certain extent not everyone has space for a seperate proper home office.

i wfh from either my dds bedroom (at her desk) or the dining table. I typically wfh one day a week and try not to schedule any important client facing meetings on that day. Intend to use it for my internal admin stuff.

id love a dedicated home office and if I was full time wfh or more than one day a week I’d probably try and get one in the house somewhere.

People would definitely notice all of that in my office.

Haha this made me laugh as it completely described the office I once worked in.
We once spent a whole afternoon wine tasting for the Xmas party.
Norovirus and people vomiting on the way out and train home.
Discussing last nights tv.

Tbf that job couldn’t have been done fully from home. But so many hours were not productive so I don’t see how it’s not comparable to someone hanging out some washing quickly.

At the end of the day it's down to the business strategy.
Where I work, I actively recruit remote workers. A wider net gives me better candidates. The work is suited to remote and people appreciate the opportunity.
Office space is used for early careers employees first. Lots do hybrid by choice, me included.
Tbh it would be too expensive to have people in 5 days a week.

Erm - glad you think it's funny.

A workplace that can't cope, won't insist on returning to the office, as they know it will annoy staff.

A workplace that insists on it, has made the decision already about their priorities.

Do you genuinely believe that if the OP moans and strops enough, their employer will change their mind? Because that sounds very naive...

No, but a lot of employers seem to think their employees won’t walk. Every company I’ve seen that have tried to up office working have back tracked. There’s often an arrogance shown by employers where they think their business is as important to employees as it is to them. Most employees don’t give a shit who employs them as long as they’re paid and the job offers them what they want, flexible working is very important to a lot of people.

Is there a reason? Is productivity down? Have people been taking the mick?

I don't know. It can happen.
Maybe they figure that most people won't actually leave, but if they all did that really would be a problem.