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?

YANBU to feel how you feel, but TANBU to want you to go back - you have a big choice to make.

I imagine it's either unrest or distress. Hopefully op's job isn't anything to do with instructions/publishing/education.

That too. Remote working might be a mechanism for some people to stay in work for longer, which we're going to sorely need.

YABU because it is up to the business to decide what they want. If employees don't like it then they can leave and find another job if that is their preference. The company can then employ people in the office.

I know people who WFH and really take the piss, pretending they are working when they aren't. It isn't suitable for every business.

I have had business calls recently where all I could hear was kids crying or dogs barking in the background. It is unprofessional and if companies get complaints then I can see why they want people back in the office.

I have mixed feeling on returning to the office. My team need to be in the office 2 days per week. On the plus side, I’m disabled and find it utterly exhausting if I go in more than that. I get much more work done at home as our office is very noisy and some team members literally never shut up. I also struggle with pain from being at my desk all day. Sometimes I feel like I’ve achieved nothing when I’m in there.
However, there are also negatives. I feel like people work in silos at home and you can miss crucial information that would be picked up in the office.
Training younger staff and new starts is also very difficult and doesn’t happen naturally.
I’m not sure what the perfect solution is tbh.

They'll find other people if you leave. That's how it's always been. More than enough people needing to pay the bills. That'll be their perspective, I'm guessing.

Are employees in driveable distance? In my remote role, we have people up and down the country so a return to office would end the business. Based in Manchester, there are staff in Scotland and all the way to Cornwall, with everything in between. BUT, we were hired as remote as they wanted the people first, not the office culture.

If your job at one point was office-based you are definitely at risk of being called back. It is crap, but a risk.

Less employers NI for them then!

The best talent was presumably recruited to work in an office, and built their career and experience by doing so. Wfh wasn't a problem for them as they had all the necessary skills. If they leave and go elsewhere the chances of starting at full time wfh are small.

I manage a team where all of us work from home 100% and it works great. One person is taking the piss and she’s being managed accordingly. I have ‘time to talk’ in my diary where anyone can ring if they have a question or if they pop a message I’ll call them during that time rather than people coming up to me at my desk. New members get a buddy as well who likely has more availability than me as a manager so there’s two routes for a question to be answered and people trained, it just means I can also get on with stuff that really needs doing without being interrupted. A lot of the posts on here make me think there’s just a lot of shit managers and also people who don’t want to work from home, which is fine, but don’t force that on people who do and are disciplined enough to do it well.

There's also this likely reason.

Yes - where I worked senior staff were expected to be visible and approachable. Difficult to be that if you are closeted at home all the time and never seen in person by most of the organisation or in an informal setting like the staff coffee shop or canteen.

It's been nearly 5 years since the enforced move to remote working, and millions of people were at least partially home based before then, so I wouldn't be so sure about when and where the best talent was recruited. And the availability of remote work elsewhere is really sector dependent. We don't have enough information to say.

Unrest, but a typo or similar. Does it matter? You can Google things too to find out dictionary definitions/discover a typo. HTH.

Companies looking to reduce outgoings due to NI rises could just as easily sell/stop renting office space or downsize office space to save money without losing valuable staff..,

My employer officially has a 40% office attendance rule, but my team isn't required to comply with it.

A lot of of our work can't be done from the office, which is almost entirely open plan, because it involves discussing a lot of personal health and financial information with clients. Pre-Covid, we did this face-to-face, across 2 counties and a city, so an awful lot of our time was spent travelling. Now, we do most of it over the phone and are able to carry much bigger caseloads because we're not spending loads of time driving around.

WFH has enabled us to provide a much better service to more people.

You've deliberately simplified it.
In simple terms, it's being on a call whilst trying to do these things.
I don't want to hear your conversation with the delivery man or whatever else is going on in your home. To then continue the call, I'm asked to repeat everything.

It's unprofessional.

Like I said, it's the few that spoil it for everyone else.

Another example, public sector employee had a sprained ankle, got signed off for 8 weeks, didn't do zilch in that time despite wfh.

It's give and take, sign off would probably be based on the notion that she had to travel to work.
I can understand some illnesses, even a bad cold can mean not being able to work, but a sprained ankle in an admin role!
Still managed to meet for drinks though.

In this case, they couldn't just call her back to the office, but the whole team.

Not just for that btw, but a whole entitlement attitude which also rubs colleagues the wrong way.

Being asked back will get rid of most of such people. Company can then change back if need be.

If it's such an employee's market, why the fuss?

I find it so strange when fellow humans actually argue for us all to be seen solely in terms of ‘productivity’. These also seem to the same type who rail against AI automation - ironically, the ultimate productivity.

We’re humans and achieving a good work life balance that works for us, as well as for the hugely profiteering companies should be a goal, not something our fellow person is crying to stamp out.

Big business doesn’t care about people - and we all know it - so why are we so many people so easily giving up a huge benefit that was gifted to us out of the hell that was Covid?

And why do people keep saying it’s an employers market - unemployment is really low at the moment and decreasing!

👏👏👏. Misplaced blame.

No doubt some from the actual offenders.

Reminds me of the earlier posts of they want us back in the office, but I've bought a house in Timbuktu, how dare they.

It's the graduates at my workplace that you got to for news. Those kids know everything because they are employed across the business and socialise online so naturally.

After yesterday's budget you might find you don't have as much choice of new jobs as you expect. A lot of companies are downsizing and letting staff go.

And why do people keep saying it’s an employers market - unemployment is really low at the moment and decreasing!

Because people have no idea about the current landscape & the changing demographics but MNs is not a young site so to be expected probably.

I have to go into the office 1 day a week. if you seen my work output on those days you would see I did sweet f all. I spend the next day catching up OK what i didn't do that day. last week went up what was a so called mandatory face to face meeting that could have been an email 🤷‍♀️. I left the house at 7am. by quarter past 7 there was three accidents on the motorway I travel. so what should have been an hour 15 min journey turned to be over 2 hours. they are trying ti bring a mandatory 8 days a month in our company (not our site yet thank god) we are working on a huge project and we have lost 2 key people from the us side of the team. 2 people that have been working in this project for 3 years and that it will save the company 2.5 mil a year per site once implemented because if this mandatory 8 days. both have got fully remote jobs. we are now sinking in work. they were specialised and the company struggling to replace them. the head of the department has had to take over and she is answering emails etc at middle of night due to workload. like why why? valuable staff with years of experience gone over a stupid rule.
they are trying this in my sis office her team is in the 4 corners if the country no way they can come in set days a week. also they have got rid of her office now so she a desk open plan when required to have a private call with no noise on background sometimes has to go to the toilet (ficking shocking) all because they want her to show face in the office
another colleague of mine her husband company requires 5 days a week. they lost 5 very key long term staff in 6 months. they are seriousness struggling now and her husband is expected to pick up slack. now they allow him to work from home a few days 🙄.
just read an article from a local recruitment agency she says yes companies are asking for full office days but struggling to get people. housing shocking expensive and no where to rent not helping either people are saying they will take a pay cut in order to stay at home. she trying to say this to companies but not getting it. also the hell hole that is the m50 and m11 commute ( anyone in Ireland knows what talking about ). she says what's happend to hybrid? yes you can say you can be replaced straight away but that's not easy as it says. majority of jibs require a skill set require training etc. can take a new recruit a year sometimes to get up fully speed on things
we have had 4 years of working from home. 4 years for companies to manage people who are not performing- I guarantee they are not performing in office too- why go back?
my life changed when wfh came in I actually didn't realise how tired my body was from driving how exhausted I was rushing at weekend trying to get stuff done. I had hours back in eve could sit down on sofa at 7pm instead of rushing in the door to put dinner on rush to get ready next morning to be up at 5am. i realised what life could be like. to be me that is way more important than go back to office full time

Is today your day working from home?😂