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?

I know several people who WFH log on in the morning and spend the day faffing at home - their words not mine. One bless is having chemo so they obviously feel terrible a lot of the time. I do wonder how productive these jobs are and if that person would actually ever be missed! It is nuts I want a job like that BTW all these are on extremely high salaries.

I'm sometimes orange on Teams for fairly long periods of time, whether I'm in the office or at home. Not all my work is done through teams! That's not proof of anything.

@Treesandsheepeverywhere how on earth does someone "taking in a parcel" stop them doing a good job?

I agree with a previous poster who said they are probably hoping a bunch of people will be driven to quit by this edict to save on redundancy payouts..

I WFH and often put in extra hours I’m not paid for. I’ve taken a couple of days annual leave over the half term holidays and inevitably ended up doing a couple of hours unpaid from home on days I’m supposedly on leave. I’m in effect covering 2 if not 3 roles. There is no way in hell I would be willing to do this if I were expected to work in the office. Incidentally my colleagues wfh too and none of the, show up constantly orange on Teams. Maybe it’s just your work place? 🤷‍♀️

This thread is depressing. How we rate productivity and output seems really outdated in some of these comments. We need to modernise how we think about what work looks like.

It’s not a good time to be jobless, so id at least hold on until you have got another job

This is true, ime. I was surprised, though, by all the threads - last year, maybe - with people talking about how much they take the piss while WFH. Not just popping away to put the washing in the dryer or something, but full-scale home life and childcare while doing the minimum to make it look as if they're working.

It'll be a shame if the whole thing breaks down because of this. Working at home does give you more flexibility: I loved it when I was freelancing, but some people really need a demarcation between home and work.

Too many people taking the oiss. Don’t be cross with the firm be cross with your colleagues who took the piss

Clearly @Grooveisintheheartbaby some people in your company are not pulling their weight working from home, and are underperforming. They wouldn't be so desperate to get you all back into the office else. I carried on WFH and my employer is more than happy with it. Gonna do it til I retire. I will never work in the office again.

As many posters have said, your employer won't care if you leave - and they won't care if many others do either. The majority of people are replaceable! I know several people right now who are always carping on about their job, and are 'leaving' at least 3-4 times a year. They are still there after 10-12 years!

Unfortunately it’s the people who used WFH to fanny about taking the piss that have ruined it for the rest of us.

We were told we had to do two days a week in the office which worked well for me but they realised that 25% of the staff worldwide were not bothering to go into the office so made it 3 days a week mandatory across the whole business and have threatened to have everyone in 4 days if the 3 days isn’t adhered to.

So rather than dealing with the ones taking the piss, they’ve used a sledgehammer to crack a nut and penalised everyone else.

d'yer know what? Just make sure you tell them...

we had a thing in work recently...I was massively urging everyone to tell management that we weren't happy and virtually everyone bottled it.

But, me and my friend approached a friendly arm of management and got things sorted.

just like that.

the main man was amazed that no one had said nothing to him.

my friend did the main stuff, tbh and fair play to him.

just communicate - you can guarantee they won't have. clue about any of your concerns or worries or gripes or problems...just let them know and see what happens.

if they tell you do one, then that's another conversation; but communicate first, you might get things sorted...I mean they're not gonna let everyone leave, are they?!

Unfortunately unemployment will soon be risng a fair bit in the private sector, so employers hold the cards. I agree it's bullshit though. Given the state of the trains, I do substantially more work from home.

If by saying 'we need to modernise what work looks like' you mean everyone should work from home, then that's laughable! It was only ever meant as a temporary measure, and whilst it's OK to work from home now and again - maybe 1 day a week even, it's ludicrous to suggest that everyone should be allowed to work from home all the time.

I'm banking on scenarios like this being good for me. Health problems (but I can still commute), not a lot of experience and multiple large gaps in employment, but I completed 2 years of further education 2021 - 2023 and have been volunteering for 6 months in a similar role to what I am hoping to get.

I would absolutely love to work from home, but I am hoping that the exodus of more experienced staff or overqualified staff who are voting with their feet re WFH, will get me a start, in a non WFH position.

Productivity figures aren’t about people slacking away from the office. It’s not about lazy or slow workers. Productivity is about investment, skills gaps, diversification, aligning products with demand and industrial strategy. Not Doris hanging out the washing when she should be at her computer screen.

My current role is supporting young people in the workplace (I volunteer for a charity) the young people need to be in office to learn from others, and ultimately these are the workers of the future.

I wouldn't give in, and keep my eye out for other remote positions in case they tried to fire me over it. Surely it's a contract change, which you would have to agree to, or accept redundancy?

Ours is the opposite, they made us come into the office then soon realised we were more productive at home without the distractions and sent us back home again.

Genuine question. Why do people think they are entitled to wfh? I've never done it due to the type of job I have but I see all these posts complaining about having to go "back to the office" whats wrong with that? I thought wfh was a covid thing.

If productivity really is the issue, then surely it's more strategic to make an announcement about it. E.g, productivity needs to improve in the next 3 months. Otherwise, we are going to ask employees to come back to the office. That could've been a wake-up call for most to get their shit together..

Or they could gradually introduce the office hours again, maybe 2 or 3 days a week. 5 days a week from the get-go seems abrupt.

If it means I can talk to a business without a washing machine going or a dog barking I'm with business.

Wfh is a total touch, but you've had 4 years to set up a proper home office.