Employers hell bent on working in the office full time

[NewDayNewLife25]

Anyone else currently job searching and noticed the same thing?

I'm utterly miserable in my current role which is unfortunate as I've been there for 4 years and use to love it, but a new manager has changed things. I've always worked from home.

Anyway, I've been applying for jobs, mainly remote/hybrid working but also a few office based roles. I always state in my cover letter what I'm looking for, and my address is on my CV too.

A few employers have contacted me, saying that I'm perfect for the role, have all the experience/skills that's required and that they think I would make a great addition to the team. But as soon as I've asked about the working set up, that's it, done. They won't entertain it and decline my application.

I just think it's a shame. I know that they probably have plenty of applications, but surely it's more important to hire the right person, with the right skills and experience. Not just because that person happens to live near the office. Half the time they can't even explain why they need the person in the office. Is it control?

I'm fed up already!

Employers have had nearly 5 years of hybrid working, presumably they are moving away because it doesn't work for them, not because they haven't had time to assess it

@boulevardofbrokendreamss it's really not a standard email. I work in recruitment myself.

If I am advertising for office based staff then that is what I want

Sure. But if your listing says hybrid working I still want to know how much I'm expected to come in 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Motheranddaughter well, yes, you wouldn't have advertised it otherwise. But what is more important to you, finding the right person with the right skill set/experience or someone who can commute to the office every day? I know which one I'd choose.

It was inevitable that this would happen because businesses aren’t there for the employees’ benefit. Unfortunately, Covid demonstrated to employers that many employees cannot be trusted to work productively when they are at home. We have all heard the stories about parents juggling childcare and working and seemingly thinking that this is okay!
Companies are businesses and their primary reason for existing is to make money. We are employees, our primary reason for working is to make money. Sometimes that need to make money by both parties doesn’t match.
If all employees could be relied on to do their jobs properly from home (with the exception of those jobs that need to be done in an office), we wouldn’t have this problem.
There is also the point that it has been demonstrated that newer employees are struggling to pick up the skills and the knowledge that they need because there is nobody to share that knowledge with them when everybody is working remotely.

Employers have had nearly 5 years of hybrid working, presumably they are moving away because it doesn't work for them, not because they haven't had time to assess it

Ok, I see what you mean, that's never going to happen, there's no way every business has the same needs

I tend to find it’s employees who want to wfh full time and managers/businesses realise that in a lot of cases it’s not the best fit for the organisation. Technically I can do my job from home 100% and I might prefer to. But in reality the collaboration, cross team working and relationships I build by being in the office 3 days a week is priceless and really does add to productivity and outcomes for our clients. It’s infinitely easier to walk up to someone in the office and sort something out than try and find a slot between teams meetings or missing everyone on calls. And that’s assuming everyone is working as they should be and let’s face it a lot are not.

When you say you set out your requirements when applying for hybrid/ in office roles are you saying you want fully remote? If they’ve advertised as hybrid /in office they obviously aren’t going to accept someone who doesn’t meet that criteria.

You say that they should take the right person for the role but they likely are, there’s loads of good applicants about at the moment. We recently advertised a technical role, salary over 80k and got 28 CVs, 15 of them met all the requirements asked.

I get you - its going to be hard work, but keep persevering. I was looking my self due to the pressure on going back to the office more than one day a week, its a 4 to 5 hour round commute and have been working from home quiet successfully the past 4 years. Unfortunately i have just been diagnosed a life ling condition and fortunately on that work will have to accommodate me working from home more. When you go looking you have to be hard and filter out everything that says on site, if the advert doesn't explain the exact location, hybrid details, i email them before i apply asking them this. I am quiet factual in my reply but not rude, saying if its 4 days on site for example that wont work for me. I say the same with recruitment companies, the feedback i get from them is similar to what i ask, people want Hybrid and remote and companies are struggling to fill roles because they wont offer it. Its not classed as a perk anymore its expected and people will take a pay cut if need be to keep it. one company an agency i was dealing with had to row back on mandatory on site as they lost valuable staff couldn't fill the roles - one was open 6 months- in order to fill roles. Keep what you want very clear will take time but you will get what you want

Both I suppose and it’s never been an issue
We pay a bit higher than the going rate

Many companies now are heading back into the office full time.

What hybrid arrangements are you looking for?

OP I'm not saying it to make you feel shitty but it is an automated thing that goes out, or is a template they send out to a lot of people. I've had the same sort of thing messaged to me on LinkedIn and all my profile lists is who I've worked for, it doesn't go in depth into my duties.
Our office is made up of roughly half the staff WFH permanently. I do hybrid (3 days in the office and 2 days at home), and others work in the office FT with the odd random day at home. New starters over the last year are permanently in the office. Those that WFH permanently are gradually being told they need to come in the office the odd day. I've worked there 3 years and those that WFH permanently I've met 2/3 times in that time. If you work as a team you need to actually see colleagues occasionally and I'm not talking through a screen. If you work independently that's different however most roles people work as some part of a team even if it's not on a daily basis.
Also I completely get why employers don't want new starters to WFH from the start. You'll likely need help with a new operating system at least. Until you know how a company operates it's unreasonable in my opinion to expect to WFH permanently from day 1.

Ok, I see what you mean, that's never going to happen, there's no way every business has the same needs

Working from home really doesn't work for many employers nor customers to be frank. I'm fed up calling about a matter and I can hear household sounds including kids in the background, not ideal for anything sensitive. My dh brought his team back in full time in mid 2021 as they weren't as productive and team working suffered.

If the role you are applying for says office based why are you applying if you want wfh

you cannot deny that most people 'work' less when wfh, whether thats wfh exclusively or hybrid - school runs, dishes, washing a load of clothes, taking private phonecalls, personal admin etc. You cant blame an employer for wanting their employees in the office everyday even if you have the perfect skills and experience, especially if they are paying well.

@mummyh2016 I disagree, I've worked in recruitment for many years and it's not a standard email. I also wouldn't expect to work from home straight away or during training, but it's not an option at all with many employers. I've also worked in many office roles previously where we weren't allowed to talk as it distracted us from our work apparently. I can't see how that's any different from working remotely 🤷🏼‍♀️

@CatchThatPigeon many roles don't pay well though. And then staff have travel costs on top.

Eventually the talent pool will shrink until they have little or no choice.

In the meantime the wages for in-office roles will have to go up to persuade the talent they want to consider the hassle.

Remember, that before 2020 remote working was impossible for 90% of companies. Their words, not mine. (Having worked remotely since 2008, I was very aware of this when looking for roles).

However, with the gun of Covid at their heads remote working mysteriously became possible. Even for employers who had absolutely shit systems and capabilities.

So it turned out "impossible" was just a synonym for "we don't want".

Having been caught in a blatant lie, it's now hard for a lot of employers to walk it back. Especially in the face of companies that are quite capable of making remote working work.

It was nice in 2020 to have a few emails from former colleagues who I had setup for homeworking when I was an IT manager. "Pandemic ? What pandemic ?"

Little tip to employers: don't lie to your staff. If you don't want to do something say so. Because if you lie, it can be costly when you are found out.

But unfortunately you are not the one doing the choosing. The companies have decided that they would like office attendance as that is what works best for their business. Covid did present an unusual opportunity for people to work from home, however I think the tide is turning on this with more and more companies wanting staff to come in to the office rather than working at home.

I'm not sure I fully understand the issue OP.

If you are applying for remote/ hybrid roles, then surely they are offering remote/ hybrid working, which is what you want.

If you are applying for roles advertised as office based and they are refusing to let you be remote/ hybrid, that's not something you can complain about.

It's up to the business/ manager how they want to run their own company.

You can't apply for X, ask for Y, and be irritated when you don't get it.

Why should there have to be a benefit for you to work in an office? Presumably you're an employee not CEO so your employer isn't there to accommodate you're every comfort. Good for you if you're employee allows you to wfh but if they decide there's a greater benefit to the business with you in an office then that's where you should be.

It might not be a standard email you use but unless you've worked for every recruiter in the country it's not to say others don't use it. You can disagree all you like, unless you, @DreamW3aver and myself have all been contacted by the same company it must be.
Not being able to talk in the office isn't common, you either must be unlucky or don't stop rabbiting all day to have been told not to talk.

Yes it’s usually not individual and they will send that to anyone they think fits their job spec. I get it a lot on linked in too, doesn’t mean I’m the only one they’re sending it to.