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!

To demonstrate that you and others are working your contracted hours and all others are too. . Just doing school pick up,,meeting people who are WFH

@Praying4Peace why are you hiring people that you don't trust?

You say surely the most important thing is that companies hire the right person for the job. Of course it is. What you are failing to grasp here is that, to them, one of the most important qualities in being that 'right person' is the willingness to be office based.

This is spot on too.

@Munnygirl
My job is most certainly not easy because i work from home, my life is much easier and better cause i work from home therefore my employer gets a better person and better work because of that, For example i have no issue dialling into call this eve at 7pm for my boos as i didn't have to leave the office at a specific time and drive 2 hours home. The job markets in my filed may not be buoyant but from speaking to recruitment agencies etc companies are struggling and i am seeing vacancies open for months on end. There was a very good article in the paper before xmas from a recruitment agency asking what has happened to hybrid, and explaining how people are not willing to sit in the carpark of the road to the main city here every single day. Also to note here that there are more cars then ever on the road then there was pre covid, every single day there is a crash somewhere on the commuter roads. One day, on a Monday - usually a quieter day traffic wise - on my way to work there was 5 crashes on the way, what should have taken about 2 hours took over 3 hours, i wasn't the only one late that day. Another friend of mine turned down a job offer with a 25k pay rise, as there was no work from home, he manages a soccer team for young kids he wouldn't have been home in time to help them, nor be at home when his kids ( teenagers) after school, he never saw them when younger growing up as he wouldn't be home in time some nights before bed. Some people can be choosy and if more people, are than companies will listen. You work to live not live to work

And that's lovely and the way it should be. We also have an option of working in the office and some people come in once or twice a week if they feel like it.
My original post was in response to someone asking OP why she wouldn't even entertain the idea so I wrote a list of reasons why someone might not. That's completely irrespective of the wider workplace policy. Obviously, if I had no choice except to be unemployed or working in the office, I would. But I don't have to face this choice so, on the off chance I wanted to see "what's out there", I don't feel like working in the office would be an option for me.

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

A lot of job adverts are very (very !) loose with definitions and details. Bearing in mind (certainly in the tech world) there are a constellation of incompetent agencies out there to help garble things further.

It should be route 101 for people to watch out for roles where the remote/hybrid is "informal" and not actually contracted. So many tales on here of people falling foul of that.

@TwigletsAndRadishes it's not difficult to grasp, just very short sighted. Apologies, I didn't realise we were still in 1995.

You may end up with a choice of no job or you have to go into the office. Which is the better option?

As PP have said, you don't. It's your perogative to select a job that doesn't need you in the office.

But YOU started a thread complaining your applications for office based jobs are repeatedly being declined. So why you desperately don't want to be in the office is a valid challenge.

I suspect this bone you have about wfh and having all your home comforts is leaving a sour taste with prospective employers. It's the equivalent of asking in an interview how many holidays you'll be getting and what bonuses and perks you are going to get.

You are very much focussing on what you can get from the employer rather than what you have to offer them, and they're obviously picking up on that.

Perhaps stick to applying for remote working jobs if it's a dealbreaker for you? Or continue you on as you are but then don't be suprised to find you're repeatedly getting knockbacked.

And most of us didn't realise we were still in 2020!

Seriously though, just avoid the roles that are not hybrid. I wouldn't go back to 5 days a week in the office (I do 3 to 4) so would never even apply for a role that mandated full-time in the office.

"surely it's more important to hire the right person"

And that employer has made the decision that the right person is one who works from the office alongside their colleagues.

WFH is pretty new, it was rare before the pandemic and lockdowns. The only person I knew who did WFH back then was in a very specialised role that did not require much interaction with colleagues, and she still was required to attend the office fortnightly for progress reports.

Lockdowns forced businesses into it, for not-specialised-at-all roles. And some have found over the last 3 years that productivity fell off a cliff. Too many people simply treated WFH as BPFSAH (Being Paid For Sitting At Home). Staff WFH hasn't worked for those businesses, so why would they NOT go back to the office-based set-up that DID work for them before?

We’ve been doing 3/2 hybrid since 2022 and with only 28 days notice we’ve been told we all have to now go full time in the office, no exceptions.

Ive started looking around but unfortunately my industry seems to be very big on getting back in the office and most roles advertised are office based.

It isn't about knocking your confidence but the wording doesn't make sense in the context you describe of having applied for a specific position. I am sorry you are finding it hard, but please don't misdirect that at those of us who are saying the message isn't personal. If you are having conversations with recruiters and not being progressed, maybe consider what you can change about how you are conducting those discussions. Get yourself further through the process. If where you are is so awful, would it be so bad to end up fully office based and then request flexible working later? Or use an office based role as an interim step to a next job.

@BremeCrulee it's not a bone. I've applied for roles and stated in my cover letter that I'm looking for hybrid working. Employers have invited me for an interview and I've then asked them to confirm if there is an opportunity to work from home before the interview. That's it.

do you have a crystal ball at the mo saying i will be fired from my current role at the mo ? No one knows the future but if a future job involves me having to drive 2 or more hours each way to it every single day then i am not doing it, They can hire someone else or work with me. Its a deal breaker.

@TwistedWonder sorry to hear this, hope you find something

It sure looks like a standard email i received two weeks ago - it's defo along the same lines, give or take one or two words.... But anyway - OP i think it'll be hard to find a job these days totally wfh, quite a few are hybrid - i am 3/2 but can change as and when i have to be home for things/kids. I think maybe sticking to remote jobs might work best for you. Good Luck!

Opportunity to wfh full time or on some days? If it’s advertised as hybrid that means part of the time office and part of the time wfh so of course there would be. I’m not really sure what issue you’re coming up against here

I'm not referring to hiring. I'm referring to parents I meet on school run who are WFH

I think there's been some confusion here. I never said I wanted to work from home full time. I'm also interested in hybrid working (3 days in the office and 2 at home for example) but many employers won't even entertain that. They want you in the office every day.

If you’re applying for roles listed as hybrid that turn out to be full time office roles I’d be asking them why they were listed as hybrid

If that’s the case then are you applying to roles that specifically say hybrid? I wouldn’t bother with the ones that don’t if you don’t want a full time in office job.

That is your decision but the days of easily finding a wfh role are vanishing

Statistics from November last year showed on average in the UK there were almost 49 applications per job vacancy.

And ?

If it's 49 numpties trying to be CEO of MegaCorp that is a meaningless statistic.

In my last role, regardless of how many "applied" the HR department only ever saw 5 applications. So immediately that's two sources of possible numbers.

As ever, statistics are useless with no context. Who would have thought.

I'll come back with the fact that there are many differing experiences over different industry sectors later. And after that the variety of roles within any specific industry sector.

@Munnygirl are you an employer?