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!

Is your current role still wfh, or is part of your misery that the new boss wants you in the office? If it's wfh, maybe you can just wait it out until the manager moves on? I've done that a couple of times. I guess it depends on which you find more miserable... going into an office for no reason or wfh with a crummy manager.

Have you been called back for interviews from companies who offer hybird and those who don’t? Is your cv being submitted by a recruitment agency or are you sending them out?

@AmyByTheTrain my current role is still remote

Unfortunately too many people who WFH take the piss, and so employers want everyone in the office. If you want to blame someone, blame the slackers who’ve ruined it for everyone else.

So I don't fully understand your complaint.

Are you complaining that you applied for jobs that are office based (or don't specify if hybrid/wfh is an option), and when quizzing them on wfh/hybrid you get declined? If so that's perfectly reasonable from both parties. Reasonable for you to ask and reasonable for them to knock you back.

Or are you complaining you apply for jobs that specifically state they offer hybrid working, then when you ask for clarification that they do indeed offer that you are getting declined? If so how do you know that's the reason you're being declined as opposed to some other aspect of your interview performance?

If an employer is genuinely declining your application based on asking for clarification on something they advertize then clearly they are BU.

Same here. Its becoming the norm within the industry I'm in for a return to the office 5 days a week. I think many companies are, or will be, going the same way.

OP a;; the employers I personally know like this are pretty old fashioned. It was the same with flexible working. The go ahead firms offered it first, and old fashioned places still insisted on very set hours.
You are better working for a go ahead place anyway. An old fashioned place would simply frustrate you.

WFH has a huge impact on the professions where flexible working is not allowed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51yzv95wg9o
I think the Government is finally getting the message that if a woman can have a cosy wfh job they are not going to consider being a health care professional or teacher etc. If you do wfh the likelihood of your company, job being moved abroad is much more common. I have a friend in banking and they have just moved her Department to Poland.

Flexible working is only fair if everyone is subject to the same conditions.

@Dianapiano Utter rot. A friend works for Capital One. They are all in the office. And all their jobs are going to be moved abroad to an office.

You don't know that. But 5 years ago there was no work from home, then it happened. At the moment i have it and loads of my colleagues and friends do. Life can change very drastically in the next 5 years and if in 5 years time i saw a job that was a 20 mins drive for me i would go into the office. Or if my family to decided to move nearer to the city then i would go in more. Most of the time its not the office people are hating its actually the commute and the stress of trying to get children to school childcare etc, WFH has relieved that stress and made life more enjoyable easier and cheaper for some people, while still being productive. Someone might decide once children are older and no longer need them to do school run etc or gone to university then go back to office, Companies need to find right people, but equally people need to find the right job that suits them, This collective across the board complete no WFH is not going to work across every job there is in the world

@JoyousGreyOrca
What is utter rot? The BBC article? The fact that I pointed out lots of companies were moving abroad?

My employer is still doing 90% wfh. I'm about to go on a year mat leave and am terrified that will mean the end of wfh by the time I get back. The world seems to be heading back that way. I'm dreading the two hours of commuting every day, just to sit at a different desk (single offices, closed door policy to allow quiet working... I barely ever actually speak to another person...).

Your wfh can be rescinded at any moment though unless of course it is written into your contract

Can you not wait it out then if you are remote? Other departments roles etc could come up, or certain people could move on ? I left one job a while ago because my boss was a nightmare and a bully, a week after i handed in my notice he did aswell, was raging. However onwards on and upwards i had another job and it worked out well in the end

Utter rot to say if you wfh, your job is more likely to be moved abroad. There are offices abroad as well you know. And jobs have been being moved abroad for decades. AI may speed this up, wfh will make zero difference.

I don't know why some employers are so determined. I changed jobs last year and only looked for remote jobs, and I suspect I was not alone. I'm now working for a fantastic company that has really leant in to remote working and does it brilliantly. My previous company was hybrid, but closely monitored exactly how often people were in the office, hauled people in front of management if they dropped below the required number of days and the atmosphere was awful. No logic to it either - people could come in on the 'less popular' days and be in an almost empty office. Everybody worked globally so often no benefit from being there in person if their entire team were based elsewhere. Bizarre box ticking exercise because the CEO thinks people should be in offices.

Go for the Civil Service. Whilst they’re ‘enforcing’ 60% office attendance, most people just don’t go in where I work. I average about once a month. You might have to suck it up for the first month or two but then just stop going in, you’ll be fine 🤷‍♀️

Edited for clarity.

So you do accept that women are no longer accepting teaching as a career compared to being able to wfh? and they are more unlikely to choose a career which traditionally is customer facing which means flexible working isn't possible.

Because that's what the employers want, and he who pays the piper...etc etc

i think you know something i dont ?? 😂 Are you having secret conversations with who i work with ? I have had the conversation and it is written down on my WFH situation
And if you want to be pinickity i have unfortunately been diagnosed with a life long condition, that work will have to accommodate me as it will require surgery etc and also any future employer will do aswell. As i said you dont know what the future is going to bring to you - Good or bad
Edited to note that it was only diagnosed last week, still reeling from it. My WFH situation was written down ages ago before any of this happened

No you don’t. I just don’t think anyone can ever say that will never go back into an office as just like you said no one knows the future. Good luck with your surgery though. I hope it all goes well

Yeah some employers are pretty stupid.

people can say it, that's their choice, remote jobs are more likely not available as people not leaving them, Companies can advertise full on site that's their choice however the world has changed and companies that don't follow will struggle, recruitment agencies are seeing this all ready. Companies in my field are all ready rowing back on the mandatory on site as they are not getting people. the world is never going to go back to the way it was before covid, newer and better ways of working will always be happening

Is there any evidence that fewer women are going into non-WFH professions than before Covid?

Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Nursing, Midwifery are all female dominated courses at university and I'm pretty sure you'd struggle to do the respective jobs remotely...

Meanwhile men continue to dominate computer science, date science and software engineering - courses that lead to some of the most hybrid/remote careers in existence.

Not in my experience has this happened