Anyone else fed up with WFH/Hybrid

[HelenIU]

I’m looking to turn this into a WFH’rs are lucky/lazy/work shy sort of thread.

But genuinely interested if anyone who is WFH/Hybrid feels similar and has any words of wisdom:

-WFH in Covid which turned into Hybrid post lockdown ending (2x a week in office, 3 days at home)

I feel utterly fed up at home, miss the interaction and just genuinely long for how things were before Covid - in the office each day part of a big and supportive team. Even when I’m in the office it’s not the same with desk booking and not everyone in.

I finished work yesterday and just felt unfulfilled.

Has anyone been in this situation and seeked a full time non WFH job? Did it work out or did you regret it?

That’s interesting. I canvassed a few recruiters when I was looking recently and 75% of roles were 4 days a week, which doesn’t really feel hybrid and the remaining 25% 5 days. That was one recruiter and her set of clients. I think moving forward we are looking at more and more roles being 100% WFH or 4-5 days in office and that extra day being a closed Friday or whatever. Certainly in my space anyway. It would be a shame to lose so much of the hybrid model (even though I am happy enough to go in more). I don’t wish to go back to the days when I would literally run for the train and run to nursery and be the last parent there etc. Mine are teens now, but I do see the flex as a step forward.

I wfh everyday but have to go into office one day a month when the whole team go in. I really miss the cameraderie at my old job which was only one day a week wfh. I miss going for a team coffee on campus, attending a charity bake sale, decorating desks and signing cards...However I find I can focus better at home, am more productive and I can have a dog which was my sole reason for moving to my current role. I'm in the final 10 years of my working life and can really feel the benefits of being in my own home without the stress of commuting etc...

It's funny WFH is such an issue on MN, when in real life, there are not that many roles that are office-based jobs and possible from home anyway.

It's also frightening how many adults claim they can't concentrate and get on with a few tasks at home, but need a manager to check they are actually working.

If you don't like to be at home, it's not like there's a lack of non-office based roles!

Omfg stop just get an office job if it bothers you so dam much

People cannot afford to run their cars

People cannot afford to go on public transport

People cannot afford to buy shite coffee from coffee shops and sandwiches to prop up our failing economy

People need to work from home to live sometimes

If you don't like your job change it

This is so very true. It is all very superficial. When management hand you your redundancy letter the salutation is formal. The 'hey, hi, how was the weekend...' ceases to exist.

I hated it so I retired

DD has a fully WFH job and finds the flexibility helpful as has young DC. However she says she will be happy/would prefer to go back to the office once they are a bit older and will look for a different job at that point. DS is hybrid and took this job as was previously completely WFH and didn't like it. I think it depends on the person/their circumstances and personality and also of course the job role and whether it can reasonably be done from home.

I wfh. I occasionally go into the office, but I’m perfectly happy interacting with people on Teams. I’ve worked from home off and on for 15 years now, so it’s just normal
work, really.

I agree, really miss the team fun and laughs. I only have to go in once a week or less but often do more. I wonder how all the young people find a social life now - work was my whole social life really between 20 and 30, and so now I am nearly 60 I am not dependent in the same way, but wonder how young people feel.

Oh gosh no I couldn’t go back to full time office! we go in the office twice a week and even that I was annoyed when it was changed from once a week! Absolutely love the no commuting meaning I can bank more flexi time

My social life was not my office when I started, I was mid 20s, my colleagues were boring and ancient (basically middle-age people with young kids 😂).

Social life is old friends from school, recent friends from uni, friends from sports club and hobbies, sometimes flat mates because many of my friends had to flat share, London was already ridiculously expensive even back then,
There might have been the odd person from the building, but as friendly and nice my colleagues actually were, we had different lives and different interests.

Even in sports etc, you meet different age groups and backgrounds, but actual friends were and are more people similar, and who you click with.

I enjoy working from home full time. When I now make the trip into the office for collaboration days, I hate it. It’s just the noise of an office and colleagues pulling you for a chat which is distracting, and I find it draining.

Could you canvas other peoples views and see if there are any who feel the same? Maybe a group of you could arrange to be office based on the same days. You might find there are too many other people who like wfh for this to work but it’s worth asking.
I’m hybrid too and personally I think it’s ideal- for me it’s just the right balance of interaction with colleagues but minimising my commute (so I get more done) and childcare issues (not so I can care for her during working hours before anyone jumps on me, but I can pick her up more quickly from after school care.

Personally I love it, but also I really appreciate the flexibility and time it gives me for DD and what she needs. So yes, you might miss it when you have those responsibilities.

However. If you don't like it, and it doesn't work for you, don't do it. Find a fully site based role. Don't live your life now miserable because in a few years you might prefer WFH. You can always think about changing back, if you need it.

Nope. I go 2-3 days in and I hate it. I hate the commute, I hate the banter, I hate sitting on a desk, I hate having to pack lunch. When I WFH I am in my pyjamas, I make food I like, I work from my bed or my sofa. Not to mention all the small chores I can do in between meetings. And I get to drop my DCs to school, which makes a difference in their days I love WFH and I am actively looking for a remote only job, despite absolutely loving my current employer, my team, my actual job.

I get that it’s lonely but coming from a single mum who works in a nursery school (have two kids ten and 12)I’m not able to work at home obvs. I’m grateful their dad works from home three days a week. He can pick them up from school and saves on childcare. We are currently paying 22 quid a week which helps massively if he was in the office full time we would have to pay 55 a week and it would add a whole lot of stress to my week. I would love to work at home a couple of days at least

Nope! I’m the opposite. We are expected to do 40% in the office and I’m hating it! Wish I didn’t have to go as often. Once every two weeks would be ideal for me 😃
Having to hot desk, no system of booking desks so no idea if I will have a desk in my team or have to go and find a desk in a different department, noise of open office, lack of privacy (not enough meeting rooms and meeting pods) for confidential calls and commute - I hate that! I am more efficient when I WFH when I can focus on my work and don’t get constantly distracted.

Can you not go in every day if you wish?

I think it’s generally the younger employees that miss the full time in the office times, everyone else seems to prefer full time WFH or hybrid
I go to work to focus and do my job, the social side is of no interest to me and a bloody unwelcome distraction most of the time, it eats into my hours which means I don’t get as much done and therefore have to work longer hours

Agreed. I can work from home for a day, but that’s it, hate it, I discovered I was far more sociable than I realised when I worked from home 😂.

My whole team hate it too, they hate the lack of collaboration and support and ability to throw around ideas. We work in what can be very high pressure so the support really does make everyone feel better.

Like everything though, different strokes for different folks.

I think it's harder for people who haven't got the "luxury" of a working space at home. Even a kitchen table is fine if you are alone, or left alone.

I understand it's hard for people with no space, or a busy and noisy household.

But if you haven't got a noisy flat share, or babies at home, and your kid will be at nursery anyway, it's so much easier!

I just changed jobs so I could be fully WFH. As a parent of a toddler whose dad has to work away from home for weeks at a time it makes my life SOOOO much easier! And I get so much more done.

I'm feeling up with hybrid and wish I was WFH full time

Fed up *

And absolutely this as well. We live in a 2.5 bed with 2 small children. Both of us wfh, one works at a desk in the bedroom and the other at the dining table. So every mealtime it all needs to be cleared away, and set up again the next morning. I have having the desk in the bedroom as it takes up space we don’t have. I’m sick of people with older children and massive houses not understanding how mentally stressful it is to work in your smallish regular living space. If I want to work late, and the kids are around, I have fuck all chance of getting anything done - they just bang on the door and scream for me.

My whole lifestyle is so claustrophobic thanks to WFH and has had a negative impact on my mental health