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?

I work from home, and it suits my own work ethic, wellbeing and most importantly the type of work and people in need to work with everyday. I think if a blanket decision for most of the week WFH is based on saving money on office space alone, or without due care to what needs to be done then this can have a real detrimental effect on the work that needs to be done and how people feel. I really welcome my works approach to leaving it to the managers to decide what’s best for balancing all these things.

I do know that I’ve done more, with definitive deliverable outputs, since this arrangement - it saves time on travel to different locations personally and for all the people I need to work with and so I get better engagement as IT infrastructure enables faster sharing of information with people outside of my organisation, sometimes many miles away. A blanket policy to insist that all back in the office FT would have a pretty catastrophic impact on the work I do, and they would have to accept I’d get less done, they’d need to pay more in travel expenses and my motivation would be severely impacted because of not being able to work as quickly as I do now.

I hate wfh I don’t really even have telephone calls and teams meetings. I moved a role where 50% of my work is outside my expertise but promised training etc wheh I joined but it hasn’t happened. It a high pressured role & previously having other people understanding the role removed a lot of stress and anxiety just by a quick swear eye role rant but it’s just me. I worked hybrid from 2005 1 or 2 days in school holiday which worked well round childcare it’s helps to be able to do that in school holidays even once kids are teenagers. To be honest more so I wouldn’t trust teens totally for days on end it can bring trouble. I’m grateful that a bit wfh meant I could do play dates and dance classes runs though. I would hold onto some days wfh until 18.
the last 5 years have wrecked my mental health I’ve gained 2.5 stone and retire to my bedroom at end of working as I hate being anywhere near my files and laptop.
i start a new role that will be hybrid but can go in when I want plus travel overnight few times a month. I literally can’t wait to do a good 2.5 hr commute again and be with people. My kids are adults so I don’t have to be at home.
other than financial and childcare I can’t understand why people want wfh full time it’s made me feel like I’m a very needy person.

I work from home part time, I'm three days a week with one day per month office based. I would delete that one day tbh and do total work from home, I'm reminded every month without fail why I'm happier and more productive outside the office!

Also I want to add as an already exhausted single mum I work 37.5 hours a week plus a 1.5 hour commute be grateful you don’t have that plus all the money spent on travel

A day I mean 1.5 hour day some days I’m trapped In car with a sore back I traffic London areas so not great I want to cry would do anything for an easier life

I literally can’t wait to do a good 2.5 hr commute again and be with people.

what I genuinely cannot understand, is what stopped you from taking these 2.5 hours to do something you enjoyed instead? What stopped you from joining a sports club, a class learning something, a craft club, or some volunteering to have a chat and a banter with others. The list of possibilities is endless.

You don't have to have a life through your job? What's stopping you from socialising out of the office?

Oh god the dreaded timesheet I feel your pain. I still function better in an office though a 3,min chat at coffee machine gets me remotivated. And it’s so much easier to explain or have explained work queries in real life with easier access to files and documents. A balance is perfect. I also think that people learn by osmosis by hearing seniors talk on phone and discuss complex issues amongst themselves. This just doesn’t happen in my job role it’s very hard over teams and telephone and you feel stupid riniging through so I waste 20 mins thinking it through before even picking up phone.

I think it's a personal thing and some people love working together physically in the same room.

I love working from home and since many of my colleagues and customers are abroad, going to an office to sit on calls makes no sense. I don't waste time commuting, I'm not polluting the environment with my commute and my hours can be flexible to fit with what needs doing that day.

Everyone is different.

My work has gone almost completely WFH and I love it. Loads of interactions on Teams, time to walk the dog, see the kids before and after school and I save about £300 a month on commuting and dog walker costs. I can understand some people not liking it but hopefully there is a job out there for the right mix for everyone?

I love WFH for a multitude of reasons. IBS, constant menopausal bloat, a range of varying intolerances which I’m still trying to navigate, suspected AuDHD. Also have a dog who struggles with being away from me. I am in the office one day a week and honestly if they tried to force us all back full time I would look for another job. I could never go back full time. Horses for courses I suppose

Ditto. I’m grateful for the day or 2 when kids were under 18 but last 5 years wfh full time as destroyed my zest for life

I just walked to the office so my commute wasn't far, I guess if it is then that would make wfh better. I found it truly awful even though I had a spare room to work in.

The short answer here is there’s not a one size fits all answer. If you had a long commute, when you got to your office it was all hot desks and you didn’t sit near your team, etc you’d be happy WFH / hybrid. You’re obviously in a different situation

I WFH three days a week and commute to the office twice a week and I find that is a good balance. It keeps the commuting cost down, allows me to get out of bed half an hour later when not commuting, and the working environment is excellent, it feels like a team where we are all pulling in the same direction as opposed to the classic hierachal structure of the office. Last Thursday we agreed to work from home instead of travelling to the office because the air conditioning was broken (the company rents office space) and the temperature was forecast to be pushing 30C in London, which was very welcome.

Everyone is different.

This is very true. However, when an individual does not sell their soul and conform to the workplace norm (where everyone is your 'friend') they may well be branded weird, odd, difficult, emotionally void.....

Perhaps difference is not respected or welcome hence the divide in responses.

People saying “I’m saving the planet by not commuting everyday” lol you do realise China is pumping out billions of tons of Co2 every year and the worlds millionaires are still flying round all over on private jets 😂

I have a small 2 bed bungalow, a small child and a dog. I work in my bedroom or on the sofa/at the fold out dining table in the living room depending on what I'm doing.

Love it. Works so much better for me and our life.

Not everything is about space.

I love wfh as it suits my current lifestyle situation. I would imagine if I wfh 10 years ago I would miss the office…but also 10 years ago I had less serious/stressful jobs so it was fun larking around chatting to people, going for lunch etc… at the moment it’s tough at work and tough juggling life so I do better without distractions.
The horror of rush ‘hour’ is something I will never miss!

Why can't you do 5 days a week in the office?

Maybe others like working from home to avoid certain people and only have to put up with them sparingly?

Personally I love hybrid, definitely don't want more office time. But I live quite far away so it's 3 hour round trip and £25 a day; if I lived closer I would be fine to go in more often
Some people go in lots more because it works for them so definitely think you should do this if you want (appreciate it's not the same if the whole team is not in though)

I hate working from home. I get lonely and bored, and end up eating too many biscuits. Fortunately my job isn't one that can really be done from home, apart from the very odd report writing day. I am far more productive in the office and to be honest, it's what they're paying me for.

I have gone back to the office full time but absolutely loved WFH and got so much more done! I am quite introvert, though, and enjoy my own company. WFH gave me the perfect work/life balance. I know it doesn't suit everyone.

Well, being a teacher and never having the option to wfh and being desperate to get out of teaching, I’d love to find a hybrid job, something my with flexibility which teaching certainly isn’t!! About 20 years ago I did leave teaching and got a project management job which was hybrid and loved it. It was initially work from home but out and about for meetings/events/training etc but managers changed and they gave us an office space but it still was never fully in the office. O loved that job, the variety, the flexibility, the managing my own calendar so that if I needed a full day at home I could, if I needed a couple of hours out in the day for an appointment I could and then work later that evening. We all got made redundant after 4 years as the funding from the government was pulled when labour went and tories came back in. Lol. I struggled to find work - over qualified and under experienced for many jobs - so ended back up teaching again where I’ve been for 13 years. I’m lucky that I can do part time and have needed that so that my days off can be used for the many appointments my autistic child has had to have from before being referred to post diagnostic issues. Have had my own issues needing physio etc. But financially i could really do with earning more than my part time salary but if going full time would still need flexi!! Its so hard to find anything. As a teacher I bring work home so I’m not against working at home, I just don’t get paid overtime for it!! It just has to be done. I also did a part time masters whilst working part time over a few years so did a lot of work in the house for that.

When I was a full time teacher I was ill too regularly. I had tonsillitis pretty much every half term. Usually because I didn’t rest up. When I got my hybrid job the tonsillitis disappeared. It was a full time job. But when I was poorly I could rest and work in stints without taking sick days. Or move things around so I was working at home and not mixing/using my voice so much. It just seemed a better work life balance. Including when my first child came along during that job.

I miss the hustle and bustle of the office. Being able to catch people for a quick chat, knowing what is going on. I go into the office three or four days a week but often it’s empty.

i have noticed meetings are moving back to in person more, particularly in the last year. This allows more informal discussion before and after the meeting, better relationships and just more information sharing.

i don’t think we will ever go back to 100% in the office but I think we will start interacting more in person than we do now.

I do 3 days in the office, 2 at home. While I'm fine with hybrid I much preferred full time remote.
My commute is tiring and I struggle to get home early enough to walk the dog these days. Plus it means I only see my husband about 4 hours a day. And then I'm less productive due to people "grabbing" me for a quick chat.
When I'm at home I see my husband and get a nice walk. I get twice as much done, I'm far less stressed. And those long email chains? Train folks to use a chat function or call you.

I'd never move to a job full time in the office and frankly I'd prioritise a fully remote job on looking around.