5 days in the office - rant!!!

[DonnyDoris]

My company mandated 5 days in the office a couple of months ago, which in principle I have no issues with. However, my commute is just over an hour on motorways that have long term roadworks, so massively tedious and today I have no meetings so absolutely no reason to be here other than presenteeism. Could have got so much more done and also all my housework if I could've worked from home 😖Just needed to get that off my chest!!!!

If lots of people were asked to return to the office, five days a week, then wouldn't yours and many others commute be longer? I love the fact that I can get a seat on the train to London now on my office days. On maternity leave in the late 00s and early 10s I couldn't! Equally, prior to my current job, I had to drive to work and post COVID it was so much better due to the lack of pressure on the roads.

I don’t think you’ll be missed. Plenty of people lined up to do your job.

How do you know?

if there is a problem then instead of a blanket rule for everyone management should deal with the problem
the few mins putting on the washing machine is no different to the people in the office scrolling on their phone taking extra long lunches. walking the long way round the office to kill time.
Trust doesn't happen by having bums on seats. Trust happenes via performance and productivity.
if you read all the posts properly on this thread people are saying that as no commute can multi task etc while doing work or are expecting to be avaliable at certain times of the day. I for one have a tidy hose yes because I work from home bar one day in the office. because I have no commute because I am more time because I am not as tired because I can keep on top of things instead of having to do a big clean a weekend. I can actually say yes to go out during the week to the cinema or see friends or go to an exercise class as I have more time. I don't have to get up at 5am in the morning and come in the door around 7 in the eve. my boss is very happy with my work
why can't people see things can work differently the world gas changed dramatically since before covid it's not going back to 2019 again

I have no choice but to do virtual meetings. I am the only one who does my job in my office. there is another person who works in the office the other side of the country am dealing with him nearly 7 years now and have never physically met him. but I talk nearly every day to him inetrcat on teams and video calls. the rest of my team are in Germany Denmark USA to name a countries. I would love to meet them face to face. but there is no budget to allow travel anymore. the people I deal with in my office here work in a high contagious part of teh factory which requires alot of garb up etc to physically go see them. so I end up video calling etc. because they work shift I miss them sometimes due to time difference
all of this though has not reduced any relationships I have with them. we have the crack and banter and help each other out when needed. more importantly when they are asked to do something I knwo they will do it. as I trust them without having to physically watch them

Companies that aren’t offering some wfh when competitors are struggling to recruit. I’ve been interviewing this week in a hard to recruit area and everyone asked re our policy (one day in office a week)

Not when being paid to do a particular job.

People are so ridiculous. You dodnhave a lunch break WFH where you could do an hours housework.

We hahge to go in the office certain days but sometimes there isn't much going on so we have to sit there doing...nothing. So you can be paid to sit there doing nothing or be paid to sit down at home doing...nothing.

I find the blanket statement of ‘working from home is bad for mental health’ to be flawed and lacking evidence. Flexible working, including working remotely, can often very much improve someone’s quality of life and functioning. Stressful commutes tend to add nothing positive to someone’s day and won’t increase productivity in the office. Remote working allows many people to have a better work-life balance and is easier for childcare too, as time can be spent picking up/collecting a child from nursery/school without having to factor in commuting. Those with disabilities and long term conditions may only be able to work remotely, and have found home working has enabled them to be able to stay in work.

Most of us have families, friends, interests and hobbies outside of work - just because we work from home doesn’t mean we don’t have rich social lives outside of work! As an NHS clinician my day is always booked up with meetings and appointments, even if I was in the office I am not there to socialise.

If someone felt working from home was bad for their mental health then the solution would be for them to look for in person or hybrid roles. These aren’t hard to find. I find it bizarre that so many on MN don’t seem to be able to recognise that others have different views and experiences to them.

I think lots of people commenting negatively about the OP, don't really have a clue as is evident by the laundry comments. It entirely depends on your job and whether the quality and deliverables are what is being paid for not how many hours you are in an office- use your imagination for goodness sake! I have a neighbour who gets paid for fixing problems, it is niche and he is paid a high amount to just fix the issue, once he has done that he does what he like with his time. I see him running, cycling, out and about loads, it doesn't matter to the people who pay as it is about whether he has done the job that the people paying can't do!

I agree and on my office days of I have a big piece of work that requires concentration I know I'm going to be working later than at home due to the office environment as it is open plan. I do like seeing people but inevitably it is a longer day than at home.

No - they are being forced by those who rent the buildings out.

OP's employer, who knows her better than any of us, wants her in the office. Every day. Where they can see her.

OP has volunteered enough information about how she occupies her working day at home that we can take a wild guess at what might be concerning her employer and probably guess right.

Just to put your mind at rest, I had my annual review last week and there are no concerns. In fact, I'm classed as exceed in both my What and my How, so you really don't need to worry on that score

Trust me, no one is worrying 🤣 time to get back to work OP… seeing as you ‘excel’ so much…

Oh don’t be silly

she just said that everyone is having to go in, its not so they can see her 😒

Nothing says social beings and good mental health like “stop whinging”!

yes this is so true. a friend of mine works in a place doing three days on site (rumoured to be more in 2026) they lost their customs expert (since brexit and trump this is so complex ) before the summer he has gone to a company where he only has go in one day a week and has more flexibility on time start etc. position has been open since then but can not be filled. its a very specialist role but due to the three days on site can't be filled as competitor's offering better. and it's a role that requires dealing with people outside the company mostly so only being on site to be seen. the company has had to pay fines had lots of late shipments ect since he gone

All staff have to go in so how have you come to that conclusion?

I like seeing people in the office well some people but personally I fulfill social interaction needs via friendships outside of work.

But that only makes sense in a small organisation where your team is in one place.

My team is all over the world so we have to use virtual calls. I go into the office a couple of days a week but only one member of my team goes to the same office. We probably speak more on calls than in the office on those days.

Our revenue and growth rate is great, so it clearly works for us.

I do understand it is different for smaller companies based in one office though.

You've hit the nail on the head. "Paid to do a particular job" not paid to sit at your desk for 8 hours. If can hit your deliverables then that's case closed in my opinion.

Of course if you're paid by the hour I'm talking rubbish but salary based roles are not time paid but rather KPI lead

@StinkyCheeseMoose I see no reason for my boss to insist I go into the office because I am contractually home based - and if they did insist on it they would be breeching my contract. I have been in this organisation since 2018 and promoted twice. Clearly soooo bad at my job.

Not to mention they permanently shut all our offices bar head office way before Covid.

If you think companies can demand whatever the like from their workers and workers should just roll over and take it I feel sorry for you.
We aren't all boot licking corporate drones, and that is most definitely a good thing.

Like I said earlier my work (as all good employers should) encourages screen breaks, regularly for at least 15 mins - and they are more than happy with me doing what ever I fancy in those breaks - laundry, a quick hoover, popping to the post office, a joe wicks 15 min HIIT - whatever. They know about it, and they do not think I or anyone else who does this is "taking the piss" as they actively encourage it.

If your work makes is genuinely bothered about what you do while the kettle boils, you must work for such a tedious place.

Coming at this from a different perspective. I do get that experienced employees feel they don’t need to be in the office 5 days a week however I am also reading about our young people who are struggling in the workplace or with mental health. When I started working many years ago it was really easy to ask someone else in the office for support when tackling new challenges and understanding how to do things in line with company policy. As a new employee I relied on those interactions with the experienced team members. During Covid I started a new job obviously working from home. While I had lots of experience it was within a brand new industry that I wasn’t that familiar with and I struggled with some elements of the role as there was a lot of time delay in getting responses to questions. Other employees would be showing unavailable and it took time to get responses. I would have to approach lots of different people whereas when I was office based there were quite a few people around and sometimes a person would overhear your questions and be able to contribute. Often an experienced employee can do a lot of their role from home themselves but new employees rely on their experience to find their feet and develop in their own careers and this support is not effective from a distance. I personally feel I owe the next generation this support as it was given to me. Plus I have great memories of nights out after work in my twenties with my work colleagues which so many younger workers are missing out on now.

Young people aren’t being forced into working full time from home. There are plenty of office based or hybrid jobs available.

I am yet to meet a young person who does not see the benefits of being able to work from home sometimes.