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!!!!

I understand your point of view here. However, I think sometimes the shift of focus to something practical and mindless (putting out washing, unloading a dishwasher) can help your brain find news ways to sort something out. My job is mainly creative though, so maybe that's not the case where there's just a set volume of similar tasks to work through. I also find ideas and solutions surfacing when I work out at home. When I was fully office based, I spent time wandering and chatting to colleagues. I can't sit for 8 hours and generate creative thinking. It doesn't work.

Actually i have just read the opening post again, the OP at no time said that she did housework in office hours

i thought that was the case but a number of posters have accused her of doing housework during working hours that I thought id been mistaken

I think OP’s strike through of “doing the housework” hadn’t helped her here.

No

its a lesson to us all, don’t say anything even vaguely flippant cos no one will let it lie….

where in her post does she say she does housework during working hours. 19 pages in and numourse people have siad that as you have no commute time you have more time to do housework hobbies etc. doesn't sound like it's being abused at all. it's not a privilege it's a different way of working. we are not all robots

WFH is pretty awful though - I hate it. Its cold, lonely, and there's nothing to stop me eating all the biscuits. I probably have a day at home every couple of months if I have a particular piece of work to finish, and inevitably I come back to the office to a ton of things that I have to sort out. I am far more productive in the office!

You must realise you’re in the minority preferring to work in the office every day though?

I don’t agree at all, employers/managers really should be monitoring productivity/performance, rather than just presenteeism otherwise they’re simply not doing their job properly. That should be the case whether 100% office or WFH.

Your choice of programme to watch I would criticise not wfh.

What I think is wrong is changing now when effectively wfh in its current way is at least three years old. How poor a manager are you if it takes three years to form an opinion about work productivity and whether to continue with wfh. Seems in the OPs case that it is a poor manager or director wanting to be seen doing something about poor performing team members instead of dealing with them directly.

I don’t think it’s great for one’s health being stuck sitting on a two hour daily commute, instead of being able to spend that time in the gym.

It's not really about choice to be fair. I work in an industry where noone works from home, except for a few admin people with reasonable adjustments, so it's not a thing for us.

I included my own experience for balance!

Some managers do think people will shirk when out of the office. Weirdly however, they trust those same people to wfh and deliver frequent additional work out of official hours.

I know right!! Didn't think it would become such a controversy that I just wanted a moan about how on random Thursday I didn't really feel like sitting in the traffic just so I could be seen in the office but was obliged to do so anyway!!

This thread started with an OP who used to be happy when she was working from home and doing all her housework during working hours.

At no pint in the original op or anywhere else have I said - or even intimated - i would be doing my housework during my working hours. I said, if I didn't have to commute for 3 hours a day I would be able to get all my housework done. You just assumed - and you know what that does!!

Lots of employers are happy to have their employees doing non work related bits and pieces during the day, alongside work. Because they know the work still gets done. That seems to be something that lots of posters can’t get their heads around though. The idea of working for an employer who wants you to be sitting at your work station every second of the day from 9-5.30 makes me shudder. So unnecessary. My husband often mows the grass whilst he’s on a teams call. He’s getting some exercise whilst listening to the call - what’s the issue with that?

I'm unemployed and loving the freedom actually. I rescue animals for no payment whatsoever. My workhouse joke alludes to your username having the year 1907 in it.

My guess it's JPMC.

JPMC????

You said that you multitasked so the inference was that you did your housework when you were also (supposed to be) working.

please show where exactly ?

JP Morgan Chase

Do you think we concentrate for 100% in the office either 😂 people coming over for a chat, making a drink I don’t really want/need, randomly opening spreadsheets etc. no job should mean you have to concentrate for 100% of an 8 hour day in my opinion