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!!!!

@TheCatsTongue FFS this is so boring now - OP had a total commute time of 3+ hrs a day - it is the saved commute hours she would use on house work not working hours.

This is an easy thing to understand.

This totally, exactly what I was thinking.

You're supposed to be at work...

Yes it was, but times have changed. Employers need to adapt if they want the best people.

No, she is supposed to be at work
Not doing a quick load of laundry and a quick hoover and a quick tidy up..

I don't think it's that at all.

It's seeing the grown up adults behaving like children and having a tantrum/ " rant" when they've been asked something completely reasonable by their employer.

See title of thread.

Because when people make a coffee in the office kitchen they go back to their desk while the kettle is boiling so they don’t waste a precious minute of slaving away at the laptop!

Meanwhile in the real world……..

I refuse to do a job that mandates 5 days in the office.

Point blank refusal.

The best people aren't those who want to use WFH to do everything else in their lives.

We all did the big commutes before, but I can remember back to 2018, when i had a 12 month old baby in nursery, a 3 hour a day commute and office working 5 days a week. By Friday afternoons I would be physically shaking from tiredness. I used to SLUR MY WORDS. Not kidding. No one else would’ve noticed but it happened.

work didn’t get the best me, home didn’t get the best me and I certainly didn’t get best me. Stressed, anxious, everything done slightly manically, life ruled by the state of the M25, late for everyone, no time to put real thought or creativity into my work.

post Covid I work from home 2 days a week. The time I spent commuting I spend getting up to speed on housework. At breakfast and lunch I eat fresh nutritious meals. By 5.30
I can be in the gym or at the park with the kids.

on the days I work I’m out the house 6am-7pm and walk 3 miles a day. I enjoy being in the office but a balance is best.

We need to stop pretending we are more productive from home, stop saying people distract us in the office (it makes us look weak) and stop working through our imaginary commute time. Be honest- it is better for my wellbeing, and I think I give a better person to work everyday because I am more relaxed and energised.

i can’t tell the the number of perm WFH request I get stating the person is “more productive” from home when a) they don’t have any evidence to demonstrate this and b) I’m not actually running a sweatshop that involves wanting more and more and more “productivity” - for most people, I just want a job well done.

YANBU OP.

Presenteeism is ridiculous! What a big waste of time, money and petrol that commute is.

Hope you can move to a company that respects its employees’ time and work ethic more when the option arises.

Laundry is housework. I can easily do laundry while working. And even when in the office people take breaks. What I would spend on a break at the office I also take breaks at home.

Working from home is nothing to do with any of those rights and you are being disingenuous to suggest it has.

I completely understand why employers want staff in the office who think working from home is an opportunity to do their housework, or pretend they can do their weekly laundry in the time it takes to boil a bloody kettle.

That’s what I have done several times

I know LOl at this. Do people think we do jobs where we park our arses on the chair at 9am and stay firmly there bashing away until 5.30pn when we’re allowed “out”?!

Indeed, the best people tend to be those who can organise their time efficiently and balance their work and personal lives. Many of those now want to WFH some of the time, having demonstrated that this works during Covid. It's very easy to get housework done around WFH without impacting productivity or response times.

Honestly I hear this all the time. If it worked for employers why are they demanding people come back.

Add to wfh - walking the dog, school runs, ironing, having a friend drop round for coffee, leaving early for school plays and I’d course having no childcare and managing to hide this and before you know it work is just something you try and fit in.

I have worked for a large FTSE where you visited clients 50% of time but were based at home. No one micro manged you. A retail role and now a WfH role at end of career. I have seen it all. My view after 45 years is that a sizeable % of people take the piss. Some are found out but some do end up blagging it. It should not be for the employer to spend hours tracking what an employee is doing. I knew someone who would go onto Teams at 0700. Put himself on Do Not Disturb and go back to bed for hours. No manager can easily find out that is exactly what he was doing. When you are late to the office it’s very visible. Not visible if you are working at home.

This!

People pretending people never take breaks in the office.

@Finteq you've never ever once had little rant about an issue at work?

SURE Jan.

Its actually not called 'life'. It's called rush hour when too many people are struggling to get to work places all at the same time.
If only there was a way for those who didn't have to travel to do their jobs to stay home and do them....

Agree. As I said earlier since our HO (based in the US) mandated 5 days in the office we have found recruiting next to impossible
We’ve had a senior role advertised for nearly 6 months now and had 3 candidates refuse the offer when they were told there’s no flexibility offered.

The best people isn’t measured by that is it? As a senior leader I am on 4 boards as a non exec. That takes me away from my day job. What’s the difference? I’m the best because I’m so in demand in these strategic, related roles and it makes the company look good to have me there. It’s not hard graft at my laptop though is it? I do my washing too (sometimes in said board meetings 🤨)

@StinkyCheeseMoose they are all benefits we didn't used to have - they are now thankfully rights.

Why are you so against progress?

All the top companies and employers have a huge proportion of WFH because they know it attracts the best staff. Perhaps if your employer isn't offering it you are just crap at your job?

For me, and IMe the biggest reason companies want employees back is culture. Their employees are less interested, less integrated, and the slightly culty “corporate family” started disintegrating. The corporate family is what keeps people going above and beyond in their jobs, secures future leaders etc. it is less effective from home. The companies simply aren’t doing as well, or don’t feel they’re doing as well.

Why does it make me “look weak” that I find it distracting to have multiple people talking loudly on the phone or catching up about their weekend inches from my desk, while I try to concentrate on the latest payments legislation or whatever? That’s before you get into any type of ND (known weaklings huh 😂).

Open plan offices are just rubbish for most work IME - poor for concentration, unprofessional for clients to hear other conversations happening in the background, and awful for confidentiality. I had my own office for years (or shared with one other person) before moving to my current firm, and it was SO much better. You can have people round to your office for calls and meetings easily, and just shut the door so others aren’t disturbed. I assume open plan just saves a truckload of money for the firm.

Anyway sorry I digress - and very weak of me to expect a suitable working environment I know 😂