To struggle to see the appeal of full time remote working?

[YasminaJ]

I’ve been fully remote in a new role for the past month and had heard so many positive things about remote working, no commute etc.

I am finding the opposite though. Cabin fever despite having a healthy social life outside of work and teams calls really don’t replace that in person connection for me. I just feel like there’s more to life than staying in my house all week for work. I have a seperate office room etc.

I will give it a bit longer but am thinking maybe I’m just someone who needs to be around people? Has anyone been in a similar situation and found it improved?

Different strokes for different folks, exactly. So therefore mandating that everyone participates in a or b in spite of knowing how they might feel about it is universally a bad move. Allow individuals to choose, or don't complain about a dip in morale or a resignation or two further down the line.

I'm team WFH, by the way.

This is the problem really, too many people make vast sweeping generalisations when what they actually mean is this is what I've gleaned based on the people I know.

And actually it would be fine to say, I think in person really is/not essential in my particular line of work based on X and Y, and while I realise it might mean we miss out on some talent I think Z benefits outweigh that. Would be a genuinely useful insight.

It does for me. We have PCs with multiple monitors and need an absolutely silent environment. We are not allowed to work in a public space.

I'm a bit of an aberration because I'm a massive introvert and yet I'd hate to be WFH full time.

I'm hybrid and meant to be in the office 2 days a week and usually stick to that (lots of people don't and seem to be trying to get away with 1 day or 0 days by stealth. It's amazing how some people can only manage to get a dentist appointment on the only days they are meant to be in the office!).

It really does me good to have a change of scene and speak to colleagues and clients in real life. I start to get terrible cabin fever wfh day after day especially in the winter as its a long hours job and by the time I finish it's dark and so I can't really go out for a walk or anything.

In addition our pay rises and bonuses are tied to KPIs including business development which is very hard to do without face to face client stuff, plus visibility is important to the senior partners when considering promotions. So people aren't doing themselves any favours by hiding away at home. Oh well, all the more chances for the rest of us.

To be fair to them, our team is much smaller than it used to be and if it's a week when a few people are on leave or attending a client office, it's possible to go in and see absolutely no immediate colleagues and think "what was the point of that"? Plus my train fare to London is also bloody expensive! I'm less sympathetic to people who live in London and still can't seem to manage to come in ...

Same for me, my work involves personal data so I could never work from a cafe or shared space. It’s a little annoying when it’s always suggested on here as an alternative to office working.

Some people might like hybrid yes, but for others it might be the worst of both worlds!

I think it can be good compromise if it’s a genuine choice or to accomplish specific tasks that really cannot be achieved from home. The problem is trying to force people to come in to office when they don’t perceive any benefit to it, but simply because you think you know what is best for them.

"So people aren't doing themselves any favours by hiding away at home. Oh well, all the more chances for the rest of us."

So just like that you write off perfectly capable human beings because they're not fans of days in the office like you are, and then you celebrate because you think that'll boost your odds of climbing up the rungs?

If they do get let go for not showing enthusiasm for the social theatre that is the office, they might be relieved of being corporate dogs bodies anyway.

I 100% wfh, as I work for an overseas company. I do miss office life, but given that I unexpectedly had to navigate 2 teens dropping out of school with EBSA for 2 years -with all the attendant emails, calls, meetings etc - after the pandemic, I am very grateful to still be holding onto my job. And the kids are both back in education now.

It isn't me who sets the key performance indicators. That's the equity partners and it's driven by what clients want/need.

Fair enough if people decide the requirements are not for them. They can always switch industry if ours is too corporate-dogsbody for them. There are plenty of professions more suited to home working and minimal visibility.

But no, I'm not sorry that other people taking themselves out of the picture has improved my own opportunities for progression. I'm just playing the game in the way that suits me, like most other people. Should I really turn down a promotion because Johnny is cleverer but clients don't want to give him work because they haven't a clue who he is?

Your success within the company shouldn't hinge on whether or not others decide it's not for them. Your success is entirely on you. My God it's like talking to someone who owes her career success to having had an abortion. Just disgusting.

I do 3.5 days from home and 1 day in the office. I'd be happy to do fully remote, I see work as something to get out of the way and I dont like how it dominates my whole Thursday. But I have a horse and go to the stables every morning, so do a lot of mundane chatting there so dont need the office for that. My commute is about 50 mins so I waste nearly 2 hours. I think it depends on your personality, your job and what you do outside of work.

OK. Thanks for your interesting comments. My children are both alive and well if that helps ease your disgust.

I have been fully WFH for 12 years (overseas companies) and love it. It came at a good time in my career where the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
I am neither strongly intro or extrovert.
I do have a rich and varied social and sporting life (clubs) outside of work and also have people in my village I go for a walk with during the day sometimes.
I am a lone parent and the flexibility it gives me has helped enormously.

I have worked entirely from home bar a very occasional (like twice a year) in-person meeting for over twenty years, and I love it. But I do think that you need to have very firm boundaries about not getting sucked in to working outside your actual working hours.

I am lucky enough to have a dedicated office room. I have a tiny fridge, one person soup maker, small kettle and comfy chair as well as my desk and PC set up. I go in there in the morning, having loaded up the fridge with what I need and only really come out to go to the loo or if I want a hot lunch that isn't soup. At the end of the day I come out, clear the fridge and wash up whatever I've used - and work is over.

If I was working at the kitchen table or whatever I think I would struggle with it a lot more. As it is, I'm basically working in an office which doesn't contain any annoying people or distractions and also doesn't involve commuting. This suits me really well. I'm an introvert doing very detail-oriented work and need the quiet to concentrate.

Covid was a nightmare. I had the rest of my family in and out of my space, including demands to print out homework sheets, scan essays to hand in, and give my input into gardening decisions or food shopping. Friends kept saying 'I suppose nothing much has changed for you, has it?' and I was like 'ACTUALLY I'M HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME - TOO MANY PEOPLE AND TOO MUCH NOISE'.

I am surprised people are allowed to do this. Rules around confidentiality and data security mean we are only allowed to work in the office or at an agreed (non public) location.

You must know that in some industries, working with or speaking to the “right people” helps massively when it comes to promotions? I don’t think that’s completely unusual? Well, visibility in the office comes into that.

It’s fine if it’s not for you, but you don’t need to be stoppy about and make weird comparisons.

I'm aware, yes. People can chase promotions if they want to, they know where their bread is buttered.

Some others are fine as they are, want to be left alone and are sick of being considered low quality or low performers for wanting to stay where they are. I've seen this happen and the way people speak to those people is abhorrent. They don't want to be forgotten just because they choose to not be visible, they want to get work done and get paid. Another way of putting it is that they work to live, not live to work. Once the day is over with, the office politics gets dumped in the doorway before they exit the premises.

I’m fully remote bar maybe an office day every couple of months.

Love it. I’m a much nicer person outside of work when I don’t have to put a sociable face on all day every day. Happiest I’ve been in years.

It very much depends on the role. My job is computer networking at a university and as long as I'm using the work VPN which is protected by two-factor authentication and various other cleverness, there's no realistic risk. If you want to watch over my shoulder while I run a traceroute, come up with some inventive expletives in response to someone else trying to make their problem my problem, or answer an email about how we can't guarantee wifi coverage in the toilets and stairwells, then fill your boots; you're really not going to learn anything useful. I make very sure I don't go anywhere near the systems that have GDPR-relevant data because I have no reason to.

To be honest, the biggest reasons I tend to work from home rather than the local cafe is that my home set-up has got two big monitors and a better keyboard, I can spend 40p per cup of coffee rather than £4, and I don't have to wear socks.

For some jobs it does
mine was on the phone so I couldn’t work anywhere else and I also needed 2-3 monitors

Being sat at your desk all day, even with soup maker and fridge etc is really not healthy or a good idea. I do hope you factor some proper breaks into your day, no matter how busy you are.

Covid was a nightmare. I had the rest of my family in and out of my space, including demands to print out homework sheets, scan essays to hand in, and give my input into gardening decisions or food shopping. Friends kept saying 'I suppose nothing much has changed for you, has it?' and I was like 'ACTUALLY I'M HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME - TOO MANY PEOPLE AND TOO MUCH NOISE'.

This was me too! I went from peace and quiet all day to having 7 people here full time. Although in the end, because I was already used to WFH, I fared much better than those who were not home adjusted. To start with though...
I ended up getting very, very fit, as the hour(ish) outside each day was spent running as far as I could to get away from them and then reluctantly running back. 🤣

Yabu. I'm an introvert and I love it. No office politics, I get so much work done and I'm less stressed by work than I've ever been.

I can't think.of anything worse than remote working. I love going into work and connecting with people. Online meetings leave me cold. My DH works from home nearly all the time since Covid and has become more and more introverted. I have colleagues who wfh often and they miss out on so much. I think it has a detrimental effect on the workplace. OP - I.would definitely rethink your decision.

I can't think.of anything worse than remote working. I love going into work and connecting with people. Online meetings leave me cold. My DH works from home nearly all the time since Covid and has become more and more introverted. I have colleagues who wfh often and they miss out on so much. I think it has a detrimental effect on the workplace. OP - I.would definitely rethink your decision.