AIBU To Think Remote Work Isn't Sustainable?

[HighlandsExpat]

I work a very stable, secure 9-5 corporate job. I have been in this role for 1.5 years. I work in the office three days a week but my team is in another city so I don't see them in person.

I realized today I often go the entire workday without speaking! Which is probably good for my facial wrinkles but actually detrimental to my mental health. I am social outside of work and feel happy with my life and friends, but do feel like my job is incredibly lonely and isolating. Which is odd because I just got a promotion and am taking on lots of responsibilities, but hasn't translated into actually meeting new people or even having to speak more. I send a lot of emails and am chatting on MS Teams all day. I know we aren't pre-pandemic when it was five days a week and you would sort of naturally form relationships at work, but I cannot imagine being in this job in a few years.

AIBU to think this isn't sustainable? Do others feel this way sometimes? All of this is triggered because an old colleague emailed to wish me happy birthday and organized a virtual coffee chat. It made me a bit sad because I haven't had one of those (coffee with a colleague) since I left my old job.

Very true - different people like different things, there is room for both view points and for a mix of remote, hybrid and 5-day in the office jobs

But if anyone doesn’t like their WFH job, then please vacate it for someone who will appreciate it

There are studies on the links of the challenges to mental health from wfh, including from the NHS. I only intended to share my experience though and I quite appreciate it is different for lots of people.

In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic I expected hybrid and fully remote to work better than it is now it has applied over a longer period. It is challenging to get it right.

The sarcasm, arsiness and bitching on this thread is absolutely off the scale!

I should save it as an example for when someone posts the next "Why are Mumsnetters such a bunch of cunts nowadays?" thread and loads of people says they're not and deny anything's changed.

You simply cannot be that dogmatic and be right for everyone.

Sure there will be people for whom WFH is a downer for Mental Health but that maybe down to the way their employer runs WFH, or the type of work.

If WFH is a substitute for childcare then (again) management should be on that if it affects performance.

If WFH allows you to flex around the school run, or hanging the washing out, that's a bonus too. A 30 minute break to collect the kids with conditioned hours still done and output targets met?

What's the problem.

The Civil Servants comment is ill informed nonsense.

Barbecue Ministers haven't the cojones to face down the Mail etc over WFH there's a mandate for 50% in the office irrespective of role etc. My son found this meant he couldn't let his staff WFH during bad snow.

For me personally I wouldn’t last five minutes working from home, it would destroy my mental health. I work in a supermarket and chat to people all day long.

Agree with this.

By some point, people know what works for them and what doesn’t.

I also think it’s hilarious that some ignore that people who take the piss will always take the piss no matter whether they wfh or not.

I’ve seen plenty do so working in a physical place and like many things, wfh, hybrid, fully in the office it is entirely down to management on whether it works and often bad management keeping such people on and letting them bring down the environment.

Bad managers themselves are just as bad if not worse.

It does look like some posters don’t like people getting certain options that weren’t available to them before. Childcare thing constantly comes up. As long as someone is doing their work well, why does it matter that someone pops out to pick up their children and return home to continue. If it doesn’t work, that is the person themselves, not the type of work. I think some need to also just concentrate on their own work and mind their business about others’ employment if they don’t know their contracts and/or not their boss.

see that would make me murder someone.