To be so glad WFH became a thing (and to absolutely hate anyone who tries to curtail its availability)

[Designless]

It's just life changingly good

We've been wfh since Mar 2020, it has saved the company a fortune in rent, rates and utilities and we've been given perks and payrises that the cashflow now allows and the Work/ life is incredible.

However our business is commercial property ownership, so get back in the office everyone!! We want employees in offices whilst not doing it ourselves 🤨, do I sound like a certain Clacton MP?

As someone who is 95% office based, I have benefitted hugely from so may people
working from home. My London commute time is reduced by about 50 % when driving as there a fewer cars on the road. If I’m on public transport I mostly find a seat.

I’m hybrid and I think it’s the best of both worlds. Still connect with my team but get time to get stuff done in the quiet and less commuting. Everyone in my work seems to have a much better work life balance than when we had to be in the office full time.

I get people’s concerns for new people into the workforce, but let’s remember these are the generation who live their life online anyway. So for them it’s normal, most of them wouldn’t want to be in the office full time like some of us were at the start of their career.

It's brilliant, I don't think I could ever go back to being in the office full time again. I find the office far too noisy and I hate the dirty kitchen & bathrooms. I'm still on teams calls for part of the day anyway, just with added distractions.

The money I would have spent on travel and additional childcare, I now spend in the town I live in (coffees, shopping, gym, nails etc).

Of course people do their washing while working! It’s not an issue but it loads do.

I've friends who get their weekly shop in work time too.

This doesn’t mean it should stop as they are still working hard but don’t pretend these things don’t happen!!!

Should add I now WFH and it is such a doddle compared to being in my previous job. Such a better work life balance

I find it so funny when people get irate about people doing their washing, nipping out to a nail appointment.
A. Not every call i am on requires me to be on camera or take notes, or even contribute for the most part, and my company issues a wireless headset as standard so of course im going to put my washing on.
B. Its called flexible working, which a lot of people who get upset about wfh also get irate about...

I agree @Designless I returned to work last year after a long break and I honestly don't think I could've returned to FT in the office. I get a balance between WFH, office and site work and it's great, but if I had to commute every day and sit the office I just don't think I could've stuck with it. I used to do it five days a week, but now? <shudder>

‘No one does their washing whilst working’…really?!

I can’t do my job from home but on occasions where I’m doing training, that’s possible and I have always put washing on, put the dinner in etc etc

My DH WFH every day and often does things like this, I find it bizarre to think people wouldn’t!

Agree. I’m a teacher so couldn’t WFH unless I changed jobs. But my partner fully wfh and it’s great. He (happily) gets so many jobs done during the day, which frees up our out of work time. He starts at 9am (I’m out the door at 7.30) so usually after his shower and his breakfast he uses 8.30-9am to spend his “commute time” as we jokingly call it, putting laundry on and emptying the dishwasher from the night before. On his hour lunch break, as well as eating and having some chill time, he preps all the veg for our evening meal and hangs the laundry. He finishes at 4.30 and whilst he waits for me to come home he might hoover or similar sort of job. We both agree it’s perfect as if he was in the office and we were both out all day, we’d have to come home to all these jobs. Which I know a lot of people who don’t wfh have to do, but it works nicely for us.

I'm a teacher so can't do the bulk of my work from home, but I can absolutely see how productivity can be amazing WFH. I do 2-3 hours WFH in the evenings after DC have gone to sleep every night, and I get so much done that would be hard to achieve if I tried to do the same at school after the pupils have gone home. WFH at weekends is trickier as the family are around, but needs must. Would be nice if the WFH hours were billable though.

Agree. I’m a teacher so couldn’t WFH unless I changed jobs. But my partner fully wfh and it’s great. He (happily) gets so many jobs done during the day, which frees up our out of work time. He starts at 9am (I’m out the door at 7.30) so usually after his shower and his breakfast he uses 8.30-9am to spend his “commute time” as we jokingly call it, putting laundry on and emptying the dishwasher from the night before. On his hour lunch break, as well as eating and having some chill time, he preps all the veg for our evening meal and hangs the laundry. He finishes at 4.30 and whilst he waits for me to come home he might hoover or similar sort of job. We both agree it’s perfect as if he was in the office and we were both out all day, we’d have to come home to all these jobs. Which I know a lot of people who don’t wfh have to do, but it works nicely for us.

Yes agree, it has saved me a needless 2 hour commute everyday.

WFH is why I was made redundant. Office facilities management ceased to be necessary so I was made redundant so no, I don’t see it as being wonderful like the majority on this post.

As well as what I posted earlier, it also works well for me because I'm juggling my job around demanding level of care for DH who is disabled and has multiple conditions that require a fair amount of hands on care. I have flexibility to increase the one WFH day to more client depending, and this is reassuring in my circumstances.

My job cannot be done at home but i completely agree that wfh is a positive thing in so many ways.
The type who 'skive' are going to do it wherever they are working so i think the majority who it's great for should be able to carry on .
I can't see how any one outside of the wfh companies has any right to dictate what building a company should work from, as long as the work gets done surely that's all that matters .

It’s made my life easier - can drop off and pick up DS from school. It also helps my employer as I have previously logged on at 9:30 at night to sort an issue asap.

It can be isolating but the pros outweigh the cons for me and my family.

There's nothing wrong with doing your washing while you're working at home. You're not supposed to sit in front of a screen for 8 hours every day without a break from it. 5-10 minutes every hour away from the screen. What's the problem? Is staring at the screen for 8 hours at home how you're supposed to prove you're worthy of it?

WFH is the reason I am still doing my job. I am very skilled and good at my job.

My DC was one in 2020 when Covid hit. I was on the verge of quitting as couldn’t handle silly commute into London and being a mum.

Everyone in my household is happier. I’m a high performer so my company is benefiting too.

I really like it, although I moved from FT WFH to hybrid last year after 5 years of permanent home working. I just felt I needed to venture out a bit more. In winter especially I could find myself cooped up for days, which wasn’t healthy I don’t think. But I’d hate to go back to FT office work and I’m grateful to have a job that is suited to home working

I'm sorry to hear that. On the flip side, being made to go into the office again would mean I would need to leave my job too. So I love it.

I'm sorry to hear that. Unfortunately this happens when work/society evolves, though. Years ago there were multiple jobs available, eg checkout operators, counter bank staff, miners, ship builders, lots of others, that have phased out because things have changed. Also years ago someone like me may not have been able to bring money into the household because my at home care responsibilities are so high. I am in office 3 days out of 4 with some additional flexibility if needed. But without that I would struggle.

I love love love my WFH job. Up in the morning, gym, home, shower, see my kids off out the door, work all day, prep dinner on my lunch break, see my kids when they come in for 15 minutes, work some more, have dinner and chill all evening. No traffic, no miserable journey home, no rushing the gym or having to skip cos of diversions or road works etc, no converstaions i do not care about, no hideous over head strip lighting and constant back ground noises, I average 127% of my targets, i would never ever achieve that in an office environment. I love it.

I’m a hybrid worker and feel I get the best of both worlds (I get stir crazy if I work 100% from home). I’ll use my lunch hour to go to the gym, put a wash on etc but I’m pretty flat out during the working day. I still use wraparound care for the kids.

I have to say, it’s my teacher friends and family who spit the most bile about WFH.

I’m hybrid and it’s transformational.

I can’t even remember what it was like to go into the office 5 days a week. It feels utterly insane now.

I’m sure it makes a huge difference in keeping women with younger children in the workforce which has to be a positive.

I’ve been headhunted for two amazing jobs post covid and both times declined to even consider on the basis that they required 5 days in the office. There is nothing that would make me go back to that.