Do you like going in to the office?

[summermidnightsun]

Just wondered how people feel about this nowadays. Personally I find office days exhausting, hot desking stressful, and feel it’s something to endure. It would be easier if I could be someone who enjoys it but it makes me feel mentally drained.

YABU - I like going to the office
YANBU - I don’t like going

I've been wfh since March 2020, I couldn't cope with commuting into an office now.

Not if they knew where she lived when they hired her but the requirements have shifted since. I was hired on the basis that I lived 2.5 hrs from the office and that I’d go in ‘when necessary’ which was positioned as senior leadership meetings, and some face to face collaboration where it added value. The time was estimated as probably twice a month max. The goalposts have now moved and everyone, whatever they do and wherever their wider team is based (US in my case), has to go in 4 days a week. They made this change with one month’s notice and obviously loads of people can’t do it. I would be knackered and it’s not financially feasible as the train fare from where I live into London is extortionate. Added to the fact that there’s no annual pay review, supposedly to preserve jobs, it actually looks more like a cynical ploy to reduce headcount without actually having a RIF and incurring severance costs. I’m retiring anyway but I feel for younger colleagues impacted.

after my Dad died to support my mum yea, who is becoming increasingly disabled.

Hope that clears that up for you?

No. I go in less than once a week and even that’s too much. I find it noisy and distracting and I resent wasting my free time and money on the commute, as well as having to get up extra early.

I hate WFH, I do much better in the office with colleagues. I keep moving job because of it but hopefully I’ve now found somewhere where people are in the office regularly.

I understand why people like it but not for me.

If I want a rest I go to the office. People talk all the time, about 90 percent of the chat is completely unrelated to work, there's usually cake and people are lovely.

We've started an 'anchor day' and actually go to the office where everything works and the co-tenants are good people.

It's working well.

Yup. Me too!

I don’t mind it now but I couldn’t do full time. Hot desking is tiring. Going to the office, getting dressed up, dealing with the commute, sorting out everyone’s meals in the morning, trying to look half decent, doing a bit of internal networking - depending on my food it’s half fun and half arseache, but truth be told it just stores up more actual
work for the day after. None of this is work, but I wouldn’t be without it at all, for a change of pace and some company.

I work in a business that trains on the job and in theory it matters that we all show up a certain amount to coach or be coached. In practice we do all that on Teams and the young ones show up to make friends - not to be told by me how to do a technical thing, which I will do whenever they want (or dont ha ha) by screen sharing.

I cannot work from home at all and yes, I like being in the office. I don't think I would be as productive at home, though I know the opposite is true for many.

What’s your point? Your personal circumstances are not your employer’s concern.

Yes I like being I the office. Most people are in most days as we also do lab work. Working from home is so boring and lonely, but sometimes very handy!

I prefer the office. I get more done, it’s more set up for work than my home office and fewer distractions. I resent the blurring of work and home sometimes, and tend to work longer hours at home. When I worked from home full time during Covid it was really boring and lonely when the initial novelty wore off.

If it wasn’t for DD, I’d work from the office five days a week, but in reality I do two or three, just because of the flexibility it gives me with drop-offs and pick-ups. As she gets older I’ll move towards more days.

The other aspect is I supervise junior staff and it’s far easier to do that in the office, where I can provide ad hoc support. Better for them, better for me. It’s tricky when I’m at home and more disruptive.

its ok. I like the people and banter but two days a week is more than plenty for me 🤣🤣

From a societal point of view - employee's caring responsibilities will or will become a concern of employers. The state cannot pick up all the caring that is being filled by family - even with all the money in the world - there are not enough carers. The government NEEDS family members to fill in the gaps. Unless we want a nation of elderly and infirm people being cared for by swathes of unemployed ppl who have become economically inactive in order to pick up what the state cannot....

Luckily my boss (American) cared for his wife for a few years, and is very understanding of the toll it is taking on my personal life, my home life and completely understands the horror navigating the medical system, the physical difficulty of caring for someone in so much pain etc. She does not need me every second of every day, but she needs me several times a day, for about 5 mins at a time. I usually do what she needs when I get up to make my coffees, my/our lunches etc

My boss is brilliant with the balance, and I am actually doing really well in work with several new projects! It is just the home stuff that is really hard.

I think you are a nasty nasty person, and I am not engaging further.

I love going into the office, I work in a busy city and love everything about it except the cost of the commute and parking. I love picking an outfit and making an effort to look presentable -I feel my best when I am up and out. Sometimes people get chatty but if I want to focus I simply put my AirPods in. WFH is convenient for appointments etc, I go in the office approx 3 times a week. I also find when I WFH, I am not tired enough to get a good nights sleep, even if I go to the gym after work. I much prefer the office and being out and about

It used to be blocked but now there aren't enough desks so HR said it had to go back in the booking system. Though in any case people who hadnt bothered to book would plonke themselves down anyway if I didn't get there first. I do tell them to move but it's hassle I don't really like first thing in the morning.