Will your companies let you work from home after lockdown has ended

[Makinitrain]

I mean it's great being able to work from home, great for the planet, I suspect good for mental health.
However I imagine that many companies, including mine, will be quick to take it away as soon as they can. Is this because of productivity concerns? Any other reason?

I also imagine WFH isn't great for other businesses which rely on people commuting and meeting after work/ lunchtime.
Thoughts?

My work were really against it unless extenuating circumstances like mine but were planning to trial it to see how it went anyway. It’s been a really good experience for us. They don’t want to lose the social aspect of seeing each other BUT are really keen on implementing it going forward due to increased productivity, impact on carbon footprint and not having to buy new premises as we’re about four hires away from not having space for everyone.

Yes. I used to WFH twice a week anyway, suspect it will be more now.

Less than a third of us can fit in the office under social distancing guidelines so everyone who can work from home will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We already have some staff working in the office (key workers) and that number won’t increase by much even when restrictions are eased.

Thing is if millions continue to wfh it will have an big economic impact on industries that support commuting & office environments.

Think of all that wasted productivity that can now be channeled into something else. Instead of having people clean your office they could clean your home.

Yes. I've been told I won't be back to the office until Jan at the earliest.

Social distancing will still be a thing and work are very worried about it. I may have the odd day when I need to be in for something physical but 99% of time can wfh including meetings.

My company are very flexible with WFH anyway so imagine that will continue

Yes, because it is working very well so far, and the lease on the building ends in the next few months. Before lockdown they were looking to downsize and move into a smaller building. Having as many people WFH as possible will be a massive saving for them.

I have been thinking about this a lot and did a blog about it on LinkedIn.

I do think people will find companies more amenable to WFH for at least some of the time as many of the arguments around productivity, reliability etc are now not going to be very compelling. However, as other posters have pointed out, I think it's unrealistic to expect complete WFH for everyone. For some people, it's just not practical - I've been WFH on my bed or using the very small desk in our bedroom because DH and the kids are downstairs and I can't concentrate. Even when DC go back to school, they'll be around in the afternoons/holidays.

Also, there's no doubt that some things work better when people are in groups.

What I hope is that firms will get more creative. In particular, I'd like to see decentralisation of large offices so that smaller offices are available more locally. Staff living nearby can gather in those offices part of the time with all the practical and social benefits that come from that and/or work from home with only occasional trips into the main office. Agree with others that ideally, a team should sync their days in the main office so they're all together.

But I don't any of this will happen. I think people who currently aren't allowed to WFH will be given the option to do one or two days and those who are already doing it might get an extra day. More central london and other large offices may move to a hot desk system as they'll see that not having everyone in the office is a money saver. And I have real concerns about what that does for morale and cultures within organisations.

I'm thinking of getting a garden office

Yes, we've been told it's unlikely we will ever return to office working as home working is proving effective and real estate is an expense it looks like they can lose.

Outer legal and facilities teams are currently assessing our global real estate leases to see which ones we can come out of now or soon without incurring to much cost and which we can start to run down.

I'm thinking of getting a garden office At the moment DH uses the kitchen and I use the dining room. I have a proper desk but it would be nice to have a dedicated space.

I'd have thought one precondition for people going back to work is access to hairdressers

I meant to say above - we are considering getting a garden pod too!

I hate it more than I can explain and I can’t wait to get back to my office!

Yes, I work from home anyway, but certainly plan to only go back being in the office every other week (for 3-4 days - I work 4 days compressed hours anyway). We certainly don't have the space from a social distancing perspective for everyone to come back right away anyway. And my colleagues are involved in COVID research, so will be higher risk anyway, so we'll be encouraged to socially distance ourselves for quite some time.

I work from home a lot anyway, but the nature of my work will need to change to being more phone/email based, so I will only go in half the time, if even that in the future. This may eventually change, but I would imagine not for the next year.

My work is already very supportive of working from home and flexible working anyway, and almost no one is in the office 5 days a week.

@backaftera2yearbreak you and me both. Im fed up with not seeing anyone and I'm also fed up with sitting on my dining chair, it's bloody hard!

I work in FE and think there will be a more open attitude to WFH. My dept (finance) have coped really well and that's been noted across the organisation so I can see us continuing this way for a while but the lecturers may be different as some courses aren't conducive to distance learning.

My main problem as been trying to work in an open plan home with 2 young children. If they go back to school/nursery then WFH would be easier. However, I think I'll be amongst the first finance staff back as the others are older have physical health concerns and one with anxiety so she's already said she's not comfortable being in the office for a while yet.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat I hear ya! I miss my peace and listening to music on the bus. I miss banter in the office. I miss going out for lunch. I hate having my work at home. I need work and home to be separate.

Yes will let us all wfh as often as we need.

@backaftera2yearbreak and @PinkSparklyPussyCat This is what I really worry about. There have been firms that already announced a blanket new policy of WFH for all staff members. But that's not practical and completely ignores that for some people, it's not appealing. When I worked in a busy press office, I absolutely loved working one day a week from home but I needed time sitting alongside my colleagues eg because we all heard each others calls etc which meant when three journalists in a row called with the same answer, if I'd already given that answer to 3 journalists earlier in the day, my team could just do it without having to email/talk to me about what the issue was and what to say. There was this quick dynamic that allowed us to pass information back and forth more quickly.

Now I'm self employed but WFH does not work for me because I don't have dedicated space in my house and DH and the DC are around. Yes, the DC go to school, but school is not the same as 9-6.

The days of office buildings with 10,000 staff in will be a thing of the past - bosses won't be able to refuse flexible working or WFH as a blanket policy as most of us have shown we can do and do it well with little drop in productivity especially when the schools go back

Luckily my actual job cannot be done from home. I go out and help people apply for benefits. Currently I’m “attempting” to learn how to process (Scottish) benefits.

I can’t WFH except for paperwork type stuff, (education) but my husband works in a civil service role and has very happily and productively worked from home since just before lockdown was announced and I suspect his employers will be very happy for him to continue to do so for the foreseeable.

If my employer does want me from home more, will they need to provide screens etc? I'm working off my laptop at the moment but as an AutoCAD user, it's really difficult and hurts my eyes. Plus I don't have a proper chair and the dining chairs are starting to hurt me back. Or will it be a case of suck it up and provide my own?

@NothingIsWrong I took my screens hone with me when we were told we would be working from home. It will never work long term for me though as I can’t work at my dining room table for ever and I’m having the same issue with the chair as you. My boss did mention supplying chairs if this is long term but I don’t have the space.

omg, Autocad on a home laptop, with no other screen?! That sounds dreadful. I have giant spreadsheets & multi applications to run simultaneously. I am grateful to say that the VPN has been ok, actually, no issues. I live in a county where there are still some villages without broadband, so how would that make WFH possible? n I get minimal IT support for WFH. Our security policy means I would I literally need an IT person to physically work on my equipment in person to install bespoke software, or to do anything useful like put extra RAM or special SSD or graphics card in. So how would that work if only WFH? I have a professional contact who is struggling with loads of inadequate equipment at home right now, his employer supplied but not good enough.

No way my employer is going to fully kit us out both at home AND to have a decent desk setup at work. I bought my computer chair for £8 on Ebay, thank goodness. My employer is threatened with bankruptcy now. I had a hotdesk job last yr using lockers & little elbow room, which was slightly horrid, but temporary. I would have lost all morale if it had been permanent.