Anyone surprised at how long they will be wfh?

[reallythislong]

DH's company finally ordered some office equipment for the staff, delivery date in 8 wks time! He & I never expected to wfh this long & lots of our friends have been told they won't be going back till the NY.

Anyone else in the same boat?

It’s strange as IRL, everyone I know is preparing to return to work in offices!

@BirdieFriendReturns

What sort of area are you in? I think in our case it's the fact everyone needs public transport more than concerns about the office.

South east.

I am in SE and nobody I know aside from key workers is back in the office.

All WFH or furloughed.

I like the comment about a love/hate relationship with WFH, this is how I feel. I have a tiny office at home so I am lucky and when my sons go back to Uni and work it will be easier as less distractions. My assistant absolutely hates it though and is struggling, she hates having to ring me or email with queries or problems. Managing staff isn't easy from home.

My employers are saying nothing at the moment, I think eventually I will go back to a mix of working in the office with some time at home.

Interesting issues over productivity and head count.

In a call centre it has always been easy to monitor “productivity” and I imagine the same monitoring systems will be in place if “call centre” workers are WFH.
This measure of productivity has always been used to incentivise, reward, demote and even fire people.
If you work in the call centre world you know all about this and live (or die) with it Day to day.

However others who are WFH may not recognise that their “efficiency” is also being monitored and with most company’s needing to slim down head count in the coming recession, decisions on who to keep and who to let go are being made as we write.

Any skivers may already have cooked their goose.

We've had no dates from our company yet (global software company) but we were WFH from W/c 13th March and were able to take as much kit as we wanted / needed.

I have no idea what the long term aim is but my manager has confirmed that as a team we do not need to be in the office.

I am walking distance from office but toddler is on shielding list (and I have 2 older kids with no school or childcare) so I'm not envisioning being back anytime soon.

It feels extreme because everyone thought this would be done and dusted within 3 months.

Generally the consensus is that schools won't be back before September so we are expecting a possible 2nd wave, but being hopeful, normality to some degree was expected by October but the issue from a medical/hospital perspective is that we will then go into what is known as "winter pressures" where we see the arrival of Influenza/Norovirus and the exacerbation of various respiratory disorders. This in turn will a knock on effect re: Coronavirus and we don't know how this will manifest or how severe it will be.

Bear in mind winter pressures last until Feb/March this should give you a benchmark for when we will see any REAL normality.

This situation is a marathon not a sprint and we all need to accept that and make adjustments where necessary because the entitled attitude of some is really grating on my nerves: we're in the midst of a global pandemic, there are no solid answers right now and I can give everyone on MN a full list of everything they are "entitled" to and it would be BLANK.

Be grateful for small mercies, a working infrastructure and a prepared NHS. Anything else is a bonus.

Just read a couple of comments about people working from home not having to deal with colleagues they don't get on with. I find this harder by phone or email than face to face!

Things I like about working from home:

No commute
I can get up later

Things I dislike about working from home:
I miss my workmates
I miss wearing nice clothes and making an effort to look nice
I miss normality
I have a proper desk and PC with 2 large screens at work and don't get back ache from working at the dining room table
I don't have access to all the sotware and shared drives that I need

Ideally I would like to mix WFH and going into the office, but I have no idea when that will happen. The lease on the offices where I work is up this summer so we were going to have to move out anyway. At least with WFH it will be easier to manage the move.

I hate it, on a practical level no desk space for dp and me, and no where to put one, and on a personal level I need the buzz and stimulation of a large office environment. I find it mind numbing at home, and bum numbing too as no office chair...

I agree - and as another poster says, in pandemic her world has shrunk to work, supermarket and park!

On a practical level wfh is a pain, literally as we dont have the space for a desk let alone for 2 desks for us both.

But I like having more freedom wfh, the nature of my job means some days I have nothing to do and some days have some insane amounts. On the no work days I like that I can chill out, do housework, watch tv rather than sit in an office trying to look busy. If anything the days I have lots on I'm more productive as I dont have people coming to my desk every 5 minutes asking questions. Now they email and I respond when it works for me and I can't go back to work till the schools are fully open anyway (unless DH stays wfh of course, but hes more likely to be needed back than me).

But I do miss the office, I miss getting dressed for work, I miss my desk and proper set up, I miss chatting with colleagues whilst making the tea round, I miss going for a wander round the shops on my lunch break.

But if I had to wfh full time from now on I'd be okay.

Ginfordinner - you can always convert an old tv to a 2nd screen if you need to. I have done that as I was only given 1 monitor.

It also works if you want to look at a bigger screen instead of a tiny laptop. You can mirror your laptop screen on the tv.

www.wikihow.com/Use-Your-TV-as-a-Second-Monitor-for-Your-Computer?amp=1

I did manage to take my secnd monitor home before lockdown, and went into work yesterday to pick up my PC and other widescreen monitor, so I am set. But I have to wait until my new desk that I ordered arrives before I can set everything up.

Mirroring everything on the TV doesn't work. I work with multiple huge spreadsheets and need to move stuff between screens. I will stick with my own laptop and spare monitor until my desk arrives.

Does anyone know if it's possible to set up so my screens don't go off if I open my laptop to use Teams? I've got 2 proper screens thankfully but I'm getting fed up with having to hibernate and restart if I have to make a video call.

yes I'm surprised. Feels naive now, that I didn't see this coming. Not expecting to be back in office until there is a vaccine, actually. I may actually move house before that happens.

I work for a local authority and have been told we will be collecting our personal belongings over the next few weeks. We are going to be working from home permanently with no return planned. People who can't work from home will given a desk in one of the council buildings anywhere in the district where there is space as a last resort.

@Ginfordinner

I work with multiple large spreadsheets as well and I use a TV as a second screen. I don't mirror the screens I have two so that I can have different spreassheets on each screen and move one to the other of I need to. It is brilliant on a TV because it is so big. My main problem is that at then moment I only have the TV and a laptop and I'd really like a second large screen so I'd have three in total including the laptop which is what I have in work . I just don't have the room for it though as I have a small exam style desk in front of my TV in the corner of my living room as a work area.

I don't mirror the screens either, but the set up in my house wouldn't work as I currently sit at the dining room table. Like I said, I have a laptop screen and a monitor scree, and when I get my desk I can set up my PC with two large screens side by side, so it's a temporary issue.

I was lucky that they allowed me to take a monitor home to use with my laptop. I also have a TV that is a similar size to use as a second screen. My work at least understand that I could not work from just a laptop.

I do feel I was naive at the beginning of how long this would potentially last.

Our company has been vv generous.

I still don't like WFH full time. It impacts my MH and also my sense of a shared purpose in work etc

My DH is loving working from home and has been told it will probably be until the end of the year.

I work for a large news organisation in London. I enjoy(ed) working there a great deal. To an extent I'm on the 'front line' of what we do. I'm very fortunate WFH has made barely any difference to me in terms of what I do day-to-day. I miss the view from my desk, and I miss the ride to work on my bike, and I miss the camaraderie of the newsroom. We've also had a 'temporary' 18% pay cut.

I can't fault our company for the care they take of us - regular contact from HR and senior managers to make sure we're taking care of our mental health, for example.

At the moment there's no sign of a return to office-based work. Rumour is that we might be WFH permanently as a smaller office will save the company a fortune (literally millions) in rent.

Is anyone wondering how recruitment and training would work if there were no offices left?

I have a new joiner starting once we go back next week. She can do a week with me in the office on my teams “in” week and then WFH the week after. It would be pretty impossible to induct a new joiner and train them over Skype or whatever.

Yes, I've been wondering esp for roles like graduate trainee.

Welcome to adult life, where you get to sit in a room study, work and socialise via Zoom.

Grim.