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?

For human interaction, you have your family, you can still go for essential food shopping and talk to the staff, you can talk to delivery drivers if you get a takeaway, you can talk via Zoom as its still humans, its not like you go to an office and hug your colleagues. I don't see much difference to be honest.

Speak for yourself. I’m under 40 and very much working full time. I’m no technophobe, I’ve been championing tools like Slack etc in my wider team.

I’m still desperate to get back to the office.

I have collected very close friends in all of my jobs to date, I get along with my colleagues. I have no desire to replace those relationships with the local supermarket staff and Deliveroo drivers

I worry about grads and trainees; so much of their learning is observing their peers and superiors. You can’t teach soft skills on Zoom.

So much of the “we don’t need offices” rhetoric is driven by companies who are in survival mode. It’s been a relief for many companies to find their business continuity plans work, but how we feel now about life is no guide to how we will feel once the economy eventually expands again.

I disagree that this will be difficult for young people. The vast majority of young people I know spend the majority of their time indoors online anyway. they are more inclined to adapt

I'm not even sure that's true, but even if it is, they are probably interacting online with people they've actually met in real life - at school, university, work etc. Not at all the same thing as spending your whole working day 'interacting' with people you've never actually met and perhaps never will.

The vast majority of under 40 women (sadly not so much men!) were WFH or working part time most of the week anyway

The vast majority? Really? What's your source for that?

For human interaction, you have your family, you can still go for essential food shopping and talk to the staff, you can talk to delivery drivers if you get a takeaway, you can talk via Zoom as its still humans, its not like you go to an office and hug your colleagues. I don't see much difference to be honest

Some of us live alone so don't interact with family every day.

And you really don't see the difference between chatting with the Deliveroo guy (assuming his schedule allows for small talk) and actual conversations - not Zoom 'meetings' - with colleagues who you've built up a relationship with over months or years?

WFH works great for some. I get that. But it's definitely not for everyone.

I disagree that this will be difficult for young people. The vast majority of young people I know spend the majority of their time indoors online anyway. they are more inclined to adapt.

Going forward, living like this after studying for a degree online, then working from home online sounds like a pretty miserable way to spend your life.

but most are probably older workers who are techno phobes.

Most office workers use computers anyway, so I don't understand your comment. And what age would someone have to be before you class them as an older technophobe?

The people I know who are struggling most with the change to working from home are young, single males.

For human interaction, you have your family, you can still go for essential food shopping and talk to the staff, you can talk to delivery drivers if you get a takeaway, you can talk via Zoom as its still humans, its not like you go to an office and hug your colleagues. I don't see much difference to be honest.

It really isn't the same. You really have no concept of how people like to interact outside of their immediate home environment. It sounds like you don't have nice work colleagues, and possibly a not very nice boss?

Don't you understand that for most of us seeing the same two people (there are only three of us in our household) 24/7 day after day after day with no variation does tend to get a little dull?

And yes, I have hugged a couple of my workmates in the past, because I work with some really lovely people, and class them as my friends. I also have a great boss. I miss the office banter and the sharing of knowledge that email/Teams/Zoom doesn't replicate quite as well as in person.

DH has been told he doesn't have to go back into the office ever if he doesn't want to (as have the rest of hi office). He absolutely doesn't. We're saving £80 a month on fares and he's saving 3 hours a day commute time, plus his lunch hour. He plans to socialise regularly with his colleagues when they're able so he won't miss them. And I get to spend loads more time with him. It's win-win.

No idea. I'm "clinically vulnerable" and my boss has the same condition (and some!). We're the only ones wfh full time. I guess I'll go back when he does. Some people are furloughed. Not sure when they're back.

I was initially desperate to get back to the office but now I don't actually mind either way.

I'm expecting it to be until the end of the year at least. I wfh'd a lot anyway as I'm 'field based' but I did a lot of travel around the country to regional offices, which I am missing more than I thought I would. WFH is only great IMO if you're not doing it every day.

QuornHub that's when permanent wfh works - when there are more benefits and people are working with people that they've had real-life relationships with before.

Imvhe, it's the 'older workers' (read over 35/40) who have built up relationships and knowledge of an organisation over time who are fairing quite well with wfh during lock down.

nuttymomma your workplace sounds horrible. But for those of us who like our colleagues and enjoy face to face interaction, wfh just isn't the same however many Zoom/Teams/Slack/Whatsapp groups we're in.

My DH works for the government. Told 12-18 months to wfh. I already did wfh.

Imvhe, it's the 'older workers' (read over 35/40) who have built up relationships and knowledge of an organisation over time who are fairing quite well with wfh during lock down.

I think you are right. The team members who are struggling the most where I work are the youngest ones who haven't been with the company that long.

I'm 64, and started working remotely from home in 1990 (from Cornwall with clients globally), before email and the Internet existed, but I had a computer, as I had had since 1983. Twice weekly, I got up at 0300 to be in London early for meetings, worked a full day and took the 1905 train back arriving home at midnight. Very occasionally I stayed overnight in London or a Travelodge if the weather forced me to. A landline and a dedicated separate fax-line dealt with communication and information supply, so none of this is rocket science. It can and has worked for a long time. Zoom/Slack/Teams would have been lovely, but there was no broadband then.

Please, dont write off everyone older than you as technophobes. We weren't and still are not.

but most are probably older workers who are techno phobes. Get with the times people.

Not more ageism please. I'm 45, quite capable of working from home but I don't want to. It's nothing to do with being a technophobe, more to do with not wanting my living room looking like and office all the time! I can't switch off when I spend all day working and then sit in the same room all evening. I also want to see someone other than DH, the cat and the manager of the local Indian!

I'm not expecting to go back to an office until 2021, possibly new year but maybe later than that!

I'm not expecting to go back to an office until 2021, possibly new year but maybe later than that! Part of the issue is that the Government can't have everyone travelling by car because of air pollution and congestion but they can't take the numbers on public transport that they did before. That's why it's wfh for the foreseeable future.

I don't think it's age, probably more just personality or even preference. Job itself and the team/team leader support make a difference too. As does your home environment.

But will you still have a job then firsttimer? If your job isn't being done, then how necessary is it?

Firstimer703 said she’s working from home XingMing, so is still doing her job. Just not from the office.

Sorry, and apols to firsttimer. It's not always clear who has declared what.

yes my workplace and colleagues are awful, and you'd think being public sector I'd be safe yet I've caught sight of our board minutes (they are public but you have to click through multiple pages to find them) and they talk about reducing spend and how they can do it so staff cuts, premises cuts. recruitment freezes, not extending contracts....are all things they are suggesting so its pretty alarming but not unexpected.

I think closing premises and more WFH is the route they will take. We are very unionised and staff cuts would not go down well at all and whilst I don't like my colleagues, I do want to keep my job.

One other benefit - there won't be a staff xmas do with shitty food that you spent £50 to "enjoy".

I prefer to go to exercise classes and socialise there. That's the only social contact (other than my parents) that I miss. I also talk to neighbours over the wall and from a distance. People on here acting like they never see anyone.

Well, it does seem that some people don't see anyone nuttymomma or the chatting to delivery people/people in the shop/at exercise classes don't offer the same quality of relationship that working co-operatively with colleagues does for everyone.

I'm sure that people aren't making up how lonely and isolated they're feeling.

It's also more likely than people with children (or a dog!) will know people in their immediate neighbourhood than younger people who usually work and socialise elsewhere.

I've never liked WFH I like the social aspect of the office and the separation of home and work, but I've got used to it, I need to set up a proper work space in the spare room soon though, working on the kitchen table feels very temporary and I need to establish this as my new lifestyle, I'm not convinced we'll ever go back full time, maybe a few days a week on a rota eventually and I might in time be able to do some site visits but I think both are many months away.

While we're still in business continuity mode I'm doing different work including weekends. When we start to move back into picking up our day jobs (I'm probably 2 days new work 3 days normal work now) and Monday to Friday working it'll feel more permanent and as colleagues with dc get them back to school expectations will change I'm sure.

@nuttymomma I do hug my colleagues I’m really close to my friends at work.

And seeing them at work is the most socialisation I get with a very demanding toddler who still won’t go to sleep without me. Going round to people’s houses with a toddler in tow isn’t exactly fun, relaxing social time when you’re spending the whole time watching they don’t break things. Work is where I get to see friends without having to be mummy for a few days a week.

Thanks for the back up @drivingdownthe101! @xingming whether people are working now or not, there are insane job losses to come. I may not have a job by the new year even though I have worked through the crisis (key worker role). Cuts are coming and they will be major. Expect it will hit women especially hard either through job losses or caring responsibilities.

@ICouldHaveBeenAContender

Wow, this is kind of depressing but maybe not surprising. I'm wfh. Management are tight lipped about us going back. Rumours are they are "taking a long term view". I may never go back, at this rate - not far off retirement!

My DH is the same. He's working from home, as are all his colleagues, but his company, in Canary Wharf, has said don't get the Christmas decorations out for work as you won't be there.

So it looks like he'll be taking early retirement from home, he was due to go this month but extended it till September/December. He'll have to have a virtual send off. Then when they are all allowed back in he'll go and collect his bits he left in the office.