Anyone surprised at how long they will be wfh?

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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?

DH & I have been wfh some of the week for 5 yrs or so but to go to 5 days has been an adjustment.

Yes! Think we all thought a few weeks to begin with.

I worked from home as a freelance writer from 1990. Everything was remote and no boss to tell me how it should be set up. I just travelled to face to face interviews/meetings. So the house we bought in 1997 was chosen because it was spacious for working from home, and I nagged BT Openreach for more and faster broadband for years, and it has arrived... in time for me to retire! Sympathy to all those who are cutting and pasting solutions.

We’ve been told the very earliest we’ll be back is July and even then it’ll only be open for people who are really struggling to wfh. We have a lot of young people in our company and I think quite a few of them are living on their own in London flats and finding it quite tough

We are not going back to office nine five. Permanent mix home and office working

Personally though I’m thrilled, I get 2 hours plus of my day back and I’m saving at least £140 a month on trains

I will be WFH until school goes back at least but not sure from there. Sept at the earliest I suppose.

Same here, no return at least until January. I was not so surprised though, I never expected the lockdown to be a “few weeks” affair.

I used to wfh whenever possible as well - can't understand why anyone would not want to do it if possible.

I can think of lots of reasons.

• They have inadequate facilities at home
• They like the home/work divide
• They like the social aspect of work
• They find it hard to motivate themselves at home
• They don't consider virtual communication as efficient as face-to-face communication

And probably lots of other reasons. WFH is great for some, but not for everybody, at least not all the time.

We've been told it could be around a year too.

Maybe a practical solution could be to allow those who have room and peace to WFH to continue to do so as it will leave the office space and public transport where appropriate for those who need it more?

If you drive to work and have a room you can set up as a proper home office, then you're back of the queue, providing that you're able to work effectively at home and not suffering mentally due to the isolation of course.

DH is supposed to go back next week. It’s management and supervisors of more than 3 only. Before 2015 they had 7000 in the office but with layoffs over the last 5 years and the most recent one they’re at only 1000 in his office. It’ll be like a ghost town in there.

I’ll need a desk because working on the sofa did not go well!

DH (private sector, finance) as been told he won't be back in the office this side of Christmas.

I don’t think I’ll see my office again before I go on Mat leave in October- this is a nightmare and honestly think it’s ridiculous at this point

We’ve been told to anticipate between 6 to 24 months... especially those of us who can get their work done with little issues

I’ve always done 2 days from home, so have a wfh corner with a desk. Will need to buy a comfier chair though. I’ve been working with earplugs in bough as DP is furloughed and DD is off nursery.

We haven’t been told when we’re going back in, just that short term we’ll be wfh and we will abide with government guidelines.

We've closed our office... Forever! 2020 is so not the year I was expecting it to be!

I'm really struggling with the isolation. My mental health has taken a massive dive and my anxiety is through the roof. I cannot do this much longer.

Our CEO mentioned next quarter for those of us deemed flexible...and then specified definitely not before October unless you have compelling reasons to ask to be office based (ie working on the dining room table / going insane)
Which is doable - but a bit grim...

One of the bigger employers here has started asking staff if they would be interested in permanent working from home and who has the space for it.

It looks like they are going to set as many people up as possible for that then the ones who can't (mostly seems to be people who don't have a space for it long-term) will go back. BIL's GF has ordered office furniture for their conservatory because she's convinced that they are going to close the office and be WFH only. I think a lot of people are very nervous that the big call centre building simply won't re-open

@TokyoSushi do you still have a job?

Who thinks that in 5 yrs time the cost of travel for 2 days will be what it costs now for 5 🖐🏻

I had to call Thames Water the other day and there was a pre recorded message saying people answering the phones are working from home and to excuse any noise from children or pets. Other than that it was the totally expected experience once I got to speak to someone so I wonder if a lot of big call centres will choose to cut costs and have staff working from home in future

We're starting to use the office more, with a view to increasing this in July.

There will be some element of work from home retained, but it just isn't practical full time - we still get given a lot of manual records and these can take up a lot of space. Plus there's all sorts of issues with keeping and storing client's books and records at home.

We also have a significant minority of staff for whom working from home is tricky - rural with ropey broadband, youngsters in shared houses, no suitable office space. Plus printing, photocopying and scanning is often done in large volumes.

Fortunately, with a bit of tweaking the offices can be rearranged for social distancing, particularly if not everyone is in all the time. Due to the location, everyone drives so no public transport.

I have a love hate relationship with working from home. With the right sort of work, it's great. But some of my stuff just can't be done practically from home, and trying to limp along with it is when I get distracted and wish I was in the office. Plus, I'd miss my colleagues. Although I think I will enjoy working from home once or twice a week as I can plan my work accordingly, and I suspect that may be a longterm thing.

Sorry if I sound dense, but I don’t get it. Why these long estimates for wfh in the U.K. but not elsewhere? I mean, the virus isn’t going anywhere, is it? Do we not have to learn to live as safely as possible alongside it? I thought we were flattening the curve...

@NothingIsWrong I know how you feel. My 3 days in the office are a lifeline. They honestly make me a better mother to my very full on toddler.

DH is in financial services (in Glasgow) and they’re talking about how to get back into the office. Mental health was cited as a valid reason to choose being in the office over wfh.