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?

(DS will get our spare room - we are not evicting him)

This from the Guardian:

Of those women who still have jobs and are working remotely, many are likely to keep working from home even after the virus recedes and lockdowns are lifted, since the pandemic has caused many companies to re-evaluate their overhead costs and the necessity of physical office space. Twitter has announced plans to move to more permanent work-from-home arrangements after the pandemic, and other companies are likely to follow suit. Many women who used to work outside the home will lose their income, but even those who keep it may have to stay in. And with unemployment surging and labor at a surplus, female workers whose children, housework or other domestic distractions don’t allow them to maintain their productivity know that their employers will find them easy to dispose of and easy to replace.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/21/this-pandemic-threatens-to-undo-what-generations-of-feminists-have-fought-for

(though he has his eye on the garden pod when we get it)

No I'm not surprised, I always thought it would be months rather than weeks.

Our office would be very difficult to make it covid compliant - narrow staircases, one loo for each floor shared by all, open plan floors with some hot desking (anyone seen the diagram of how one person in an open plan office infects the rest via aircon?) Plus it is central London so everyone comes in on the tube.

I am way more comfortable WFH full time and have been saying for years that for those of us who sit at a terminal all day emailing and speaking to people via Skype and Teams, there is no point at all in our employer paying for expensive central London space.

I can't see any of us being back before the end of the year and TBH I expect they will say anyone who wants to will carry on WFH so I will. I am all set up to WFH including decent quality printer and scanner and a couple of laptops plus super fast broadband and DC are 16+. No need to go in ever again!

@doryhunky that's quite depressing. I've been lucky that my work dont care when I do my work as long as I do it & I'm also p/t. A big part of what I enjoy about working is being away from the home!

I'm not surprised by the length, it was always clear from our employer that we'd be off for a minimum 6 months, but I am surprised by just how quickly my employer have embraced it as a permanent measure.

We're as busy as ever thankfully, but productivity has gone up, lack of travel expenses alone has led to a significant reduction in costs and we're paying less on utilities etc. There's been an extensive survey done of staff and the vast majority are really happy with how it's working out, and those who aren't are mostly struggling with the loss of hobbies, personal freedom, lack of social life, rather than missing the office.

We've already been told we'll probably all have the choice to work 3-4 days from home after this is all over, with a massive reduction in our rented office space.

We've been told October. My heart sank when I heard this, I didn't expect it to be longer than a couple of months when we left the office. I'd go back tomorrow.

I would love to work from home forever. Keep my job and my good pay and benefits but not have to see the horrible bullies any more.

Desk is a problem though cause DH has his office, DH has a desk in her room, and I have the uncomfortable dining room table and chairs.

The complication in this for me, is that my pension money is invested in one commercial property. If all is normal, then my payback is good but we have a new tenant which is an infant business without much of a trading record. But their business depends on being able to deliver the service at the customer's home, and if the customer doesn't want contactors in to build her kitchen for 18 months.. and who would blame them? then their business is dead and so is my pension income. I hope it will recover, but that is the money I was counting on to pay my my bills and provide my income My fingers are crossed, and my toes. In the meantime, they are not paying rent but I am insuring the building and covering the costs. Which is chipping away at my pension savings very fast. Ten years of saving is evaporating quickly.

I lost my job at the start of this so it’s kind of moot

But given there are currently essential workers, and workers who can’t work at home, already going in....is this “covid compliant” office thing actually law, or just guidance?

There must be places like high street solicitors, who won’t have secure computer infrastructure for staff to handle sensitive data at home.

But then I hear the ICO is barely working so is data protection another thing that gets thrown out?

I work from home permanantly anyway. My OH is furloughed but will be going back at end of June.

Very surprised and concerned for the younger generation. We have been told for years that being online all the time is not good for mental health now in the short term it has been workable but longer term it is having a detrimental affect on the whole household.

There was an announcement at the press conference a few weeks ago that there would be some form of social distancing for some considerable time. It's pretty obvious from that that people are going to be encouraged to WFH if they can for a long time. I think companies are just being realistic telling their staff to expect it. There are losses, agree with PPs it's harder to come up with new ideas and have those useful chats in the corridor that mean you get information much quicker than if you have to look it up. And I'm not looking forward to starting a new project and having to get used to a new team.

Having said that we are lucky and have lots of room, including a playroom that is now a schoolroom (and the DC are old enough to be able to do schoolwork reasonably independently) and a spare room in the attic that already had a small desk (DH and I both WFH once every 10 days or so before this). However DH and I have been discussing changing the emphasis of the attic room to become more of an office space (with a bed!) and putting a big desk there. Really we need a desk and chair each and I'm fed up having to adjust the chair every time I start work (we are doing shifts round each other).

Count “ There was an announcement at the press conference a few weeks ago that there would be some form of social distancing for some considerable time”

It is a guideline and not a law though.

I’ve posted about Covid compliant workplaces on the legal issues board as I’m curious.

DH had an email today to say at least until the end of September

I think I will be working home for a while. My work haven't confirmed anything but I'm finally picking up my computer next week (along with my chair, keyboard, mouse etc) after 2 months of remote working from my personal laptop. It would be daft of them to still be giving out kit if it wasn't long term.

Because of that I just ordered myself a desk. Took a lot of looking to find one that is reasonable priced, will eventually fit 2 monitors, and fits in the small empty space in my dining room where my toddler's toys used to live (they have been chucked into the conservatory).

Some of us are going into work to pick up our desktop computers because it looks like we aren't going back any time soon.

I much prefer wfh now. Perhaps not surprisingly as the office is very noisy with 100s of people on the one floor, all open plan. I found it really stressful. The zoo would be quieter!

My organisation has not said anything about long term plans, which is typical of them... They mean well but other places are better run.

They have asked for our preferences as to how many days we would like to wfh and I wanted to put 5 days!!! To be polite, I put 4 days, one day being a team meeting day, which works better on line, as people in the immediate team are much better behaved.

I enjoy my job more now!

@lilactree1 I don't know tbh, DH works for a large bank. They haven't furloughed as don't want the bad press but bonuses have been scaled back.

sorry that was related to the compliance question.

Thanks OP

Really I was wondering how so many companies can have people working from home with sensitive data? I realise some companies will have the right infrastructure but I have a sneaky feeling there’ll be some who don’t....and have staff working at home regardless.

I know for me I have to go into a programme which is password protected & then every document that is sensitive is also password protected.

Told today no plans to move back in immediate future, so I guess another 6 weeks.

I am quite depressed about it. I wanted at least 1 day. I mean my life is basically work, the park and the supermarket. This kind of existence is lonely if you live alone.

I am quite depressed about it. I wanted at least 1 day. I mean my life is basically work, the park and the supermarket. This kind of existence is lonely if you live alone

I hear you