When will the work from home advice change?

[TabbyTat]

I hate working from home. I genuinely can’t do it and I know for as long as the advice is “anyone who can work from home should work from home” the office will stay closed. Do you think there is any sign of things changing this summer?

My issue is that I’ve basically lost my dining room. The IT equipment I need is far too bulky, cant put away all the screens and IT equipment for the weekend. It took me a couple of hours to get it all set up.

So if they provide us with proper remote IT equipment so that we really can be ‘agile’ then I’m fine with it. But losing a room in my house permanently- nah thanks.

I hadn't thought about the young, those new into work/careers need to be in a building meeting people and learning from them. Yet another way they have bee shafted.

This thread terrifies me. My mental health has taken a hammering working from home, for various reasons including not having office space snd often working with a laptop on my knee while sitting on my bed. I have spoken to my Boss and he has, reluctantly, allowed me to use the office two days a week where I am the only person in the entire building. I have at least 3 members of staff pleading with me to be allowed back for similar reasons. I get that its lovely for some people but many, like me, find it a horrible and depressing way to work.

I'm in Switzerland and the governments official 'Work from Home if Possible' advice has been cancelled as of today. The social distancing has been reduced from 2m to 1.5m.
So it's now up to employers to decide what's to do within that. For us, they have finished reconfiguring the office space, capacity is at about 60% of what it had been. They have said anyone who wants to return can, but you should put your name, building number and floor on a spreadsheet so they can trace who was where and when, in case of need to trace.
Not many people have actually signed up, so will see if they make it less 'volunatary' in the next few weeks, I am guessing they will ask everyone to come 2-3 days, unless at particular risk. The schools are back full time, which helps.

I too hate working from home. I wish guidelines would change sooner, but I doubt it. Worse still I think this is a fundamental societal change that isn't going to alter.

Luckily I can still go into my office and have been, since the beginning of covid, once a week. I'm going today. It's so much more comfy, everything is faster, my computer, all my files, it's fabulous. There's only me, one end of the office, and my boss the other end. It's great!

@megletthesecond

Months yet. I'd happily go back to the office as long as I could WFH in school holidays or if one of if the dc's were ill. I am starting to go a bit loopy through lack of human interaction.

@megletthesecond I am really interested to see what my employers do about childcare/wfh. Pre-covid it was an absolute no-no to be wfh whilst trying to look after young kids. Quite rightly, because you can't give either your full attention. Now we've been forced to do it for months, I don't see how they can go back to the original position once office's are back.

I can imagine a scenario post-COVID when our team all meet in person once a fortnight and we function pretty well. The older team members with families are generally pleased with the idea of home working, but younger members less so as they want the social interaction and to learn from others.

No idea about Wales. But most "big" employers have said wfh until at least January.

It's not justb1m rule, it's 1 way systems, air conditioning, layout of office etc that need considering. Ultimately , if made to return and caught covid at work, an employee will presumably be able to claim against the employer, especially if results in death, serious injury etc.

I'm not really sure why people aren't more grateful that they are in a less risky environment and able to wfh.

It seems whining is all peo8do regardless...

I'd say September but firms I know are only looking at 30% capacity of their offices once the wfh is lifted. Of course this depends on what social distancing looks like in a few months.

I hope it doesn't change for a long time yet. I hated it at first but now I really don't want to go back and sit in the office in a mask, clean everything before and after I touch it, let everyone know I'm going to the toilet so no one else goes in there etc.

It will remain the same for a while.

The only reason to reduce social distancing is economic. Some think it's worth the extra risk. Those who understand the science don't.

My work are all back, apart from me and one other who are shielding. Small contact centre and some other office staff

I suspect the Government’s advice to WFH ‘wherever possible’ will be the last thing to get dropped as it is the single biggest influence on social interaction.

My company of 2,000 employees has just reopened its offices but there is no compulsion to return at the moment. Reconfigurations mean they css as n only have about 20% back in. I gather that so far about 10% have gone back while the rest of us continue to WFH. We probably had about 500 people who already either WFH or worked remotely or out in the field anyway.

Companies are realising how much money they are saving by having staff wfh, I can’t see it changing anytime soon. Companies need to reduce costs and moving to smaller offices or sharing office blocks would be the way to go.

A company I worked for many years ago, had a wonderful HQ built to their specifications in the city, for many years now they have rented out different floors to over businesses.

Working full time in an office may become a thing of the past.

May cause a peak in the housing market as many people will be needing extra space for an office at home. WFH without a dedicated space is really difficult & disruptive to family life. As well as the loss of the social interaction.

My office has said not until at least October.

I miss the social aspect of work, and my job is much easier to do if I can actually talk face to face with people - it's taking way longer than it normally does having to manage everything over the phone/email. Plus the space I'm working in is not ideal and will become impossible over the winter as it will be too cold.

I wonder how long it will be before home insurance companies jump in on this (if they haven't already) and start increasing premiums by having a 'do you work from home' box to tick?
I can see it's to the advantage of many companies as they will be saving money on office space and all the accompanying costs, which however will be put on to the employee. Will the extra heat/light/power the employees use in their own homes become tax deductible?
I am retired now, and never had a job I could have done from home anyway, but, if you do wfh do you find it difficult to keep motivated? I think I would have been too easily distracted.

I’m a civil servant and have been told to expect to work from home until at least the end of the year.

When we do go back the office will be reconfigured. We were hotdesking. We may now be allocated desks and share with someone else or a small team and work at home 2/3 days per week. They are still trying to figure out the logistics.

We've been told we will most likely be working from home until the end of the year. I don't think it's a case of saying if school can go back so can offices, we need to still minimise risk, so if people can work from home happily and comfortably then they should continue to do so.

I'm not really sure why people aren't more grateful that they are in a less risky environment and able to wfh.

I may be at less risk of the physical illness of COVID, but wfh is risky for my mental health. I detest it, I find it hard to focus and motivate myself, I hate not being able to have ad hoc discussions with colleagues, and not being able get help without arranging an MS Teams call. I am incredibly lonely, I have lost my dining table and can never properly leave work as I can see my equipment from my sofa.

It seems whining is all peo8do regardless...

I don't think I would describe people who are genuinely struggling with wfh as whining. Personally I have been in tears at my 'desk' numerous times in the past few weeks. If I am not able to go back to the office at least on some days a week soon, I fear I am going to break.

The advice to work from home where possible came in pretty early but most of my friends and family werent allowed to until the schools closed. The businessess seemed to take that as symbol that it was serious and they would get in a lot of trouble for insisting people went in. I guess thats also the point many employees said 'i cant come in'. So i think once schools open, even if the advice is still to work from home where possible, there will be a lot of going back to the office. I hope they try to keep some home working days permantly to keep people spread out and reduce traffic.

We're in Switzerland and they've just lifted this recommendation. Our primary schools have been back (full time and classes) for 6 weeks now if that helps with timescales. DH's company is re-writing their WFH policy and have said at the moment it's voluntary but they want at least one day a week in the office from now until August when it will be business as usual, hopefully with a bit more flexibility.

I am really interested to see what my employers do about childcare/wfh. Pre-covid it was an absolute no-no to be wfh whilst trying to look after young kids. Quite rightly, because you can't give either your full attention. Now we've been forced to do it for months, I don't see how they can go back to the original position once office's are back

I think employers (and employees) have tolerated it because there isn’t any choice, but in honesty it doesn’t really work where people are trying to look after young children and work. It’s not possible to do both properly, and I think that we will go back to the old position as childcare options open up.

I have been told that companies may not wish to go completely work from home as that may mean health and safety regulations around equipment and work spaces, which are being ignored at the moment, may be enforced, costing companies as much if more to bring employees homes up to standard.

I dont know if it's true though.

My work is saying 6-12 months as we can easily do so, but we are sending a questionnaire to find those who are really struggling and opening the office to a small number of people from mid July.

Speak to your line manager.