Are you going back to work in an office?

[FluffyKittensinabasket]

Curious to see if other people are going back, a couple of months ago it was being reported that many people are never going back and WFH forever.

Yes I'm a civil servant and I suspect I will be required back in the office in September. I'm very vulnerable (not shielding category) and anxious about the commute to the city centre.

I’m a civil servant too, only 25% of staff can safely be accommodated in the office at any one time with the current social distancing rules.

They’ve also realised how much they can save with staff WFH. Our fixed desks are being ripped out - it’s all going to be “hot desking hubs” now.

I expect I’ll be going in one or two days a week now. It seems to be changing forever!

Yes but at our office we can't work from home due to the nature of our work - we are in manufacturing and need to be on site where the factory is. I've been on furlough, I'm going back on the 3rd. I don't know what safety precautions are in place if any, but there are only 5 of us and our desks are quite spaced out.

I'm back beginning of September in "phase 3" First lot already back, 2nd beginning of August then the last at the end of September.

Working from home on a permanent basis was never an option.

Yes I've gone back , some in our office are in 50% or wfh so it's possible to social distance .
Tbh so long furloughed it's nice to be back , we wear masks and social distancing also sanitiser given and good hygiene practiced so I feel it's safe .

The company is looking at how we operate going forward. A couple of offices currently open but only if there's an explicit reason why you can't work from home, and no sign of that policy changing right now. We were tight for space in our London offices, so I think this is a good trigger for making a permanent change.

Hopefully not for awhile longer. I have been shielding and working from home and getting on well so have been told I will be one of the last to go back to work. But guidance keeps changing so goodness only knows.

I went back over a month ago as I prefer it. It was only a couple of us at first but slowly ramping up. I have my own office though so quite easy to SD.

We were originally told end of September, now it's been extended to 2021, but no date given. I wouldn't be surprised if we worked from home forever now.

Nope, the company I work for are going for remote working as much as possible, I will be required to go in once a month for face to face meetings and to conduct interviews.

We have been told that working from home is an option long term but office still option for those who want to go in.

I've been back in the office, since May. There's only my MD at one end of the office and me at the other end. It's been great. I've hated working from home.

Not sure who can say they can WFH forever but we can certainly build a case for my job. Our team already had WFH as an option with people doing it once or twice a week ( or longer if they needed to for some reason) before lockdown.
There is nothing we can't do at home and we don't need to be physically present in the office every day.

We were hot desking before ( although we all had our fave 'spot" ) and not all of us could work in our area if we were at maximum capacity - having to move to find other desks on the floor if we were all in.

For me it's over £70 a month saved commuting and it's not more or less 2 hours a day travelling there and back which was so tiring, particularly in the dark winter months.

It's great to be able to go downstairs and get started at 7am and finish at 3 if we want - or use the flexi.
We have a 10am ' meeting' or update every morning to keep in touch and google hangouts to use all day.

If nothing else WFH a couple of days a week would be great and I'd like to do it all through the winter. But as it's public service if everyone does the same what will they do with the offices? We are only a small team so fingers crossed.

DH has been in the office throughout (except for a two week quarantine,but even then he had to go in the evenings instead to do the parts of his job he couldn't at home). They do the majority of meetings through their secure internal video conferencing software though.

I went back in June and I bloody love it. WFH is a nightmare and my homeworking kit is far inferior. There are only two other people in my whole building - fortunately close by to my office - otherwise I'd be very lonely indeed.

I also think more people should come back to their workplaces where possible and safe as interconnected working is just not the same remotely.

I am but I am on reception and our clients need to come in.

No encouragement to return, yet. Is possible to work in office if I made a case it was essential - and I put up with the very many new office rules to follow. WFH is going ok, but had major network problems a few days ago (now resolved). One day at a time.

I’m in two days a week since the beginning of June. I expect they’ll want me in full time from September.

My company is much more comfortable working from the office and in fairness, it’s a huge building for the people employed there and SD is a doddle.

I couldn’t hack working from home full time anyway.

We have had hints we'll be WFH until March 2021 and have wfh option more often after then. It'll save our dept considerable office running costs

Some of my colleagues hate it and are desperate to return to office as they are more productive with better wellbeing there, being around people / separating work from home life. They are looking forward to going back to office.

Myself and other colleagues love WFH and are more productive without the noise of a busy office, the excessive chatter, commuting and being able to focus more. I'm shielding group so think they'll let me WFH far longer than anyone else

I bloody love it! I get to see my DC far more and can start at 7am as not commuting and organise my work easier. My output has gone up between 2-3x! (But that's also as we are using remote technology and not visiting people)

@ThedietstartsonMonday I think I work for the same company as we were end of sept and now not until 2021. Very surprised but easier for management to plan ahead without parents keep being off due to school closures, childs Illness or having to isolate. They are now looking into how we will be working in the future. Plus Saves me over 2 hours a day travelling time.

Yes, going back 2 days a week soon to start with & looking forward to it.

I thought hotdesking was officially a no-go under new H&S rules though?

I'm half and half and hope to go back for all my hours at the end of the school holidays. I have hated WFH.

Already back weeks ago but they have only brought the best and most productive back

We will be having a staff briefing this week. My immediately line manager doesn’t think we will be. I hope he is right. We are totally fine 100% remote. We will be better to have some face to face meetings. But they can wait and they don’t need to be even 2-3 days a week. I was working from home 1-2 days a week before anyway.

From what management have said we're not going back until jan at the very earliest and there will be a lot of Zoom work until June next year. As we''re all in shared offices this means most of us will have to wfh to do that work.

The thought of another year of this makes me want to jump in a river. not joking unfortunately, I can't take the isolation any longer. I'm so down.