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.

Im back tomorrow only part time but i cant wait been furloughed since march. Looking forward to getting back to some sort of normality. Not sure im keen on the new office rules one way system and not making colleagues tea etc but we will adapt

I have been back in the office (non-clinical NHS) for a couple of weeks and the difference it has made to my mental health is amazing. I hated wfh, I felt isolated, unmotivated and much less productive, I felt I was living at work, and just before I went back to the office was crying or on the verge of tears at some point on most work days. If pushed to find a positive it would be being home to receive deliveries, and if ever needed, to let workmen in.

I feel so much better mentally now and am back to normal levels of motivation. Our offices have been risk assessed and people who want or need to spend time in the office are able to book a desk for a day or two a week, or permanently if wanted. Only a small number of people are going in at the moment as most are ok at home, so social distancing is easy.

As of end of August we are back in our office but on a rota so we are each in three days a week and work from home the other two.

There are 6 of us in total but will be working usually with 3 in at any one time (unless line manager needs to be in more but we can easily have 4 in our office safely)

This up to now will remain till Christmas possibly the full new academic year

All keeping our own desks as no sharing allowed.

I will be going back armed with my anti bac spray, cloths, wipes, hand gel. I am a bit anal usually anyway and clean my phone and keyboard/mouse morning and evening. I also don't share pens but that's because I can't bear that people may have had them in their mouth etc.

I wfh permanently anyway. My dh work is talking about each division going in one day a week. He’s looking forward to seeing his team once a week.

My DB has been wfh since end of February (Royal Mail IT systems) He loves it, no commute, no spending money on coffee, sandwiches etc, no fuel. Starts work at 7.00am, has 30 min break to do school run at 8.15, works 8.45am -1.00pm then lunch, works 1.30pm-4.30pm. Uses the extra time over set hours so he can finish at lunchtime on a Friday if he wants. Cuts down on using doggy daycare as well, dogs now out in garden most of the day if weather is good. He has lost nearly 3 stone by not being tempted to eat crap from shop, they will be wfh until at least Christmas.

It looks like we will be working from home for the rest of this year at least and some from of permanent home working is being considered going forward

Not at the moment. Shielding and working from home which is going well.

I'd never wfh before and I loved it. But it meant one of my office based colleagues had to do elements of my job because there were some things I couldn't do at home and it wasn't fair on her.

Went back a couple of weeks ago. It's lovely to be part of society again and talk to different people. I was beginning to feel a bit cut off.

There's a big problem getting people back into any offices that rely on lifts to get people around them. God knows when Canary Wharf and the city will really get back. Some high rise offices are problematic even in normal times - can take a while to get in lifts especially at 9am. Impossible if you can only have 1 person per lift.

I think logistics and reliance on public transport will mean 'normal' work patterns are a very long way off in central London.

We all go back to our office in a few weeks with everyone doing 4 days in and one day from home. I'm allocated a different desk everyday which I didn't think would be allowed but there we go.

This is interesting @dementedma - our staff are 84% want to WFH at least 1-2 days a week.

But that's a totally different question to whether or not they want to get back to the office at all. We've been told we won't be back until January and I'm pretty sad about it - I hate working from home full-time - but I'd be delighted with working half from home half from the office or a similar arrangement, so I'd definitely be in that 84% if that's how it's asked. But then I've always had the flexibility to work from home if needed - for instance, if travelling for work later in the day, or if I have a medical appointment, waiting in for plumber or just if I have a report to write and really want to get my head down - so a slight extension to that doesn't seem anything like the current situation of working fully from home to me. Depending on how you asked I could be either 'desperate to get back to the office' (I am) or 'prefer to work from home some of the time' (also true).

Latest corporate comms says not before January 2021. We were originally told we might be back on 12 April. I am still predicting September 2022 at earliest for reality.

I am going to work PT in office on Sundays in August, due to lack of office space at home that month I won't do hardly anything at home. I may figure out the one-way system by end of August. Probably won't be anyone else in, anyway.

We will be going back not to sure when yet but I'm now looking forward to it, we have quite a big office with a small amount of staff so I think social distancing will work ok for us, I've missed social interaction and being in an office, fed up being at my dining room table

Haven’t heard anything yet so I assume will at least til September / October

Been wfh since early March and have just been told that I probably won't be returning to the office until the New Year.