Are you back in the office next week even if you can work from home?

[C1239]

The advice obviously changed this weekend to encourage more back into the workplace. What view has your employer taken? Even if you have been able to work from home well the last few months have you been asked to get back into office working from next week?

But hang on, who's talking about being completely closed off from life?

This thread is about continuing to WFH. Not about never going out again!

I will be continuing to WFH, maybe going into the office once or twice a week in the new year. Around that, I will be going to yoga classes, buying a coffee and a cake from the local independent coffee shop, popping into the supermarket, going out to dinner, walking in the woods, pottering around the garden centre to pick up new plants because now I actually have time to garden! I can go to the shops if I want to (I don't, particularly, happy to buy online) and I can meet friends in pubs or restaurants. DH and I are going away for the weekend on Friday and we're going to a gallery and out for lunch this afternoon.

The only real difference is that I'm not cramming myself onto a ridiculously crowded commuter train every morning and paying through the nose for the privilege.

As I said, I don't recognise @Cloudyroom's vision of a dystopian future where everyone sits miserably in their rooms and only emerges blinking into the sunlight for an hour once a week to go to Tesco's.

I'm not denying there's an effect on the economy, a significant one in some cases. But businesses need to adapt to survive. The idea that getting 'everyone back to the office' is going to sort everything out is focusing on the wrong thing and is bound to fail anyway.

@BoxAndKnife it depends on your circumstances I guess. I won't be going to restaurants or pubs or the supermarket because of the risk for me, and I'm single and live alone. So work is my main socialising and I don't want to WFH forever! My commute is a few miles in a car so I'm not saving much being at home

I feel really sad for younger people starting out in their careers having to work from home. It’s so isolating, with very little meaningful interaction with others.

I agree. I also can't think of anything worse than working from home all of the time. I love the disconnect between home and work, but then I took a pay cut to work somewhere I can walk to, best decision ever after years and years of commuting. It is sad that so many people are happy locked away at home in front of a computer monitor.

@Staplemaple

I feel really sad for younger people starting out in their careers having to work from home. It’s so isolating, with very little meaningful interaction with others.

I agree. I also can't think of anything worse than working from home all of the time. I love the disconnect between home and work, but then I took a pay cut to work somewhere I can walk to, best decision ever after years and years of commuting. It is sad that so many people are happy locked away at home in front of a computer monitor.

You can't think of anything worse? Wow 😱

No. We're planning an optional phase 1 return from the start of September - very limited numbers (approx 20% of desks), no kitchen use other than for drinks, no showers.

You can't think of anything worse? Wow 😱

Of course there's worse in the world, but work related, nope. It sounds absolutely awful.

@QueenCT I do understand that everyone has slightly different circumstances. And I don't think that people who want to go back into the office, for whatever reason, should be stopped from doing that. I agree about young people starting out. I know that some jobs can't be done from home. I know work provides a valuable social resource for some. Flexibility should be key.

But what bothers me about this whole argument around getting back into the office is the underlying idea that people exist to serve the economy, when in fact it is (or should be!) the other way around. I don't exist to keep the profit margins of Pret a Manger bouyant, or to allow Southern Rail bosses to keep their big bonuses. I really resent being 'guilted' into stopping WFH because 'oh noes, what about the office-wear retailers?' The world is changing, if Pret or Costa or whoever still want my money they need to find ways to tempt me to part with it that don't require me to also spend £2.5k per year for the pleasure of having my face stuck in someone's armpit for two hours a day on a train you wouldn't be allowed to transport cattle in.

And yes, I know people will lose their jobs and that absolutely stinks but, again, if businesses don't adapt to changing circumstances it's not the fault of the customer.

Apologies for the rant, clearly I feel more strongly about this than I thought

DHa company is only encouraging back those who absolutely cannot work from home, and many of those are being offered compressed hours, or partial WFH. The vast majority of people I. His large all don office will remain WFH until at least January, with a long term plan of them only being office-based 1-2 days per week.

@BoxAndKnife yep and me being in the office makes no difference whatsoever to the economy as none of us use trains or buy lunch! Middle of nowhere

If you need to see someone for company, go and see them (I'm talking a no covid scenario obvs). If you need fresh air, go for a walk. You also get to see your family much more on a WFH basis.

I know not everything can be done from home, but a lot more can than people think. We need to adapt.

Imagine how much less pressure the NHS will be under if people got their advice their the internet and phone and could only go to a hospital when they genuinely need to?

As PPs have said, its crazy to do a 2 hour commute each way, spend a fortune on tickets/parking, to do what you could easily do at home.

No doubt we will all be under lockdown again when the second wave hits next month. So probably WFH far longer.