Are you starting to go back to office if you’ve been wfh?

[Littlemiss74]

I’ve been wfh since end March. I had a shielding letter and my employer has been great saying I could stay at home even when shielding was paused. Most other staff were still wfh too anyway but now they are starting to return to office. We’ve been told there can’t be more than 50% staff on site at once so people are going to do a split between home & office.

My boss has asked if I could perhaps come in at the end of the month to see all the safety measures in place with a view to returning. She knows I have been anxious. I am part time so don’t think she would expect me to go in there every day. She said it would be good if I could go in some of the time so we can have team meetings and project planning time together.

At the moment I feel ok about returning but I am anxious about the winter months when there always people in work coughing & sneezing. I take immunosuppressants so need to be careful. I want to show willing and I am slightly conscious that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ may occur if I’m away too much longer.

Just wondering what stages other people are at in returning to the office, how often do you go in a week and what are the covid restrictions in place? Also if you were shielding how do you feel about returning and the winter months?

I appreciate there are many people who will be vulnerable who will have continued working throughout.

People started to return to my office in July. However, it has been entirely voluntary; its completely up to us whether we go back and if we do, for how many days. No pressure has been exerted either way by the firm, and they have indicated this will remain the case until early 2021 (assuming nothing changes in the meantime) when they will start to require people to return for at least some of the week.

No, no sign of going back to the office. I'm wondering whether we will ever go back tbh.

Some already back, everyone else including me return on Monday.

They have just started this week at my work, large well known corporate.

We have had videos on the intranet showing what the new changes look like, the stickers everywhere saying where you can and can't sit, the squares and spots on the floor, the hand gel and desk spacing, guidance on using the lifts and one way in and one out.

Very impressive from what I have seen.

No, we have been told we won't be going back this year.

I am very happy about this as I love wfh.

I am going in on weekends so I can avoid all the confusing rules & tense atmosphere. I do bits of WFH in week, otherwise.

Officially I'm only supposed to go in if it's essential to get my work done (which it is, I don't have a workspace here with Uni kid at home).

There is muttering about weekly swabbing all staff with client contact (we are a science institute so have own test facilities).

Not shielding, not afraid of getting sick, but don't want to be told to drive 100 miles to get a test or quarantine for 2 weeks, either.

It’s interesting to read how many people are not yet going back or at least not for the rest of the year. I can’t decide if I miss going in or not!

Not until early November at the earliest and largely dependent on public transport as I work in central London.

One day a week in central London from Monday

Our office are returning in waves based on need to be face to face. I work mostly on conference calls with colleagues around the world, so am in the last wave which is classed as 'normality'. So I don't expect to return until next year. I quite enjoy working from home.
Fwiw, my company are creating a vaccine, so are very switched on to all things covid and doing everything by the book. We are a company of over 120,000 globally and the CEO told everyone to have a day off today as a thank you for coping with work and personal challenges over lockdown. My company are fab!

We’ve been told that we will be given at least 6 weeks notice of when they want to start getting people back in the office but no signs of it happening any time soon

I never stopped

I WFH all the time, but my biggest client has gone from saying there will be no return this year to asking people to go back in October this week, so I think I'll be expected to attend on-site meetings there soon.

A few friends have been called back over the past fortnight, too. One is going in Monday and Tuesday but working from home the rest of the week, to give organised office time for meetings. He says it's okay, but very quiet. One has gone back four days a week from this week, I'm not sure how she's found it yet.

Husband works for a massive company. They've no plans to go back this year. He's extremely vulnerable so would not go back even if his job was in danger (he's being very cautious).

I work for a public health community project (currently on mat leave). Spoke to my manager yesterday and I'll be wfh upon return. Makes sense because most of our service users are BME and over 50.

I started going in once a week about a month ago, just for a half day. I work at home for the other 4.5 days.

It's ok being back, though I was quite anxious about it all earlier in the year. I'm vulnerable, but wasn't shielding.

The safety measures that have been put in place are generally very good, and well thought out, but it's very easy to forget about distancing from time to time, amd a lot of my colleagues really aren't bothered. I am a bit worried about going in as cases start to rise. I use a lot of handgel and avoid using the kitchen.

Some of my colleagues are back full time. Our employer has been very flexible overall, so I have no complaints. In some ways,I think it has probably been good to get me out and about again. I may feel very differently when the second wave really starts to kick in!

We're all working from home and have been told to expect to continue til at least October, they're in the process of completing risk assessments currently. Our office is open but only 4 people in at a time from an office of at least 50

I'm doing two half days in work from next week. Really impressed with the measures my workplace has put in place, and feel pretty isolated working from home. Still a bit anxious about going in after six months at home though!

Wfh until at least March. I hope not to many people go back be evading my DD is reliant on the bus to get to college and the pernitted capacity has gone from 70 down to 18.

I’m a home worker but my office is opening next week. My work operate health and safety businesses so I’m hopeful it will be fine. I think vulnerable people are not to go though.

Everyone's back at my work this week. I mostly wfh anyway and have been shielding but I'll start to go back in 1 day a week (as I did before) from next week.

Loads of office measures to keep people distanced and safe so no concerns.

Been back at work for months, only part time, wfh the rest.

Some huge companies Have already announced they never coming back or not coming back until March next year at least. I don't Think they should predict that far ahead I think they should make decisions for say the next three months because things are changing so quickly.

I honestly don't know what people's objections are. Of any semi decent restrictions and guidelines have been out in place, and they are only asking for 50% staff back at any given time, and do you are only expected in once a week or so, then what is the problem.

I’m pregnant and my work are being cautious.

I’m going in for a few hours next week for a teem meeting but still WFH.

Thing is now my two are back at school I guess I may aswell go back in to the office. I just have a bit of underlying anxiety as the shielding letter made it sound so dreadful if you were to catch it😩 Just got to get on with it I guess and keep fingers crossed. I don’t think its great for my mental health wfh all the time really so a bit of bot might be nice.

We have opened up the offices in case people want to go back, but there is no pressure to. Its more to support people who have found it difficult to work from home e.g. a colleague who lives at home in a small flat without anything to use for a desk, has already had covid, and is an extrovert (in the sense of getting her energy from being with people) so is really, really keen to be working alongside people.

@Littlemiss74 you might get a lot from taking your manager up on the offer to see what they have done and talk through any concerns. There's nothing to lose from taking a look.

Some have started to go back in, but it has to be pre-arranged to ensure we don't have too many people.

I'm going in for the first time on Monday, I'm quite excited to see my desk with 2 massive screens again! And I've got 3 meetings lined up, 2 of which are in person, so excited to see some colleagues IRL. I normally drive my kids to school 4 days a week (we live rurally, their school is 12 miles from home, and near my office, and other than a lift share with another family, we've got no other way of getting them to school), so it's their first day back at school too.

I'll probably head to the office once a week. I love the flexibility that all this WFH has given us TBH, and hope it stays for the long run. It also potentially opens up a job market further afield...