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.

@Egghead68

It’s bring encouraged at all purely for economic reasons (to keep the rental income coming in from all those city-centre coffee and sandwich shops).

Yes and so vital too. The working class poor doing those jobs - coffee shops, bars, restaurants, dry cleaners, shoe repairs, transport workers, postroom staff, office cleaners, etc - don't have the cushion of savings to get them through redundancy.

I also don't suppose the country as a whole can afford mass redundancies. There's already been moaning about potential tax rises to pay for the pandemic impact. The massive increase in unemployment benefits would have to be funded from somewhere.

I don't see the big fuss really. Once the schools are back in earnest, we might as well have office workers back. Large groups of children will be mixing together, with many travelling there on public transport. There's little additional risk from their parents doing the same.

It's a shame we didn't choose safety and economy. As an island we had that option. Other islands like NZ, Australia, and the Isle of Man had more sense.

I don't see the big fuss really. Once the schools are back in earnest, we might as well have office workers back. Large groups of children will be mixing together, with many travelling there on public transport. There's little additional risk from their parents doing the same.

Speaks the well known epidemiologist, @SheepandCow 😂

I go in once or twice a week. We have to prebook and there are no more than 30 people allowed at a time (normally 270 of us!).

Desks are allocated, on a bank of 10 only 3 will be in use so that 2m distance can be maintained. Wipes are provided to clean desks and chairs before and after use plus disinfectant spray for the keyboards. There's hand sanitiser everywhere.

Only 2 at a time allowed in the kitchen and toilets. One way markings in the corridors.

There's capacity to add another 30 desks if needed, but a staff survey showed most people would like to stay working from home. It'll be interesting to see if that changes once schools are back and it starts getting cold and dark.

I'm no expert, never claimed to be. I do know the experts think a lot of the spread is within households. So if children are mixing together in schools, they'll bring any infection they pick up home to their parents. So what does it matter if their parents go to the office? I absolutely could be missing something obvious and would be happy to have it pointed out to me.

@WotsitWiggle

I go in once or twice a week. We have to prebook and there are no more than 30 people allowed at a time (normally 270 of us!).

Desks are allocated, on a bank of 10 only 3 will be in use so that 2m distance can be maintained. Wipes are provided to clean desks and chairs before and after use plus disinfectant spray for the keyboards. There's hand sanitiser everywhere.

Only 2 at a time allowed in the kitchen and toilets. One way markings in the corridors.

There's capacity to add another 30 desks if needed, but a staff survey showed most people would like to stay working from home. It'll be interesting to see if that changes once schools are back and it starts getting cold and dark.

I bet that level of social distancing and measures isn't happening in schools. I think the desks are closer together, no wipes or disinfectant sprays between lessons, more than two at a time in the loos, etc. Which is why the parents might as well be back in the office.

DH and I are both still wfh, probably till January, although I do have to go in for a one-off in a couple of weeks time.

I do know the experts think a lot of the spread is within households

Um ... arguably because the main place we have been is in households.

Risks from different groups of people are additive. So it’s not true there is “little additional risk“ to going back to the workplace once schools are back. You are adding the risk of all the contacts at and on the way to work to the risk of all the contacts your children have at school (unless you work in the school your children attend in which case there is less additional risk as the contacts probably overlap).

No. We had an accommodation shortage anyway so it could be tricky to get a desk on busy days. Obviously distancing regs has exacerbated this.

Only those whose work role requires it, or home circs make wfh hard are being allowed back. It'll be new year at the earliest for the rest of us and I suspect we'll be encouraged to wfh permanently at least part time going forward.

My office is doing similar with a rota of who is allowed in when. Since August we have done 2 days in the office and 3 days 'agile working' which is attending meetings as well as WFH. Many of my colleagues had been shielding etc but were expected to return and meet with clients etc "whilst socially distancing"

Yes and so vital too. The working class poor doing those jobs - coffee shops, bars, restaurants, dry cleaners, shoe repairs, transport workers, postroom staff, office cleaners, etc - don't have the cushion of savings to get them through redundancy

True and I feel very sorry for these people but we can’t keep these jobs going artificially if they are no longer needed. Lots of jobs going in Amazon. Tesco delivery, hospitals etc. Unfortunately people will have to adapt.

We were due to return last week. Didn’t happen en masse and it’s now optional, but I don’t want to return if my colleagues aren’t there. Chicken, egg, pain in arse.

I started a new job at the end of July and have been told we won't be back in the office until January at the earliest. Even then, it's likely to be on a rota basis so only 1-2 days a week for a while. The company I left announced they wouldn't even be looking at returning to the office until April next year. Can't decide how I feel about WFH really; there are parts of it I enjoy, but I think I'd enjoy being in the office for at least part of the time, so will look forward to whenever it happens.

OP are we in the same office?!
Ours is desperate to get everyone back in and this week has explicitly told all staff they are expected to come back full time at starting with minimum of 3 days in the office unless you have some really good excuse (childcare or public transport worries dont cut it on the basis you did the job fine pre covid...)

There isnt really any social distancing. It is open plan office. We were working very effectively from home.

Many people are unhappy but what can we do.

No one back in the office and it’s unlikely anyone will return ever again. Gone completely virtual.

I've started going in one day a week. Thorough cleaning, infection control, social distancing etc.
The desk I use is cleaned and quarantined for 72 hrs before someone else can use use. No use of kettle (can use fridge and microwave). We all muck in to do a thorough clean first thing in the morning and the windows are open all day. I've stocked up on thermals ready for the winter.

I love wfh, but also miss much of office life. I'm hoping to keep a good balance of both.

Missmuscle join a union.

Everyone refuse, including people who would personally like to go back. As it's less safe for them if everyone is back. They cant sack everyone.

I’m in Scotland and no word on us going back yet. I’m desperate to go back, I miss people, I miss my home being somewhere I come home to. I just miss my old life.

My boss asked us all what we would like a return to campus (it’s a university) would look like for us and did we think performance was suffering with wfh. I was pretty frank with him, said my performance isn’t suffering but my mental health is. Gutted with the restrictions put on my area by the Scottish govt this week, I thought we were steadily on an upward trajectory towards getting back to work but no.

My son has been going in 2 days a week for 3 weeks now and will be doing 3 days from this week. The management are trying very hard to get people back in, but out of 35 staff, he was the only one who went back in. The furloughed staff returning are coming back in office, but it’s those that are wfh that are reluctant to return. Management are quite cross because they have spent time and money making office as safe as possible. I personally think the government are trying to get herd immunity, so that the young, fit and healthy people catch covid before the winter season arrives.

Here in Melbourne, Australia we have just found out that if we can continue to wfh we will likely be doing so until the end of the year. And that's in a best case scenario situation.

We remain on stage 4 lock down for at least the next 3 weeks.

Just seen news & big increase in cases reported in past 24 hours, highest since 22nd May. Surely this is only going to get worse as we head into winter.
I am being asked to go back in 2 weeks time for couple of days a week so will wait & see what it’s like by then...

@Littlemiss74

Just seen news & big increase in cases reported in past 24 hours, highest since 22nd May. Surely this is only going to get worse as we head into winter. I am being asked to go back in 2 weeks time for couple of days a week so will wait & see what it’s like by then...

Yes I think two weeks is a long way away, not much point deciding on this week's numbers

We have had a rota throughout that initially involved two people in a day and after a couple of months and me pointing out repeatedly that there was really only a need for one person per day it changed to that. Initially it was only really for a morning as well and then WFH again once home. It was just do a small number of jobs each day that physically couldn't be done from home. The rota was entirely voluntary and most people didn't volunteer to go on it. Over the last couple of months more people have started to volunteer to go on the rota and now most people have been in at some point.

Measures our employer has taken is marking every X amount of desk spaces to be unusable due to social distancing and you have to 'reserve' your desk space in advance of you coming in. We had to do training too which was watching a video and answering questions and passing that quiz to be able to work in the office. There is hand sanitizer in all the kitchens and bathrooms. There is a one way system around each floor including entry and exit to the building. Limit on number allowed in the lift at once. Little things like that really. This only all popped up in the last few months - I went to the office throughout the height of lockdown about every fortnight or so before any of that was in place! I have no health vulnerabilities btw so was happy to volunteer, it would have been different if I was in a different situation of course.

Our CEO and other bigwigs sent a recent internal communication to confirm that they are still anticipating it will be 2021 before we have much increased return to office work. Suits me just fine!

I do wonder that there may be permanent changes though. Our office was a recent acqusition for our employer and the very expensive lease will be up for renewal over the next year or two I think. It was already made clear that they were unlikely to renew and we would be moving to another cheaper location in the city so I'm wondering about the possibility of more WFH meaning they can hire even less space for us in the future/hot dealing etc.

My company is planning to review WFH in 2022, but is open to renting local workspaces for us if we want them. (Some of the young single house sharers do)

We don't have "an office" to go back to as we were in temporary month by month offices this year waiting to see what level of havoc Brexit would wreak on our sector. It seemed daft to sign a new lease of Brexit made it necessary to move to an EU country. (It's happening in 82 working days or something, and we still don't know! )

Not going back. My employer is spending a lot of time and money on a massive office refurb, and based on similar offices locally we'll probably be able to have about 1/3 of the previous number of people there. More than half of us have already said we don't want to return. Our jobs can be done from home just fine, it's not necessary. I got Covid at the peak in mid-March, I was sick for weeks and weeks and it was miserable, recovery can take ages at my age (mid-40s, no underlying conditions). Alexander and his shambolic govt and the commercial landlords can fuck off.