Honestly - why are you not going back to work?

[SpaceOP]

I've spoken to a lot of firms, read lots of news reports, all saying that the UK workforce are not going back. I know many firms are doing internal surveys and the feedback is universally that people aren't planning to come back yet.

My question is, genuinely, how much of this i because of covid and how much is because quite frankly, WFH is nicer? Or if there's a list of reasons, is Covid number 1 or number 5?

Certainly, in my case, I have worked from home for years but I admit that I am enjoying barely ever having to go into town. It's time consuming and painful and often means I lose out on time to do other work and/or home stuff. So the more my clients continue to work from home, the better it is for me. I'm not staying away because of Covid as the main reason, although I would say it's a consideration - I feel like the risk doesn't feel that worth it but if I had to go in, I would?

Anyone else?

For some employers the risk assessment requirements are so financially onerous that they have told employees they won't be having staff back in the office until January at the earliest.

I've volunteered to be part of a cohort to trial a return, hate full time WFH am absolutely sick of it. But our office has a capacity of 79 but only 16 people allowed in at a time

I think in the current situation, childcare is a big reason. As if you are home, you can deal with the unexpected 14 days isolation easier.
I cannot work from home, but all the office staff that have been allowed back into the office, they have taken it straight away, and they have been back for a while. They look happy!
Around half of our office staff are still wfh, as there is only a certain number allowed in the office to keep the distancing.

Because I love WFH! I’m hoping it can become more of a feature in my life.. both myself & my OH get so much more time with our kiddos.

I prefer being in the office, but I’m enjoying a break from commuting and it’s really handy being in for parcels, Doing housework etc.

I will be bored of it eventually.

I walked to work so I’m not worried about covid on the “commute” if I return, but I am worried about it in the office, which isn’t conducive to distancing although the bosses try their best and are very serious about employee health.

Why WFH? I am more productive at home. I see my teens more often.

On the negative side, I’ve lost some fitness through not walking to and from work, and I miss one or two particular colleagues.

Dh isn't because they are only allowed one member of staff per room (big rooms) so would be on a part time rota with the rest if his team anyway and a big part of what he enjoys in the office was the social side.

It’s mainly because of the benefits of WFH - no bastard commute, more time w kids & DH but partly because I got long Covid back in March and am still recovering. I am worried that the physical and mental effort of commuting will mean I’m too knackered to work once I get there, or worse, will trigger another relapse. I’ll probably start rocking up a couple of times a month if I can manage it.

Will be one of the last to go back in as can do my job in its entirety from home, one of the reasons why they’re not getting us back is if someone has symptoms/test positive, we will all have to self isolate, we are already down to the bare minimum of being able to function due to staff reductions over the years and most recently redundancy’s due to Covid. It’s easier to keep us set up at home.

@EmMac7

100% Covid.

A second wave is inevitable and offices have been shown in studies to have one of the highest attack rates. No surprise — aerosolised virus + prolonged contact with members of different households in poorly ventilated space.

But according to our great leaders offices and schools are safe. Covid knows not to go in there.

Because until our office has passed it's covid assessment only 15 people are allowed in it a time so you have to have a specific reason to go in at the moment. Also childcare, once we're allowed in more often, because after school club has reduced its hours quite a bit, I'll only be able to get in to town 1 of my 3 working days in order to get enough work done without a lot of catch up out of hours (school is 2 minutes from home and 45 mins from work!)

Because I work in the live events industry and as this government doesn’t give a f*ck about my industry I’ve got no work to go back to.

Last week I didn't go in for 2 days because dh and I didn't check our calendars and coordinate who was doing what with school runs. Today I have a cold and it feels a bit socially unacceptable to be sniffing in public at the moment! Once I get myself organised and healthy I will be back.

I have been working throughout and that despite the best efforts of TFL.
I can't afford not to.

I never want to go back into an office more than 2 days a week again. Currently I wfh all but one day a fortnight on avg. Covid about 5th on my list of reasons and then commuting on a hot train in a mask is more off putting not being in the officeitself. Why I want to wfh - productivity, stress reduction, time, cost...

Similar to @Aozora13:

1. I had a nasty bout of Covid in March, ill for weeks and weeks, recovery slow and frustrating, and it scared me. DH and DS also got sick. Most likely caught it in the office or on the train.
2. I save 60 hours and £125 every month by not commuting. I can spend that money on stuff I want and need, which keeps others in productive employment, instead of handing it over to the useless fuckers running our privatised railways.
3. Further to point 2, I was out of the house for 11 hours a day for a net working day of 7 hours. The trains were unreliable and dirty. It was dispiriting fucking nonsense, and I was planning to quit at the 15 year mark before Covid got in there first after 13.5 yrs.
4. I get to have breakfast and dinner with my family every day instead of just at the weekends.
5. Every aspect of my job and its monitoring can be done from home, we don't need to be in the office and my productivity is better (not massively, but a bit better).
6. Our refurbed offices will hold (probably) about 1/3 of their previous occupants. Most of us won't be going back.
7. I am too old to miss the social side of work and although my colleagues are nice people it was never a very sociable place, unless you are 22. Most of us just put our heads down, worked our varying shifts and got home to our families as soon as we could.
8. It pisses off the Tories. Truly, there is nothing not to like.

Because I’m still furloughed and the office only has a skeleton staff. I don’t like the emphasis being on employees choosing to go back, when in reality it’s the employer setting the rules.

I also think it wouldn’t be terrible that WFH has become more normal, it’s a sudden change but with less commuting it’s better for the environment, maybe it’s not happening as gradually as expected.

I did a day back at the office last week.

I felt safe enough, but the commute wasted time I could have been working and I got v little done because people wanted to chat. I'm very productive wfh, with a better quality of life. That's why.

It will be crap. I'll commune for an hour to a booked desk in an office that can only take 30 percent capacity, to sit with people I don't know and have meetings with my actual colleagues via zoom..

I’m wfh because I have a 1.5 hr commute and now there is no school wrap around and staggered drop offs - if I can’t leave school until 9.30 I won’t get to work before 11 and need to leave at about 1.45 for home time pickup. I have done it to show my face, but it is monumentally inefficient compared to wfh! Previously the commute was outside the working day of 9-5 in the office.

I want to keep WFH but as of Monday we are told we have to be back in the office full time. The reason for this is that big boss is of the old school, if he cant see people sweating over their work then they arent working hard enough.

Next boss down is happy with this because he is a wet lettuce.

My boss is happy with this because she likes having the chance to spend hours crawling to her boss in his office then coming back and pontificating at the rest of us.

I like WFH because I am more productive and can concentrate better without having the distractions of the office. In the office people are constantly chatting. Not allowed to wear headphones (see pontificating boss above).

Practically all of the people I do work for are remote (and will stay remote) so we are being forced back into the office essentially as a display of presenteeism.

The whole thing is a pile of horse dung. I am dreading the cold season starting. My boss is the sort who takes pride in 'powering through' so will happily come into the office with a stomach upset or a dripping cold to demonstrate how committed they are.

For me the benefits of WFH are:

• fewer distractions and distractions I can manage.
• money & time saving (I have a 1 hour commute since office got moved).
• a more pleasant environment (I am fortunate to have my own office at home decorated the way I want it)

For all those of you with a full team in how are you managing to socially distance?

The rules are 2.5 metres where possible or if not possible mitigate the risks by wearing a mask. Are you all wearing masks at your desks?

I'm not sure if everyone is socially distancing or applying the same rules in offices.

Our building allows one person per office apart from the two very largest rooms, which allow 2. The whole building can be occupied at a quarter of the normal capacity.

I visited a client a couple of weeks ago where the open plan office appeared to be normally occupied - all desk in use probably just about 2 metres apart and people facing each other. We would have allowed no more than 2-3 people to work in that room, whereas they had 6.

The DWP was featured in our local news because HSE inspected and found a group of people all standing closely around one desk having a conversation.

It's mostly the travel for me. My office is town centre and I live in the suburbs. Pre-Covid, I used the bus and could be in work in 30-45mins. I am comfortable doing most things now but I really don't want to use public transport unless I have to. My options are walking, which takes about an hour or getting DP (currently on furlough) to give me a lift. Driving in myself is not really an option as town centre parking is scare and costs a bomb!
I have been back to the office a couple of times. DP drove me in and I walked home. I don't mind the walk really but it's not something I want to do 5x a week.

I really enjoyed my days in the office. It feels good to go out to work and come home, like there's a clear division in the day. I like talking to colleagues, even if it's just saying hi to someone at the coffee machine. It's good to have a look round the shops at lunchtime. The office itself feels very safe, with all the proper procedures in place and regular cleaning etc.
I am starting to feel isolated at home now. I am not sure why it's hitting me now, possibly because DS is back at school and so things are feeling more "normal" but I really feel like I'm lacking in social contact.

GreekOddess it's not really happening. On the whole people try not to get in each other's way but that's about it. Hence my concern about cold season.