How much longer wfh if office based

[EagleFlight]

Do any of you have any minimum date that you will be wfh or date you expect to start returning to the office?

Company has been completely wfh since March and has said will continue until at least March of this year. They are understandably non committal at the moment about anything further into the future because who knows what will happen but I’d be surprised if it isn’t extended (because wfh is going well).

Now we’ve had the latest lockdown announcement has anyone had a wfh extension or expectation of when looking to return to the office?

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

It's basically a case of make do with what you've got at home for my company - they won't pay for desks or chairs

Most people prefer working from home so happy to live with working at the table etc and seemed like in the last lockdown most went out and bought office furniture and managed to find a space for it

@ivfbeenbusy it’s not a solution long term though. There are health and safety implications for a start. While it’s fine as a temporary (and necessary) measure I don’t have the space to work from home permanently and most of my colleagues are the same. When I did a DSE assessment I failed a lot of it with no way of improving so companies will have to take that into account

We've been working from home since March and were originally told we wouldn't be expected back in the office until January. That has been extended to the end of March, but I don't think they will ever expect full time attendance in the office again and I think when they did a survey only 8% wanted to be in the office FT (and interestingly only a similar number wanted to be at home FT too - most wanted a combination).

@2020quelhorreur

There is a whole generation who have taken such a hit from coronavirus to protect the older generation, and now they’re being told that they can work from their bedrooms forever with no real opportunities to network or learn in the million different ways that you do when you’re working alongside your seniors. No, you can’t do that networking over zoom and as for mentoring through the Microsoft teams, urgh.

I think you can network very effectively on Zoom because I've been doing it and made new contacts and even friends that way,

However, I do agree that you miss out on all the incidental chit-chat in the office when you are at home. As an example, on one of the last days in the office I heard colleagues talking about a particular question from a client. The next day when I was at home, a regulator happened to issue some new guidance on that very point, which I sent to my colleague. Had I not heard that conversation, I wouldn't have known it would be of interest to him.

We can go in if we want/need to, although there is a limit to how many people can be in at once. I'd been going in one day a week up until Christmas.

Surely they will just have to wait and see! You can’t predict it yet so giving a date to come back is pointless! We got told at the first lockdown it will be like this until it’s over.

I don’t think I’ve been in since 5 March. I work in HR so am involved in planning for our office reopening and it won’t be until spring that we return - I’d say the beginning of April if the situation is good and stable again. We were hoping for early this year until the latest decline.

Everyone will be able to decide for themselves initially, then return a day or two a week. Some might stick with that but a lot want to be in 4-5 days again so will return fully in due course.

Self and DH have been told to WFH indefinitely. In the summer those struggling to do their jobs well from home or those with MH issues were allowed to return to the office but I believe take up was very low.

We were told last March that we’d all be working from home until September this year. I think we all laughed at the time, but it’s looking more likely now.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

I think companies will end up downsizing office space as employees may only have to come in on a rota basis or book a desk in advance sort of system - my company has that now when not in lockdown but you can only book a desk for Max 2 days per week. What about doing a couple of days at home and a couple in the office?

Pretty sure most of my company would have failed the DSE assessment as not many people have spare rooms/space to form an office or the money to do so - I know I didnt but there was no remedy for it because with the lockdowns they had no choice but to send us home

It really wouldn’t work for me. I have a small desk at home that we’ve managed to squeeze in between the sideboard and the dining table and I’m sick of looking at it to be honest. I might feel different if I had a spare room, but it’s like living in the office and I’ll leave if I have to do that permanently! DH feels as though he can’t sit in the living room and if I’m on a call he can’t walk through to the kitchen or bathroom. I’ve told him not to worry and just walk through, it’s not my problem if he appears in the background providing he’s dressed!

I understand people will fail DSE assessments at the moment but no company should expect staff to work like that permanently. I was told on here months ago that I’d just have to arrange my living room but that’s not possible, it would mean getting rid of furniture!

I get the impression that because many employers will have less office space available, either because of abiding by some form of social distancing/stopping hot desking or because they have shut down some offices, they will balance the needs of employees with that. Hopefully for those who want to be back, it will mean that they get the first opportunity to return whilst those who are happier at home can remain there. Depending upon the numbers, it could work really well. I imagine if everyone wants to be back in the office then it will be worked out on a rota basis.

I'm finished in my current role in a couple of weeks after being there since October. The majority of my team have never met me, I was referred to as a 'virtual person' in the Team meeting today! I was delighted to get a WFH role in the beginning but it's proved very isolating and lonely. I miss the companionship of being in an office. Lucky to have DH WFH as well so we go for the usual 30 mins walk at lunchtime or I'd go insane. Weird to think I'll never go back to the office except to hand my equipment in.

Surely being referred to as the virtual person is just rude though. Did you use webcams for meetings?