So, when do you think ‘wfh if you can’ will end?!

[Hairybaker]

The only upside of COVID for me has been no commute! Do you think it’ll be when you get vaccinated or when every adult has been vaccinated....or later?!
I know no one knows but just interested!

Her = yet

We got sent an email telling us to remember confidentiality when we’re on calls. I just laughed. What do they expect me to do, tell DH he has to go out when I’m on a call?

@Abracadabra12345 is really does feel claustrophobic, you’ve got it spot on!

Hopefully once restrictions ease it will feel much less like big brother is watching!

I can’t imagine it’s healthy for the minds of some WFH, stuck in the house, day in day out, desk facing the window so you can watch what everyone else is doing every minute. I do know this for a fact from my particular NDN due to fb messages. I think it’s much healthier leaving the home, separating the two.

Disclaimer - I’m only talking of my own experience here and I’m in no way implying that all WFH will be doing the same but I do have a very nosey neighbour who really does need to get out out more, sadly I think the WFH is going to be her new normal.

Getting out more meaning for work purposes of course!

I think 3 days a week from 2022 perhaps. Interestingly on LinkedIn though there are significantly more jobs with 'remote' under the location

My office chair, office screens and lots of books and papers are at home now. Going back in to the office part time means I either need two of a lot of things, or to carry my chair in a couple of days a week!

you can live in Exeter but work for a London company.

This is a nice theory but in my experience it doesn’t work so well. I worked in Scotland but was officially part of the team in NE England. I did the job fine and it was ok for me mostly, but I was never really part of the team. I worked a couple of days a week in the office with a team who did an entirely different job but I was more on their team than I was on my actual team.

I work in a school office & there is no working from home for us. Presenteeism is king despite the fact we all came down with Covid thanks to no social distancing and the teachers in and out of our office all day.

@MintyMabel

you can live in Exeter but work for a London company.

This is a nice theory but in my experience it doesn’t work so well. I worked in Scotland but was officially part of the team in NE England. I did the job fine and it was ok for me mostly, but I was never really part of the team. I worked a couple of days a week in the office with a team who did an entirely different job but I was more on their team than I was on my actual team.

I've never met my team face-to-face. I very much feel a part of it though. I've got to know most of them quite well.

I also have people from other teams calling me for advice / help as I have a reputation of being friendly and helpful. All achieved remotely.

It is possible to integrate remotely, even if it's not ideal. (I won't meet them much once the office reopens either, as I'm too far away to just pop in!)

We’ve got a current date of July but I doubt it. January at the earliest I suspect. We’ve been told we are moving to flexi working. Anyone who wants to WFH can do, everyone else, the expectation is 2-3 days a week office. I work in Leeds & my entire Leeds based team want to WFH as much as possible. Interestingly, our London colleagues do not at all. They are desperate to get back into the office. And I’ve realised it’s living accommodation differences driving it. Houses are much cheaper up here, everyone I work with owns or rents a house/flat with spare rooms & reasonable living space. I don’t know anyone, even young, who live with parents. The youngest in my office is 19 & she rents a 2 bed house.. on the other hand, my London colleagues predominantly live in house shares with friends & are working and living in their small bedrooms. The ones who own, own tiny flats. No spare space bar the kitchen table. And several live at home with parents. So I can see their want to get back in! Also, we are all pretty young. 40 & under. The London office is in Canary Wharf & they all had a big social life around work.

It’s totally possible to integrate remotely you just need to get creative with zoom/teams and WhatsApp.

My team is global - My peers are in HK, India, Brazil, France, US and Turkey. My boss is in HK, we meet once a year in peacetime for our annual offsite. We still have a great relationship. It is possible.

@MoirasRoses

We’ve got a current date of July but I doubt it. January at the earliest I suspect. We’ve been told we are moving to flexi working. Anyone who wants to WFH can do, everyone else, the expectation is 2-3 days a week office. I work in Leeds & my entire Leeds based team want to WFH as much as possible. Interestingly, our London colleagues do not at all. They are desperate to get back into the office. And I’ve realised it’s living accommodation differences driving it. Houses are much cheaper up here, everyone I work with owns or rents a house/flat with spare rooms & reasonable living space. I don’t know anyone, even young, who live with parents. The youngest in my office is 19 & she rents a 2 bed house.. on the other hand, my London colleagues predominantly live in house shares with friends & are working and living in their small bedrooms. The ones who own, own tiny flats. No spare space bar the kitchen table. And several live at home with parents. So I can see their want to get back in! Also, we are all pretty young. 40 & under. The London office is in Canary Wharf & they all had a big social life around work.

But long term if you all become remote you won't have a London or a Leeds team. You would have a remote national team. There would be no London (and possibly no Leeds) salary uplift.

Why pay London or Leeds salaries when you can pay Newcastle or Norfolk salaries.

@Chollok

Of course, some employers don't care as long as the work is done, but those kind of employers probably already had staff working from home/flexibly.

That's what all employers should be like. I would not apply for any job that had stuff like "flexible working considered" as though it is a "perk" or something you get if you behave yourself. No. It should be standard.

It can't be standard across all employers. If you have no contact with others then sure, your location and hours of work can be whatever you choose, but if you are in any way customer facing, have colleagues who need things from you or vice versa, you cannot have full flexibility. And nor is everyone on MN sufficiently senior/experienced/in demand to be able to be able to make those demands, even if they work in a job where it might be possible.

We had an all staff email last week asking each of us how many days a week we would prefer to commute into the office. So perhaps we will get some say in it. Personally I’ll be happy to go back to commuting once I’m vaccinated but not before, I’m quite old and want to be careful. But I’ve really missed the office and even missed commuting. Commuting gives me 2 hours a day to snooze, read and vegetate which I just don’t get wfh with kids around.

I'm so much more productive in the office. I waste so much time on Teams at home. If I've got a question I could have asked it face to face in much less time than it takes to type it, wait for an answer, provide more information, wait again etc. It also takes so long to save everything as my broadband is nowhere near what we have at work.

Office work definitely gives me more of a clear barrier between work and home - the fact I am doing work emails now isn't a great sign. Finding it otherwise bleeds into evening and weekends.

Have been lucky to have a static team up to now but got some new starters in the coming weeks and as the manager it does worry me how to integrate them in and make them feel a full part of the team when they may not actually properly meet people for months. Building working relationships is so important and I can feel that slipping slightly the longer we are out.

Also concerns at whether there is any incentive at all for employers to still offer London weighting in these circumstances - so pay drops but your electricity/water/internet costs go up. Not great.

We were starting to work from home 2-3 days a week anyway, so I imagine it will continue like that now.

Personally I can't think of anything worse than working from home. Home is home! I don't want to work in it. At the moment everyone is wfh but I currently go into the office 3 days a week for wellbeing. I need that break.

A lot of people who are loving working from home are going to be mightily annoyed when their jobs get offshored!

@Donoteatthekittens

A lot of people who are loving working from home are going to be mightily annoyed when their jobs get offshored!

I'm not sure there are many English-qualified lawyers overseas to replace my job!

alot of people who are loving working from home are going to be mightily annoyed when their jobs get offshored!

Done it for 5 years now and it hasn't happened yet.

I previously worked 2 days out of 4 from home
I’m not intending on going back to regular office attendance after this
My role has changed slightly so not “front line” and more likely to travel to other offices for meetings than need to regularly be at old place of work

The expectation is that we will transition slowly with no sense of normality until next year and even then on a more agile basis for all

@Donoteatthekittens not a possibility at my work.

Even before Covid, I was working for a huge bank that outsourced its entire digital banking arm to Bangalore. City financial firms have already outsourced secretarial jobs to Eastern Europe. The NHS has outsourced audio typing abroad so medical secretaries have been made redundant or downgraded.

My job is safe as I’m required to be a British citizen with security clearance but many jobs are not.

@Scottishskifun In Scotland it's not even if you can it's you have to unless it's essential office

I'm afraid that isn't correct, it actually says "If you are able to work from home you must do so.

We aren't an essential business and I am unable to work from home 5 days a weeks so I do have a few days in the office.

I

3 x teams & we'll be in 1 week in 3. Hotdesks will be available for office 'pit stops' at other times.