Is working from home going to be forever?

[Inthevirtualwaitingroom]

i believe it may be,
it doesnt apply to me but i am concerned about the welfare of those who it does affect.
their social skills
their physical health
it is also a consideration when moving home

Our place have said blended 2/3 days in will be the norm. I will like having the choice like on a 35'degree day I will chose to stay home and not pack onto a sweaty train, that will be nice!

I think a mix of both will be the norm but it depends on the job. A silver lining of the pandemic has been that it has proven to sceptical employers that WFH is possible whereas previously many saw it as skiving and scoffed at anyone that suggested it. I do miss interacting with colleagues, learning from each other and find the constant emails and zooms to discuss things that would've taken a few minutes in the office exhausting.

@Inthevirtualwaitingroom

what will happen to public transport though?

It would have to be scaled back, which is no bad thing seeing as pollution levels have dropped in the past year.

I hope so! I miss the camaraderie of the office but my work life balance is so much better. I’d like maybe a day a week/ 2 days a month in the office but quite happy to wfh indefinitely.

At 32 weeks pregnant I’m incredibly grateful not to be commuting currently. It never failed to amaze me the number of people studiously avoiding the gaze of a heavily pregnant woman on a packed train leaving me to stand.

I miss the office, live alone though have stayed with my mum for each lockdown due to her being housebound
Our company hadn’t yet confirmed what the blended approach will be but it’s something they are looking at as an official policy
My role isn’t client facing so I could wfh daily but I wouldn’t want to

@PersonaNonGarter

Most people will say they want a ‘blend’.But in practice those who have a choice won’t go in.

They will for the first couple of weeks. Then the cost/commute/bad weather will put them off. And attendance will wane.

Not true. I will have a choice and will continue to work exactly as I did pre-pandemic which is half in the office and half at home. My commute is 20 minutes and I like it - driving up the motorway blasting out a bit of music

And, despite being an introvert, I miss actually seeing and working with my colleagues.
Having the banter etc. It’s not the same working remotely.

In practice, I really hope employers give their employees the choice where possible.

The company I work has completely forced on me .

I work 12.5 hour shifts taking calls from patients ( healthcare role)

We were originally told we could book a desk but for 5 hours max then would have to work home . I only get 30 minute break for the long shift so would have to spend that travelling .

Now they have stopped all bookings anyway. It's horrible I end up waking my toddler up as he can hear me on calls ( he is in bed 7 ) I work until 20-15 but could be as late as 9.

We have now been told we are having nurse uniforms delivered to our home to do video consultation. Again not discussed or asked how we feel about that. I absolutely don't want to do video chats 12.5 hours a day in my home .

I want to get back into the office the company are shambolic

Not true.
I will have a choice and will continue to work exactly as I did pre-pandemic which is half in the office and half at home.
My commute is 20 minutes and I like it -driving up the motorway blasting out a bit of music

Well that sounds lovely and most people with a 20 minute drive and so I’m assuming parking would probably commute given the choice.

My current commute should I do it would be a drive to the train station. A 45 minute train journey then a 15 minute walk. 99% of the time I won’t get a seat.

So yeah, I’ll wfh thanks.

I think in certain jobs it will be both. Some at some in the office. Prob never be the same amount in the office as before.

I never wanted a work from home job. I work 2 days a week and don't want my personal space invaded with difficult work calls ( the nature of my job means I am discussing highly emotional situations at times) . It makes me feel uncomfortable in my home. In the office I loved my job, however now I feel like I'm sat at the table just replaying stories that are very sad ( don't want to go into it on here).

I can't return to the wards as I am pregnant

My mental health is far better now that I work from home. No mental drain of banal human interaction with 30 odd people that happen to sit near me. I now only have purposeful conversations with people I choose. No having to overheat about Tim's dream again or Sarah's puppy or crap John is spouting that he read in the DM. It's wonderful. That side of being in the office, added to the offensively bright lights and dry air they all have used to make me a husk of a human by the afternoon. Now I'm functional all day. I love talking all day to the right people. I love that I can take 10 minutes out on my own sofa. I love that I get to pick the lighting, the smell, the chair. I'll be going back no more than two days a week hopefully.

Pre COVID I was doing 2 days a week from home & was planning on asking for more WFH as the commute was awful, ie constant delays and the anxiety of not making nursery pick up time had me feeling so stressed.

But I felt very trapped in my job because not that many jobs in my field (City based finance role) allowed WFH so I felt “lucky” that my employer offered a degree of flexibility. I think my employer knew this, and that they could screw me over on pay and bonuses because as a mum with a young child they knew I counted on the flexibility.

But now COVID has opened up more WFH / flexible working in more companies I’m hoping in the longer term there will be more scope for people like me to move jobs.

I think there'll be a state of flux for a few years. There'll be firms keen on having staff on site, other firms keen on having staff WFH. If the employee finds themselves in a firm that doesn't suit them, then they'll probably leave to move to one that does. I foresee quite a movement of staff between employers as they find the "best fit" for them. Employers will also change their views if they find that their staff WFH doesn't suit them, they may well rent larger premises again and encourage staff back to the office, and vice versa. It also depends on the job itself - eg accountants and solicitors who usually train their junior/trainee staff on site will really struggle with WFH as the trainee needs to be around experienced staff to learn the job, and you can't do that if everyone's WFH. After a few years to settle down to new "normals", I would imagine we end up with blended WFH, a few days in the office, a few days at home. Of course, there are already workers fully WFH - that's nothing new, back in the 80s, the accountancy firm I worked in had a couple of middle aged staff who we barely ever saw in the office, and one of our local tax inspectors worked from home (she even had an "official" phone line to her home for taxpayers to ring direct!). It's another area where the classic pendulum swing will happen - pre covid, probably too many people worked in offices who could have worked at home, during covid, it's swung the other way and probably too many people are WFH leading to lower productivity/lower efficiency etc - in the post covid world, we'll end up somewhere in the middle, with more WFH than pre covid, but nowhere near the "everyone working at home" vision that some people seem to think will happen.

We are being given the choice at our work. We nominate how many days a week we want to work from the office and a space will be made available.

It has enabled DH and I to move countries without changing jobs and it has been amazing.

The big thing for me is that this has dispelled a lot of myths about WFH. That people aren't skiving and are doing their work.

It also means that if you have kids and they are home ill, you can move meetings around and still work if/when your child doesn't need you.

I had a conference call the other day and one of my colleagues was holding his newborn son. It was lovely.

It won't be the preference for everyone but having that option is fantastic in my opinion.

Firms are rubbing their hands in glee at the costs saved. I know several companies that are not renewing their leases or just leasing a far smaller amount of space. As pps have observed, public transport will take a hit, and city centres and all the small businesses which rely on workers.

Settled people may be happy - nay, smug - about wfh, but I can tell you that ds and his peers (early 20s) are devastated. Try to imagine yourself in your childhood bedroom stuck at your computer for 8 hours a day. No chats, no walking around, no after-work drinks, no banter, no meeting new people. The young man who is doing chartered accountancy training is really depressed because the company has said it’s wfh forever.

Similarly I have a single friend in their 50s who works for a bank. They very much enjoyed working in a large sociable company. Now they have declared it’s permanent wfh. Friend says they will going insane working till 67 in silence all day.

it will be a selling point in houses now, wont it? a study, good internet

it is not appealing for those in their 20s I agree.

or rather, it is less appealing for those in their twenties, they may enjoy being able to roll out of bed

No, I don’t think it will.

Its definitely not good for those starting out in their career. How are they meant to learn gain experience from other more experienced colleagues if they are WFH?

Only a small percentage of learning is formal it's the informal passing on of experience that makes a professional.

I think it depends on the role. I have a senior level role and run a team. My job is becoming almost unbearable at the moment. I'm in Zoom calls from morning to night so I have to do any real work in the evening, I cant supervise my juniors effectively, culture is struggling and morale is low and there's no way to get a quick answer on anything.
One of my juniors however is pushing to work from home forever because she doesn't have so many meetings, had a long commute and now has way more time to prepare herself a healthy lunch everyday/exercise etc. She can't see that to enable that for her I'm damn near killing myself to keep everything else in the team moving and that's she's just not learning enough by never seeing anyone.
Work have issued a new policy requiring people in the office 2/3 days per week and she's pushing back strongly on it.
I don't know what to do

If you wfh and your office is based in London why would your employer still pay a London salary?
This is the situation I am in and many others will probably find themselves at some point in the near future.
Our team will be phased out and replaced by people in a cheaper area. If everyone is wfh why will the company care where you are and pay for someone in a more expensive living area?
We are going to be screwed if this is the death of London working but we still love in London and pay London rent/mortgages and prices etc.

@Kazzyhoward

I think there'll be a state of flux for a few years. There'll be firms keen on having staff on site, other firms keen on having staff WFH. If the employee finds themselves in a firm that doesn't suit them, then they'll probably leave to move to one that does. I foresee quite a movement of staff between employers as they find the "best fit" for them. Employers will also change their views if they find that their staff WFH doesn't suit them, they may well rent larger premises again and encourage staff back to the office, and vice versa. It also depends on the job itself - eg accountants and solicitors who usually train their junior/trainee staff on site will really struggle with WFH as the trainee needs to be around experienced staff to learn the job, and you can't do that if everyone's WFH. After a few years to settle down to new "normals", I would imagine we end up with blended WFH, a few days in the office, a few days at home. Of course, there are already workers fully WFH - that's nothing new, back in the 80s, the accountancy firm I worked in had a couple of middle aged staff who we barely ever saw in the office, and one of our local tax inspectors worked from home (she even had an "official" phone line to her home for taxpayers to ring direct!). It's another area where the classic pendulum swing will happen - pre covid, probably too many people worked in offices who could have worked at home, during covid, it's swung the other way and probably too many people are WFH leading to lower productivity/lower efficiency etc - in the post covid world, we'll end up somewhere in the middle, with more WFH than pre covid, but nowhere near the "everyone working at home" vision that some people seem to think will happen.

100% agree with this

It will be for me, through choice, though I think I will opt to go in once 1-2 weeks mainly as I miss the city I work in. I love WFH though (when the kids are at school!) I am much more productive and able to work my life around it much easier, my work life balance is much improved. It's also going to give me a lot more career flexibility and I hope open up more doors which would have been closed to me due to commuting costs.

We did move house last year though to commit to a bigger house with separate office for me, I'd have really struggled if I'd stayed in my last house. My commute will be further now as we've moved to a cheaper area but that's a bit of a non issue now.