Anyone else being pressured to return to the office?

[QAztyn]

Despite successfully working from home for the last 14 months?

Very old fashioned culture of presenteeism at my workplace, despite the guidance in Wales still being ‘work from home if you can’ we are being asked to start coming back.

Can’t quite get me head around why they are putting pressure on even though guidance hasn’t changed?

Anyone else finding the same?

Depends on the nature of your job and how successfully WFH has worked for the business. Some people work just as effectively at home but others do not. Your employer maybe thinks it is easier to just say have everyone back. I have noticed the service standards of some companies plummet over the last few months and the 'due to Covid' excuse is wearing a bit thin.

As an outsider, it's impossible to know if your boss is being unreasonable or not. Everyone thinks they're so 'productive' WFH but clients and employers don't neccessarily agree.

Sadly not, I have the other problem in that I'm not allowed back. I would love to be told we have to go back!

Thankfully not. My view in your shoes would in part depend on the building, for example space and ventilation, and not surprisingly the time to travel to/from work.

I don’t think everyone is working at the same rate as they were before, whilst at work, and it’s winding me up a bit.

In my company specifically: two people tasked with completing a job that takes one person two days, person 1 gets down and works solid for the whole day at the end calls person 2 and they’ve done essentially nothing.

Person 1 then has to carry on with the task on a second day because person 2 didn’t do enough in one day.

Our work is sending people back at least two days a week. People are whining so much it’s like we’re asking them to work from the top of Kilimanjaro. The fact is that most of them can do 90% of their job from home, which is fine for a while, but at some point someone has to pick up the other 10%. It’s not sustainable or fair on the people who end up doing their colleagues work for them.

I’m not old school - I have incredibly flexible hours myself, have a team who work flexibly, and can’t see us going back five days, but fully WFH is great for emergencies but won’t work for us long term.

I’m fed up with getting shoddy customer service from companies with the constant reason being given as “Covid”.
It’s time people went back to work unless the business really can work 100% as efficiently with half the staff based at home.

My office is almost all back now, has happened Ed gradually but as more and more people have gone back it’s become that there are far more in the office back work as they were before than those still at home. Another month and I expect everyone will be back but with some flexibility on days at home if some want

People need to get back to the office WFH was never going to be permanent and plenty of people have been going out to work all through this. At the end of the day it’s up to your employer and if you don’t like it you will have to look for another job. I for one would be itching to return to the office and thankfully our office will be fully open by the time I get back from Mat leave.

All I hear from companies and the public sector is that the phone queues and delays on all matters is "due to covid" (the phrase that pays) and/or staff WFH.

So the work factually isn't being done. If it were, why would there be queues?

I don't believe for a second that everyone who is WFH FT is banging out a proper 8 hours a day. I bet they work like we revised at uni - with the tele on etc - till you eventually (day before exam!) admitted you were still on page 1 after 3 hours and switched the tele off

I think the OPs question is more about the company not complying with local guidance than perceived WFH productivity.

I’m in Wales too and Drakeford has been much more cautious in his approach which has given us a slightly different experience.

Every company should be keeping with the ‘work from home if you can’ until the guidance changes.

Are they saying that they’re going to bring people back before this is changed or are they just getting everything ready for the announcement and keeping you in the loop?

A lot of offices will have to bring people back in small groups with social distancing still in place. Logically, this would be the people who don’t want to WFH first. I’d be interested to know what they have in place to handle corridor activity, toilet occupancy, break room facilities, printer/storage room access, ventilation etc. Might be worth asking if a risk assessment has been done. Especially, if they’re bringing people back before the guidance changes.

Yes i agree and made a thread about it:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4247844-No-more-WFH-or-flexible-working

People need to get back to the office WFH was never going to be permanent and plenty of people have been going out to work all through this. At the end of the day it’s up to your employer and if you don’t like it you will have to look for another job.

Yeah, that.

I think the OPs question is more about the company not complying with local guidance than perceived WFH productivity.

But surely perceived productivity has something to do with it? If the employer feels that their business is suffering due to staff WFH, then they could argue that staff need to be back in the office and that the 'WFH if you can' does not apply.

We are back voluntarily, full reopen in July but not capacity if SD is still a thing. I like going in sometimes, it’s useful. I don’t need too but it’s easier to do certain jobs, I like face to face meetings in some circumstances and training new starters is 100x easier face to face!

My job could be 100% remote, if my team want to work that way, I’m fine with it. I don’t have any under performers at home thankfully. Not really my decision, it’s higher up the company. We are ‘hybrid’ workers now, some office, some home 🤷🏼‍♀️ I think reasonable & flexible overall.

I don’t believe for a second that the vast majority of people are more productive working from home, despite their protestations to the contrary.

Why not @Dongdingdong? What is about the office that makes them so much more productive?

For me I'm more productive in the office due to faster internet and being able to ask questions if I need to rather than type it out on sodding Teams!

"pressured to return to the office" - it's nearly June! Once people start wanting to return to restaurants, non essential retail etc, there is no excuse for them not to return to the office at least part of the week.

I wonder if those same people feel "pressured" to return to the things they enjoy too?

We aren’t being pressured back and my employer has said they will welcome hybrid working going forward. However, more and more people, me included, are drifting back voluntarily for at least part of the week.

Yes we are back in two days a week. Very old school company and has come from the top. I’m considering changing jobs as I have grown to enjoy the flexibility of working from home and don’t enjoy the office anymore.

My company is allowing us to come back for some days if we want, but no pressure at all. I’ve started going in one day a week, and plan to ramp it up to more days gradually. I do already feel I’m more productive in the office - and I think the change of scenery is going to be good for my mental health, I’ve not really enjoyed being stuck at home for 14 months.

My DP works for a small ‘old school’ company, he is currently in the office 2 days per week, but they want everyone in 4 days per week starting next week. Their argument is that they feel communication between the team members is much better when they are actually in the office together - So DP doesn’t really feel he cant really argue about it (and he does agree that communication is much easier when they’re all sat in the office together).

No pressure at my work, people aren't allowed back until government guidance has changed and returning will be voluntary for the first few months whilst individual circumstances can be taken into account e.g. whether someone is immuno-suppressed, has a disability which affects them in a socially distanced office (for example people with bowel or bladder conditions as only one person is allowed in the bathroom at a time), whether someone is caring for someone clinically extremely vulnerable, whether they have been vaccinated yet etc. A lot of people are anxious about the long commute on the tube and are trying to source bikes as an alternative mode of transport.

I am expecting to start immuno suppressant drugs in the next month or so and won't be going back until I have had my first vaccine dose (my age group not yet vaccinated) and once I have discussed the risks of my new drugs with my Consultant.

Also, pretty much everyone at my workplace WFH at least 1 day a week before Covid so we already had a good, flexible culture and our work isn't customer facing or phone based. I WFH a lot before Covid as a reasonable adjustment.

WFH has been a success for us, we have delivered large projects for example, and our management have acknowledged this.
It will be lovely to see everyone again but I am glad that my employer is supporting people to come back gradually so we can adjust.

I have found those that have most enjoyed working from home are those that have been the least productive. The most productive have been desperate to get back.

I’ve worked from home for the last ten years and in and off before that. I’ve always been far more productive at home and have long thought those who can productively work from home and want to should be encouraged to do so. The positive effect on mental well being to many, the positive effect on transport infrastructure and the positive effect on climate change make it worth it.

Dh has productively worked from home since last Feb. His work are pushing for a full return for no logical reason but his immediate manager is requesting that he stays home because he can see the befit ti dh’s mental health.

I guess employers should have trust in those who can and want to work as effectively with from home.

Alternatively some are itching to get back to the office because they struggled to be disciplined st home and missed the contact of the office.

Being sweepingly pro or anti the idea is the wrong approach.