Dh has been told to get back to the office

[SmiledWithTheRisingSun]

For a minimum of 2 days per week.
Is this an end to WFH?

I’ve been going in once or twice a week for a while, I think that a lot of people are. It’s actually really nice to do so

I don't think twice a week in the office is unreasonable.

And yet it’s against government guidelines if you can do your job from home.

The guidelines are there for a reason.

My DH is in charge of Covid planning for a very large financial institution. They are planning to get people back to their offices from the end of June using a hybrid model of in the office a few day and WFH a few days. I would say he is very risk aware and would not allow anything to be signed off that was not within the regulations. He says most people are really looking forward to getting back for a few days each week. I know he is and so am i. I will get the house to myself at last!

And yet it’s against government guidelines if you can do your job from home.

The guidelines leave plenty of wiggle room for employers who want to use it.

And very deliberately so.

@clopper no it's his own time.
I'm saying he's gained the commute time back. What's confusing?

Annoyingly our company sent round a spreadsheet in lockdown 1 asking how many days per week we would like to return to the office when the time comes. I put 1 just to show willing. Now it will be at least 2.

WFH has actually been a salvation for our company as they have built a brand new office (in the middle of nowhere) but it isn't big enough so we were always going to have to hot desk. There is not enough parking so they were desperately trying to get us to car share. Now we won't need to I suppose.

@Egghead68

And yet it’s against government guidelines if you can do your job from home.

The guidelines are there for a reason.

That is just current guidelines. My understanding that will no longer be the case after 17th June and that offices can reopen. I guess we will see if the government will go ahead with the full reopening on that date.

Yes agreed @Savoury lots of people will be glad to go back.

Some people like wfh and find it more productive. People are different. Who knew?

My reason for starting the thread was was just simply wondering about if it will be a total everything back to normal on 21st June.

We had a discussion at my work this week and 10/10 of us prefer working from home and have requested this going forward.

My workplace is introducing what they call agile working and we will find out in September what that will exactly look like.

We don’t want to go back because it’s not safe but because it’s more practical working from home. Some people would have to carry their laptops and equipment on the bus every day to work as they are getting rid of static computers and introducing hot desking.
We have a better work life balance and are equally or more productive than we were in the office. Our customer service hasn’t dipped and we have met our targets during the pandemic when we had never worked from home before.

Dh has never worked from home, i have but am now going back 2 days a week but i only work 7 days over 2 weeks.
Ds works in same company as dh but is in a rota but he really needs to be in office more .

I guess there are different types of people. Those who are happy to go to the pub and out for meals etc but still want to work from home and others who are still very cautious about everything. I don't believe it matters what the government does people will do their own thing and blame them after.

@Egghead68

And yet it’s against government guidelines if you can do your job from home.

The guidelines are there for a reason.

Depends what the definition of being able to do your job from home. The landscape has changed since this time last year when the focus was on muddling through and doing your best in a difficult situation. Lots of people have been more productive (or think they have). My own team have - in some areas. But it's not sustainable. My view of their performance is also different! I know the people who have been slacking off. I was also concerned to hear that someone had ditched all their wrap around childcare on the basis that they could do the school run at both ends of the day, and have the children at home during school holidays. It's not acceptable to be WFH with children in the background constantly. So we need to ease people back into the office. May be unpopular, but lots of business need to get back to professional spaces. To be successful you can't just tread water and keep things ticking over.

DP has been working from
Home throughout, we are lucky that he can have a dedicated working space in the house (in the bedroom) and his productivity has been steady. His role is one that’s done alone aside from a meeting most days which have been done over zoom. He’s not wanting to go back to the office as he’s saving 2hours of commuting a day, but likely will have to return a day or two a week as per company instructions. It helps that he’s a bit of an antisocial little bugger, so is quite happy working alone.

I'd love to work from home some days however my boss is against it.
It's ment me having to trail further at my own expense and either park a brisk 15 minute walk away lugging all my equipment with me as the boss insists it's not secure to leave it in a locked, security coded room, or pay an extra £6 per day to park.
Candlelit to be able to work from !t regular office and not unaffordable and pay and end up with a bloody dislocated shoulder. Rant over.

Both our (DH and my) companies were moving towards increased flexibility pre pandemic (I worked from home 1 day a week and just before the pandemic hit he was had 2 days a week wfh approved). I think for companies who were minded to go in this direction anyway, the pandemic’s just sped things up. I know my place were keen to move over to laptop based working and more remote meetings but the cost implications could never be justified - until they became essential. Now the investment has been made, we’ve got the tech and we’ve essentially had a real time pilot to confirm it doesn’t impact productivity, there’s really no reason not to embrace hybrid working where people want it. We’ll both be doing 2/5 days wfh when things get back to normal, which is great as it means DD doesn’t have to do long days at nursery which wouldn’t be ideal for her. If we were both commuting she’d need to do 2 additional hours a day in childcare which I’d hate for her sake.

@OrangePowder

Yes I do wonder how many of those determined that it's not safe to go into the office are happily getting back to normal for everything else.

This is the issue for me.

We've been doing two days in the office for the last moth or so. Screens in between desks, masks and distancing. Only 4 people allowed in a lift.

No one has been forced to come in although it will be compulsory soon.

There is a clear understanding between myself and my team that if you are happy to go out partying and mixing with people outside work, your argument about not wanting to come into the office will fall down.

We've had a few people post insane partying and socialising on their Instagram yet refuse to come in.....

I've worked (cleaner, supporting an essential service) throughout and don't understand why people think it's ok to carry on not really doing the job they are paid for

Quite. And I can’t believe anyone would be so foolish as to have made any big life decisions over the promise of working from home. Surely they didn’t think this would a permanent thing?

I know lots of people who only worked at home during the first lockdown. Some have been back in full time since then, others have been working part time at home and part time in the office.

I appreciate it's a scary prospect if you've been at home all this time but frontline NHS, supermarket workers, school staff etc have never worked at home, throughout the lockdowns and pre vaccinations .

Our office is fully back, full time out of choice. Everyone is loving it and productivity has gone through the roof.

Indeed - those companies with a WFH workforce are going to find themselves lagging behind very quickly. It’s simply not possible to be as productive at home via a screen as it is in the office face to face. Plus WFH massively disadvantages anyone who lives in a small, cramped property with no adequate space to work.

@Dongdingdong

Our office is fully back, full time out of choice. Everyone is loving it and productivity has gone through the roof.

Indeed - those companies with a WFH workforce are going to find themselves lagging behind very quickly. It’s simply not possible to be as productive at home via a screen as it is in the office face to face. Plus WFH massively disadvantages anyone who lives in a small, cramped property with no adequate space to work.

Well it entirely depends on your job, doesn't it.. If my job primarily entails doing research and writing reports/papers which require a lot of intense concentration and creativity, then I will actually get a lot less done in an office with all the chit chat, hence I've been a lot more productive whf over the past year. Not to mention having more energy to do my job as I don't have to commute 3 hours a day.

I was back part time in April and have been back full time for three weeks. The office is fully COVID-ed up and it feels safe. We all practise social distancing. It's going well and i'm impressed how my workplace has adapted.

A friend of mine who has wfh throughout and is continuing regardless of Covid because her employer is happy for her to continue. If a employer wants you back then there is no argument that’s it not safe if you are freely mixing with people outside of work . Wfh is a perk and for most it was temporary.
If you want to continue wfh then the not safe argument is not the way to go. You can argue your more productive if you are that’s the only way to persuade employers. In my mind it was never permanent so I didn’t get used to it so when I was told to go back I didn’t mind .

We are going back at the end of June wfh 3 days a week and 2 in the office.

Luckily I have a very progressive MD who really values a good work/life balance so there is no expectation we will be going back to 5 days in the office.

I work in London and it was really busy last week as were the trains so life is certainly getting back to normal.

mooching around the shops in my lunch break and eating a sandwich I hadn't made was joyous. Really happy to go in to the office a couple of times a week.

Friend of mine works for a major bank. They're going back hybrid, too. He can't wait. He's been working in the dining area of the living area and hates it.