Are people going back to wfh?

[Wfhquery]

We all wfh in first lockdown.
2nd lockdown most wfh but employer said anyone that wanted to could go in if wfh difficult.
We’ve all been back since isolation rules changed in aug.
Although we can work from home our employer prefers us to office work as it does make certain aspects slightly easier.
Expect we’ll have an announcement about what they are doing next couple of days but just wondering what are most employers doing? Are they going back to full wfh where employees can or carrying on requiring people to attend.
Personally I like wfh as I get more done as we are really busy but I like the cut off of a start and finish when in office

I'm still travelling to work. I test weekly.

We've been asked to stay home next week. Bit of a shame really, the hybrid office/home mix worked well for me.

Statement issued saying everyone working continuously from home was untenable as proved during lockdown but that we should continue hybrid working managing our own risk and responsibility around being in the office as much as we can around that.

Seemed fair.

Yep. Our office is moving in January to a smaller place because no one likes working there anymore and it's only used by a couple of people.

I have been wfh since March 2020 - apart from 1 day last month. My role means no time is really needed in the office

[quote OnGoldenPond]@Jourdain11 we haven't had any guidance for January just a statement that we will be updated beginning of January. Fingers crossed that the online teaching is just to get to the end of the current term.[/quote]
Our teaching ends this week, so there was little point to change anything. The academic teaching staff I spoke with today were all strongly in favour of a return to campus in January (which I was mildly surprised by!) and our statement went that spring term is expected to go ahead as per usual.

We are cracking on as usual, no changes. Educational setting though.

All office-based staff have pretty much been wfh since March 2020. I will continue to wfh for admin and meetings, but I need to keep going into schools next week -but no hanging about and no meetings with staff, just in-see the pupils-out. I'll follow up from home with school if I need to.

Very unlikely - work for a university, unless ordered by the government teaching can't go online. Student facing support services won't go online while so many students are physically still on campus.

I never went back. But that was my choice, I love WFH. The rest of the company are hybrid now. Our offices are not doing a strict closure like last time but we’ve been told to WFH where possible but for those who need to come in (be that for work or well-being reasons) can do so.

It all just goes back & forth. I work closely with colleagues in the US who haven’t yet gone back to the office. They are currently planning their big return in January. Meanwhile, we’ve been back in since May and are now back WFH! They were really surprised to hear we’d gone backwards & are all now panicking January won’t go ahead for them 🙈

My employer hasn't even addressed it! We've been back in the office since October however they are flexible and can wfh occasionally if it suits us, say if I had to wait in for a repairman. I wfh Monday last week when we had the snow. I really don't want to go back to wfh FT anyway, since being back in the office I realised how lonely I found it! Saying that I start my maternity leave in 2 weeks anyway, I am going to enjoy my last 2 weeks with my colleagues.

@littleowls83 I know plenty of lectures and support services are still online at some universities.

@julieca We have very low numbers of covid cases and have throughout. I don't think with the noises from government about stopping 'low value courses' that we will go online unless we absolutely have to.

No but it is just me and DH in our office plus one part time member of staff - it is not possible to do our work from home anyway. Thank god I'd hate to go back to that - I prefer getting out each day.

No.

In our morning meeting today, senior management said “following last nights briefing, nothing has really changed but I want you to all to be careful about going to big parties and events!”

Yes, that’s right, nothing has changed apart from the fact that we should all be at home right now.

Job can be done from home, absolutely no need for us to be in apart from management wanting to breathe down our necks and watch our every move.

The government advice says:

“Anyone who cannot work from home should continue to go into work - for example, to access equipment necessary for their role or where their role must be completed in-person. In-person working will be necessary in some cases to continue the effective and accessible delivery of some public services and private industries.”

and:

“Employers should consider whether home working is appropriate for workers facing mental or physical health difficulties, or those with a particularly challenging home environment.”

As far as I can tell that allows pretty much anyone to keep going to work (and pretty much any employer to decide WFH isn't appropriate).

It’s hard to conclude that it’s anything other than bluster to try and distract attention from the 2020 Christmas party debacle.

We wfh 2 days a week. Have been told office is still open and we can do what we like. I've decided to stay as I am as I focus better in the office.

@HarryLimeFoxtrot Exactly that. My employer decided that people weren’t “productive enough” at home and made the decision themselves for our “mental health” despite some shielding staff having full on breakdowns about it all.

Even if staff had to isolate or contracted covid, they refused to let them work from home even though we 100% can. We have people coming in with covid symptoms for fear of attendance “chats.”

I can’t imagine mine is the only employer pulling these stunts.

We have been sent home again, you can only go into the office with express approval and it's a stringent process to get that

I can’t wfh as I own and run a nursery - but I have asked parents who are wfh and who no longer need childcare to let me know asap so I can prioritise parents who have been told to come in 5 days a week. If people aren’t honest with me then I will move back to a key worker only policy.

Who is being told to come in 5 days a week, who hasn’t been doing that for months now?

This is a ridiculous thing to do. I’d be finding a new nursery if the one I was at tried this kind of bullshit.

I don't think @Ozanj is coming back k to explain why they seem to think wfh parents no longer need childcare and that loads of people will now need more hours.

If my nursery tried this, I would take my child out and find somewhere else anyway.

The thought process doesn't make sense.

I have continued wfh as pregnant so exempt from going in, but everyone else has just been told to wfh unless they have a particular reason to be in the office (they need line managers permission to do so)

Everyone is having a most interesting discussions, but you do know... Op made one post and then jogged off

Dh is now back to full time home working. His office have said basically they can choose so if they feel its better for them to go into the office they can or if they want to stay home that's fine too.

We're going back to wfh. Only people going in will be those who don't have a suitable home set up or similar or those who need to go in for critical work.