How long do you think the WFH message will last?

[Bananagurl]

Just curious... I massively prefer it and feel just as productive as home, if not more...

I think forever, depending on your job and employer. I hope so too!

Wfh is going to be around for a long time I think

WFH 'guidance' will probably be withdrawn by March at the latest. However, individual employers may well prefer to have employees continue to WFH at least some of the time.

Things are never going to go back to the way they were, which is a good thing in many ways. But full time working from home is absolutely awful. It's destroyed my mental health tbh. Started at my current organisation 18 months ago and have been in the office 5 times. Trying to learn a new job from home and get to know colleagues like this is fucking horrible. Have recently got a promotion and trying to learn again from home is finishing me off tbh, I hate it.

At some point surely employers will realise this isn't working well.

Likely for another month or two. After that it will be down to your employer.

Sadly I suspect long-term for many. We can only hope not. Ironic really. England fails to put in place almost all simple and easy infection control mitigations - masks, vaccine passes, good ventilation like HEPA filters. Pretty much the only measure taken is the most damaging.

Long-term full-time WFH won't just widen inequality (certain jobs only for those privileged enough to afford a home suitable for working from), it will also have a devastating impact on society.

Most people I know are still going into offices but I expect the government will drop it either end of January or end of feb.

From the government? I'd say until spring kicks in. On a societal level, that genie isn't going back into the box.

Bottle lmao

Here to stay. Make sense for business, they save hugely in costs. Also improves the productivity and mental health of workers.

Long-term full-time WFH won't just widen inequality (certain jobs only for those privileged enough to afford a home suitable for working from), it will also have a devastating impact on society.

^

What's the devastating impact?

Hopefully it’s an option forever!! 😃 it is pretty much already now with DH’s company. So much better for work/life balance. Not so great for colleague relationships of course!

We’ve had a message this evening to start again from tomorrow. We are in wales but the message at the moment is to WFH ‘if you want to’.
Unfortunately there’s an element of the team that use this as an excuse to do as little as possible and it’s not properly managed, our manager is just as bad (although bollocks the harder working members of the team to work harder then when stuff isn’t done).

I absolutely despair. All triple jabbed and the few in our team that have had it have had nothing more than a cold or have been asymptomatic. Surely once you’ve had it and recovered there’s no reason to WFH any longer!

Back to stressful times, trying to provide the same service on slow wifi speeds, even slower colleagues and poor communication making everything ten times slower and harder.

Hope to god it stops soon, totally had enough now.

@immersivereader

Here to stay. Make sense for business, they save hugely in costs. Also improves the productivity and mental health of workers.

I'd strongly dispute that it improves the productivity and mental health of an awful lot of people and the people that do find improvements are in the minority.

To try and learn a new job over zoom is horrible. To try and get anything done when you have so many questions is impossible.

And then if you're quite extroverted, to miss out on the social side of work, starts to bring you down. Mental health goes down the drain, trying to work in a completely soulless and unfamiliar way. And then you become demotivated and your productivity suffers.

Some people may benefit but I think far more people will recognise the above experience.

TBH, it seems like it never came back here. The roads are ridiculously busy compared to the first 9 months of 2020.

Why so long?

Some companies will keep option as they choose but re March where does this come from? Has it been suggested

I think it comes from assumptions based on the last wave. They aren't going to release existing restrictions until this wave has passed and numbers are far lower than they are now. So for that we are probably looking at end of feb/march

Has anyone found their employer isn’t following the wfh message as strictly as the first time round? Before Christmas we had several issues at work where people were ‘expected’ to still show some presence & quite a few people were still going in when they could have wfh. It is not looked upon well if you never go in, even if you can work perfectly well from home. Can’t say I’m looking forward to going back🙁

@immersivereader

Here to stay. Make sense for business, they save hugely in costs. Also improves the productivity and mental health of workers.

Does absolutely nothing for my mental or physical health having to work on an unsuitable table with a kitchen chair. Isolated from colleagues and support left me with suicidal thoughts and horrific anxiety.

Would also dispute the productivity, although I think many people "think" they are more productive, it isn't always true. For some it will be.

Our office has us more than 2 meters apart but our employer had cut our capacity and we're not permitted in more than 60% of our working hours unless we can't (for any reason) do the other 40% from home.

Myself and one colleague refuse to wfh and so have been set up in an office of our own for the time, again still 2m apart.

Having office staff in has also been crucial to the mental wellbeing of our staff who can't do their job from home and to be honest are generally the lowest paid in the company (eg customer service and cleaning staff).

We have one whole department who are wfh but no one remembers who they are now which is something people on the career ladder might want to consider. Those chats in the morning and lunch and at coffee time are a massive part of work impressions.

@immersivereader

Here to stay. Make sense for business, they save hugely in costs. Also improves the productivity and mental health of workers.

Not always. Not particularly in my sector, companies are generally being more flexible but usually choose to go back when it’s lifted.

Long been dropped at my work.

My friend has been working at home and is happy to do so forever. However she said that new starters where she works are really struggling. She has 25 years experience under her belt and knows how to manage. So they are sorting out taking turns being back in the office to support them there.

@immersivereader

Long-term full-time WFH won't just widen inequality (certain jobs only for those privileged enough to afford a home suitable for working from), it will also have a devastating impact on society.

^

What's the devastating impact?

Every business needs other businesses to keep the economy going - it's not exactly rocket science surely?

The office building you work from employs people to clean it, to maintain the fire alarm, lift, lights, fire extinguishers not to mention if it has vending machines, the people who fill and service the vending machines employ people to do this. They probably also employ people to clean their building and maintain their fire alarm etc.

You going to the office keeps the little cafe you grab a sandwich from once or twice a week. That little cafe employs people to make the sandwiches and to clean their cafe.

Now maybe that doesn't matter to you but bottom line is these employees are the ones that spend their wages in other businesses and if they haven't got wages well, they're not really spending are they?