Can I wfh forever ? I want to !!

[NoProblem123]

Sort of lighthearted, but just that really.
(Sorry if this has already been covered I couldn’t find anything)

Out of my 37 hours I’ve always done about 10 wfh. Obviously since March 2020 I’ve done all of them wfh.
If we ever go back pre-COVID ‘normal’ working arrangements (office based) and Manger wants me back in, and I put a full wfh request in (policy dictates) then can they refuse it ? Could they just state ‘business needs’ ?

Obviously I’ll have to go with what they want as I’m quite happy with my old arrangement, but would be happier if the default was wfh and only going in where really necessary

Yes it would be quite straightforward for them to come up with a business reason to decline a WFH request.

My mum has recently asked her manager whether she can WFH full time after all this is over. She had a massive commute otherwise, and is actually more productive when at home - as her manager can see she's getting through more work (because their team chat a lot in the office I guess haha).

He has told the whole team that yes, if they want to WFH forever they can, but he would like to have everyone in one morning a week for a meeting. Mum has said that's fine, and she will then stay in the office to work for the rest of that day as it's a long commute for an hour's meeting. So she will at least be able to WFH 4 days out of 5, which is brilliant for her.

So you never know unless you ask!

When I did it and this is years ago, so pre-The Unpleasantness I had to make a formal request via HR and set out the benefits to the business.

They didn't care that it made certain things easier for me -- that was a personal matter for me.

So it's worth asking, especially now, but bear in mind you might need to focus primarily on what the benefits to the business would be.

I think we’ll be on a mix of office and wfh to allow distancing for some time. My offices plan is to bring back 2 teams each week on a rota once we can.

Our contracts were changed to work from home forever but work have put a clause in there stating the location may change if there is sufficient business need or due to performance/ training need.I think if some people strongly objected to working from home they were allowed to go into the office but it’s not the same as pre COVID..very few people are there currently they don’t sit near each other, no team mixing, have to wear masks when moving around building etc. We expected to work from home temporarily but management have taken steps to close some of our offices now as well (as realised a lot cheaper to have 80% staff working from home)

They can refuse if they wish. What’s the culture like, is there flexible working? Lots of companies seem to be moving to a more flexible work at home part week and office part week. You could suggest something like that if you think it will be difficult to get through?

Thanks for responses - it’s interesting how some are doing away with their offices altogether.
Mine very much like people on site - very old fashioned, a culture of ‘long hours martyrs ’. I literally had to sell viral organs to get my previous arrangement and it does work well but I’m sort of hoping that after being completely offsite for so long and everything has worked so well (only my opinion!) that they would struggle to wheel out the old ‘business needs’ excuse like companies use to before the wfh revolution