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Would you take a job with no WFH option?

107 replies

User220422 · 22/04/2022 13:07

It's 2022. A lot of jobs offer the option to Work From Home a few times a week.

The question is, would you ever go back to a job where you HAD to work in the office all week?

I'm hoping to try for a baby in the next 12 months.

I work in Construction (male dominated and not always welcoming to women) and there is limited scope for me to WFH. I have a job offer on the table for good money but no option to work from home. I have another job offer with the Civil Service, a lot less money but more scope for progression. And offers hybrid working.

Just wondering really, for both parents and non-parents, would you ever do a fully office based role again?

OP posts:
schroeder · 22/04/2022 21:54

Yes. Would never want to WFH 4 months in 2020 were plenty, I was absolutely miserable and literally sobbing some days.
I love going to work, commuting is me time.

MrsSpooner · 22/04/2022 21:57

Hell no

(unless I literally couldn’t afford to eat otherwise, obviously)

Lochjeda · 22/04/2022 21:58

Yes, I went back in to the office this week and have loved getting out the house.

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 22/04/2022 22:01

No I will never work in an office 5 days a week again. Even just one day a week wfh makes life so much more manageable.
If 'wfh' suddenly disappeared altogether, I'd choose to only work a 4 day week to redress the balance.

Superstar22 · 22/04/2022 22:17

No.
take the job that is best for you whether that be income or flexibility. I’d chose flexibility all the time particularly if I had young children

PrincessRamone · 22/04/2022 22:22

Nope.

PinkTonic · 22/04/2022 22:31

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 22/04/2022 13:30

@OctopusSay

There are loads of jobs where homeworking isn't an option and TBH I really think hybrid working will gradually become less and less acceptable, even where it's on offer.

Some people will make it work, but lots won't and once it becomes the norm at your employer to be in full time, it will be hard to be the one at home, if you still have career aspirations.

I wouldn't give up a good opportunity just because of no WFH. If you do WFH you'll still need childcare.

The Civil Service is under a lot of pressure to get all its staff back FT currently. They're resisting, but who knows what will happen over the next 12 months.

I don't need to arrange childcare. My 10 and 8 year old love me WFH.

Kids of an age who need looking after, then yeah sure. But a vast lot of people don't need to worry about arranging childcare in the holidays anymore

8 and 10 year olds do need looking after though. They will interrupt you unless there is another adult in the house and you can’t possibly be properly focused on work if you have one ear on them.

Hollyhocksarenotmessy · 22/04/2022 22:43

It's horses for courses. I bloody love wfh and doubt I've ever take an office based role again. Hybrid, maybe, as I have to admit that despite not wanting to deal with many aspects of being office based, in some ways it might do me good.

Others on here hate wfh. You won't know which camp you are in until you try it.

Compare the other aspects of the roles to find the best fit. I used to work in construction and enjoyed it, but it could be a brutal industry. I now work in the public sector and its so much better for its employees.

SquirrelG · 22/04/2022 22:55

Yes. I would hate to WFH - never done it, never want to.

Sunnytwobridges · 22/04/2022 23:16

Definitely not, I hate being in the office. I'm okay with once a week. However, for the right amount of money I would.

SecretVictoria · 22/04/2022 23:28

My job would be impossible to do from
home. My boss mentioned another opportunity that may be coming up in our company. It would be office based and I told him I’d only be interested if it was mainly WFH. If I looked for another job now, I’d only want max 2 days in an office.

I can also understand (having been in the same boat) people’s bitterness about the whole thing. I wasn’t allowed to be furloughed/WFH and so I was still spending the same amount on petrol & parking, while people who earn 4/5x more than me were posting on social media from their back gardens 🙄.

BirdWatch · 22/04/2022 23:32

No.

FinallyHere · 22/04/2022 23:43

Absolutely not.

Nothing to do with whether I prefer WFH or in the office, I would not be interested in any role where anyone cared where I happened to be sitting compared to what I was achieving.

I just couldn't be doing with anyone caring where I am. It's completely irrelevant and just lazy management to think that sitting at a particular desk in a particular location was any useful measurement of work output. It just isn't.

I'm in IT, lockdown provided a catalyst to break down the last few barriers to true location independence. We even have a solution now for the wider implications, like tax paid and pension earned resolved (for a limited set of countries) for true location independence.

It has been technically possible for decades, now it really is happening in real life. If you want to be in the office, by all means go in. If you want to work from home, or anywhere else, just get on with it.

Microsoft teams plays a part, not absolutely perfectly but reasonably well. Most communication is via chat or video conference. Most people would send an IM before ringing to check it was convenient to speak. My phone number rings in Teams, and/or can be forwarded to any other number such as my mobile. Daily 10min stand up meetings across the whole team using video cameras just to say 'hello' to everyone.

Progress tracked in real time through chat as well as in documents and other activities controlled via video conference. Not forgetting the important work at the end of each stage or project to harvest the useful info from the day to day interactions to edit down and save the useful parts for future info.

All shared files stored 'in the cloud' so everyone always see the latest versions. Multiple concurrent changes handled gracefully without lost of any edits.

This only really works of everyone follows the ways of working. If any one person makes local changes to a file, some information will not reach the intended recipients, mistakes will be made which will likely to be costly to repair damaging the profits that we generate, some of which are invested in our continued wellbeing.

Work is a mixture of formal and informal communication. We can pick the right way of doing whatever works to get the job done with minimum effort all round.

I'm delighted that this world has finally come to pass in my lifetime. I was afraid that there would always be social barriers which prevented full implementation.

Now, I would not want to give it all up again. I love how it works, the fact I have the choice. I can save a commute if time is precious. If I want to go in to the office, interact with others and also have all my food cooked and served and washed up for me, with great coffee too from people who know my likes and dislikes, I can do that too. No one but me cares where I am.

Lots of people care that what I do has been done to a high quality and in consultation with the relevant people who need to influence or even approve the outcome. That only happens because I am in touch with people. It really doesn't matter where I am or where they are when it happens.

There are some days when it does matter where I am, when we do all get together. Those are not very frequent and a lot of thoughts is put into making them work as well as possible.

No, I wouldn't go back to any job where anyone cared where I happened to be.

bringincrazyback · 23/04/2022 14:39

For me wfh has been an absolute godsend. I have health issues that mean I struggle to work full time at all, and with a commute thrown in it's been practically impossible in recent years. Full time wfh is still a challenge, but doable.

To be fair I'm in a profession that's always been very 'doable' wfh even though most advertised jobs pre-Covid were office-based, and I strongly prefer wfh to office-based anyway. Realise it's not the same for everyone, but personally as I approach the end of a wfh contract and am starting to look for my next move, it's been a pleasant surprise to see how much more open the profession has become to wfh, especially as it's traditionally been very London-centric and I'm not able to be London-based. I feel my prospects have opened up somewhat. Wish it hadn't taken Covid for this change to come about, though, obviously.

TabithaTittlemouse · 23/04/2022 14:52

No option of working at home for me and I like that home and work are separate.

Beit · 23/04/2022 15:05

Yes.

Qwill · 23/04/2022 15:13

Also in construction and cannot see myself going back permanently to the office. I do two days in the office. Hours are long in construction and I love the flexibility of being able to pick up early from nursery and have more ‘awake time’ with them and just finish a bit off in the evenings when they’re asleep. I would not go back to permanent office based work. Construction is changing and most large employers are moving to more flexible working now, it was one of the main ways they have identified reducing the gender pay gap.

sparklefarts · 23/04/2022 17:00

@User220422

The work life balance.
Where I was there was zero flexibility, everyone was expected to do over time, general lack of care for staff etc

Civil service just suits me better. I would get so stressed at in my last place if I needed a day off sick etc. in the civil service it's just 1000000 times more supportive

Michellexxx · 23/04/2022 17:13

WeOnlyTalkAboutBruno · 22/04/2022 14:18

Lol my MIL is a teacher. People not wanting to go back to the office gives her the absolute RAGE. It’s kind of funny. Not my fault my job is one that can be done from home when hers isn’t - I wish she would stop implying that we aren’t actually doing any work though.

To be fair to your MIL, the amount of posts on here stating how they would never go back into an office etc does suggest that wfh offers flexibilty/the ability to do extra personal things (even if its putting the dinner in the oven/dishwasher on) that make wfh more attractive. And so work time isn't solely dedicated to that- it fits around you more, rather than the company- I know this isn't always the case. But my husband wfh a lot, which has benefitted us with school pick ups, but he manages to go for runs/pop out for small things that he normally wouldn't manage in a dedicated work environment.
I think it is understandable that some people feel like some people's working life has changed to benefit them- yet are still on same salary but yours hasn't.

My friend lives in london and her and her husband both have london weightings- she is convinced they still deserve them even with no commute anymore and doing same role as others outwith London, but on a smaller salary.. she also manages coffees out/occasional nap when she was pregnant. Hearing things like this make it harder to listen to the demands of getting to wfh. especially when it will never be available to lots of public sector establishments.

LondonQueen · 23/04/2022 17:15

Yes, currently have one as a teacher. Not really a job where you can WFH unless you are office based SLT.

Treacletoots · 23/04/2022 17:21

Comparing the world before covid to now is quite honestly unbelievable.

We used to leave the house at 730 every day, rush to nursery, drove to work, arriving stressed. Then repeat in reverse every evening returning home for about 630-7. The cost of wrap.around childcare as well was horrific.

Now, I work one day a month in the office (again my choice). I get up about 730 (not leave the house!) Drop DD off at school and back at my laptop for 9. Pick DD up at 330 and continue to work until finished.

Same role. Absolutely no need for me to drive 3 hours every day to sit in the office to do exactly the same work.

I accept some jobs cannot WFH but those that can, there's no way I'd be accepting anything else.

When I was looking for my current role a number of arrogant smug men on LinkedIn sarcastically told me I was ridiculous for not accepting a role with more than 2 days in the office. As it turned out I had multiple excellent offers. The world has changed and employers who don't will struggle to recruit and retain the best talent.

lljkk · 23/04/2022 18:18

I find, in my world=academia, that no one has budgets to buy equipment (high spec laptops, screens, dock stations) to enable hybrid. We should be ideal for lots of hybrid or WFH, but reality is they can't afford duplicate equipment or high spec laptops.

#Currently job hunting

Snugglepumpkin · 23/04/2022 18:21

No.
Wouldn't even consider it but it does depend on the work.

If you need a massive lab to work in I can see it's unlikely you can work from home.

WeOnlyTalkAboutBruno · 23/04/2022 18:26

Michellexxx · 23/04/2022 17:13

To be fair to your MIL, the amount of posts on here stating how they would never go back into an office etc does suggest that wfh offers flexibilty/the ability to do extra personal things (even if its putting the dinner in the oven/dishwasher on) that make wfh more attractive. And so work time isn't solely dedicated to that- it fits around you more, rather than the company- I know this isn't always the case. But my husband wfh a lot, which has benefitted us with school pick ups, but he manages to go for runs/pop out for small things that he normally wouldn't manage in a dedicated work environment.
I think it is understandable that some people feel like some people's working life has changed to benefit them- yet are still on same salary but yours hasn't.

My friend lives in london and her and her husband both have london weightings- she is convinced they still deserve them even with no commute anymore and doing same role as others outwith London, but on a smaller salary.. she also manages coffees out/occasional nap when she was pregnant. Hearing things like this make it harder to listen to the demands of getting to wfh. especially when it will never be available to lots of public sector establishments.

Well I see that. Its jealousy. I get that. But it shouldn’t be the case that because teachers and others can’t benefit from it, nobody can.

WeOnlyTalkAboutBruno · 23/04/2022 18:26

The London weighting thing is up to the Company surely.