Tell me good things about NOT wfh

[GeneralMusings]

I've applied for a couple of jobs I'd really like but the nature of them is that they are working on site most of the time. Say 4 out of 5 or in one case nearly all...

So many people say they couldn't go back to the office now they wfh. But I want to turn that on it's head and hear how this could be good for me...

I'm in a similar position in that I've taken a role which will mean 3 days in the office vs my current 1 day. Some benefits I see as possible:

• I do get distracted at home. It's helpful for getting things done at home, not so much for my job, and it can be stressful when there's lots going on in both places. I'm hoping more days in the office gives me better separation.
• I'll be commuting on public transport versus driving, so that means time to sit and read, listen to a podcast, etc. When I'm at home I feel I have to be doing something all the time.
• More activity options. I can go for a swim on my way home for example. At the moment it's a separate trip so I don't tend to do it. I'll also be working in London so can meet friends who also work there for lunch or dinner, which will help my social life which has been pretty non existent since the pandemic.

There's absolutely pros and cons of both home and office working, it's all about what we choose to focus on 😊

I like a hybrid working model and I love both options. I enjoy going into the office for the interaction with colleagues and I think it’s important for my team ( I’m a department head). It’s also invaluable for catching up quickly and informally with people, whereas through Teams, it needs to an organised time slot. A bit of a commute helps my head space and it means I am not working in the house all week (which I find demotivating if it’s all day, every day).

Yes I think Seeing Real People would be a plus for me.

And separation work from home.

I was initially applying for wfh jobs but these look amazing and are a 30 min drive.

Podcasts? Space in the day

I'm not super active so maybe the general activity of being at work will help.

Positives - seeing other people, feeling part of a team, bit of social chatter, opportunity to get your face more known, overhearing conversations which contain useful info that you'd miss if at home, sharing cake with colleagues for birthdays etc, people to sound off with after a bad meeting, more movement getting about to meetings or going to speak to a colleague at another desk which is better for posture that sitting all day.

I'm sure there's lots more.

I hated wfh. I found it v v boring. I like to be around people. I like to discuss issues immediately, not by waiting for someone to pick up a call or answer an email. I like to be able to overhear things and tell colleagues'I know about that, I spoke with them 10 mins ago'. I like having a definite difference between my home and working life. I got more work done in the office.

I like a mixture, I am easily distracted at home - like now .
Benefits of going into office are mixing with real people rather than the on screen version, access to my boss and team for any 121 chats far easier done in person and I build in a walking commute there and back so I get well over 10k steps on the days I go in.

I would also get easily distracted at home... I'm ND and weighing up wfh being good for educing overwhelm but also the likelihood of "oh shiny" and going down rabbit holes is high. The in person jobs would mean getting on with it...!

I'm hybrid. 3 days in the office and 2 days at home. I much prefer my office days, though I appreciate not having the commute on my wfh days. I prefer seeing people f2f and I get more done in the office. My office chair is more comfortable too!

I'm in the lucky position of being in for 3 days and home for 2 but am often in for an extra day and, if I had a shorter commute, would be every week. It's just more fun and interesting. There's more support if something goes wrong or you're just having a bad day. There's more kit. The chances of the DC remembering that I actually have a job and am not their skivvy is marginally higher when I am out of the house!

Another good thing I remembered about being in the office, something funny happened or someone said something funny a few months ago and we all collapsed laughing. I remember thinking how much I missed that from wfh as it's so hard to create a connection.

I only WFH about one day every 6 weeks and that’s only if I haven’t got enough work on to be worth going in (with my boss’s agreement, I have set tasks rather than hours). I would never take a fully or mostly WFH job if I could possibly avoid it.

Pluses for me:

Interaction with colleagues, both casual (kitchen chat, birthday cakes etc) and in person meetings. Especially important for dealing with tricky issues, or spontaneous questions, teams just isn’t the same. No one WFH where I work, we all prefer to be onsite all the time so I’d be the odd one out.
Commute to work provides break between work and home
Able to go to different shops etc or walks in my lunch hour
Some of my work is still on paper so it is better for that
Don’t want to give up space in my home for an office space
Too many domestic distractions at home
Not enough people at home, I like to be around other people most of the time and home is too quiet.
Having a proper desk, chair and office at work with all my things exactly where I left them and not having to be put away at night
Better tech at work, two monitors, decent printer/scanner

In an average 5 day week, I might go into my office twice. Although there’s no way I could be bothered to go in every day, my office days are really enjoyable. I don’t get much done in the way of work, but I love the social
aspect. Face to face meetings are better for me too.

After nearly 4 years 100% wfh I've taken a hybrid job, deliberately to get a bit more socialising time.
I found working from home really bad for MH. Not only loneliness/isolation, but constantly seeing and noticing house clutter/mess and feeling I should be tackling it in breaks. Plus family assuming I'm permanently there to run taxi service, pick up parcels etc.
Honestly if I hadn't had the dog to keep me company I'd have ended up in a bad place.
I now hybrid work and as a PP said it's the best of both worlds.