My employers were ruing us all working from home and felt it would be more productive as a whole to have us back in
The plan was to make it three days in the office per week
Then the Omicron variant knocked that on the head before it got going
Not sure how it will go from here, but I can see that being floated again
I am never going to be able to manage to totally work from home five days a week all the time (though mostly have on a week to week basis) as I need hands on access to hardware at times, like the two days I (reluctantly) travelled to London this week, but I would be happy with a 3/2 split
Im quite lucky as my boss has agreed to a semi perm WFH and only go into the office when its abosloutely necessary , we use microsft teams for ’ virtual’ meetings , so all good , i know some people in my office who have never WFH in the past 2 years as ‘they dont have the capacity’
I started my new job in March 2020 and was in the office for…3 hours and then, well, WFH ever since.
I actually moved out of London because paying london rents in a pandemic seemed pretty dumb move financially (and mentally ), and since then I’ve bought a house in a city in the midlands.
Guidance from the company on coming back has been pretty vague, they’ve had the office open a few times for people to go in if they need to but I’ve never felt compelled to spend £100 to get on a train to sit in an office and take video calls with my peers who live and work in Europe.
I’m finding the poll results very interesting, and already seeing a clear shift in preference towards working from home vs May 2020.
My office is pretty hardline. Within hours of the statement in the commons, there was a company wide email asking everyone to return. Pre-omincron most people had built up to 3 or 4 days in the office anyway.
If I could get rid of the suit and the commute, I’d easily choose the office over WFH.
They want us in on average 2 days a week every month. In reality I’ll do 0 days in the office a week every month. None of my team are even in the same town yet alone the same building. My boss doesn’t care so long as the work gets done.
bascially what my boss said to me , im quite lucky that way as 98% of my work iv done from home over the past 2 yrs , its just if i need to send out a big mail merge to my customer base that i need to supervise the printing in the office , or meetings that cant be done virtually i will be in the office , its busted my travel expenses budget for the last 2 years lol , i just hope that they dont decide well he dosnt need that budget any more
The only proper attitude to have. Bravo your boss on that one
Technology wise we have never been better set for remote working - and more productive working - and that is with us still being a business tied to the physical hardware
Very similar here. The big bosses want people in the office 40% of their time per month. I have so far done 0% of my time in the office. My line manager recognises that our team’s productivity has gone up with WFH, so in no hurry to get us back in, so I’m likewise not pushing for my team to go in.
I am of the same mind set I wont be teling any one they must return to the office , especially since i dont intend to my self unless i need to , I suppose we are different here in the frozen north as we have big mummy nicola who still has the mind set that WFH is the default , I wonder if it will become a set in law thing up here
Before covid I worked in an office 5 days a week, though I had the ability to WFH whenever I wanted.
During covid I’ve worked from home 5 days a week, except when my team wanted to go to the office (and rules permitted).
Recently I’ve switched company and they’re fully remote. My contract states my workplace is my home and therefore I won’t be going into an office any time soon
While I personally would prefer to WFH at least 3 days a week, there are some clear benefits to being in the office, particularly for junior members of the team.
Recently, we’ve outsourced some of our web development and data resource to teams in India, and while it has clearly had a positive impact on the company’s profit margin, I do worry that more outsourcing will occur, particularly for those that that are less keen to return to the office.
It’s a lot harder to outsource someone’s job if you sit next to them everyday, and they are actively making a contribution to training younger members of the team, building strong relationships with colleagues, and shaping the culture of the company.
I must admit, that has always been my worry about working from home.
As you say your company has already found cost savings, how long before others see the same?
None of that stuff is impossible remotely, although it might be more natural/automatic if everyone is physically in one place.
It does remind me a bit of Jamie Dimon’s comments about working from home being “an aberration”, and then going on to say that culture requires being physically together. It doesn’t, and I don’t agree that working from home is temporary either.
The fact is, there are some benefits to being in an office, but largely they are things which might be easier in person but possible remotely (like collaborating) and there are many downsides to physically needing to be in an office too. Given that, I highly doubt that 5 full days in an office will be seen as “normal” any time soon. A hybrid model of an office setup for collaboratively working on projects and for meetings, with large amounts of work done remotely, just makes more sense in the longer term. Depending on the specific job roles, obviously, but that is likely to work for most people.
I don’t disagree with a lot of that, and a hybrid approach is my preference.
However, I just think (and as evidenced in my own company), it will be much easier to outsource jobs abroad, particularly those that are fully remote.
The relationships point though I feel more strongly about. I’ve built very few relationships while working from home, and generally relied the ones I had made pre-pandemic. I think there’s a lot to be said for the quick after work pint. It makes working with people a lot easier day to day, and finding the right person for a job, especially in larger companies, a lot faster if you’ve met these people.
), and since then I’ve bought a house in a city in the midlands.