Who wants to go to the office? #2 No-one

1
Ugh, hybrid working has allowed my workplace to evaluate ill-used spaces so it seems my team is going to lose our private team office and we will join another team in an open plan situation to "better utilise" one of the bigger buildings on site. This is happening in a few months' time ☹ I hate open plan, it's too noisy. Been there and done that. Also our team is wary of the other team, so it's not going to be an easy opportunity to 'gel'.
 
They want us back at least 2 days a week which is fine, I've been doing 1 day a week for the last while and we've had all new equipment etc and it's a nice change. However it is also because not everyone is doing this and when we are all expected to do 2 days a week there are not enough hot desks.
 
Glaschelle said:
You wonder how the increases in gas and electricity will impact on the WFH.

My friends daughter WFH, on a not very high wage. She doesn't put her heating on during the day. Works wrapped up in jumpers. And that's before the increases.
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I think it really depends on how you get to work, how far you have to travel.

Its still much more economical for us even having to put the heating on and use more electric. We were almost £100 a month using after school club one day a week for one child pre pandemic. It would now be 2 kids one day per week. Both our kids are old enough to be loosely supervised at home as long as can collect them at school which we take a late lunch or tea break to do.

My partner had a 40 mile round trip for work 4 days a week in 2019/early 2020. So thats 160 miles a week of fuel saved.

Our work/life balance is so much better now. I cant believe how much tbh.

Ensay said:
Yes, I think we'll be heading towards 40% as well.

At least you've got social distancing. That's long gone in our office because of the amount of employees and no one wears masks, so it's basically the same as pre-pandemic, just as covid numbers are at an all time high. Yay.

I know the majority of people with the latest variant don't get much more than cold/mild flu symptoms but it still seems a bit daft cramming everyone into a busy office for no reason other than "it's apparently better to all be in the office!"

I agree re taking your stuff backwards and forwards. I always take my laptop in case I can't get on the system, which needs a charger, plus my note book, a packed lunch, water bottle etc. I'm like a pack horse going in. :ROFLMAO:

But I'm not spending money on over priced lunches and coffee shops - a small "F you' to the government who are trying to push people back into the office to prop up the economy despite prices shooting up. Sod off.
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Im lucky that I have a full pc at home and then another in the office so none of that but I have notebooks, headset, security cards, water bottles, lunch. My office is nowhere near anywhere you can spend money but Id be the same. Nevermind the fact finances are tighter now with everything shooting up.

We'd order in every Fri pre Covid in work but noone works in office on a Fri now 🤷‍♀️ we'd also go to the pub the Fri after payday which we probably wont do now either. So lots of savings 😅
 
I have friends who can't wait to get back to the office so they can get back to compartmentalising their lives once again.

I do see all the different points of view from every angle. What works for someone won't work for someone else. That's life.

One friend's workplace has said everyone has to get back to work as soon as NZ goes into the 'orange' traffic light status (it's currently at 'red') - because the surrounding cafes are doing it hard. Well that's very sad but surely you should listen to what your workers want rather than worrying about other businesses? It just reeks of virtue signaling anyway. This particular friend doesn't want to go back because she can't cope with change and it took her absolutely ages to get used to WfH in the first place.
 
1001 others said:
I have friends who can't wait to get back to the office so they can get back to compartmentalising their lives once again.

I do see all the different points of view from every angle. What works for someone won't work for someone else. That's life.

One friend's workplace has said everyone has to get back to work as soon as NZ goes into the 'orange' traffic light status (it's currently at 'red') - because the surrounding cafes are doing it hard. Well that's very sad but surely you should listen to what your workers want rather than worrying about other businesses? It just reeks of virtue signaling anyway. This particular friend doesn't want to go back because she can't cope with change and it took her absolutely ages to get used to WfH in the first place.
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Yeha I absolutely get that some people want to compartmentalise their lives. I've had lots of discussions about this with colleagues and a few of them rent rooms in houses, so they like to be in the office a couple of times a week rather than working from their bedroom most of the time, then sleeping in the same room, etc.

I'm fortunate enough that I have a separate room at home to work from and once I've finished for the day, I close the door and that's it until the next morning. It means I can much more easily compartmentalise my work and home life. The funny thing is me and all my colleagues can have sensible discussions about it that usually end with "yeah I can see why that's better for you" where we have different viewpoints, but the senior management would rather enforce their view with little room for variation.
 
I'm wondering if there will be more of a push to renting a desk for the day type places? I work in a place where I can't really have people seeing my screen but I wonder if it's something they could risk assess from w security point of view. I live very remotely but have friends and family across the UK it would be nice if I could travel down to see them and stay an extra night and work from one of these places. Then travel home that night instead of a Sunday. May ask the security team haha.
 
https://www.12ft.io/https://www.dai...ng-home-time-harm-environment-study-says.html

Nobody is going to convince me that me working from home is bad for the environment. What a dumb train of thought. WFH people cuts back on pollution and rubbish from the amount of single use plastic items like sandwiches and sweet products are wrapped in. I have heating on less at home as well because work at times is like being in the Sahara.
 
I have a week of meetings with outside vendors all on Zoom, and they are all bitching about people not going into office and how they are refusing their staff the wfh option as its an office based role etc.
Every single one of them was sat in the comfort of their own homes. I was so tempted to say when are you going back then?
Its one of those things that will always be a flashpoint. Sone people thrive in offices and others prefer to be at home. No one is right or wrong.
I think some management think its all back to normal now but a lot of us are not willing to accept the 5 days of commuting and more time added to our work days sitting in traffic and we will be pushing for more flexible work days.
 
I do think businesses who offer flexible working will have the pick of staff whereas those more rigid office based only will not.

People have seen a new way of life now, companies can choose to embrace it or not.

I would not be applying for jobs now which are solely office based even for a wage bump. Money isnt everything to me, even in the current climate.

My office days are so rushed and stressful. I dont mind them but I certainly would not want to go back to it full time.
 
https://www.12ft.io/https://www.dai...sands-mandarins-allowed-WFH-indefinitely.html

IDS needs to be told it's not selfish at all. All the things the government are responsible for (rule breaking, cost of living crisis etc) and it's WFH who are selfish??? Nah mate it's a god send to people being able to cut back on costs like travel and food/drink when that saved cash is need to pay the price increases on food, drink, fuel etc,
 
Lyricallie said:
I'm wondering if there will be more of a push to renting a desk for the day type places? I work in a place where I can't really have people seeing my screen but I wonder if it's something they could risk assess from w security point of view. I live very remotely but have friends and family across the UK it would be nice if I could travel down to see them and stay an extra night and work from one of these places. Then travel home that night instead of a Sunday. May ask the security team haha.
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Absolutely. I live in a rural area where the WiFi is not the best; the town five minutes up the road has fibre and serviced offices you can rent for however long you like (minimum charge is two hours) ... for me, it's a no-brainer to go there on days when it's wet (which is when my connection cuts out). I paid NZ$85 for two part-days' rental last week (for my own sound-proofed office), which was excellent value - especially considering the coffee (made by a barista) and tea is free. They have a range of working options - private sound-proofed offices, open plan with either stand-up or sit-down set-ups, meeting rooms, and a board room. Plus, if you need secretarial services they can provide those too. Everything is all set up ready to go, with ergonomic chairs, foot rests, arm-style monitor stands (2 x large monitors per workstation) ... it's just so well thought through and set up. To top it off, they're open 24/7.

It's funny because when this place first opened (in 2018) it was met with much scoffing from locals who thought it was such a silly idea. Since Covid came along, it's been a nice little earner. There's another one in the town 20 minutes South of me which is always fully booked - they're looking to expand.
 
my work seem to expect us to unofficially go in 1-2 days a week - which I was doing initially but dropped to 1 day after seeing pretty much everyone, including my manager go in one day a week, if that.

... but nobody is ever in the office! I travel to work to sit in the office with 1-2 other people nowhere near me, on teams calls with people who are at home! my manager is hardly in, despite me asking which days they'd be in and matching my days. several times they just haven't shown up. This has happened quite a few times and it's really annoying as the other day on a call they said it would be good to get our 'visibility' up and that we should definitely start going in 1-2 days.

well, i've been there, you haven't...!
 
EasterEggs said:
All I have to say is I hate WFH/hybrid working.
I’m so fed up of sitting in leggings at a desk in my living room and crying! Thinking of changing career because of it - annoying when I’ve done so many exams to be where I am but such is.
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do you not have the option to go into the office?
 
KYLIE said:
do you not have the option to go into the office?
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Yeah I go in a few times a week - but it’s not mandatory and never will be so not many go in! I only ever see the same maybe 10 people (of a team of 50) and some days there are only 3 others there spread out across a big floor. I have asked for a structure/timetable for people to be in but the bosses aren’t keen.

It’s annoying because I do see how WFH is a good thing for most people, just not me 😅
 
EasterEggs said:
Yeah I go in a few times a week - but it’s not mandatory and never will be so not many go in! I only ever see the same maybe 10 people (of a team of 50) and some days there are only 3 others there spread out across a big floor. I have asked for a structure/timetable for people to be in but the bosses aren’t keen.

It’s annoying because I do see how WFH is a good thing for most people, just not me 😅
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Oh no, I feel really bad for you :(

What could make it better ... is it the company you miss, or something else?
 
www.bbc.co.uk

Jacob Rees-Mogg calls for civil servants to return to the office

A "clear message" must be sent to civil servants about ending home working, minister says.
www.bbc.co.uk

I can see a lot of civil servants leaving which will make backlogs for things even worse and cost time and money to advertise positions, interview people and train them up to the standard of those who leave. You try and force someone to spend time and money to go to an office to do a job they can do at home see what happens.
 
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