[Misc] Working from Home - Have we seen a sea change ?

WATFORD zero · Aug 28, 2020

With all the talk of workers going back into the office, I wonder whether we have seen a sea change in the UK working environment.

When I was in business 10 years ago, working from home was starting to become popular in the technology industry that I was in. However the last few months, seems to me to have made a significant long term and far reaching effect to the levels of WFH. I can see the economy, city centres, transport (both public and the motor industry), property price differentials across urban and rural all being hugely effected.

Of the two Wz juniors, who have worked from home throughout the pandemic, one returned to the office on Monday, but the other doesn't see themselves going back to the office this year, and suspects it will only be the occasional visit when they do.

What's your experience/thoughts and does anyone actually have any statistics on the current situation ?

Chicken Run · Aug 28, 2020

My wife has WFH since lock down and cannot wait to get back to the office!

HalfaSeatOn · Aug 28, 2020

Seems to be a temperament and circumstances thing where you love it or hate it. Suits me just fine but the more social, outgoing people I know have really struggled.

loz · Aug 28, 2020

This is depends on circumstances, WFH was fun and different for many and the sun shone and work was scarce at the beginning of all this.

To WFH you must need a separate room from the rest of your house, working off a kitchen table or the end of a bed like a mate of mine did is not good enough in the long run.You need to shut the door on work and walk away having work paraphernalia dotted around the house 24 hours a day is not a good thing.

Now the nights are drawing in and people dont go out so much and it will be dark from 4 till 8.30 I think personally if you are seeing no one apart from family it will harm your mental health and the families.

Also having heating on 24 /7 although you maybe saving on bus / train fares will start to hit home.

There are many many more reasons why WFH will not suit a lot of people in the long run and although you might not need to go in everyday I think 2 or 3 days are needed IMHO.

Peteinblack · Aug 28, 2020

At first, I loved WFH (as well as saving a small fortune on train tickets) and avoiding the commute an hour each-way each day.

Now, I'm bored with it.

I actually miss seeing, chatting and going for coffee with colleagues - the camaraderie and banter - and have increasingly got fed-up of only communicating via Zoom.

It also means that evenings and weekends are less 'special', because I've been at home all day anyway, rather than 'going home', if that makes sense.

I know that 'key workers' will say "Stop moaning and count your blessings", but I really can't wait to get back to my office next month.

I appreciate that some people love working from home, and hope that their employers can facilitate this if at all possible and practicable - even if only for 2 or 3 days per week - but personally, I've had enough of it.

Berty23 · Aug 28, 2020

I injured my ankle quite badly 3 years ago and had to work from home for 6 weeks. I realised that I had been travelling to an office (about 45 mins door to desk) for no good reason for about 15 years. It gave me 90 mins extra a day for my life. My circumstances were a bit odd because it literally made no difference work wise as everyone I work with are based at other sites to where I am based.

During covid and others working from home it has made it even easier for me. Gone are the days of being in the minority joining meetings by Skype etc, now everyone does it and meetings flow much better.

The weird thing is that people are being hauled back to office but meeting rooms are being kept shut so all meetings will continue via Skype/teams so the only benefit of being in the office of face to face meetings can’t even happen. Yes you see people, but I see my friends instead, not people I happen to work with who I may or may not like.

I am looking forward to the kids goi f back to school though!

stewart12 · Aug 28, 2020

found it a ****ing nightmare with a 2 year old child to be honest

Berty23 · Aug 28, 2020

Peteinblack said:
At first, I loved WFH (as well as saving a small fortune on train tickets) and avoiding the commute an hour each-way each day.

Now, I'm bored with it.

I actually miss seeing, chatting and going for coffee with colleagues, and have increasingly got fed-up of only communicating via Zoom.

It also means that evenings and weekends are less 'special', because I've been at home all day anyway, rather than 'going home', if that makes sense.

I know that 'key workers' will say "Stop moaning and count your blessings", but I really can't wait to get back to my office next month.

I appreciate that some people love working from home, and hope that their employers can facilitate this if at all possible and practicable - if only for 2 or 3 days per week - but personally, I've had enough of it.

Something I do which some people might find odd is before I start work I do a quick five min Walk round the block And do the same at the end of the day. I pretend it is my commute and the bit in between is work time.

BBassic · Aug 28, 2020

loz said:
This is depends on circumstances, WFH was fun and different for many and the sun shone and work was scarce at the beginning of all this.

To WFH you must need a separate room from the rest of your house, working off a kitchen table or the end of a bed like a mate of mine did is not good enough in the long run.You need to shut the door on work and walk away having work paraphernalia dotted around the house 24 hours a day is not a good thing.

Now the nights are drawing in and people dont go out so much and it will be dark from 4 till 8.30 I think personally if you are seeing no one apart from family it will harm your mental health and the families.

Also having heating on 24 /7 although you maybe saving on bus / train fares will start to hit home.

There are many many more reasons why WFH will not suit a lot of people in the long run and although you might not need to go in everyday I think 2 or 3 days are needed IMHO.

This is something I struggled with initially.

I live in a small 1 bed basement flat. The desk where I WFH is also the desk where I like to unwind playing video games and do some creative work. The first month was difficult. Everytime I sat down at the desk it feel like being "at work" so I didn't get anything done creatively and lost an outlet for stress relief because I couldn't switch off and play a game.

I worked out though that if, at the end of each working day, I put my work laptop away out of sight, go and get changed into some fresh clothes and go for a walk or spend half hour doing something tedious like a bit of hoovering or other household chore that I was able to wind down the work part of my brain.

Now I quite enjoy WFH. I'd like to go back to the office once or twice a week eventually but I'm not ready yet.

Goldstone1976 · Aug 28, 2020

At my place, we’ve announced that when CV-19 is over, staff will have the choice of working from the office (and roughly 10% say they want to do so 5 days/wk) or split between the office and wfh - with a maximum of 3 days/wk wfh. Everyone in the office on a Monday, the other day being up to the employee - being a fixed day/wk for the next 3 months. They can change the second day for the following quarter on the quarter days.

We’ve also said that we’re bound to get it wrong to start with as it’s a new situation, but we’d expect to get it right in 6 months from commencement.

WATFORD zero · Aug 28, 2020

Goldstone1976 said:
At my place, we’ve announced that when CV-19 is over, staff will have the choice of working from the office (and roughly 10% say they want to do so 5 days/wk) or split between the office and wfh - with a maximum of 3 days/wk wfh. Everyone in the office on a Monday, the other day being up to the employee - being a fixed day/wk for the next 3 months. They can change the second day for the following quarter on the quarter days.

We’ve also said that we’re bound to get it wrong to start with as it’s a new situation, but we’d expect to get it right in 6 months from commencement.

Using common sense in business - a bit radical from some of my experiences :wink:

WilburySeagull · Aug 28, 2020

It seems a lot of employers dont want or cant cope with a wholesale return to the office. Some of this will be those with offices etc that dont lend themselves to covid secure environments. Some will be learning that wfh can suit employer and employee.

My thinking is that we will see a lot more "mixed" working e.g wfm 3 days and office for 2 so that employees do get the interaction that is missing in complete wfh.

It is true though that if wfh is to become the norm much more thought needs to go into the home environment. Short term working at the kitchen table is ok but is not sensible ( or healthy) in the longer term.

dazzer6666 · Aug 28, 2020

I haven't been into the office since February, and virtually no-one in my entire function has - we've got (I'm told) 3 floors out of 42 operational in our HQ, the rest have been closed down for now. We had flexible working in place pre-COVID anyway (WFH 1-2 days a week was normal for most people), so it hasn't been massively different to be honest. People are, however, definitely missing 'face time' and social interaction though, and there are also loads of people struggling to WFH due to lack of space, distractions like home schooling etc so there are quite a number that really want to get back to the office, at least for some of the time. As things stand people are going to be allowed back in, but the bottom line is unless you really need/want to, then don't, for the forseeable future (at least into next year now). I'm guessing, but I think we'll simply see a big extension of the choice to WFH if your role allows it. Incidentally it's all a bit academic for me because I'me leaving (redundancy) on Tuesday anyway.........!

Personally I've loved WFH and always have - can get other stuff done, go out for a run when I feel like it and don't waste 3 hours a day commuting. Given the time zone coverage I've had the flexibility has been really useful (for example calls with HK or Mexico when I'd normally be on a train). The balance of 2-3 days each office/WFH was about right for me - even the commute was OK if it wasn't 5 days a week.

Beanstalk · Aug 28, 2020

In my office the CEO sent out a survey to get people's thoughts on returning to the workplace. Not a single person had a preference of returning to the office full time, and the majority (2/3rds) said that they'd prefer to WFH for the majority of the week in a Covid free environment.
1/20 said that they prefer working in an office environment when presented with a choice of Office, Mix and WFH.

Personally, it's been a huge success, I onboarded a member of staff from home successfully at the start of the pandemic and now have been onboarded myself WFH starting a new job. I get a lot more done at home and have been ridiculously productive. Can't see people going back to full time in the office because some staff miss the camaraderie of in person interaction.

ozzygull · Aug 28, 2020

loz said:
This is depends on circumstances, WFH was fun and different for many and the sun shone and work was scarce at the beginning of all this.

To WFH you must need a separate room from the rest of your house, working off a kitchen table or the end of a bed like a mate of mine did is not good enough in the long run.You need to shut the door on work and walk away having work paraphernalia dotted around the house 24 hours a day is not a good thing.

Now the nights are drawing in and people dont go out so much and it will be dark from 4 till 8.30 I think personally if you are seeing no one apart from family it will harm your mental health and the families.

Also having heating on 24 /7 although you maybe saving on bus / train fares will start to hit home.

There are many many more reasons why WFH will not suit a lot of people in the long run and although you might not need to go in everyday I think 2 or 3 days are needed IMHO.

I completely agree. Working from is not for everyone and you do need that separate place. I have worked from home permanently for the last three years and would not want to go back to being in an office full time. We had a spare room which I turned in to an office. I can shut the door on it and separate work from the rest of the house and that is the crucial part. If you're not able to do that then working from home is not a good idea, long term.

LlcoolJ · Aug 28, 2020

Berty23 said:
I injured my ankle quite badly 3 years ago and had to work from home for 6 weeks. I realised that I had been travelling to an office (about 45 mins door to desk) for no good reason for about 15 years. It gave me 90 mins extra a day for my life. My circumstances were a bit odd because it literally made no difference work wise as everyone I work with are based at other sites to where I am based.

During covid and others working from home it has made it even easier for me. Gone are the days of being in the minority joining meetings by Skype etc, now everyone does it and meetings flow much better.

The weird thing is that people are being hauled back to office but meeting rooms are being kept shut so all meetings will continue via Skype/teams so the only benefit of being in the office of face to face meetings can’t even happen. Yes you see people, but I see my friends instead, not people I happen to work with who I may or may not like.

I am looking forward to the kids goi f back to school though!

Pretty much exactly the same as me except it was about 7 years ago and I've not looked back.

Also made me revaluate why I was spending so much time and stress working for someone else when the work I did for myself was much more fun and profitable. So eventually phased that out completely.

The idea of going to an office every day now makes me shudder.

However, as people say, everyone is different and every job is different. My wife has been happy to get back to the office. But will still be able to work from home some days which is ideal for her.

Guinness Boy · Aug 28, 2020

I used to do a mixture of on site with clients, working from home and working from an office that was over two hours away.

At first I loved not having to get up at 4am to go to Gatwick for a flight or spending half my evening traipsing round London and Surrey on trains that were always mysteriously delayed whilst some bloke with halitosis and BO settled down into the seat next to me and snored.

I still don't miss any of that but I do miss face to face with my colleagues and clients, particularly the latter. We used to do a lot of demos, training and workshops face to face. Not only have they all been screen sharing calls over Teams / Skype but I also need to get on calls whenever my team or boss need me, which is always. I've spent an average of six hours a day on organised Teams calls. Everyone agrees it's far too much and no one will do anything about it.

However, the lease on the office over two hours away expired in June. We've taken a small room in a shared space for "essential" staff now but only three or four count as essential. I will be working from home for the rest of the year and probably well into next. By the end of that I'll be craving a 4am cab to Gatwick.

AmexRuislip · Aug 28, 2020

WATFORD zero said:
With all the talk of workers going back into the office, I wonder whether we have seen a sea change in the UK working environment.

When I was in business 10 years ago, working from home was starting to become popular in the technology industry that I was in. However the last few months, seems to me to have made a significant long term and far reaching effect to the levels of WFH. I can see the economy, city centres, transport (both public and the motor industry), property price differentials across urban and rural all being hugely effected.

Of the two Wz juniors, who have worked from home throughout the pandemic, one returned to the office on Monday, but the other doesn't see themselves going back to the office this year, and suspects it will only be the occasional visit when they do.

What's your experience/thoughts and does anyone actually have any statistics on the current situation ?

Luckily I haven't had to WFH, as my job doesn't meet that requirement.
A lot of my neighbour's who work in and around London have had to work from home, the noticeable difference being more cars parked up during the day (normally pretty empty car spaces) and as they're WFH, an increase in home food deliveries, ie: Deliveroo :lol:

CheeseRolls · Aug 28, 2020

It works really well for me and it feels like COVID has forced the hand of those who want often pointless face to face meetings.

Startup office space was a big thing until this year. What I hope we will see is smaller operations in the suburbs, where those who need a change of scenery, or can't work from home due to noise or lack of space, can just drop in.

I realise for those working outside the digital workplace all of this is meaningless, but strangely a large proportion of those people travellig great distances for work, really don't need to. If this still excludes you, well just be grateful there are less Mondeos on the road now.

Kinky Gerbil · Aug 28, 2020

I’ve been doing a mix of both - my job allows me to do both - on nights I go into the office as they are a lot harder at home, the temptation to have a quick nap are to high.

Our contact centre team have been told they are now all WFH employees, they have to be signed off to even come into the building and if they have issues with WIFI etc they have to go unpaid or take holiday.

The Tories are absolutely bricking themselves over this, the tax they will be missing out from London alone must be billions already and if people are not using the train that’s more costs.

What I think we will see is a WFH tax introduced to either a company or individuals to try and get people back in, however if you are saving thousands a year and time - would you be upset? It’s not money you had anyway?

Another mess created by the ill thought out fear policy they ran.

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[Misc] Working from Home - Have we seen a sea change ?

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