Working From Home Megathread

Due to time differences I do an odd hour at night, it basically can save 2-3 days of to-and-fro and delaying other people or cause conflicts before something is done-done. I would likely end up doing it if I was commuting as well because it makes things a lot easier the rest of the time.
I've an electric standing/sitting desk, 2 monitors and laptop all provided by the company, would be pretty silly of them to not have me make most use of them IMO. :P

I have been offered a role in the private sector and one in the public, private is a minimum of 50% WFH and public will require me to be in the office basically all the time.

The jobs are fairly similar, pay is better in the private sector role but I think I’m going to take the public role. I’m not sure if I just have a bit of WFH fatigue or what it is but I’m just a bit fed up of being in the house all the time. I have a spare room so I’m quite lucky compared to a lot of people but my house now feels like work and I’m not sure I like that.

Obviously there are more considerations like pensions and progression etc but I think I’m going back to the office full time and I never thought I would want to do that a year ago.

JDD

Deleted User wrote: »

I have been offered a role in the private sector and one in the public, private is a minimum of 50% WFH and public will require me to be in the office basically all the time.

The jobs are fairly similar, pay is better in the private sector role but I think I’m going to take the public role. I’m not sure if I just have a bit of WFH fatigue or what it is but I’m just a bit fed up of being in the house all the time. I have a spare room so I’m quite lucky compared to a lot of people but my house now feels like work and I’m not sure I like that.

Obviously there are more considerations like pensions and progression etc but I think I’m going back to the office full time and I never thought I would want to do that a year ago.

And you know even though your public role might look like it's 100% in the office at the moment, nearly all public sector places offered one day WFH pre-pandemic. It's highly likely that they'll offer at least two post-pandemic, which at least gives you some flexibility should you want to go hybrid in the future.

I do think that our WFH right now is not the same as WFH in a year or two. With everything closed for most of the past year, the inside of our houses have become claustrophobic. You might appreciate it more when you can head to the gym straight after work and still be home for dinner, or inside a local cafe for lunch, in a ytear's time.

doc22

JDD wrote: »

And you know even though your public role might look like it's 100% in the office at the moment, nearly all public sector places offered one day WFH pre-pandemic. It's highly likely that they'll offer at least two post-pandemic, which at least gives you some flexibility should you want to go hybrid in the future.

I do think that our WFH right now is not the same as WFH in a year or two. With everything closed for most of the past year, the inside of our houses have become claustrophobic. You might appreciate it more when you can head to the gym straight after work and still be home for dinner, or inside a local cafe for lunch, in a ytear's time.

Nonsense

JDD

doc22 wrote: »

Nonsense

Perhaps "nearly all" was an exaggeration, but I know that the Central Bank, the NTMA, Revenue and the CPRA offered it. I do understand that that is a very limited portion of the public service. Probably the civil service itself didn't, given it is a bit further behind on these things. And obviously public facing roles wouldn't be eligible.

Even pre-covid, as part of the program for government, there was a target of 20% of remote working for all govt bodies

Mrs OBumble

Deleted User wrote: »

Even pre-covid, as part of the program for government, there was a target of 20% of remote working for all govt bodies

Targets are very sweet.

What was the actual level?

Turtwig

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Targets are very sweet.

What was the actual level?

And when was the target originally set?

Turtwig

Turtwig wrote: »

And when was the target originally set?

It was set as part of the prog for government, so whenever the negotiations were happening to form this govt

Page 61

Mandate public sector employers, colleges, and other public bodies to move to 20% home and remote working in 2021.

As for the actual figure, due to covid, I think it was close to 70+% from one of the whitaker institute report

Turtwig

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It was set as part of the prog for government, so whenever the negotiations were happening to form this govt

Page 61



As for the actual figure, due to covid, I think it was close to 70+% from one of the whitaker institute report

I was hoping for the pre covid commitment and the level reached then.

doc22

JDD wrote: »

Perhaps "nearly all" was an exaggeration, but I know that the Central Bank, the NTMA, Revenue and the CPRA offered it. I do understand that that is a very limited portion of the public service. Probably the civil service itself didn't, given it is a bit further behind on these things. And obviously public facing roles wouldn't be eligible.

Central bank and ntma are not really public sector, Revenue never had a work from home policy pre covid and will follow DPER guidelines in future (revenue is the civil service too) and I don't know what CPRA is.

JTMan

The Great Resignation Wave is taking hold ...

The FT reports here (paywall):
- A record 4m Americans havequit their jobs, the most since the US Bureau of Labor Statistics began publishing such data in December 2000.
- More than 40 per cent of the global workforce is ready to resign at some point this year, Microsoft research has shown. Just under 40 per cent of UK and Irish workers say they’ll do the same.
- Some are calling this trend ... the Great Resignation Wave.

WSJ reports here (paywall):
- The shift by workers into new jobs and careers is prompting employers to raise wages and offer promotions to keep hold of talent.
- Several factors are driving the job turnover. Many people are spurning a return to business as usual, preferring the flexibility of remote work or reluctant to be in an office before the virus is vanquished. Others are burned out from extra pandemic workloads and stress, while some are looking for higher pay.
-Remote work also has expanded the recruiting pool for rival companies and technology firms, making employees with digital skills ripe for poaching by employers nationwide.
- Human-resource executives and labor experts see a wave of resignations. In a March survey of 2,000 workers by Prudential Financial Inc., one-quarter said they plan to soon look for a role with a different employer.

I think the obvious lesson in this for companies include those who get their hybrid policy wrong risk very high turnover and companies need to consider incentives to retain good employees.

TheDoctor

Personally cant wait to see that back of working from home.

Hate having my work with me in the house.

Also looking at people through screens, no substitute for working in person.

Wilmol

TheDoctor wrote: »

Personally cant wait to see that back of working from home.

Hate having my work with me in the house.

Also looking at people through screens, no substitute for working in person.

Let me guess, your commute is 5 min?

TheDoctor

Wilmol wrote: »

Let me guess, your commute is 5 min?

About 45 mins pre covid on public transport.. Currently with schools off and traffic down about 25 mins using the same public transport.

Much happier now back doing 2 days a week in the office.

Mental health took a battering spending all week in the house.

Will ask for more days once I get the vaccine.

Antares35

TheDoctor wrote: »

... spending all week in the house.

There's more to life than work. You're free to go outside when you finish.

Chris_5339762

Deleted User wrote: »

Even pre-covid, as part of the program for government, there was a target of 20% of remote working for all govt bodies

...and the IT attack brought everyone WFH back into work. Now managers have their teeth back in again and I would reckon a lot of people who are now back at work will not be allowed WFH again.


And thats seperate to whether IT will ever allow it again, or mandate that you can only use a company laptop, rather then my nice big 2-monitor desktop. Can we have funding for some laptops for WFH? God no.

Lillyfae

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

...and the IT attack brought everyone WFH back into work. Now managers have their teeth back in again and I would reckon a lot of people who are now back at work will not be allowed WFH again.


And thats seperate to whether IT will ever allow it again, or mandate that you can only use a company laptop, rather then my nice big 2-monitor desktop. Can we have funding for some laptops for WFH? God no.

It’s very easy to link a laptop up to 2 screens, easier still for companies to maintain security levels by providing laptops. Everyone in my company has a laptop and docking stations for screens etc whether they’re working from home or not, it’s been like that for the last 10 years or more. Madness to still be using desktops really.

Infoanon

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

...and the IT attack brought everyone WFH back into work. Now managers have their teeth back in again and I would reckon a lot of people who are now back at work will not be allowed WFH .

That's simply not true.

The HSE IT attack has nothing to do with WFH and anyone claiming otherwise is displaying a lack of IT knowledge.

Working from home has existed for years and is only going to increase.

Staff retention will fasten the introduction of WFH - it's already happening.

doc22

Infoanon wrote: »

That's simply not true.

The HSE IT attack has nothing to do with WFH and anyone claiming otherwise is displaying a lack of IT knowledge.

Working from home has existed for years and is only going to increase.

Staff retention will fasten the introduction of WFH - it's already happening.

If you work in the HSE it has everything to do with it

Infoanon

doc22 wrote: »

If you work in the HSE it has everything to do with it

Please explain YOUR claim

doc22

Infoanon wrote: »

Please explain your claim

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

...and the IT attack brought everyone WFH back into work. Now managers have their teeth back in again and I would reckon a lot of people who are now back at work will not be allowed WFH again.

:pac:

TheDoctor

TheDoctor wrote: »

About 45 mins pre covid on public transport.. Currently with schools off and traffic down about 25 mins using the same public transport.

Much happier now back doing 2 days a week in the office.

Mental health took a battering spending all week in the house.

Will ask for more days once I get the vaccine.

It's true to say that WFH isn't for everyone, I have a colleague who much prefers to be in the office, we're all different when it comes to suitiability for WFH, some people would climb the walls if stuck in the house, while others would thrive in the same environment.

Some have a perfect home office setup while others are working on the kitchen table, or worse in their bedroom.

So I don't judge individuals on their preference, but I do have an issue in people who believe that we should all be "back to the office" because they as junior management like to keep an eye on us.

Mrs OBumble

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I do have an issue in people who believe that we should all be "back to the office" because they as junior management like to keep an eye on us.

I don't think any managers want you in so they can "keep an eye" on you - and besides that can be easily enough done with monitoring functions on your laptop (and those functions give actionable evidence more easily than direct personal observation).

But there are a host of other reasons, eg there are plenty of companies whose GDPR policies say that customer data will never leave company premises.

Looks like UBS and Deutsche bank are going with a hybrid system for a lot of their employees. Good news in the banking sector.

SusanC10

What are most companies doing if going with the hybrid model ?
My Husband is WFH since March 2020 and it has really worked out for him and for us as a family.
His company has yet to decide going forward - they have said beginning of October for a return to the physical office but have not indicated yet on what basis.

I want to return to the workforce (after a long gap) once the kids go back to school so we are hoping for at worst a 2 day a week in office policy.

SusanC10

SusanC10 wrote: »

What are most companies doing if going with the hybrid model ?
My Husband is WFH since March 2020 and it has really worked out for him and for us as a family.
His company has yet to decide going forward - they have said beginning of October for a return to the physical office but have not indicated yet on what basis.

I want to return to the workforce (after a long gap) once the kids go back to school so we are hoping for at worst a 2 day a week in office policy.

We are going with a hybrid option but some will also permanently WFH. Hybrid suits me, 2 in office, 3 at home for example. For those who want full time in our office I'm not sure what the outcome will be yet.
Long term the plan is to reduce the office footprint in order to save money.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Looks like UBS and Deutsche bank are going with a hybrid system for a lot of their employees. Good news in the banking sector.

It’s really only formalising what the baking and professional services sectors have been doing for years for those who wanted it. Maybe a little more generous now with respect to the home / office split. But it’s not hard for them as are used to it (I’ve been hybrid working for nearly a decade)

2lazytogetup

i think some people wanting to work from home are being selfless (not selfish), means they can have family time and save money on commuting.

but i think long term consequences of being home all day must have a toll on their mental health. going out and meeting people is what we humans need to do.

i feel bad for spending less time with my children when i go to hybrid model. but i cant take care of kids if i cant take care of myself.

id say office employers know this and can see long term effects of 100% home working. they risk people leaving for companies wfh 5 days. but i dont think they think this is going to happen.

many people seen first hand people up sticks from dublin to move to the West and commute to dublin 1 or 2 days a week?

2lazytogetup

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks like UBS and Deutsche bank are going with a hybrid system for a lot of their employees. Good news in the banking sector.

In london pre covid, it was usual for well paid bank employees to work 1 or 2 days from home. you couldnt live in central London as too expensive to raise a family. so you lived at least an hour away.

ive heard new york is worse in terms of finding a decent 3 or 4 bed house/apartment. and everyone lives 2 hours away.