Working From Home Megathread

Quin_Dub

irelandpride wrote: »

Wow, I go to the big events myself for the free pints and food and get on well with my team but that doesn't mean people who attend them have no life outside work. What does kids have to do with going out with work colleagues?


Are you under the thumb? I'm generally baffled at that statement.

I think the context of this conversation tangent was that some said that WFH meant you would miss out on the Social side of things.

The short answer is you won't if you don't want to.

If you are friendly with someone from work and you used to go out for a meal or a pint with them from time to time , you'll still be able to do that in future.

If your company holds regular events - Christmas Party , Summer BBQ or whatever you can still go to them (or not) if you want to.

And just to say it again as I think it's worth saying every few pages to remind everyone.

What people have been doing for the last year is NOT normal WFH - We've all been "Living/Existing from Home" with almost zero personal and social outlets.

Your current feelings of isolation , disconnection or frustration etc. are not necessarily the norm for people working from home under Non Lock-down circumstances.

irelandpride

irelandpride wrote: »

Wow, I go to the big events myself for the free pints and food and get on well with my team but that doesn't mean people who attend them have no life outside work. What does kids have to do with going out with work colleagues?


Are you under the thumb? I'm generally baffled at that statement.

No, not under anyone's thumb - but what an equally baffling assumption on your part to jump too, just because I have no interest in going on the piss with people from work, that someone else must be trying to control me?

Is it so hard to believe that not everyone wants to head to the pub after work?

I did my share of it when I was young and childfree, people are at different stages of their lives and I find most people knock the Friday night pints on the head once the kids start to come along.

I've worked in the same building for 20 years, I know every single person in it, and every person in it knows me and I get along with all of them yet I've never stepped inside the door of a pub with any of them. Doesn't seem to bother any of them that I'm not there propping up the bar with them on Friday nights.

hmmm

Frank Bullitt wrote: »

In the way that WFH doesn't work for everything or everyone, making people go to an office will not solve larger issues involved in the day to day running of a company or team. Insisting or implying that being in an office has more advantages over WFH again misses the mark, if your onboarding or training is flawed, being in an office or WFH will make no difference to the real issue at hand.

If this thread is anything to go on, WFH is exacerbating existing process and cultural problems in certain organisations. The idea that you can't "manage" employees working remotely (or in different countries) probably leads first to the question of what exactly it is you are supposedly managing, and whether if it requires an employee sitting in front of you are you doing it correctly.

Antares35

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Which ones are caring for dependents, so may need you to be more understanding re time off?

Force majeure leave and flexible working hours are not restricted to those who are office based, nor is a compassionate boss!

irelandpride

Really sounds like the micro managers are freaking out that they won't be able to time someone taking a dump or confronting people when they feel like or keeping an eye on every little piece of work they do.

I worked under one micro manager and never will again.

Now I do my own thing with a 1-1 every month with my manager and we only contact each other if badly needed.

Quin_Dub

hmmm wrote: »

If this thread is anything to go on, WFH is exacerbating existing process and cultural problems in certain organisations. The idea that you can't "manage" employees working remotely (or in different countries) probably leads first to the question of what exactly it is you are supposedly managing, and whether if it requires an employee sitting in front of you are you doing it correctly.

Without question.

Weaknesses in Training, Policies ,Management skills and Company culture are absolutely exposed in the current scenario.

For example - New Hires struggling?

Then your on-boarding program is probably not up to scratch and you've been surviving on the "wisdom of the crowd" or ad-hoc informal mentoring to plug the holes.

The solution isn't "Everybody back to the Office" , it's to sit down and fix the onboarding process.

However for a lot of companies the path of least resistance (at least in the minds of leadership) will be the former and not the much more effective latter option.

Pandiculation

I'm having an issue as I am really not well this week or last week. I've a back problem that is so bad that I can't really walk or sit down and have been really unable to take any time out at all. I worked from bed and it was just horrible.

If I was in the office, I could have taken a week or so off on sick leave, but there's no such possibility at the moment. The work just keeps coming at me.

I haven't been outside the house in nearly a month due to the back. I tried going for a walk multiple times and I can't even get 300m from the car without being in total agony. If I try sitting down at a desk I'm in agony and I can't stand up / walk around. Even tying my shoelaces challenging and I can't pick stuff up if I drop it. Even going for a walk around my own garden is proving challenging.

It's a total nightmare, yet it's like I can't pause because people keep just dragging me into projects.

Aside from that, I'm having serious problems accessing a physio and my GP just did a phone consultation rather than actually checking it out. I think I've a slipped disc or something. It's beyond bad.

What's worse is I'm only classified as a contractor, so sick leave is a mess even without WFH, but I could have probably organised something.

Pandiculation

Pandiculation wrote: »

I'm having an issue as I am really not well this week or last week. I've a back problem that is so bad that I can't really walk or sit down and have been really unable to take any time out at all. I worked from bed and it was just horrible.

If I was in the office, I could have taken a week or so off on sick leave, but there's no such possibility at the moment. The work just keeps coming at me.

I haven't been outside the house in nearly a month due to the back. I tried going for a walk multiple times and I can't even get 300m from the car without being in total agony. If I try sitting down at a desk I'm in agony and I can't stand up / walk around. Even tying my shoelaces challenging and I can't pick stuff up if I drop it. Even going for a walk around my own garden is proving challenging.

It's a total nightmare, yet it's like I can't pause because people keep just dragging me into projects.

Aside from that, I'm having serious problems accessing a physio and my GP just did a phone consultation rather than actually checking it out. I think I've a slipped disc or something. It's beyond bad.

What's worse is I'm only classified as a contractor, so sick leave is a mess even without WFH, but I could have probably organised something.

I’m really sorry you are not well, but what is stopping you talking sick leave? I’ve taken sick days while WFH, and have given sick days (weeks in a couple of cases) to members of my team.

Being a contractor sucks sometimes. I have done it myself. But not sure if of the WFH link here?

Pandiculation

Deleted User wrote: »

I’m really sorry you are not well, but what is stopping you talking sick leave? I’ve taken sick days while WFH, and have given sick days (weeks in a couple of cases) to members of my team.

Being a contractor sucks sometimes. I have done it myself. But not sure if of the WFH link here?

The problem is that if I were working in a physically visible location, I could justify the time off. When they can't see me, they don't care / won't take it seriously and keep assuming that even if I am sick, I can still keep just maintaining a normal workload because I'm WFH.

I'm just an email address / invisible process most of the time.

I am also finding that increasingly I'm being thrown stuff that isn't properly described. For example, you'll get some message outlining what seems to be a small project and it turns out it's some enormous mess that nobody's communicated and will take 10X more work than they realised, and because it's all WFH there's really serious difficulty getting that point across, so work just gets busier and busier without any extra income.

I'm ending up working through weekends, late at night and all sorts of stuff to clear backlogs and they really just do not care.

All that's coming across to me at the moment is that I don't matter to the organisation and they don't value what I do and are treating me like as if I'm some automated service on a cloud computing system.

We've had no meetings for months. Zoom meetings really aren't used. Everything has become top-down or totally chaotic in terms of communication within the organisation. People aren't responding to phone calls or becoming annoyed when they're called. It's absolutely untenable and I will be leaving as soon as possible.

It's probably largely my own fault for taking on something this 'flexible.' It was tolerable when I was physically visible, but now it's just ...

Pandiculation

Pandiculation wrote: »

The problem is that if I were working in a physically visible location, I could justify the time off. When they can't see me, they don't care / won't take it seriously and keep assuming that even if I am sick, I can still keep just maintaining a normal workload because I'm WFH.

I'm just an email address / invisible process most of the time.

I am also finding that increasingly I'm being thrown stuff that isn't properly described. For example, you'll get some message outlining what seems to be a small project and it turns out it's some enormous mess that nobody's communicated and will take 10X more work than they realised, and because it's all WFH there's really serious difficulty getting that point across, so work just gets busier and busier without any extra income.

I'm ending up working through weekends, late at night and all sorts of stuff to clear backlogs and they really just do not care.

All that's coming across to me at the moment is that I don't matter to the organisation and they don't value what I do and are treating me like as if I'm some automated service on a cloud computing system.

We've had no meetings for months. Zoom meetings really aren't used. Everything has become top-down or totally chaotic in terms of communication within the organisation. People aren't responding to phone calls or becoming annoyed when they're called. It's absolutely untenable and I will be leaving as soon as possible.

It's probably largely my own fault for taking on something this 'flexible.' It was tolerable when I was physically visible, but now it's just ...

I think it’s a problem with the company rather than WFH. As other posters have mentioned, WFH has exposed the dysfunctionality of many companies (which in the long term is not a bad thing)

If you were in the office but with an ailment that was not physically noticeable to colleagues, then presumably you would have the same problem

Like I said, I’ve taken time off while WFH, as have my direct reports, and the process has been no different to being in the office.

You are right in wanting to get out of there

Elessar

Pandiculation wrote: »

I'm having an issue as I am really not well this week or last week. I've a back problem that is so bad that I can't really walk or sit down and have been really unable to take any time out at all. I worked from bed and it was just horrible.

If I was in the office, I could have taken a week or so off on sick leave, but there's no such possibility at the moment. The work just keeps coming at me.

I haven't been outside the house in nearly a month due to the back. I tried going for a walk multiple times and I can't even get 300m from the car without being in total agony. If I try sitting down at a desk I'm in agony and I can't stand up / walk around. Even tying my shoelaces challenging and I can't pick stuff up if I drop it. Even going for a walk around my own garden is proving challenging.

It's a total nightmare, yet it's like I can't pause because people keep just dragging me into projects.

Aside from that, I'm having serious problems accessing a physio and my GP just did a phone consultation rather than actually checking it out. I think I've a slipped disc or something. It's beyond bad.

What's worse is I'm only classified as a contractor, so sick leave is a mess even without WFH, but I could have probably organised something.

Why are you so concerned? If you're not well enough to work, you're not well enough, regardless if you're working from home or in the office. Take time off, it sounds like you are just afraid of what they might think since you're at home anyway. F*ck that, your health is no .1 at all times. Get a doctors cert for a few weeks if needed, they can't question that.

Also if you're a contractor, why are you working extra hours and weekends? I assume you're on a fixed rate for mon-fri, so once your hours are finished clock out and forget about it. They need to pay if they want extra work. Unless you REALLY want a fulltime position here, stop working for free.

trixi001

Pandiculation wrote: »

I'm having an issue as I am really not well this week or last week. I've a back problem that is so bad that I can't really walk or sit down and have been really unable to take any time out at all. I worked from bed and it was just horrible.

If I was in the office, I could have taken a week or so off on sick leave, but there's no such possibility at the moment. The work just keeps coming at me.

I haven't been outside the house in nearly a month due to the back. I tried going for a walk multiple times and I can't even get 300m from the car without being in total agony. If I try sitting down at a desk I'm in agony and I can't stand up / walk around. Even tying my shoelaces challenging and I can't pick stuff up if I drop it. Even going for a walk around my own garden is proving challenging.

It's a total nightmare, yet it's like I can't pause because people keep just dragging me into projects.

Aside from that, I'm having serious problems accessing a physio and my GP just did a phone consultation rather than actually checking it out. I think I've a slipped disc or something. It's beyond bad.

What's worse is I'm only classified as a contractor, so sick leave is a mess even without WFH, but I could have probably organised something.

I understand your problems with the GP etc, i am having similar issues, my GP diagnosed by Sciatica over the phone, and my physio talked me through some exercises over the phone - but its not the same.

Phone your GP again, ask for a face to face appointment, explain how bad it is.

Also work wise, it was agony sitting down at the desk all day - so like you i worked from bed, but didn't feel i needed to any time sick, but definitely would have if i was in the office, so for me this was a good thing, but i also know there would have been no issue with me taking sick days even while wfh

Pandiculation

Pandiculation wrote: »

I'm having an issue as I am really not well this week or last week. I've a back problem that is so bad that I can't really walk or sit down and have been really unable to take any time out at all. I worked from bed and it was just horrible.

If I was in the office, I could have taken a week or so off on sick leave, but there's no such possibility at the moment. The work just keeps coming at me.

I haven't been outside the house in nearly a month due to the back. I tried going for a walk multiple times and I can't even get 300m from the car without being in total agony. If I try sitting down at a desk I'm in agony and I can't stand up / walk around. Even tying my shoelaces challenging and I can't pick stuff up if I drop it. Even going for a walk around my own garden is proving challenging.

It's a total nightmare, yet it's like I can't pause because people keep just dragging me into projects.

Aside from that, I'm having serious problems accessing a physio and my GP just did a phone consultation rather than actually checking it out. I think I've a slipped disc or something. It's beyond bad.

What's worse is I'm only classified as a contractor, so sick leave is a mess even without WFH, but I could have probably organised something.

Get a note and turn your computer off. And notifications if they're on your phone.
My back went a few weeks ago. I tried to power through and work from the sofa. Wasn't happening. Got a note (and painkillers) a couple of days later.

I actually initially had an online consultation, pretty useless (and alarmist). Just needed a prescription. Managed to get into my GP's surgery a few hours later thankfully. He was ready to give me a note for the following week but I knew a few days of painkillers would more or less sort it.

Pandiculation

Pandiculation wrote: »

The problem is that if I were working in a physically visible location, I could justify the time off. When they can't see me, they don't care / won't take it seriously and keep assuming that even if I am sick, I can still keep just maintaining a normal workload because I'm WFH.

I'm just an email address / invisible process most of the time.

I am also finding that increasingly I'm being thrown stuff that isn't properly described. For example, you'll get some message outlining what seems to be a small project and it turns out it's some enormous mess that nobody's communicated and will take 10X more work than they realised, and because it's all WFH there's really serious difficulty getting that point across, so work just gets busier and busier without any extra income.

I'm ending up working through weekends, late at night and all sorts of stuff to clear backlogs and they really just do not care.

All that's coming across to me at the moment is that I don't matter to the organisation and they don't value what I do and are treating me like as if I'm some automated service on a cloud computing system.

We've had no meetings for months. Zoom meetings really aren't used. Everything has become top-down or totally chaotic in terms of communication within the organisation. People aren't responding to phone calls or becoming annoyed when they're called. It's absolutely untenable and I will be leaving as soon as possible.

It's probably largely my own fault for taking on something this 'flexible.' It was tolerable when I was physically visible, but now it's just ...

Not dismissing your pain at all, but working on through it is 100% on you. If you are unable to work, you get a cert, set your out-of-office on and log off.

I've had back problems in the past that had me laid up for 3 months twice because I didn't take action when I should have. Since the second time, I've learned to pay heed to what my body is telling me.

WFH or not, its on you to take action on this for your own benefit, nobody else will

Frank Bullitt

Pandiculation wrote: »

The problem is that if I were working in a physically visible location, I could justify the time off. When they can't see me, they don't care / won't take it seriously and keep assuming that even if I am sick, I can still keep just maintaining a normal workload because I'm WFH.

I'm just an email address / invisible process most of the time.

I am also finding that increasingly I'm being thrown stuff that isn't properly described. For example, you'll get some message outlining what seems to be a small project and it turns out it's some enormous mess that nobody's communicated and will take 10X more work than they realised, and because it's all WFH there's really serious difficulty getting that point across, so work just gets busier and busier without any extra income.

I'm ending up working through weekends, late at night and all sorts of stuff to clear backlogs and they really just do not care.

All that's coming across to me at the moment is that I don't matter to the organisation and they don't value what I do and are treating me like as if I'm some automated service on a cloud computing system.

We've had no meetings for months. Zoom meetings really aren't used. Everything has become top-down or totally chaotic in terms of communication within the organisation. People aren't responding to phone calls or becoming annoyed when they're called. It's absolutely untenable and I will be leaving as soon as possible.

It's probably largely my own fault for taking on something this 'flexible.' It was tolerable when I was physically visible, but now it's just ...

You should insist on setting boundaries and stepping away. That is something my current company really pushes on.

Just because you are WFH doesn't mean you work all the time.

Pandiculation

Elessar wrote: »

Why are you so concerned? If you're not well enough to work, you're not well enough, regardless if you're working from home or in the office. Take time off, it sounds like you are just afraid of what they might think since you're at home anyway. F*ck that, your health is no .1 at all times. Get a doctors cert for a few weeks if needed, they can't question that.

Also if you're a contractor, why are you working extra hours and weekends? I assume you're on a fixed rate for mon-fri, so once your hours are finished clock out and forget about it. They need to pay if they want extra work. Unless you REALLY want a fulltime position here, stop working for free.

I'd love to, but it's not like there are other people in the organisation doing the same job that can just fill in for me. If I'm off, projects stop entirely and customers get angry.

It's weird, but if you're in the middle of some big project and your main aim is to ensure it completes, then you tend to just keep on working until the job's done.

I'm in a funny industry in that regard. I've never really been able to take any time off, unless it's a very well flagged holiday. If you're off sick, it's just pandemonium or you work from home and keep an eye on what's going on.

It's also a sector where you can expect to have the odd day where you might have to get up at 4 am or work through a weekend from time to time and just get maybe time off in lieu, often just stuff added to your annual leave, and then you've a culture of people getting annoyed when you even take 'too much' annual leave.

I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day a couple of years ago, in the office because there was a notion that someone had to be there so about 4 of us were.

It's one reason why I wanted to change career. I might as well be getting the benefits of being self employed, rather than being employed and expected to behave as if I own the business.

In a previous job, same industry, I ended up sick in hospital and they kept ringing my mobile. Then when they couldn't get me on the mobile they rang the hospital and got lifted out of it by the nurses station. Some 'urgent' issue came up and apparently I was the only person who knew the answer to it. In reality it wasn't that urgent i.e. nobody was about to die or anything, and it was just down to some perfectionist panicking.

Antares35

Sounds like that place is bad for your health, irrespective of WFH. Their resource issues are not your problem. If you continue being a superhero, they will allow you to. I've a friend like that, who has spent the past six years tearing himself in two for a company because they "wouldn't survive without him". Newsflash - they will survive without anyone tomorrow if needs be. He hasn't been promoted for five years, and grows increasingly frustrated, wondering how that can be when he has "given so much of himself".

No offence but you need to put yourself first.

Pandiculation

Pandiculation wrote: »

I'd love to, but it's not like there are other people in the organisation doing the same job that can just fill in for me. If I'm off, projects stop entirely and customers get angry.

It's weird, but if you're in the middle of some big project and your main aim is to ensure it completes, then you tend to just keep on working until the job's done.

I'm in a funny industry in that regard. I've never really been able to take any time off, unless it's a very well flagged holiday. If you're off sick, it's just pandemonium or you work from home and keep an eye on what's going on.

It's also a sector where you can expect to have the odd day where you might have to get up at 4 am or work through a weekend from time to time and just get maybe time off in lieu, often just stuff added to your annual leave, and then you've a culture of people getting annoyed when you even take 'too much' annual leave.

I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day a couple of years ago, in the office because there was a notion that someone had to be there so about 4 of us were.

It's one reason why I wanted to change career. I might as well be getting the benefits of being self employed, rather than being employed and expected to behave as if I own the business.

In a previous job, same industry, I ended up sick in hospital and they kept ringing my mobile. Then when they couldn't get me on the mobile they rang the hospital and got lifted out of it by the nurses station. Some 'urgent' issue came up and apparently I was the only person who knew the answer to it. In reality it wasn't that urgent i.e. nobody was about to die or anything, and it was just down to some perfectionist panicking.

Yeah, there's a lot more problems with your situation than anything WFH related.

Honestly I used to be like you. Staying late, coming in on days off to do extra, being the go-to for solving issues to the same level where I would get phones at home at all hours.

Trust me, you get no thanks for it and only you suffer in the end.

Set your boundaries, stick to them, the world will keep spinning. If doing this results in downtime for the business, then thats an issue the business needs to resolve for the sake of its continuity

twiddleypop

We were told that we are back to the office in September on a phased basis and they are working on a hybrid working model. Best I could hope for really but will be looking for a full-time wfh set up between now and September.

twiddleypop

twiddleypop wrote: »

We were told that we are back to the office in September on a phased basis and they are working on a hybrid working model. Best I could hope for really but will be looking for a full-time wfh set up between now and September.

I've been hearing this a lot over the last 2 weeks as the calls are going out to come back to the office.

Mrs OBumble

twiddleypop wrote: »

will be looking for a full-time wfh set up between now and September.

Best of luck with it: Keep us posted with how the job hunt goes.

Antares35

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I've been hearing this a lot over the last 2 weeks as the calls are going out to come back to the office.

I'll be the same.

One co- worker has already secured a position in a competitor company offering three days remote/ two days office model.

the explorer

Does anyone know is there any plan for civil service employees to return to the office over the summer? Will it be down to individual offices or willl there be a central plan, there is a skeleton crew in my office, most of whom seem to want to be there instead of at home. Everything is working fine aside from the lack of social interaction among teams.

I wonder will they give a months notice or will it be more like 2 weeks or so?
Or perhaps they will just be so cautious and not bring us back at all, anticipating another rise in cases in the autumn.

BrianD3

the explorer wrote: »

Does anyone know is there any plan for civil service employees to return to the office over the summer? Will it be down to individual offices or willl there be a central plan, there is a skeleton crew in my office, most of whom seem to want to be there instead of at home. Everything is working fine aside from the lack of social interaction among teams.

I wonder will they give a months notice or will it be more like 2 weeks or so?
Or perhaps they will just be so cautious and not bring us back at all, anticipating another rise in cases in the autumn.

The hinting/suggesting about returning has started already in some public service bodies, haven't heard anything about the CS though.

Those individuals who are in your office, are they senior or junior? Any good reason why they weren't WFH e.g. poor broadband, housesharing

If they could have worked from home but chose not to in contravention of public health advice, then alarm bells would be going off.

• People too tight to use their own electricity to boil a kettle for their tea so insist on coming in with management too weak to do anything about it?
• People at pains to demonstrate that they are not "WFH dossers", martyring themselves?
• Senior people dead set against WFH who will use their own attendance (and the attendance of the above martyrs and tightarses) as ammunition to throw at others when ordering them back to the office?

Esse85

Genuinely think the reason many businesses are getting employees back into offices is because they are tied into a lease for the building and don't like the idea of paying for an empty building with no employees, therefore let's justify the costs and force everyone back into the office, who cares if they want or don't want to come back to the office.


Such short term dictatorship thinking, people will be p1ssed off over this and look elsewhere for work that offers WFH flexibility, job turnover will be the real cost for many businesses but they are too ignorant to see this.

gmisk

the explorer wrote: »

Does anyone know is there any plan for civil service employees to return to the office over the summer? Will it be down to individual offices or willl there be a central plan, there is a skeleton crew in my office, most of whom seem to want to be there instead of at home. Everything is working fine aside from the lack of social interaction among teams.

I wonder will they give a months notice or will it be more like 2 weeks or so?
Or perhaps they will just be so cautious and not bring us back at all, anticipating another rise in cases in the autumn.

I can only speak about my own department.
But we will likely be a blend when people go back, as agreed with line manager (in 12 month chunks) Minimum of 2 days a week in office. We have invested heavily in laptops, remote working infrastructure etc, so we might as well make use of it.
We also might be moving away from all people having fixed desks.
I would say it will vary by department.

Antares35

BrianD3 wrote: »

The hinting/suggesting about returning has started already in some public service bodies, haven't heard anything about the CS though.

Those individuals who are in your office, are they senior or junior? Any good reason why they weren't WFH e.g. poor broadband, housesharing

If they could have worked from home but chose not to in contravention of public health advice, then alarm bells would be going off.

• People too tight to use their own electricity to boil a kettle for their tea so insist on coming in with management too weak to do anything about it?
• People at pains to demonstrate that they are not "WFH dossers", martyring themselves?
• Senior people dead set against WFH who will use their own attendance (and the attendance of the above martyrs and tightarses) as ammunition to throw at others when ordering them back to the office?

I think your martyr point hits the nail on the head nicely. The one in our office making the most noise about getting everyone back in has been doing a full week in the office right throughout the whole thing. Despite being elderly and a cancer survivor, and having a nice five bedroomed house in a quiet leafy suburb with only her husband, and presumably very good WiFi. She will never miss an opportunity to sign off on emails "give me a call, I'm in the office today" - because I can't give you a call at home??

At our catch-up last week we were told we are "allowed" to go back in now if we want because "she's had her vaccine and feels safe now with others coming back in". It baffles me how one person appears to be dictating the narrative for all of us, especially when her only agenda is getting everyone back so she can have the gossip and coffees again. Sorry Dorris, I'm not going back to a five day commute so that you can have the chats again. I'll need a better reason than that

BrianD3

Antares35 wrote: »

At our catch-up last week we were told we are "allowed" to go back in now if we want because "she's had her vaccine and feels safe now with others coming back in". It baffles me how one person appears to be dictating the narrative for all of us, especially when her only agenda is getting everyone back so she can have the gossip and coffees again. Sorry Dorris, I'm not going back to a five day commute so that you can have the chats again. I'll need a better reason than that

First you're allowed to return to the office
Then you're encouraged
Then you're advised
Then you're instructed

Get that wedge in there and each time the employer whacks it with the hammer, more people will cave. By the time the "instruction" stage is reached, it's well setup for an "everyone else is back now" justification to be thrown at those still holding out.

Yet a certain poster was arguing that the more people who are in the office, the more scope there is for those who wish to WFH, to WFH. In theory yes, in reality no given how anti WFH and resistant to change many managers are.

hmmm

I'm seeing some interesting stuff happening in the tech jobs market as people are beginning to jump ship in increasing numbers to companies with more flexible WFH offerings. It's always been an industry with a fair amount of turnover, but some of the people I'm seeing move now would not be your typical leavers. It's a once-off realignment in the industry I think.

It's interesting to me also that there seems to have been a bit of a mindset shift since the beginning of the year. Last year the assumption was that WFH was the aberration, and going back to the office was normal. Now even from the people who have indicated previously they wanted to go back to the office, their preferences seem to have shifted much more towards WFH and less to the office - the "3 days in the office and 2 at home" group have become more "2 and 3", or even "1 and 4" - and even that 1 day they are finding hard to justify as to why they are doing it.

I think everyone acknowledges that the social side is a problem, but the genie is out of the bottle - there will be very few companies where the "old" days of everyone being on site and the craic that comes with that (occasionally). I don't know what the answer is because everyone just WFH sounds very sterile, but I think a lot of people (management and employees) are questioning the purpose of everyone heading into an office.

the explorer

the explorer wrote: »

Does anyone know is there any plan for civil service employees to return to the office over the summer? Will it be down to individual offices or willl there be a central plan, there is a skeleton crew in my office, most of whom seem to want to be there instead of at home. Everything is working fine aside from the lack of social interaction among teams.

I wonder will they give a months notice or will it be more like 2 weeks or so?
Or perhaps they will just be so cautious and not bring us back at all, anticipating another rise in cases in the autumn.

There will eventually be a formal plan across all departments, but in the short term, I expect it will be up to each department to decide based on "business needs" which pretty much means you're at the mercy of your supervisor.

Even when the formal plan is decided, I believe it will still operate much like flexible working hours and/or worksharing and/or Shorter Working Year Scheme.

In other words, WFH be a privilege granted or not based on the role you're doing and on the business needs of your division, and it will not be an automatic entitlement. Forsa is also looking for part of any plan to include an "opt out" for those who do not wish to WFH at all.

In my department, there is no rush to go back into offices and WFH was actively encouraged even before Covid. Informally I've heard no one will be asked or expected to return until fully vaccinated (both jabs).

(eta) to answer your actual question - a friend who works in a customer facing role in Social Protection has already returned to office based work.