Working From Home Megathread

I work remotely 100% and am based in Cork, Kerry, etc.

But I've been here for almost 20 years, I didn't just move during COVID.

I work for a Dublin based company but would never dream of commuting one day a week just to be "in the office".

I am two years in the job and even though they could not put it in my contract that I would be fully remote the understanding has always been that I would.

As part of my job I spend two days a week with a client of my employer which is in a completely different part of the country again, and most of them I've never even seen on video calls let alone meet in person, but still work well with them.

Good. Dublin needs less pressure.

Decentralisation was a great ideal back in the 00s with terrible implementation. Hopefully we start to get it now.

Came across this article, this morning. Food for thought! https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0115/1426555-coffee-badging-return-to-office-work-from-home-employers-employees/

Talking to my brother this is rife in his company. They were fully remote during covid and when the office eventually opened only those who wanted went in (which unsurprisingly was 2 or 3 people). Then last summer the Irish offices was told they had to start enforcing the already global rule (which they had been ignoring) of 3 days per week in the office and from what he has said virtually no one who had been fully remote is staying in for full days.

Some are coming in just to literally eat lunch and swipe the badge, others come in at 10 and go home at lunch or similar. This includes the top managers though at this stage I think no one is doing the 3 days again and more going in 1 or 2 days for a while as it appears to be off the global radar again I suppose.

Just allow people WFH as much as they want and it would stop all this rubbish.

I think the article is making something out of nothing.

There would be people in our place that come in meet up with pals go for lunch and go home

They're not popping in to swipe a badge they're just "socializing" for an hour so and then go back home and work.

The great part of the change in a lot of places for me is the flexibility in a lot of roles where they're not pinned at 9-5 anymore.

I couldn't care less if someone came in at 10 and left at 2 then did an hour or two in the evening or whatever way they want to work it.

If there's performance problems with staff and managers think it's down to WFH. Bring them in or deal with the specific performance problem as you would in an office.

If people are performing and doing their job as expected. Leave them at it.

There's been a lot of horse sh|te written about WFH positive and negative. Hopefully it'll blow over soon and we can just get on with it.

There's a definite trend of push back from fully working from home in many companies ... started at 1 day back, then 2 day back then 3. Some element of WFH maybe, but with the emphasis shifting to in office.

And hopefully it will result, sooner than later, in a couple of constructive dismissal cases at the WRC.

No solicitor is going to take a case to the WRC for you if your contract states that, though, in the absence of something in writing saying you're entitled to WFH - which would be a material change to a contract?

Why so? Ardent wfh staff are higher calibre now ?

Lot of mental gymnastics there , what if the better staff aren’t fussed about wfh so removing it means very little to them?

Exactly and in some cases not even their own success just their own wants.

And I am fairly convinced that sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't.

A lot is due to the intrinsic motivation and reading comprehension of the staff involved neither of which tend to be screened for ot selection criteria.

Also there are some cases where it is more efficient for some individual performers, but not for the overall team.

But both of those "fairly convinced" statements are just that: individual viewpoints.

People should exactly focus on their over success over a business.

My loyalty to the business is the same as theirs is to me, in other words if the company fell on hard times I would be cut right there, so I will naturally look out for my own interests. That isn't me saying I do not care about the company, but I put my own needs first, always. As should everyone.

I can’t speak for other companies but where I work the WFH policy is more or less based on how important to the business you are and how much clout you have.

We have plenty of staff who are more or less told they have to be in 5 days a week and at the same time have a number of fully remote or hybrid staff who’s skills are in demand and either only accepted the job if it’s remote/hybrid or already worked here before covid but top management don’t want to risk annoying so are allowed work remotely/hybrid (I’d fit in this bracket - generally I do a hybrid as there is some aspects of my job that do require attendance).

We would be quite stuck for the higher skilled roles without allowing this also I must add, being in the South East it has allowed us to hire in the dublin pool of talent even if they don’t want to leave Dublin.

Personally I don’t agree with the policy as I think everyone should have at least some hybrid option but I am left alone to do what I want so won’t be making any noises about it.

Except that actual research bares out the fact that blended working increases productivity?

And, well: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0203/1272759-working-from-home-toxic-workplace-slackers-bullies-self-promoters/

Thankfully, promotion of blended working is now government policy, anyway, so it doesn't really matter what the kow-towers think. And the reality, even if Cyrus doesn't want to admit it, is it's damned hard to recruit good people for "office" work where blended working isn't an option.

You do not employ a lot of people! No way Jose

Return to office mandates don't work, study suggests:

While some executives say employees are unproductive and ineffective at home, a study from the University of Pittsburgh suggests it is return-to-office mandates that don’t work. An analysis of S&P 500 firms that implemented in-office attendance requirements found that the mandates did not boost financial performance or value, which remained on par with that of companies allowing virtual work. However, researchers did observe “significant declines in employees’ job satisfaction” — perhaps explaining why 80% of employers who forced a return to offices later expressed regret over the decision.

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/rto-mandates-dont-work-study-6571002/

Hey, remember, it's team-building and good communication for us all to be forced into the office. Nothing like those water cooler conversations. "Traffic was murder today." "It's been terrible since the schools were back." "Pain in the f'n arse, I'm losing 15 hours a week stuck in traffic. Why are they bringing us back anyway." "You know what Bee is like, if she can't see you, she doesn't trust you're working..." "But I get more done at home, anyway - I don't have Cee just hanging around my desk for a chat." "Try telling that to the CFO who signed off on a new office lease right at the start of Covid. Gotta justify that expense somehow..." "Would he not be better off worrying about the delays to the project?" "Sure what can he do, Dee and Eff are gone, I was on glassdoor myself yesterday, a few CVs gone in..."

Irish Times commercial property supplement advertorials would certainly paint a particular picture... even if the actual editorial staff and management board of the Irish Times are all delighted to have blended working.