Unfortunately yeah. No negotiating either. Just back in on a rota basis and probably 5 days a week at the end of June I imagine.
It sucks. I would 100% wfh permanently. I don’t need to interact with any humans to do my job (pay per click ads). I personally just don’t need or particularly want any social contact with people.
I want to turn my computer off at half five and get my sons dinner together and have a bit of time with him.
I’ll see him for about 15 mins before he has to go to bed today. Maybe not at all if the traffic was like it was on the way in.
I’ve manged to get out of the Christmas party were having and everyone is like awww it would be really nice to see you in person.
That’s the worst account I’ve heard so far, I’d happily make it an HR matter (I’d love to hear the reasons for needing people doing digital work in an office 5 days a week!) but I get that not everyone would be prepared to do that.
We’ve just had a new guy start with us and I’ve been into the office nearly every day for the last 3 weeks. But once he’s confident I’ll be straight back to the dining room table.
Luckily our office is in a really old building with tiny rooms and corridors. So we’ll probably stay away most of the time.
We had someone due to start right at the beginning of the first lockdown. We had team calls each morning to delegate work as it was needed. Those who could work from home were, but all the engineering staff would go in when required. So each day we had this new starter on the call who had only been on site for his interview
We’ve been told we’re going to wfh until September and then going to move to a 3 days in, 2 days at home system, plus the possibility of working 9 days over 2 weeks. Which I think is pretty fair and really glad they’re taking what we’ve experienced into account.
My desk was in a hot, airless, windowless office (200 year old building) and I am in no hurry to get back to that desk and my 2 electric fans given my current home set up.
All this talk of working from home on laptops and avoiding contact with people at all costs just makes me think about how shit that series of the IT Crowd would be.
I think I’m just gonna be going in for meetings when required. One of my clients wanted me to travel next week but I managed to weasel out of it.
Quite like the idea of going in a couple of times a week, I moved jobs during lockdown v1 so I still haven’t met any of my team in person yet. But I’m steadfastly refusing to go back in full time. And there’s no way I’m doing international travel for a while, even once I get the 5g shot.
One thing I miss is the spontaneous options afforded to you when you’re already in the city anyway for work: just simple things like going for a drink/meal after a stressful week, or chilling at a square/park on a summer evening people-watching, or popping into a book shop or the cinema after work on your way home. Those things are not quite the same when you do so at the weekend. Hard to explain why, but I can’t exactly see myself going all the way into town for no other reason than to sit and listen to music on a bench at Soho Square or whatever.
Also, like most Londoners, I tend to avoid anywhere central on weekends as it has a shit vibe and it’s way more packed. I can imagine if we do gravitate to a wfh model, it’ll only mean that weekends will be even more busy.
Also, Friday evenings are great for museums as they tend to stay open late. I imagine most tourists probably tend to go to a show or out for dinner on Friday evenings, so it means places like the British Museum and Royal Academy of Arts are relatively quiet. Often times just having a room to myself in somewhere like that is the ultimate chill and a nice escape from either the office or my apartment.
My role was started during the pandemic, albeit with the same company I’ve worked for since 2016. Still a weird experience doing everything remotely. Down to one day a week going into the office sorting out new laptops and fixing bits of other kit, which has been great.
I’d honestly be down for set days here and there, which the organization might be working towards anyways. Just nice to have a balance. I don’t miss being stuck in traffic on my drive back home, making a 10 min journey 40 mins because of rush hour.
My last job which I did WFH for the first few months was weird, being on the phone and having the kinds of conversations I’d have with tenants was weird in the house. Plus at the time I was living with my girlfriend, who was also working in the next room and it did really feel so out of the ordinary.
People were really riled up throughout lockdown, especially when neighbours would have big parties and you’d have to explain for 20 minutes that the housing officers can’t actually go down and do anything, as they’re legally not allowed to do so. Plus you’d have a lot of people just taking ages to speak with you since they never got to see anyone, especially the elderly, so you would be talking about absolutely anything for ages.
Weird, weird times. But my new job just feels really good to do from home. Much easier to manage the workload you get on the service desk.
I’ve been full time WFH since before lockdown 1 when the company decided to close all offices. Before that 3 in, 2 wfh. Company surveyed all staff and only 8% wanted to go back to the office like pre-pandemic. My wife and I shared our home office (I’ve WFH for many years) for about two weeks… LOL. That went well
ETA - I’d be OK going back once or twice a week, I think. It’d take a bit of getting used to though.
we’re doing 2 days a week currently, mainly because we’ve doubled in employees in the Sydney office and there’s no space we’re rota’d. I’m doing 1 day mostly as no one cares anymore. Started doing 1 or 2 in person client meetings over the past few weeks, but that’s about it. I can’t see it going back to a 5 day in-office week and I really don’t want it to. 3 days max for me I think.
Enjoying seeing my kid as others have pointed out and also I get to go surfing before work when I’m not too lazy.
spoke to a guy in our facilities team - unsurprisingly most people want to work from home monday and friday. aint gonna happen as that’d mean 100% occupancy tue, wed, thur. Whenever the topic comes up on a call i go along with it “yeh would be great to see you all” (secretly "fuck that, hours on the M4, 2 grand a year on coffee and lunch, listening to your shit etc etc)
The council here are actively discouraging retail in the city centre. Half the streets are shut to private cars now, and shops were still being charged Council Tax when they were shut last year.
