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It looks like the cat's out of the bag and working from home a few days a week is my new normal. Despite government pleas to go back I'm reluctant to give up a better quality of life and saving a few grand a year on travel and sundries. Work performance hasn't suffered and I've basically proved the vast majority of my role is doable at home. On the other hand it can be isolating and work has nudged its way into the home environment. I'd estimate 90% of my colleagues are loathe to go back. Only those who are single and have small flats have said they want to go back at least some of the time. How's it been for you? |
Working from home - the new normal?
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fontgeeksogood 12,913 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 3 years agoI'm exhausted from all the wanking -
Guess you gotta get those tips from your fans! -
fontgeeksogood 12,913 posts
Seen 5 months ago
Registered 3 years agoThey make me do things I'm not happy about -
richardiox 10,097 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoGetting paid to shag the wife, what's not to like? -
Tonka 31,979 posts
Seen 4 minutes ago
Registered 18 years ago👍
Will write more on Monday -
disusedgenius 10,677 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 14 years agoIt's generally been fine for me, though I'd like to go back into the office once in a while to see people etc. We're being encouraged to go in one day a week but in all honesty, more than any virus fears, the problem is picking a day to be less productive on. -
smoothpete 37,743 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoI’ve adjusted ok. I miss feeling like I’m part of a bigger enterprise. I feel somewhat isolated, it will harm my network (this matters in the job I do). I’m less motivated. Honestly would rather be back in the office, but I can’t see it happening and I can’t complain with the current situation. -
mad_caddy 3,751 posts
Seen 17 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoMy place has screwed it up, we're software dev / support.
We've been working all fine from home.
All on target and doing what we need to do but management want us back in.
So we've had loads of stuff done to the office, one way systems, hand sanitizer stations, no shared office spaces etc. All the shit to make it covid safe.
So now we will be doing one week in and one week working from home, on rotation.
None of the staff are happy, no one understand why we need to be in the office. Apparently one manager has said software support staff can't do some of their job remotely.
It's quite obvious the company I work for is out of touch. We still wear full suits to the office. Yet we don't see any of our customers. -
nickthegun 87,711 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoThat kind of relates to how I feel about WFH. The things I’ve found toughest have been the general lockdown stuff of having a house full of people on top of each other, not being able to just nip out when I want, it being hot as fuck some days...
But I’m digging WFH to the point that I’m settling in for the long haul. I’m selling my car and, most notably, I’ve usually got one eye on the next job but I’m loathe to upset the status quo. I’m happy doing what I’m doing, the company don’t want us back and I don’t really want to be looking elsewhere as they may do something twatty like the above. -
JamboWayOh 25,236 posts
Seen 23 minutes ago
Registered 8 years agomad_caddy wrote:
That's some next level horseshit. That manager seems particularly unknowledgeable about people's roles.
My place has screwed it up, we're software dev / support.
We've been working all fine from home.
All on target and doing what we need to do but management want us back in.
So we've had loads of stuff done to the office, one way systems, hand sanitizer stations, no shared office spaces etc. All the shit to make it covid safe.
So now we will be doing one week in and one week working from home, on rotation.
None of the staff are happy, no one understand why we need to be in the office. Apparently one manager has said software support staff can't do some of their job remotely.
It's quite obvious the company I work for is out of touch. We still wear full suits to the office. Yet we don't see any of our customers.
Edited by JamboWayOh at 16:51:40 06-09-2020 -
Your-Mother 8,172 posts
Seen 9 hours ago
Registered 5 years agoWe have it as optional if we decide to work in person, as long as we obey physical distance (we have in/out tracking so people know whether it’s okay to go in), wear face masks etc. I personally don’t see the point as it means you have to wear a face mask during Teams meetings, and that’s about 80% of my work life currently. Also, the guy who sits in the cube opposite me (meaning I shouldn’t go in at the same time as him) goes into the office literally every day, so even if I wanted to go in I’d have to negotiate with him for seating. -
CalamityJames 315 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 5 years agoI live on my own, so working from home is pretty bleak. I'm also a bit put out that I have to dedicate part of my already-paltry living space to work, without any additional compensation (basically, we should get some of the money our employers are going to save on office space in the "new normal", but we won't).
There are definitely upsides though. I feel that in the long run, if this leads to a revitalisation of the neighbourhoods and towns people traditionally commute from, it'll be an improvement for everyone (except maybe commercial landlords, but fuck them). -
Darth_Flibble 5,592 posts
Seen 21 seconds ago
Registered 17 years agoThe company I work for is doing optional rota and did 1 day last week, very quiet in the office. at the start of WFH, there was tech issues as it was lot of people wfh, which is understandable. But when a member of staff has a problem will still have to use the outsourced IT dept and they can be fucking useless at times. 40 minutes to get them to finally decided to install the dell hub driver for the in office USB hub to use the double monitor set up at work. 2 fucking days to get access to database and its still not working correctly
Apart from some tech issues, I like WFH, hope it continues as long I can continue to do 1 or 2 days a week in the office -
mad_caddy 3,751 posts
Seen 17 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoOh.... And when we're in the office we will do all meetings via teams at our desks.
So I'm commuting for 30 minutes.....do do exactly the same as I do at home but at a desk surrounded by plastic screens.
Well done management. -
Dougs 100,414 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoI've been WFH 3 days a week for the last 12 years, so another 2 days shouldn't be an issue. At the moment, it's fine and there's no suggestion of going back (despite the Big Push). A few of my team are back in few days a week because of their living situation being less than ideal. I've always felt like I needed to be in and show face a bit, so I think I will feel the pull shortly. It is isolating and if seniors are in, then I feel like I would be disadvantaged by not going in occasionally.
The challenge I have is that to go in for my usual 2 days, I'd need to get 9 different types of public transport and stay at my family's, exposing them too. Which I can't see happening. -
Dougs 100,414 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 18 years agomad_caddy wrote:
This is a concern. If I can't sit with my team or have face to face meetings, what's the point?
Oh.... And when we're in the office we will do all meetings via teams at our desks.
So I'm commuting for 30 minutes.....do do exactly the same as I do at home but at a desk surrounded by plastic screens.
Well done management. -
Phattso 27,426 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoWe're < 20 people, and a startup that's less than two years old, so super easy for us to all just WFH but, as said above, the younger staffers in a house share or whatever are going absolutely fucking nuts and are desperate to get back to the office.
I'd echo what someone said above about my own situation: having to set up a 3 screen corner in my living space is a massive imposition (two monitors plus laptop: yes, it's ridiculous, but yes I do need that many) which I'm starting to resent more and more.
Rumblings are we'll be doing a timeshare on a reduced office space with a couple of other semi-related startups come the end of the year, so at least a day or two a week we can choose to go and do in whatever mode of face-to-face is legal by that point. Not sure how that solves my "I've lost a room of my home" issue mind yo.
I don't miss my 50 minutes each way bus-tube-tube commute and I'm in no rush to get back to that world. So you win some, you lose some, it seems. -
I've gained 2 hours a day from not commuting and feel far less tired at the end of the day. The main thing that bothers me about wfh is that I have to make a dedicated effort to get exercise and not sit down for 8 hours a day. At least with officing/commuting I was forced to walk 2 or 3 miles a day.
The biggest difference is having much more money in my pocket. I'm probably £400 per month up due to wfh.
Edited by rice_sandwich at 17:10:55 06-09-2020 -
JamboWayOh 25,236 posts
Seen 23 minutes ago
Registered 8 years agoDougs wrote:
Because honestly some people, especially people in higher management are probably failing to justify their presence if their workers are getting on with it with no one physically micromanaging them. Other people I assume are just of the mindset of 'that's how it's always been'.
mad_caddy wrote:
This is a concern. If I can't sit with my team or have face to face meetings, what's the point?
Oh.... And when we're in the office we will do all meetings via teams at our desks.
So I'm commuting for 30 minutes.....do do exactly the same as I do at home but at a desk surrounded by plastic screens.
Well done management. -
smoothpete 37,743 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoI’m senior-ish management but I’m still 100% a “do-er”, front line actually doing the job my team do. I’d die otherwise, I’d have nothing to occupy my time -
JamboWayOh 25,236 posts
Seen 23 minutes ago
Registered 8 years agoI wish I had someone like you during my time in the civil service, user Smoothpete. -
hedben2013 2,261 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 9 years agoI'm officially WFH until at least the end of the year. Unofficially everyone's saying there's no way we'll be going back to 5 days ever. Some are saying they want to try having, say, one day a week in the office with their teams for (distanced) face to face stuff.
But the thing is, teams change so often, and most teams are "agile" and made up of people from across the business- marketing, tech, QE, etc. So if you want people having a day with their agile team and a day with their actual team it doesn't work because the days don't overlap.
I reckon we'll be given the option of going in next year but it will just a virtual office at work and still mainly zoom and emails for everything -
Derblington 35,161 posts
Seen 21 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoDougs wrote:
This is issue I can see becoming more and more commonplace.
mad_caddy wrote:
This is a concern. If I can't sit with my team or have face to face meetings, what's the point?
Oh.... And when we're in the office we will do all meetings via teams at our desks.
So I'm commuting for 30 minutes.....do do exactly the same as I do at home but at a desk surrounded by plastic screens.
Well done management.
I want to go back to the office as I miss the interaction, and communication and productivity suffers to some degree when everyone is isolated. Not to mention most people aren’t set up with home-office space living in the city, and families and distractions are everywhere in shared living spaces. Work have been and continue to be great in helping to mitigate any issues wherever possible but there’s a lot of things they just can’t solve.
However it will continue to be impacted on a part-time or rotation basis too - there will always be people missing on any given day - so there’s no point in going back unless everyone does. You may as well just be at home with all of those issues rather than travel into the office with them all present anyway. -
anephric 5,274 posts
Seen 6 days ago
Registered 14 years agoI did a lot of stuff from home previously but now I have really no reason to be at the depot if I can avoid it, other than to replenish things.
That said, I've come to hate seeing some people's faces appear "in" my home during Teams meetings and that has tainted my man cave/home office. Tainted it forever. -
Not-a-reviewer 7,686 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 7 years agoI’d imagine those people that do house share etc would, in the main, look at a different property if they knew WFH was permanent. The uncertainty or lack of willingness to make that decision four’s leaves a lot of people in limbo.
Any business that has keep going with no noticeable impact on the output should be giving the employees clearer feedback by now that they can keep doing it if they .
If I was single and was told I could WFH permanently I’d be looking for somewhere nice by the sea with an extra room to use as an office. -
simpleexplodingmaybe 19,992 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 6 years agoI’m still full time from home for the foreseeable.
I really like all my colleagues but I can’t say I’m missing them in particular. I’m so acclimatised and institutionalised in my village-Teams-laptop routine I sort of can’t remember how the old way felt. Going back into the city feels so alien at the moment. -
smoothpete 37,743 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoOne of the issues for me has been that I’ve always had a very strong work / home separation, reinforced by a 45 minute walk each way. Now it’s just my house, which is ok but I’ve struggled with any kind of separation.
I set up a desk in the room that is usually our games / movies room, and after 9 hours working in there I just really don’t want anything to do with it anymore so I’m not really playing many games.
I’m aware this is a first world problem. Still though, it’s disruptive -
Yeah the blurring between work/life is a hard one but we’re unspokenly expected to be available to email 24/7 already
I’m trying to be strict with myself
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