[Lincoln61]

I have been working from home for the past 6 weeks, and to be honest I don't want to go back to the office!

I realise that not everyone can do this, but my experience has been pretty good. There hasn't been anything I couldn't do in terms of workload. Granted I have been a little slower as my desk at work has 3 screens and at the moment I only have 1, but that could be changed easily.

The introduction of MS teams has transformed meetings (which we used to have hundreds of). I also feel much more relaxed, not to mention better off in the pocket due to no fuel (although I have a very expensive 430 garden ornament!).

Does anyone else think this will be the catalyst for them to shift to home working, or at least do it more?

[Ridg]

generally thinking is there will be a fundamental change in work culture post covid. With billion-pound companies successfully working with a distributed workforce you have to wonder why we would go back?

Personally I miss some of the interaction and social aspect of working in an office esp if you interact with other departments, but when you consider the financial and environmental impact of distributed working it's hard to see why we would return to it, there are obvious negatives for example increased costs at home (electric, heating) (offset by no fuel?) what happens to public transport if we stop using it e.g. commuters and communication over video link isn't as good as in-person e.g. body language.

[Sheepy]

Absolutely agree, I have been saying this from week one! Most of my family that work are doing so from home, there’s only myself that can’t because I’m a train driver but I’m only at work half the week on average at the mo.
Any opportunity for a company to save money will be taken in the next few months and with people used to working from home now this will be a good opportunity to streamline their business.
Unfortunately the knock on effect will be massive as with less people commuting and using local businesses it will obviously have an effect on people employed in these roles.

[MashinBenzin]

I absolutely love it. We are adamant at a senior level in our organisation that we must not go back to the old way of working. We've seen incredible achievements across the organisation and have been singled out by the regulator for responsiveness, agility and customer care. It's been amazing.

Personally, I've been really productive - driven by a relative lack of interruption and a complete saving of 2-3 hours in commute and associated practicalities daily. The workload has been so high, 12-14 hour days and 5am starts in the first few weeks of wfh, that it's impossible to imagine how I could have completed so much in the office.

We've seen massive productivity increases in many tech and business teams.

For me, two days in five is the maximum I want to
do in the office in the future. And I'm planning setting the agenda for my teams on and offshore as aiming for a 60/40 balance one way or the other. All long term of course, industrialised social distancing will decide the balance for then immediate future.

[RobUK]

While I was working it was a combination of working from home (20%) and working on customer sites (80%). Very often, working on customer sites was 'for show' - either the customer wanted to see bums on seats to give them that warm and cosy feeling that they were getting their money's worth, or you had an insecure account team who didn't feel they were in control unless people were physically present. There were a few cases where being on site was essential, e.g. when I was working for a pharma company that was FDA regulated and we had to generate huge amounts of paperwork (as required by the rules). I spent 2½ years working on that account and lived out of a hotel 5 days a week. The hotel was nice with everything on expenses plus two others from my team were there as well, but it became really wearing.

Working at home was so much more relaxing! I'd get more done in most cases and had the flexibility to pop out during the day if needed, being in for deliveries, etc. I must admit though, even when WFH for a spell, it was good to get in to a customer site to meet up with the account team. I found that spending a week with someone in the office helped build rapport for when you then had to work with them remotely. My ideal balance would probably be 20-25% in the office and 75-80% at home.

[aquazi]

I have been home working on and off for years.. however what i find really good now is that because everyone is less of my meetings over run and people turn up on time... helps that Teams pops up when i meeting has been started so people can join - and as everyone has a clock and not stuck in a meeting room can actually see when things are dragging on!

Where i think we will see a downshift is office space rental/ hotdesking will become more of the norm - so companies can save money also.

Also not sure if you are aware - but if you are a Payee employee you are entitiled to tax deductions by working from home - top of my head its something like £6 pd - so you just need to include that as an expense on your self assessment or there is a separate form if you dont do a SA.

[Kam05]

Once coronavirus is under control (or over?) lots of businesses and office managers will realise that there's no real requirement to have offices so I think a lot of office space will come onto the rental market? Where face to face team meetings are required hotel conference rooms can be used.

Video conferencing has made having team meetings much easier. I'm an office worker and I never have had the opportunity to WFH but now finding I'm much more productive. Also, my commute is a lot shorter now - I might hit a bit of traffic in the hallway! Downside is that I have a rather expensive driveway ornament now in the form of a SQ5 not been used!

I realise that if you work in retail or in a factory/production facility then WFH is not an option. 10/15 years ago we wouldn't have had the opportunity to WFH as the technology wasn't around like VC facilities, working in the cloud etc

[Bibbles]

I think one of the things that's helped everyone shift to working from home is you know all your colleagues are doing the same. It there were still 50% or more people in the office you might feel like you're missing out but as everyone is in the same boat people have just got on with it. I think there might be a shift towards home working at the end of this. I'm glad I'm not in the office rental business as companies will be massively downsizing what they need soon.

[mcoops]

Agree with all the above for the most part. Strangely for a relative introvert, I've not enjoyed working at home every single day. Perhaps some of that is due to the lack of separation between work, home and home schooling, as my wife and kids have been around 100% of the time.

That said, I would love to eventually go back into the office maybe 3 days out of 5. I think our office should close entirely for one day a week, and then operate some sort of distributed WFH schedule for at least one other day. The cost savings and environmental impact just make so much sense.

[Kyuuseishu]

To throw the other side of the argument into the ring, one thing which won't change in regards to the way it works is teaching. Distance teaching/learning is incredibly boring for the teacher, and many students are finding it challenging from a motivation and mental health perspective.

As soon as this whole thing is over I can't wait to get back into the classroom. Whilst my school is pretty well off from a tech perspective (we were also one of the first schools to get the tech-ed grant), the ability to provide reactive support as a teacher is near impossible. I can provide feedback but I can't guarantee students even read it or act upon it. There are a good number of students with a home life that isn't compatible with learning from home. As a teacher I've lost a lot of avenues of assessing whether or not they understand what I have given them. A student can say they understand but their subsequent work progress tells the true story and we simply can't see this in real time. I am also sure quite a few parents who are working from home have also found their children learning from home to be challenging.

[JustChris]

Loving it

[isleaiw1]

I used to work for a company where you only went into the office if you had to. They were located in Chelmsford but would have staff located across the country, so it was in part a necessity driven by the need to widen the recruitment net.

They relocated to Hemel and a big open plan office where people were expected to be in the office and interact with other teams much more. The improvement in productivity, output, developments etc was immense. Well at least for a while.

So I am not sure in many companies and departments (this was FMCG, branded, main supermarkets as customers - slightly demanding as you can imagine) a wfh model for everyone is the solution.

I am also an introvert but recognise that as such, wfh for long periods brings out the worst in me. Pick up the phone for a general state of the world chat with a member of the exec? never. Bump into them at the coffee machine and do the same - absolutely. And in my job knowing who is doing / changing what and assessing the impact is quite important...

Plus when you wfh, it is easy to blur lines. On annual leave today but already done emails, a call and finished a report - my laptop is out, I was having a cuppa sat near it. why not. Yet the whole point of today was to switch off and destress a bit...

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

I’m finding it incredibly hard work and mega tiring.

For 3 of the days my wife works too and has to have my office for privacy, so I’m in the house with a 3 and 8 year old to manage and more work than ever due to colleagues being furloughed.

I’m used to working at home, 50-60% of time spent doing it in normal times, but generally I’m home alone.

I need a couple of days holiday to recharge, but can’t as I’ve managed to retain full pay, but was asked to sacrifice 10 days holiday. A few weeks ago that sounded fine, not so much now as my wife books off one of her 8 weeks a year.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

I'm finding it incredibly hard work and mega tiring.

For 3 of the days my wife works too and has to have my office for privacy, so I'm in the house with a 3 and 8 year old to manage and more work than ever due to colleagues being furloughed.

I'm used to working at home, 50-60% of time spent doing it in normal times, but generally I'm home alone.

I need a couple of days holiday to recharge, but can't as I've managed to retain full pay, but was asked to sacrifice 10 days holiday. A few weeks ago that sounded fine, not so much now as my wife books off one of her 8 weeks a year.

One thing not in doubt - whether it's better or worse for us as individuals- is that this WFH is very different to wfh before this.

And not just because of practicalities at home.

I've usually done 1 day a week, sometimes 2, and also did a lot of travel which lent itself to tasks which were usually effective wfh (just work from plane/cafe/hotel instead). When wfh before, I always focused on things best suited to it and arranged my wfh around what needed doing. Now it's the whole job, with everyone else doing it, it's very different.

[AyrshireColin]

I'm not sure I could make the change to wfh. It's 'fine' but that's about it for me.

I am classed as key worker and technically 'should' be at work but because of the way it all worked out this is week 6 of being at home for me. I'm a maintenance team leader at a pharmaceutical production plant but we made the move 6 weeks ago to split the on-site day shift maintenance teams to early shift / back shift pods and for purposes of being able to 'manage' things across the 16hrs of the day that my team are working I'm doing it all remotely (not working 16hrs a day - I'm in and out of it!) but I'm in control. It works because all of the operations management team are now working remotely so I can dial into every meeting that I input to on that side of things.

Going forward I've had my eyes opened and I'd love to be able to do 2 days wfh home each week (seems a good balance to me) but sadly when things settle down I'll be back to site 5 days a week.

Flip side is my wife who is a home worker (chartered accountant (her 'home' office for her day job is in Manchester and she's never set foot in it!)) is hating lockdown! She is used to an empty house and managing her own time - having me and 2 kids here doesn't play into how she does things. She also has a business on the side and does freelance work normally while I'm out of the house for football 3 times a week....no football means I'm kicking about and although I am a fully fledged adult and don't need her for anything she says that she gets less done!

Overall and as much as it has it's plus sides I'd take back to normal tomorrow on the work front!

[EvilDrPorkChop]

It's OK saying WFH is great, i'd like to think we're all hard working people that like to get on and do stuff.

But what about the office slackers/people who don't do a lot that'll be working from. Yourself might be more productive from WFH but they'll be others that will take the p***. So on a whole I wonder if really it is more productive as a company.

As others have said though there will be a lot of companies that realise they don't need the office space they have. I was talking to a guy in manufacturing that has furloughed 75% of his staff, got a skeleton staff in. They're still doing 40% of their usual business on 25% of staff - was making him wonder what some of them actually did when they were at work

[AyrshireColin]

Originally Posted by EvilDrPorkChop

It's OK saying WFH is great, i'd like to think we're all hard working people that like to get on and do stuff.

But what about the office slackers/people who don't do a lot that'll be working from. Yourself might be more productive from WFH but they'll be others that will take the p***. So on a whole I wonder if really it is more productive as a company.

As others have said though there will be a lot of companies that realise they don't need the office space they have. I was talking to a guy in manufacturing that has furloughed 75% of his staff, got a skeleton staff in. They're still doing 40% of their usual business on 25% of staff - was making him wonder what some of them actually did when they were at work

Funny you should say that. I was commenting to my wife about the amount of people who seem to dial into every meeting going but contribute f*ck all, I guess it was the same day to day previously but when face to face there seems to be more small talk (read as sh*t talking) and you don't actually notice the same. With meetings being online the seem to be quicker and more focussed with less small talk you notice these people who bring nothing to the table......and the same ones seem to dial into every meeting.

Good tactic for filling your day/calendar!

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by EvilDrPorkChop

It's OK saying WFH is great, i'd like to think we're all hard working people that like to get on and do stuff.

But what about the office slackers/people who don't do a lot that'll be working from. Yourself might be more productive from WFH but they'll be others that will take the p***. So on a whole I wonder if really it is more productive as a company.

As others have said though there will be a lot of companies that realise they don't need the office space they have. I was talking to a guy in manufacturing that has furloughed 75% of his staff, got a skeleton staff in. They're still doing 40% of their usual business on 25% of staff - was making him wonder what some of them actually did when they were at work

Although I accept it's not practical for all roles where it is I've been a big advocate of working from home for many years. It cuts down on commuting - which means less wear and tear on the individual as well as being better for the environment - and in my experience fewer interruptions means you're often more productive at home than you would be in the office. Ok, some perhaps aren't seeing that at the moment because they've got children to look after but once they're back at school wfh becomes a different prospect entirely. There is obviously a danger of becoming isolated from the business and colleagues if you wfh all the time but with a lot of roles I really don't think it's necessary to be in the office more than the odd day or two a week.

I know a lot of people see wfh as a charter for the work shy but people should be getting judged on outputs and if those are of poor quality - and/or arrive late or not at all - it should be pretty obvious to any half competent manager that there's an issue that needs addressing. However, that applies whether the employee is in the office or working from home so I don't buy the idea that wfh opens the door to people swinging the lead; that will only happen if poor management allows it!

[Bryans69]

Originally Posted by EvilDrPorkChop

It's OK saying WFH is great, i'd like to think we're all hard working people that like to get on and do stuff.

But what about the office slackers/people who don't do a lot that'll be working from. Yourself might be more productive from WFH but they'll be others that will take the p***. So on a whole I wonder if really it is more productive as a company.

As others have said though there will be a lot of companies that realise they don't need the office space they have. I was talking to a guy in manufacturing that has furloughed 75% of his staff, got a skeleton staff in. They're still doing 40% of their usual business on 25% of staff - was making him wonder what some of them actually did when they were at work

Agree with this.
One of my staff has been working from home for the last few years, as he is based in Sri Lanka (don't get me started on visas). Works like a trooper, and no problems at all.
Two guys in the office, I'm constantly having to chase / talk to. Not quite enough to go down the full disciplinary, but I know both could do better, and wouldn't trust them if working from home. I realise this is a managment issue, but the kind of job they do, bespoke software support, means that sometimes it's difficult to quantify how much time they are / should be spending on specific problems.

Additionally, we have an office re-org at Christmas, and went from a number of smaller offices to an open plan one (fortunate position to have spare office space ), and even though we weren't far apart before, communication and brain storming was much better since the move

[gr4z]

I've been working from home for nearly 30 years. Been lucky enough to have worked in IT since 1990 and been an avid supporter of remote working all my life. This lockdown has opened it up to many more people, even my other half's company has been forced to do it and she is even getting used to it. The waste of everyone's time commuting backwards and forwards for little benefit and the environment impact is staggering. I do truly hope many more continue with it after this lockdown is lifted.

[Cootie]

I’m in the boat that 1-2 days a week WFH I can manage and to a certain extent benefit from but beyond that, at least for me, the lines between work and home become too blurred.

[TouringPleb]

For some reason my bosses won't agree to this.