Will we simply return to a presenteeism work culture?

The commutes aren’t always bad. I enjoyed my 45 mile drive every day - gave me time to clear my brain and separate work from home. Feel I live in my office now as working on my dining room table, which is supposed to be a place of relaxation and socialising! Miss the valuable spontaneous conversations in the office - and the gossip!

Galaxy

It's not my job to prop up the likes of Starbucks and greggs, which is what are mostly available in town centres, I realised when I worked from home the amount of money I saved by not going to those places was quite considerable, that money went back into the economy in other ways. Town centres need to make themselves somewhere that people want to go not rely on trapping people there by having to go into the office. They are not charities which I need to support.

Exactly.

Ironically, during lockdown in 2020 in my area, Starbucks had the longest line in the drive through for months

GrandmaRosie

The commutes aren’t always bad. I enjoyed my 45 mile drive every day - gave me time to clear my brain and separate work from home. Feel I live in my office now as working on my dining room table, which is supposed to be a place of relaxation and socialising! Miss the valuable spontaneous conversations in the office - and the gossip!

But would you enjoy a 2 hr commute involving buses, trains and walking and being subject to the vagaries of cancelled tubes, buses not turning up or being too full to allow you on when they do eventually arrive. Because that is the reality of commuting for so many workers. Being able to drive to work has almost become a privilege nowadays.

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I do think a long commute is adding to your day and is exhausting, I will be pleased however when people on the whole are back at work, the phone calls I’ve had with background noise of dogs or children in the background means you are not getting undivided attention. On the whole people like being together but I also sympathise with those battling the trains and traffic to get to work in the first place.

Beswitched

Galaxy

It's not my job to prop up the likes of Starbucks and greggs, which is what are mostly available in town centres, I realised when I worked from home the amount of money I saved by not going to those places was quite considerable, that money went back into the economy in other ways. Town centres need to make themselves somewhere that people want to go not rely on trapping people there by having to go into the office. They are not charities which I need to support.

Exactly.

It would be so nice to have more independent interesting shops in town centres. In Italy recently I’d forgotten how many of these there are in their town centres, makes “shopping” more fun than trawling round m and s, next, boots, primark, etc etc.

As far as travelling around to work is concerned, I think there are different ways to adapt and they are not the same for everyone. For example DH will now only drive to work at various locations, whereas previously he used the train. This is mainly to avoid mixing with people. DS on the other hand works for a company that is very aware of environmental issues and won't allow them to use their cars, but sends them by train. He wears a mask and does work on his laptop during the journey. Neither have jobs where they can WFH, so a compromise is found. Travelling time is taken into consideration as part of the working day.

Allsorts

I do think a long commute is adding to your day and is exhausting, I will be pleased however when people on the whole are back at work, the phone calls I’ve had with background noise of dogs or children in the background means you are not getting undivided attention. On the whole people like being together but I also sympathise with those battling the trains and traffic to get to work in the first place.

I think, because working from home was suddenly thrust on people and creches and schools were closed, employers had to be flexible Re children interrupting meetings, dogs barking during calls to clients etc.

But I imagine any formal WFH agreements would have rules about things like that.

My husband has had to mainly work from home so we built an office on the side of the house and insulated it and upgraded our home broadband/modem system. He finds it difficult that he is contactable all the time though. He said before if you were on site you could ascertain whether people needed help/support/input, you could work out their mood before interacting. Now he said people just want you available immediately, people are becoming quite toxic with one another in certain situations because they cannot communicate effectively.

I can't work from home as I wouldn't be able to create a space big enough for what I need to do in a day but I don't work in an office.

From my own experience customer service is far worse. Long waits on the phone to speak to someone. Almost impossible to speak to someone from the local council. On the occasions I have tried to contact someone I have been ‘cut off’ after about 10 minutes and this happens over and over again. When I did actually get through to a person I could hardly hear what was being said due to the noise of kitchen appliances and children shouting. Needless to say my inquiry was not passed on. Also our County Hall building is practically empty but presumably we are still paying the costs from our council tax.

Yes that demonstrates why some jobs are not suitable for home working and why rules need to be in place for those who can do their job at home eg small children must be minded elsewhere, ear phones must be used when on official calls, confidential documents must be kept locked in a secure place.

*Beswitched, that is the responsibility of the employer. It is rare for confdential 'documents' to be in paper form. they have all been digitised.

Most employers now issue employees with laptops and their use is monitored. DD first worked from home ten years ago. Since then she has worked for three different employers in three different industries. All have issued her with a work computer and work mobile phone and monitored the use of both. She signs on into both every morning. and signs off when her working day is complete.

My son WFH but some of his team found it lonely so they have gone back to office working. He is happy with the arrangement and travels into work just once a week.

His workplace encourages flexibility and has improved
results as people can choose where they want to work.
I think freeing up the roads and transport is important too. It means those who have to commute can do so more easily.
My DD, a nurse, found her journey time halved during restrictions.

M0nica

*Beswitched, that is the responsibility of the employer. It is rare for confdential 'documents' to be in paper form. they have all been digitised.

Most employers now issue employees with laptops and their use is monitored. DD first worked from home ten years ago. Since then she has worked for three different employers in three different industries. All have issued her with a work computer and work mobile phone and monitored the use of both. She signs on into both every morning. and signs off when her working day is complete.

I know people who work from home dealing with contacts, legal documents etc. They have to be kept in a secure locked place. If it was discovered they were being left lying around where anyone could read them it would be a disciplinary matter.

Not sure how it's monitored.

Baggs

^you use your own computer^

This can't be assumed. Some companies provide computers for wfh.

My daughter was provided with a lap top, printer, camera attachment and up to £500 to buy office furniture at the start of the first lockdown. Her employer has reduced the floor space they rent at their two offices to save costs so there is no intention for office based people to return full time. My daughter is planning to be in the office five days a fortnight.

I think it is the norm now for employers to provide work computers and phones. As much as anything it is a question of security. They will have procedures on their machines to protect everything on it from being accessible to anyone else.

Anyhow I really hope we don't return to the days when everyone is leaving their home in the dark to queue for buses or sit in long long traffic jams, and doing the reverse every evening.

If we are to create caring and healthy communities, they need to be places where neighbours know and watch out for each other and where local businesses can thrive and flourish.

Too many people are spending their days working in anonymous business parks and office dominated areas of cities, and shopping in overpriced Tesco Express type places, and going home at night to characterless dormer towns where neighbours are barely on nodding terms with each other.

And too many children are spending long long hours in creches, being collected by exhausted parents and returning to unlit houses at a time when a previous generation of children would have been fed, bathed, in their pyjamas and being read a bedtime story.

It's not a healthy way to live and I really hope this will be a turning point.

I often wondered how working from home impacted on things such as an increase in home insurance, utility bills, etc. Although it might even it out, especially if you previoiusly had to drive a long way to work, by not having as much fuel to pay for. I just think it might be too temping to answer those evening e-mails etc.

Some people I have worked with needed constant supervision and, left to their own devices, did no work at all.
How are employers supposed to handle this if they are forced to allow these people to WFH?

What a waste of a manager's time, those people should be managed properly wherever they are located.

Many employers are organising staff to be present for a couple of days a week, working the others at home. Fir many this will be a godsend with fewer expensive and time consuming journeys for work. Some may even actually see their children for more than a couple of hours a day. There could be saving on all the expensive coffees and takeaway lunches deemed to be the norm for a lot of workers. Return to work is to support the service industry. Instead of people who travel a distance to work spending money in the work location they may be more tempted to shop locally.

I think the vital element is choice. Some private sectors have no intention of returning FT to the office.
I work for public sector and job can be done from home but we have bo choice even for hybrid working.
I have mixed views. My commute is relatively short but by public transport and adds to the length of my day. When WFH saved a lot on transport,clothes,extras such as a coffee. I also tended to work longer hours WFH as when you dont have a bus to catch there is a tendendenct to do just one more thing!
I started my job WFH including training which was all done by training via Teams and very good. I am lucky in that have plenty of space and I am the sort of person who is happy in their own company.
It was only when i went into the office that i realised how essential and supportive those spontaneous casual conversations are. At least some real time with colleagues is vital to me.
Everyone's situation is different. Choice is hopefully something that will be a result. WFH may also make work possible for those whose physical or mental health has made accessing work places difficult.

I've worked from home for the past 12 years and, as I'm self-employed, I don't earn anywhere near as much as I used to. But the benefits of WFH - oh, the benefits. Warm environment, the commute takes 5 seconds, I can work without being interrupted by the phone. No office politics. I like what I do. I'm very non-conformist, and don't suit the office environment, so it's a perfect fit. I could never go back to working for anybody else.

Since the pandemic, people have tried working from home and preferred it or hated it depending on the kind of person they are. I think most would be happy with a mix of the two.

I have neither a big house nor a huge salary but I’ve found so many benefits wfh and I’m a CS and there is a move for back office non public facing CS to undertake hybrid working which I’m in favour of it It’s better for the environment, for many it’s cheaper and for many it’s such a better work/life balance - I’ve been working from home since August 2020, with the odd day in an office and I’m achieving so much more work and hours on an expensive car commute and car parking !!