I’m sure ‘mother nature’ would be quite happy with 1/2 the cars on the road to be honest…
Overall though I do think a mix of home/office work is the future. There are days where meetings and discussion in person are beneficial to my work and there are days where all I did was drive 25 mins to sit at a desk exactly as if I was at home. It’s a waste of petrol, a waste of money and frankly a waste of time when I can perform the exact same workload from my own office.
Happened at my office already. They tried to bring everyone back for 2 days a week and a wave of resignations followed. Wasn’t just young people though, it gave a fair few older ones the push they needed to retire.
Not having to constantly look busy has been bliss for my productivity. Ive long known I work best in bursts and blasting out work for a few hours to then have an hour “off” is perfect.
I complete more now than I ever did in the office.
Plus the “wasted hour” of lunch where id do nothing i can now get the dishwasher or washing machine on or tidy something or be in for a delivery or go to the bank or whatever.
Oh and being able to cook and eat my own food. I hate making food to take in or spending £5 a day on food. Now i can make whatever I want.
Bliss.
Don’t see this as a bad thing at all. I’ve been working via phones organisationally and Skype privately – organisationally we weren’t given to opportunity to work remotely from the start, or presently for that matter and have had to come into the office. Privately I’ve been working from home and gave up my office space I was renting. I am a psychotherapist and work for a very large trust within in the UK. Personally speaking i think remote working, even the choice of remote working gives much more opportunities for clients to attend a session without the worry of having to drive or commute. A blended approach is best – some days in and some days out.
Surprise surprise a lot of folk don’t want to have to spend their salary to get to work to do the same computer-based stuff they’d do out of the office.
Pay me more to come in and that’s a whole new story.
The option to work from home is a huge workplace benefit. If companies provide it to staff and have them get used to it, then try to take it away, it’s only natural that people are going to leave for greener pastures.
I’m also faced with the possibility of being forced back into the office and my thoughts are “Well if I have to go back to an office then I might as well get a pay rise out of it and look elsewhere”
Yeah, no fucking shit.
It turns out the fucking job mill of get shitty office job, work shitty job in office, being surrounded by folk that really are genuinely fannies 50% of the time is a fucking garbage way to live life and instead people would rather be at home, spend time with friends and family more and work in a less stressful environment, thus generally becoming more productive workers.
Aye, shocking right, how letting people have a say in how they work makes for a better work environment.
Had exactly this convo with my boss over the summer and ended up handing in my notice start of October.
After some redundences I was expected to do more for the same low (for London) wage and continue to come into the office every day of the week. I had no-one to supervise anymore so saw no need to ever be in except for maybe month end (work in accounts). No, come to the office please.
So handed in my notice and now have a job in the same industry, in a cheaper city, paying the same I was earning in London, with hybrid work pattern and a host of other little things that just make it sound like it’ll be an all round more enjoyable working enviroment.
Can’t wait to start in Jan.
Prior to the pandemic, I had to get Occupational Health & my union involved to work **one bloody day a week from home!** HR and line management saw WFH as skiving/ducking work! I don’t know how they dealt with hundreds of staff WFH [all week] throughout the lockdown. They must have been livid! More power to flexible working! Dinosaur/stubborn/luddite management will have to deal with it or lose its workforce.
I can literally wake up at 8:55am and login to work from my bed, finish at 5pm and be ready to go out and see my friends or family a few minutes later working from home. When I worked in the city centre I had to get up at 6:20am, get back at 7pm and spend £100 a week for the pleasure.
Fuck off.
If it wasn’t for the convenience and savings of working from home, I am not sure that working full time would even be worth it for me at this point.
I’m not a millennial, but I’ve done just that. I was having to travel to the office twice a week, pointlessly.
There is nothing that I can’t do better at home, especially without the ridiculous interuptions I get at work (One such interruption was a network going down in a different building due to someone unplugging a router to plug a radio in…I’m a developer, so quite why they were interrupting me about it, I’ll never know).
I’ve now increased my wage and bought my commute down to 0 miles per week.
Firms need to wake up. The playing field has been levelled, and if they want people working, the terms are going to have to change
fortunately my work are allowing wfh as the new normal. I’ve turned down interviews on the basis that they’re not doing wfh though and a new colleague came to work for us specifically because his previous employer ended wfh.
If you speak to recruiters and feel this way, make sure you say it to them. The more recruiters, managers and employers hear it the better, it might get through some of their thick skulls eventually
I think flexibility is key.
The problem with the title is ‘have to’.
It should be optional for those that can wfh
Someone tell my employer please, because we’ve been told to go back 3 days a week ffs.
centralised office working is indefensible from an environmental and public health perspective and any organisation that compels employees to return full time to office work can look forward to spending a fucking FORTUNE on recruitment fees to hire people who will more likely than not, reject working for office based positions in favour of working for more progressive organisations.
they need you more than you need them.
Already did. Back in January my senior management thought it would be a great idea to start phasing people back in on our team despite our protestations (and, you know, Wave 2 in full swing). We had all been doing our job at full efficiency since March 2020 and had the data to prove it.
Me and my manager both found new jobs (buoyant market) and quit within a month. They still haven’t filled our old roles.
Meanwhile I’m now in a new job with excellent flexibility and confirmed we’ll only ever be in 2 days at most forever-more – and still flexibility around that. That’s from senior level down. WFH has done wonders for my mental health and no way I’m going back to the old ways.
33yrs old, engineering job – asked to go for 2days a week at home. Managing director insists on 5days a week in the office.
Leaving in a month
Corporate company employee here in London’s financial hub.
Even though my office has a flexible working hybrid strategy (3 days in 2 days wfh, 2 days anchored with 1 day personal choice) we are still struggling to recruit.
Also have seen approximately 10 colleagues from other teams (all separate) leave for jobs offering 100% wfh, or minimal office time such as 1 day a week or month.
Make of that what you will. The company is fairly substantial in size and not in trouble at all, actually did phenomenal over the last year.
I’m self-studying to get into tech and I’m a massive introvert, getting a remote-job is a top priority for me, I’m still at home at 27 and going into the city costs money + meal prep, um, no thanks!.
Though, I wouldn’t mind going in once in a while
‘Millennials’ make up the majority of the work force, alongside Gen Z. Probably should listen to us?
Maybe soon we will have a society that values work done over hours worked.
Maybe in our lifetime.
Recently got offered a job in the,top 5% bracket, a 20% increase in salary, I nearly turned out down because they were suggesting semi rather than fully remote. They changed the contract when I asked, but was fully prepared to walk away. I’m never going back.
I however know a lot of people in management who are failing to do their jobs in this new world and can’t make remote work for their team. They’re seriously pushing for a return to the office. I think they’ll lose a lot of staff but they can’t see it working any other way, they may soon find themselves at home permanently.
It’s mostly shitty managers on a powertrip and extremely extroverted people who want people back.
We’ve got this colleague who is pretty nice, but is constantly going on about ‘how great it’ll be if everyone can see each other again!’.
He even gave this speech in a teams-meeting, and almost everyone was awkwardly silent as he went on about how we would all be together again soon.
I found more isolation, harder to get motivated and higher costs for WFH.
It’s also dull AF and I’m really unproductive.
I had the perfect flexible setup of 3 days in the office pre-COVID, allowing me to make friends and generally stay sane when relocating to a new city where I knew no one.
I’ve now hardly seen my office mates for the best part of a year, feel like I’ve learned nothing, still haven’t got my company to issue me a desk and chair either.
I can see the appeal somewhat for settled people with families who’ve moved to suburbs, have a horrific & expensive commute.
That’s not most millennials.
My commute was by bike, cost me £0 and woke me up. Gone. My heating costs are massive in comparison, and I had neighbours on 3 sides doing extension renovations during lockdown, so WFH was just hell.
25 comments
I’m sure ‘mother nature’ would be quite happy with 1/2 the cars on the road to be honest…
Overall though I do think a mix of home/office work is the future. There are days where meetings and discussion in person are beneficial to my work and there are days where all I did was drive 25 mins to sit at a desk exactly as if I was at home. It’s a waste of petrol, a waste of money and frankly a waste of time when I can perform the exact same workload from my own office.
Happened at my office already. They tried to bring everyone back for 2 days a week and a wave of resignations followed. Wasn’t just young people though, it gave a fair few older ones the push they needed to retire.
Not having to constantly look busy has been bliss for my productivity. Ive long known I work best in bursts and blasting out work for a few hours to then have an hour “off” is perfect.
I complete more now than I ever did in the office.
Plus the “wasted hour” of lunch where id do nothing i can now get the dishwasher or washing machine on or tidy something or be in for a delivery or go to the bank or whatever.
Oh and being able to cook and eat my own food. I hate making food to take in or spending £5 a day on food. Now i can make whatever I want.
Bliss.
Don’t see this as a bad thing at all. I’ve been working via phones organisationally and Skype privately – organisationally we weren’t given to opportunity to work remotely from the start, or presently for that matter and have had to come into the office. Privately I’ve been working from home and gave up my office space I was renting. I am a psychotherapist and work for a very large trust within in the UK. Personally speaking i think remote working, even the choice of remote working gives much more opportunities for clients to attend a session without the worry of having to drive or commute. A blended approach is best – some days in and some days out.
Surprise surprise a lot of folk don’t want to have to spend their salary to get to work to do the same computer-based stuff they’d do out of the office.
Pay me more to come in and that’s a whole new story.
The option to work from home is a huge workplace benefit. If companies provide it to staff and have them get used to it, then try to take it away, it’s only natural that people are going to leave for greener pastures.
I’m also faced with the possibility of being forced back into the office and my thoughts are “Well if I have to go back to an office then I might as well get a pay rise out of it and look elsewhere”
Yeah, no fucking shit.
It turns out the fucking job mill of get shitty office job, work shitty job in office, being surrounded by folk that really are genuinely fannies 50% of the time is a fucking garbage way to live life and instead people would rather be at home, spend time with friends and family more and work in a less stressful environment, thus generally becoming more productive workers.
Aye, shocking right, how letting people have a say in how they work makes for a better work environment.
Had exactly this convo with my boss over the summer and ended up handing in my notice start of October.
After some redundences I was expected to do more for the same low (for London) wage and continue to come into the office every day of the week. I had no-one to supervise anymore so saw no need to ever be in except for maybe month end (work in accounts). No, come to the office please.
So handed in my notice and now have a job in the same industry, in a cheaper city, paying the same I was earning in London, with hybrid work pattern and a host of other little things that just make it sound like it’ll be an all round more enjoyable working enviroment.
Can’t wait to start in Jan.
Prior to the pandemic, I had to get Occupational Health & my union involved to work **one bloody day a week from home!** HR and line management saw WFH as skiving/ducking work! I don’t know how they dealt with hundreds of staff WFH [all week] throughout the lockdown. They must have been livid! More power to flexible working! Dinosaur/stubborn/luddite management will have to deal with it or lose its workforce.
I can literally wake up at 8:55am and login to work from my bed, finish at 5pm and be ready to go out and see my friends or family a few minutes later working from home. When I worked in the city centre I had to get up at 6:20am, get back at 7pm and spend £100 a week for the pleasure.
Fuck off.
If it wasn’t for the convenience and savings of working from home, I am not sure that working full time would even be worth it for me at this point.
I’m not a millennial, but I’ve done just that. I was having to travel to the office twice a week, pointlessly.
There is nothing that I can’t do better at home, especially without the ridiculous interuptions I get at work (One such interruption was a network going down in a different building due to someone unplugging a router to plug a radio in…I’m a developer, so quite why they were interrupting me about it, I’ll never know).
I’ve now increased my wage and bought my commute down to 0 miles per week.
Firms need to wake up. The playing field has been levelled, and if they want people working, the terms are going to have to change
fortunately my work are allowing wfh as the new normal. I’ve turned down interviews on the basis that they’re not doing wfh though and a new colleague came to work for us specifically because his previous employer ended wfh.
If you speak to recruiters and feel this way, make sure you say it to them. The more recruiters, managers and employers hear it the better, it might get through some of their thick skulls eventually
I think flexibility is key.
The problem with the title is ‘have to’.
It should be optional for those that can wfh
Someone tell my employer please, because we’ve been told to go back 3 days a week ffs.
centralised office working is indefensible from an environmental and public health perspective and any organisation that compels employees to return full time to office work can look forward to spending a fucking FORTUNE on recruitment fees to hire people who will more likely than not, reject working for office based positions in favour of working for more progressive organisations.
they need you more than you need them.
Already did. Back in January my senior management thought it would be a great idea to start phasing people back in on our team despite our protestations (and, you know, Wave 2 in full swing). We had all been doing our job at full efficiency since March 2020 and had the data to prove it.
Me and my manager both found new jobs (buoyant market) and quit within a month. They still haven’t filled our old roles.
Meanwhile I’m now in a new job with excellent flexibility and confirmed we’ll only ever be in 2 days at most forever-more – and still flexibility around that. That’s from senior level down. WFH has done wonders for my mental health and no way I’m going back to the old ways.
33yrs old, engineering job – asked to go for 2days a week at home. Managing director insists on 5days a week in the office.
Leaving in a month
Corporate company employee here in London’s financial hub.
Even though my office has a flexible working hybrid strategy (3 days in 2 days wfh, 2 days anchored with 1 day personal choice) we are still struggling to recruit.
Also have seen approximately 10 colleagues from other teams (all separate) leave for jobs offering 100% wfh, or minimal office time such as 1 day a week or month.
Make of that what you will. The company is fairly substantial in size and not in trouble at all, actually did phenomenal over the last year.
I’m self-studying to get into tech and I’m a massive introvert, getting a remote-job is a top priority for me, I’m still at home at 27 and going into the city costs money + meal prep, um, no thanks!.
Though, I wouldn’t mind going in once in a while
‘Millennials’ make up the majority of the work force, alongside Gen Z. Probably should listen to us?
Maybe soon we will have a society that values work done over hours worked.
Maybe in our lifetime.
Recently got offered a job in the,top 5% bracket, a 20% increase in salary, I nearly turned out down because they were suggesting semi rather than fully remote. They changed the contract when I asked, but was fully prepared to walk away. I’m never going back.
I however know a lot of people in management who are failing to do their jobs in this new world and can’t make remote work for their team. They’re seriously pushing for a return to the office. I think they’ll lose a lot of staff but they can’t see it working any other way, they may soon find themselves at home permanently.
It’s mostly shitty managers on a powertrip and extremely extroverted people who want people back.
We’ve got this colleague who is pretty nice, but is constantly going on about ‘how great it’ll be if everyone can see each other again!’.
He even gave this speech in a teams-meeting, and almost everyone was awkwardly silent as he went on about how we would all be together again soon.
I found more isolation, harder to get motivated and higher costs for WFH.
It’s also dull AF and I’m really unproductive.
I had the perfect flexible setup of 3 days in the office pre-COVID, allowing me to make friends and generally stay sane when relocating to a new city where I knew no one.
I’ve now hardly seen my office mates for the best part of a year, feel like I’ve learned nothing, still haven’t got my company to issue me a desk and chair either.
I can see the appeal somewhat for settled people with families who’ve moved to suburbs, have a horrific & expensive commute.
That’s not most millennials.
My commute was by bike, cost me £0 and woke me up. Gone. My heating costs are massive in comparison, and I had neighbours on 3 sides doing extension renovations during lockdown, so WFH was just hell.