I've been on my own for pretty much for whole time as my wife, up until maternity, has been in the office as she is police.

I like the flexibility of wfh, plus getting out to run etc after without an 45 minute commute etc is nice.

Will need to see what things look when she is back at work, but at the moment I am looking at 1 day a week. May go to 2. I agree with the social aspect of work as I talk to people who I get on with but wouldn't have direct contact with in my role and so don't ever message on Teams etc.

Just come back from the office today and really enjoyed it.

thought you worked in a lab?


testing monkeys

Boss is gonna be expecting at least some presence in the office but I'll be longing out 100% WFH until he puts the screws on me.

I'll be fuming every second I'm commuting. Such wasted time.

I've been happy working at home, splitting my time between apt and parents, and then as soon as I heard we were going back to the office, I got another job working 100% at home for at least a year.

Kirsty Allsoup phwoaarrr, warns against all this current setup however..

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9509085/amp/Kirstie-Allsopp-says-people-stop-rushing-buy-homes-overheated-market.html

no snob/silver spoon but how the fuck are people managing to work like this for a >year now. i only managed a week of it

For me it’s been laziness more than anything - we’ve been looking to move house to somewhere bigger, where I could have a dedicate “office”. So I’ve put off buying a desk/chair etc (stupidly) as that hasn’t happened and with the baby due shortly it’s likely to be at least another year until we move

Was furloughed for a few months last year, and then back to work with not much on, so was quite happy with the WFH stuff as it allowed me to look for a new job and work on a load of other projects on the sly.

They were quite aggressive with getting people back in as early as they could and didn't give enough of a shit about covid which really alienated a few people (vulnerable, pregnant etc.), Especially back in August when they mandated people come in for two days a week, regardless of circumstance. I didn't really mind coming in but it did sour things, especially as they kept a wage reduction for all staff (still ongoing).

Changed jobs back in Feb and I'm pretty desperate to be back in the office, very busy now and feeling the strain of not talking and selling stuff in face to face. On the plus side I've moved with my work partner so at least socially I'm not totally on my own.

Can echo the comments about younger workers - I've seen a definite decline in the junior and midweights work, they're not learning/nobody is around to punch up their work and help them out.

I want to get back in but I've always worked away from my desk, ooo before covid. So ideally I'd just like more time and freedom to do that rather than people trying to do bullshit presenteeism (I do hope this ends the culture of some agencies where the expectation is you stay well past your hours).

Sumbeam - we are basically in the same scenario, except I have the baby now as well as the dining room desk.

I held off doing anything as I wasn't sure how long we would be in this scenario and for how long. I have two monitors and the laptop so it did take the piss at one point, but post baby I have been on reduced hours due to health reasons so haven't setup everything fully since I was on paternity and am doing fine with just the laptop to be honest.

I am probably going to need to change the guest bedroom into a hybrid office, but it is a catch all for everything atm (wife has a piano in there) so it won't really feel that inviting to be honest.

In my head, wfh is not my permanent work space so I don't want to treat it as such because then I'll just feel like we don't have enough space.

Completely understand not wanting to admit the situation and just make do with a shitty office at home, have been really reluctant to do the same with the second bedroom!

I agree with you both tbh. The decompression time in the car, especially with my commute as its through the South Downs, villages etc. is great. I have always treated going to London for work as a day out tbh, because it was so infrequent for client meetings, so the office is that now. Tbh, I have no idea if/when I am going to be going to client's offices for meetings. Considering we have our policy, it's that however many times over with variations. I kind of feel like the job I was looking at were kidding themselves thinking you'd need to be going to London to meet clients. Considering my last meeting was about a fortnight before lockdown with a Korean company, who insisted we sign a document confirming we hadn't travelled from the hotspots at the time, e.g. Korea, Italy, I cannot see businesses like that allowing non-company staff in for a long time. If the team and I can participate in contract tenders from invitation to sign off remotely, what is the point in meeting face to face for the client, unless they like to see who they are working with, which some definitely do.

There are some things, however, we have done remotely which were just rubbish, mainly office Christmas party. Escape rooms and drinking on your own via Teams just sounds tragic as I write it, but that is what it was. Then finishing at 6pm.

Seeing my newborn son as much as I am is really nice, plus with the heatwave we had last year, I was able to swim in the sea at 8 in the morning before work. Not many that can say that.