Do you miss travelling for work?

[hepy]

Dog Star said:

acd80 said:

PinkFatBunny said:

Wrote a blog last year after doing 100 flights/year about getting bored of business travel - read it here if you want

That has to be a parody. It's cringe-inducing reading.

fking hell - not half! What a Captain of Industry!!! It's like all the tts in the planes forum - "Yeah I'm a pax on an A380 out of LAX on the redeye, yeah turned left when I got on the plane, not flying cattle, got my points and status". Jesus!

I think I'd rather fly economy any day with a load of chav hen night girls than spend ten minutes with one of these self important tossers.

Oh - and although I don't live in Stockport, I do live in a "st Northern town", but at least I can speak French - it's "au fait".

.

So he flies in to Manchester each time, must be local to Stockport? Probably lives in Burnage, sorry Didsbury, where does one start and the other end?

[p1stonhead]

Well our office is gone forever. WFH permanent. Couldn’t be happier.

[PositronicRay]

p1stonhead said:

Well our office is gone forever. WFH permanent. Couldn’t be happier.

I can see this working with an existing team, what happens with new starters and mentoring?

[Dog Star]

hepy said:

So he flies in to Manchester each time, must be local to Stockport? Probably lives in Burnage, sorry Didsbury, where does one start and the other end?

You can live quite a long way from Manchester airport and be there in pretty short order.

[Countdown]

PositronicRay said:

p1stonhead said:

Well our office is gone forever. WFH permanent. Couldn’t be happier.

I can see this working with an existing team, what happens with new starters and mentoring?

Yep. One of my team is leaving at the end of July. We can probably do the entire recruitment process virtually/remotely. However the training/induction/introduction to the rest of the team and the organisation is going to be difficult.

We've got a lease agreement until 2025 but beyond that we're likely to move into an office 50% smaller and completely hotdesking.

[PHlL]

I've gone from doing about an 1 1/2 hours commute each way a day, to now joining my other half on walking the dogs in the morning, to seeing more of my children, and having a lot more time in general.

I absolutely do not miss it at all, and would be more than happy never to return to the office as I try not to mix my personal life with my work life, and much prefer maximum time of my personal life.

It does make me reflect on whether my commute is too long if that ever resumes, but the flip side of that is I have a much bigger house in the country side compared to my colleagues who have struggled stuck in the city with little too no space.

[PositronicRay]

Countdown said:

PositronicRay said:

p1stonhead said:

Well our office is gone forever. WFH permanent. Couldn’t be happier.

I can see this working with an existing team, what happens with new starters and mentoring?

Yep. One of my team is leaving at the end of July. We can probably do the entire recruitment process virtually/remotely. However the training/induction/introduction to the rest of the team and the organisation is going to be difficult.

We've got a lease agreement until 2025 but beyond that we're likely to move into an office 50% smaller and completely hotdesking.

I was talking to a neighbour the other day. They'd taken a WFH role, delighted at 1st, but didn't last long. She didn't really understand what was expected, or who to liaise with, or who the people were on her zoom meetings and what they did.

Difficult for an outsider.

[wrencho]

The most important bit is naturally the bar – and it’s a proper bar not just a help yourself Premier Inn breakfast buffet type affair like the savages in the business lounge. When I do fly business class you do get the odd car salesman who’s got lucky with an upgrade and is now trying to force 10 bottles of London Pride down his neck (no idea why they stock that ste, couldn’t find John Smiths anywhere!) – whilst at the same time spilling it over his Asda suit and Dell laptop

This is full on Partridge. Must be a parody...

[p1stonhead]

PositronicRay said:

p1stonhead said:

Well our office is gone forever. WFH permanent. Couldn’t be happier.

I can see this working with an existing team, what happens with new starters and mentoring?

We are slightly unique in that were a main contractor in construction. Our site offices are going to be extended for extra meetings etc and some remote working instead of the fancy head office with a boardroom and the like which I always thought was just a vanity project to be honest.

So realistically it’ll be 3-4 days at home and 1-2 on site with the teams. There will be proper PC dual monitor setups there too like we had in the office as working from a laptop screen is just crap in my opinion.

Fine by me. Still massively preferable than being in an office remote from the sites at a specific time each day for no real reason.

Our second biggest expense is gone.

You’re right in that new starters is something we haven’t dealt with yet and will need to be carefully thought about.

Positives should far outweigh the negatives I reckon though. I did one of the site days today and was on the road for three hours. Bloody knackered now! Forgot what a daily slog on the M25 was like. Once or twice a week is enough thank you! I’d find it very hard to go back.

Edited by p1stonhead on Tuesday 16th June 16:48

[AC43]

For the 1st half of my carer I did a lot of travelling.

For the 2nd half, after kids, re-focused on having a London job. Nice and easy as I live there,

I don't miss flying all over the shop but I do miss standing outside a City pub having a laugh mid week.

[rustyuk]

Not done a standard 5 day-a-week commute for 4 years and don't miss sitting on the M1 for hours on end. However, I do miss afterwork beers and end of business trip nights out.

[so called]

Dog Star said:

hepy said:

So he flies in to Manchester each time, must be local to Stockport? Probably lives in Burnage, sorry Didsbury, where does one start and the other end?

You can live quite a long way from Manchester airport and be there in pretty short order.

I live in south Cheshire and used to use Manchester Airport all the time for heading to the office in Germany, India or North America.
I posted earlier to say that I'm really missing the travel. 22 years working in Germany, Switzerland and the last 13 covering North America and India.
4 or 5 weeks out and a week at home. It was great.
After 3 years with only a daily commute I'e realized how good working from home is and that my pining for travel has eased.
THAT IS UNTIL LAST NIGHT.
I got an mail from a customer in San Francisco asking for help and have spent most of today day dreaming about my old San Fran routine.
Day 1 -
Flights Manchester - Frankfurt - San Fran.
Rental car.
Hotel.
Day 2 -
Meet with customer.
Day 3 -
Drive to Sacramento to our Service Facility.
Call in to the Tommy Bahamas store in Vacaville for a couple of shirts or shorts etc., on the way.
Day 4 - head back to San Fran.
Day 5 - flight to somewhere else.
Miss the people.

[rustyuk]

so called said:

I live in south Cheshire and used to use Manchester Airport all the time for heading to the office in Germany, India or North America.
I posted earlier to say that I'm really missing the travel. 22 years working in Germany, Switzerland and the last 13 covering North America and India.
4 or 5 weeks out and a week at home. It was great.
After 3 years with only a daily commute I'e realized how good working from home is and that my pining for travel has eased.
THAT IS UNTIL LAST NIGHT.
I got an mail from a customer in San Francisco asking for help and have spent most of today day dreaming about my old San Fran routine.
Day 1 -
Flights Manchester - Frankfurt - San Fran.
Rental car.
Hotel.
Day 2 -
Meet with customer.
Day 3 -
Drive to Sacramento to our Service Facility.
Call in to the Tommy Bahamas store in Vacaville for a couple of shirts or shorts etc., on the way.
Day 4 - head back to San Fran.
Day 5 - flight to somewhere else.
Miss the people.

Sounds great! Not sure I could stand a long-haul flight with no beer. Let's hope we get back to normal soon.

[so called]

rustyuk said:

Sounds great! Not sure I could stand a long-haul flight with no beer. Let's hope we get back to normal soon.

The flight routine involved champagne, G&T, red wine and brandy followed by falling asleep halfway through a film.

[abzmike]

so called said:

I live in south Cheshire and used to use Manchester Airport all the time for heading to the office in Germany, India or North America.
I posted earlier to say that I'm really missing the travel. 22 years working in Germany, Switzerland and the last 13 covering North America and India.
4 or 5 weeks out and a week at home. It was great.
After 3 years with only a daily commute I'e realized how good working from home is and that my pining for travel has eased.
THAT IS UNTIL LAST NIGHT.
I got an mail from a customer in San Francisco asking for help and have spent most of today day dreaming about my old San Fran routine.
Day 1 -
Flights Manchester - Frankfurt - San Fran.
Rental car.
Hotel.
Day 2 -
Meet with customer.
Day 3 -
Drive to Sacramento to our Service Facility.
Call in to the Tommy Bahamas store in Vacaville for a couple of shirts or shorts etc., on the way.
Day 4 - head back to San Fran.
Day 5 - flight to somewhere else.
Miss the people.

I used to have weeks like that, but realistically look at it from an efficiency perspective. A whole week out, about $2000 of costs, for one client meeting, and a visit to your office over there. Over the past few months companies have realised that type of trip was a bit daft really, the expectation of personal visits is gone now and for the forseable future, and for all but the most special reasons isn't going to be coming back.

[p1stonhead]

abzmike said:

so called said:

I live in south Cheshire and used to use Manchester Airport all the time for heading to the office in Germany, India or North America.
I posted earlier to say that I'm really missing the travel. 22 years working in Germany, Switzerland and the last 13 covering North America and India.
4 or 5 weeks out and a week at home. It was great.
After 3 years with only a daily commute I'e realized how good working from home is and that my pining for travel has eased.
THAT IS UNTIL LAST NIGHT.
I got an mail from a customer in San Francisco asking for help and have spent most of today day dreaming about my old San Fran routine.
Day 1 -
Flights Manchester - Frankfurt - San Fran.
Rental car.
Hotel.
Day 2 -
Meet with customer.
Day 3 -
Drive to Sacramento to our Service Facility.
Call in to the Tommy Bahamas store in Vacaville for a couple of shirts or shorts etc., on the way.
Day 4 - head back to San Fran.
Day 5 - flight to somewhere else.
Miss the people.

I used to have weeks like that, but realistically look at it from an efficiency perspective. A whole week out, about $2000 of costs, for one client meeting, and a visit to your office over there. Over the past few months companies have realised that type of trip was a bit daft really, the expectation of personal visits is gone now and for the forseable future, and for all but the most special reasons isn't going to be coming back.

I don’t see how anyone will justify regular trips to see people across countries now. For important face to face introductions (or bkings) sure, but regular?

[Countdown]

p1stonhead said:

I don’t see how anyone will justify regular trips to see people across countries now. For important face to face introductions (or bkings) sure, but regular?

“People” will try to justify that “they” are a special cause, and the “added benefit” from the personal touch somehow justifies the extra cost.

Our monthly corporate travel bill was in excess of £200k. However we’ve not furloughed anyone because apparently everybody is still substantially doing their normal work. So the elephant in the room is “How are you doing it when you’re not travelling anywhere at the moment”?

The answer is because the vast majority of it can be done over Teams/Zoom. However people enjoy travelling, people enjoy eating in restaurants and people enjoy #humblebragging.

[p1stonhead]

Countdown said:

p1stonhead said:

I don’t see how anyone will justify regular trips to see people across countries now. For important face to face introductions (or bkings) sure, but regular?

“People” will try to justify that “they” are a special cause, and the “added benefit” from the personal touch somehow justifies the extra cost.

Our monthly corporate travel bill was in excess of £200k. However we’ve not furloughed anyone because apparently everybody is still substantially doing their normal work. So the elephant in the room is “How are you doing it when you’re not travelling anywhere at the moment”?

The answer is because the vast majority of it can be done over Teams/Zoom. However people enjoy travelling, people enjoy eating in restaurants and people enjoy #humblebragging.

Yeah that doesn’t quite compute does it!

[Carbon Sasquatch]

People enjoy the travel AND people in head office like having people travel in.

I used to work for a US bank - in a profitable year, I'd be in NY once a month, in a bad year not at all, then the next good year, I'd be back on a plane.....

I could clearly do my job without travelling, but I could do it better when I was.

[surveyor]

People are still working, but maybe not as effectively.

Certainly as a team we will eventually miss the face to face team building.