Return to office - your situation
Discussion
As restrictions start to ease across the UK I'm just wondering what orders/requests others are receiving or giving (since there are so many powerfully built company directors on here) with regards to returning to the office.
This is probably only relevant to those who work an office/desk job that can be done as effectively from home. People who have quite possibly worked right through the last year. Will you return full time if given the option? Would you rather continue to work from home? If you are essentially told where you have to work and it doesn't suit you what do you plan to do?
This is probably only relevant to those who work an office/desk job that can be done as effectively from home. People who have quite possibly worked right through the last year. Will you return full time if given the option? Would you rather continue to work from home? If you are essentially told where you have to work and it doesn't suit you what do you plan to do?
It makes no difference to me. I'm home based anyway and have been for a very long time, even before I would be in the office maybe once a month and customer offices once to twice a week. The company has no plans to force people back to the office. We are working just as well in most areas as we did before and some productivity is up (we've been hiring as well).
I'm in a Billion$ corporate dealing with other big companies in IT and telecoms. The vast majority are senior and experienced staff and based out of multiple sites across the UK and internationally. We have all the tool for collaboration, I can't see it changing back to how it was, there is likely to be less face to face going forward. A lot of the face to face before was not really required and just a waste of petrol in most cases.
Some stuff like, workshops and project kick offs would be easier face to face and they will likely continue to be face to face once everyone is back to normal.
My customers seem to be in the same place, little desire to return to the office. Several major call centres will be allowing staff at all levels to continue to WFH. This actually helps with staffing and retention in those markets.
I'm in a Billion$ corporate dealing with other big companies in IT and telecoms. The vast majority are senior and experienced staff and based out of multiple sites across the UK and internationally. We have all the tool for collaboration, I can't see it changing back to how it was, there is likely to be less face to face going forward. A lot of the face to face before was not really required and just a waste of petrol in most cases.
Some stuff like, workshops and project kick offs would be easier face to face and they will likely continue to be face to face once everyone is back to normal.
My customers seem to be in the same place, little desire to return to the office. Several major call centres will be allowing staff at all levels to continue to WFH. This actually helps with staffing and retention in those markets.
We were quite flexible on WFH before all this anyway. Not many people did 5 days a week in the office every week. I would do anything from 3-5 days in the office, it was often nice to go into an empty office on a Friday...
We've had high level company management (its a big multinational) hints that people shouldn't expect to work 5 days from home permanently and everyone should be living a 'commutable' distance from an office - I suspect lots of people have thoughts of moving to a nice sunny beach.
We've had high level company management (its a big multinational) hints that people shouldn't expect to work 5 days from home permanently and everyone should be living a 'commutable' distance from an office - I suspect lots of people have thoughts of moving to a nice sunny beach.
We're already forced back into the office all 5 days a week, despite everyone knowing that we were far more productive when at home.
Unfortunately the (only) senior bod here is a 110% subscriber to presenteeism culture and hated the fact anyone was working from home at all.
It has undoubtedly already cost us valued staff and I have no doubt it will continue to do so, but...... that's management!
Unfortunately the (only) senior bod here is a 110% subscriber to presenteeism culture and hated the fact anyone was working from home at all.
It has undoubtedly already cost us valued staff and I have no doubt it will continue to do so, but...... that's management!
Hybrid working seems the most common option for many of the people I meet/know. These are mostly corporate types so they tend to follow each other for fear of doing anything too radical/losing staff!
The medium size businesses will be more interesting as I suspect there will come a point where they have to either downsize space or get everyone back into the office just like before the pandemic. It just wont make sense to have the office constantly half-full.
The medium size businesses will be more interesting as I suspect there will come a point where they have to either downsize space or get everyone back into the office just like before the pandemic. It just wont make sense to have the office constantly half-full.
My wife has been asked, along with all her colleagues, to attend the office for 50% of the week. This seems a slightly bizarre figure to me, and they would have bene better off saying 2 or 3 days, but there you go. This will be their new policy going forward.
Prior to Covid, they had zero working from home, so they are all quite pleased with the new arrangement. Productivity was unaffected by home working, and the company have pledged to look at reducing the 50% requirement.
I mostly work from home anyway, but will probably the back out into client offices 5-10 days per month at a guess. This is my decision. As mentioned in the other thread, I miss real live people
Prior to Covid, they had zero working from home, so they are all quite pleased with the new arrangement. Productivity was unaffected by home working, and the company have pledged to look at reducing the 50% requirement.
I mostly work from home anyway, but will probably the back out into client offices 5-10 days per month at a guess. This is my decision. As mentioned in the other thread, I miss real live people
Just before Covid hit I spoke to my boss about working from home more. My contract actually states I'm home based (although more of an admin error) but he agreed to a trial of 2 days per week. Since Covid, I've been permanently working from home. The fact is, my job is a European one I don't need to work out of a UK office like I did before.
I work closely with a project manager who is home based in Amsterdam and my boss is also home based so if he asked me to go back into the office I would be asking for a full justification. He's in Strasbourg and doesn't really care about the people management side of things so I doubt it will even come up as a topic. I can't see me ever going back to the office. UK staff will be starting to go back in September but the option will be given to those who don't need to be there. The last HR meeting we had they were trying to discourage anyone who doesn't want/need to be there to stay home even after the September returns. One good thing to come out of this awful pandemic I suppose.
I work closely with a project manager who is home based in Amsterdam and my boss is also home based so if he asked me to go back into the office I would be asking for a full justification. He's in Strasbourg and doesn't really care about the people management side of things so I doubt it will even come up as a topic. I can't see me ever going back to the office. UK staff will be starting to go back in September but the option will be given to those who don't need to be there. The last HR meeting we had they were trying to discourage anyone who doesn't want/need to be there to stay home even after the September returns. One good thing to come out of this awful pandemic I suppose.
Bikerjon said:
... It just wont make sense to have the office constantly half-full.
The problem will probably be everyone will want to come in on the same days - as the whole point will be to interact with each other - so the offices will either be 100% full or totally empty, no chance to downsize with 50% of people coming in each day for example.Well since my initial post I've actually received a UK wide RTO email saying a target of 50% occupancy starting 21st June.
Like many here I work in a role that has continued uninterrupted since last March. None of the team I work with are co-located in my local office (1 hour commute from me). It seems it's being left to line managers discretion to some extent but I don't see the point in going to the office unless there's a reason. I dread the though of going back to public transport even just once or twice a week. Never mind trading the tranquility of my home office for a noisy open plan office and the horror of sharing a toilet again.
Like many here I work in a role that has continued uninterrupted since last March. None of the team I work with are co-located in my local office (1 hour commute from me). It seems it's being left to line managers discretion to some extent but I don't see the point in going to the office unless there's a reason. I dread the though of going back to public transport even just once or twice a week. Never mind trading the tranquility of my home office for a noisy open plan office and the horror of sharing a toilet again.
Dan_1981 said:
'hybrid working' is the suggestion for us. 2/3 days a week in or out of the office.
Which is pretty much what i've been doing since last summer.
Same here. I work in IT for a car manufacturer, we were kind of doing this pre-pandemic anyway. We didn't physically have enough desk space if everyone turned up on the same day, so it was largely self-managing - lots of people in Mon-Weds, very quiet Thurs & Fri. Which is pretty much what i've been doing since last summer.
That helped us a lot as we are in the expensive South East of England. We have many contractors who live in the North who drive down and stay over Mon & Tues nights, drive home Wednesday night then WFH Thurs and Fri - it's a good professional/family life balance.
However some of my colleagues are only going to be coming in once/twice a month in future. One has moved to the Highlands of Scotland, but they are keeping him on to work remotely. Over the pandemic we have proved that we are an effective team wherever we are based - our work is international, have internet, can work.
The biggest issue for us in the office is things like the toilets. We have very few anyway, but with Social Distancing in place we had this ridiculous situation where if one person went in for 'a sit down', they had to slide an 'Occupied' sign on the outer door of the Gents, meaning the two otherwise unused urinals inside could not be used whilst the person was in one of the cubicles reading the news on their phone and waving a friend off to the coast, so to speak. Meanwhile there's 40 odd middle-aged blokes in the office all desperate for a slash because their bladder isn't as strong as it once was!
All of that will have to go before they get us back in any numbers. You paint a beautiful picture, PT.
Big corporate IT wageslave here, was 100% office based previously, will probably now only ever go to the orifice once a month or so. There was always competition for desks, and some people need to be there to work on systems air gapped to the internet. I'm not one of those currently, so I'm not going to be hassled to return I reckon.
Big corporate IT wageslave here, was 100% office based previously, will probably now only ever go to the orifice once a month or so. There was always competition for desks, and some people need to be there to work on systems air gapped to the internet. I'm not one of those currently, so I'm not going to be hassled to return I reckon.
Wow, surprised there is no "your job will be replaced by someone else willing to work for less money remotely post" yet. 
My company is still following closely to the goventment's guidelines. The official word is WFH if you can, but nothing firm on the horizon.
I've heard the US folks are in the process of having flexi-work added in their contract officially, so let's see how that translates to UK/EMEA region.
We are pleasantly surprised that productivity is up during the last FY, despite the challenges faced and most of the workforce WFH for the first time.
However being really cautious for the future, I suppose majority of management still appreciate staff in the office.
We are a global company with several manufacturing sites and offices spread accross UK.
My company is still following closely to the goventment's guidelines. The official word is WFH if you can, but nothing firm on the horizon.
I've heard the US folks are in the process of having flexi-work added in their contract officially, so let's see how that translates to UK/EMEA region.
We are pleasantly surprised that productivity is up during the last FY, despite the challenges faced and most of the workforce WFH for the first time.
However being really cautious for the future, I suppose majority of management still appreciate staff in the office.
We are a global company with several manufacturing sites and offices spread accross UK.
Edited by anxious_ant on Tuesday 11th May 12:41
Edited by anxious_ant on Tuesday 11th May 12:42
Bullett said:
It makes no difference to me. I'm home based anyway and have been for a very long time, even before I would be in the office maybe once a month and customer offices once to twice a week. The company has no plans to force people back to the office. We are working just as well in most areas as we did before and some productivity is up (we've been hiring as well).
I'm in a Billion$ corporate dealing with other big companies in IT and telecoms. The vast majority are senior and experienced staff and based out of multiple sites across the UK and internationally. We have all the tool for collaboration, I can't see it changing back to how it was, there is likely to be less face to face going forward. A lot of the face to face before was not really required and just a waste of petrol in most cases.
Some stuff like, workshops and project kick offs would be easier face to face and they will likely continue to be face to face once everyone is back to normal.
My customers seem to be in the same place, little desire to return to the office. Several major call centres will be allowing staff at all levels to continue to WFH. This actually helps with staffing and retention in those markets.
My answer would pretty much be a carbon copy of this!I'm in a Billion$ corporate dealing with other big companies in IT and telecoms. The vast majority are senior and experienced staff and based out of multiple sites across the UK and internationally. We have all the tool for collaboration, I can't see it changing back to how it was, there is likely to be less face to face going forward. A lot of the face to face before was not really required and just a waste of petrol in most cases.
Some stuff like, workshops and project kick offs would be easier face to face and they will likely continue to be face to face once everyone is back to normal.
My customers seem to be in the same place, little desire to return to the office. Several major call centres will be allowing staff at all levels to continue to WFH. This actually helps with staffing and retention in those markets.
I employed two new people at the end of last year, one of whom lives abroad. WFH gives us so much more flexibility to find the right person for the role, not just the closest person for the role.
Video conf and things like Slack mean WFH is a genuine long-term option. We're considering a small hot-desk facility for those who need to be around other people (and face to face meetings will be useful on occasion), but in general, this is the new paradigm.
Video conf and things like Slack mean WFH is a genuine long-term option. We're considering a small hot-desk facility for those who need to be around other people (and face to face meetings will be useful on occasion), but in general, this is the new paradigm.
anxious_ant said:
Wow, surprised there is no "your job will be replaced by someone else willing to work for less money remotely post" yet.
As someone in Scotland working for a multi billion $ worldwide company I think I might already be considered the cheap help. There's no secret made about the fact that this location offers a valuable resource of high technical skill staff at less than half the cost of the US locations and as there's less employer competition there's greater staff retention than the India centres.The last year I've probably had more recruitment people getting in touch than ever before. Where it used to only be local offers there have been a lot of worldwide ones offering full remote positions. I doubt I'm the only one seeing this and suspect that if it continues it may become very difficult for employers who aren't willing to be versatile to attract and retain talent.
I'm still WFH full time and it generally works fine. The offices are currently being refurbished and space rationalised - there won't be enough desks when done later in the year, so hot desking (ugh) will become the norm and most will probably go in only 1-2 days a week.
There are people in my team I correspond with over Teams meetings most days/weeks that I haven't physically seen since last March though, which is very odd!
There are people in my team I correspond with over Teams meetings most days/weeks that I haven't physically seen since last March though, which is very odd!
We're a global in the financial sector with around 50 UK offices, $17b revenue.
We have advised all colleagues that they will never need to come to an office to work a 9-5 again with full flexible working.
It's worked well for us.
The only concern is developing young staff as they're missing out on learning from the experienced staff, listening in on conversations, just asking a question etc.
We will have hot desks and spaces for group collaboration.
Our sales team are back on the road with our clients and prospects which is where they perform best, our admin team can work from anywhere at anytime so long as the job gets done.
For me I'd like 1 day in with the team and the rest remote.
We have advised all colleagues that they will never need to come to an office to work a 9-5 again with full flexible working.
It's worked well for us.
The only concern is developing young staff as they're missing out on learning from the experienced staff, listening in on conversations, just asking a question etc.
We will have hot desks and spaces for group collaboration.
Our sales team are back on the road with our clients and prospects which is where they perform best, our admin team can work from anywhere at anytime so long as the job gets done.
For me I'd like 1 day in with the team and the rest remote.
nunpuncher said:
As restrictions start to ease across the UK I'm just wondering what orders/requests others are receiving or giving (since there are so many powerfully built company directors on here) with regards to returning to the office.
This is probably only relevant to those who work an office/desk job that can be done as effectively from home. People who have quite possibly worked right through the last year. Will you return full time if given the option? Would you rather continue to work from home? If you are essentially told where you have to work and it doesn't suit you what do you plan to do?
Unless you have a job to go to which has the specific location requirements you desire/demand then you suck it up. This is probably only relevant to those who work an office/desk job that can be done as effectively from home. People who have quite possibly worked right through the last year. Will you return full time if given the option? Would you rather continue to work from home? If you are essentially told where you have to work and it doesn't suit you what do you plan to do?
What you will see is messages from Snr mgt stating they are heading in on x day if you’d like to join have a catch up it would be great. Then frequency increases - if you keep coming up with excuses or say be the only one sat in your pants at home with the whole rest of the team in a meeting room together..... say no more.
Also it’s certainly known Snr mgt state that and then the day they were scheduled to be there something comes up be it pulled away for another unexpected urgent meeting or childcare falls through or feeling under the weather. Your then in the office and will be all day. It happens again or it doesn’t you don’t miss a meeting f2f with Snr mgt.
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