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Working from home

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westv

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Lousy broadband? Not here. 300Mbs and fibre to the premises. :D
 
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yorksrob

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According to Virgin Media's publicity gumpf, I'm supposed to have over 900 MBS after their upgrade. I actually get around 113.

Still, they're very conscientious about remembering to put the price up each year !
 

bearhugger

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According to Virgin Media's publicity gumpf, I'm supposed to have over 900 MBS after their upgrade. I actually get around 113.

Still, they're very conscientious about remembering to put the price up each year !
I hope you're ringing customer services up to get a reduction in price if you're not getting what you're paying for. Done that several times with car insurance when they've stuck on more at renewal and premiums miraculously go back down!
 

Simon11

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I find it quite surprising the responses here.

I went into the office for the first time in 2021 this week and it reconfirmed that I far far far more prefer to work from home. At a high level, I save a 2.5 hour daily commute across London and save 10 pounds in the process.

Working from home, I can leisurely get up at 7.30am and wonder over to my desk for 8am to get ready for the day. During the day, I work around the meetings/ work load usually getting a few hours to have a nice lunch out, respond to personal e-mails/ volunteering things, go for a lovely afternoon walk and do a few chores at home. I usually finish around 5 or 6pm, once all the e-mails stop.

I agree with comments here that it can be hard on a social level but I only found this an issue during lockdown when you couldn't do much outside of the home. I have never really considered work colleagues 'friends' and I think its rather bad if you are personally relying on work colleagues for friends and to keep you socially busy. Outside of work, I do a lot of community and charity work- people who I would far more prefer to be with plus they are all local!
 

nlogax

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I usually finish around 5 or 6pm, once all the e-mails stop.

This is where working from home fell down for me. Being in a global company the emails don't stop just because it's 6pm here, and since lockdowns started around the world I noticed an unwelcome cultural change in a more widespread greater expectation - or should that be assumption? - that responses will be forthcoming at any point up til 9 or 10pm. Naturally the trick is to put down the phone and put the laptop to sleep at a reasonable hour but with a greatly reduced social life from March 2020 until spring of this year, sitting in front of a screen of some sort was one of the few things left to do on any given week night.

Thankfully this has finally changed and certain routines are beginning to revert to where they were pre-pandemic.
 

Geezertronic

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Working from home, you do have to train yourself to get up from your desk regularly, walk around, take lunch, finish by a specific time and ignore the laptop till the next working day. It took me a while, and I do tend to slip into bad habits, but working from home works for me. It is however nice to go to the office which I do regularly and to different sites which mixes it up.
 

birchesgreen

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I've kept to the same schedule i did when working in the office full time. Get up at 6, walk before work et cetera, then in my office a.k.a. spare bedroom 8:30 till 5pm and then the laptop gets closed until the next day...
 

westv

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When WFH I find it quite easy to close the laptop at 5pm.
 

edwin_m

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I usually don't mind answering emails out of hours, as long as I book some time to the project and claim the time back during "working" hours.

I find the worst ones are those that seem urgent or worrying, but need some input from someone else before they can be dealt with. Because I don't wish to trouble others during their non-work time I'm unable to do so, and on a couple of occasions I've lost quite a bit of sleep thinking about how to respond.
 

roversfan2001

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I've not been in the office since March 24th last year and there are currently no plans for us to return. It's not been made officially permanent but the review date keeps getting pushed back and by the sounds of it the vast majority of us are quite happy working from home. I, for one, would hate to go back into the office after 18 months of WFH.
 

Peter Mugridge

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I much prefer working in the office.

Fewer distractions* and being hard wired into the network is far better than being on the VPN.

Apparently I'm the only person who filled in the survey form at work three months ago for "all five days"... fortunately I've been able to be in most days as at least one other person has booked in ( we're not allowed to be in on our own in case we have a connery or something ).


*Can't go downstairs for a drink or a snack at home without the wife asking for help can i do this, can I do that, how do I do this..... and then there's my daughter's dogs barking like made every time someone walks past the house...
 

PeterC

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Luckily I am retired so this no longer applies but I had mixed feelings about WFH before. It took quite an effort to motivate myself to do boring routine work at home without the interaction with colleagues. Also very tempting to come to sites like this for "two minutes" when nobody is looking over my shoulder. On the other hand when I had a clear deliverable to work on it was really good to be able to concentrate without interruptions.
 

317 forever

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Now that the government's winter plan B includes advising people to work from home again, some companies may hold off from arranging for everyone to return to the office until next Spring.
 

najaB

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Now that the government's winter plan B includes advising people to work from home again, some companies may hold off from arranging for everyone to return to the office until next Spring.
My employer had already extended work from home until January 4th. I fully expect that to be changed to March or April before long.
 

al78

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I think I'd like a combination of working from home and working in the office, say a couple of days of each. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are can get out of bed later, no queueing to use the microwave at lunchtime, no queueing for the shower, no-one having a conversation in the doorways, my house is far better insulated than the prefab which houses my office, so it doesn't get boiling hot in summer or freezing cold in winter, there is no-one with a channel tunnel gob in the next office doing a conference call that sounds like they are trying to communicate directly, it saves time and money on commuting, which means I can get to the bridge club in the evening now F2F sessions have restarted. Disadvantages include screechy kids playing in the close outside my house instead of the playing field 50 meters away with about 20,000 sq m of space, the dog walkers who stop to have a conversation outside my house while their dogs start yapping at each other, the neighbour's car that thinks its a lorry and has a reverse alarm which goes BONG BONG BONG every time they go out (and they have to reverse out every time), there are some people in the office I miss the company of during breaks. I can never completely switch off from work as being responsible for server admin and a commercial website, I have to sort things out if something goes wrong with it, whatever the time of day, so I am always at risk of having my line manager ring me in the evening or at weekends (or any time I am on leave). I am fortunate to have a job where I can work from home and living alone, there are no in-house distractions. It looks like I will be allowed back into the office at the end of this month, although with the requirement face masks are worn at all times on site, and two lateral flow tests are taken every week.
 

najaB

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It looks like I will be allowed back into the office at the end of this month, although with the requirement face masks are worn at all times on site, and two lateral flow tests are taken every week.
Is it back to the office by mandate or are you being given the option? Several of our offices have been "optional RTO" for a few months now, but everyone has the option to WFH until at least the beginning of January.
 

al78

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Is it back to the office by mandate or are you being given the option? Several of our offices have been "optional RTO" for a few months now, but everyone has the option to WFH until at least the beginning of January.
It is expected that staff will return onsite at least two days a week, those that don't want to should discuss this with their line manager. Staff who can't work remotely are expected to return all or the majority of the time. There are three online health and safety training activities that people need to complete before returning.
 

OuterDistant

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Feeling a bit smug at the moment because we just won a quite prestigious industry award for the first time, despite the team not having been in the same room as each other for the best part of a year.

If that doesn't demonstrate that dragging everyone to the office every day isn't necessary, then nothing will.
 

najaB

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Feeling a bit smug at the moment because we just won a quite prestigious industry award for the first time, despite the team not having been in the same room as each other for the best part of a year.
Congrats!
If that doesn't demonstrate that dragging everyone to the office every day isn't necessary, then nothing will.
Agreed. For some businesses/teams it really doesn't bring much benefit. The key is making sure the lines of communication are open and well used.
 

nlogax

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If that doesn't demonstrate that dragging everyone to the office every day isn't necessary, then nothing will.

Congratulations! This entirely proves the point (again) that home working can be great when done right.

Despite examples such as these people will never accept that if you're not at a desk in a corporate bunker five days a week you're not working but instead you're skiving / watching Homes Under the Hammer.
 

yorksrob

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I hope you're ringing customer services up to get a reduction in price if you're not getting what you're paying for. Done that several times with car insurance when they've stuck on more at renewal and premiums miraculously go back down!

Apparently Virgin Media is an annogram of "useless pile of c**p".

It certainly ought to be anyway.
 

xotGD

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The worst things are "hybrid meetings" where some people are physically present, and others who are online often can't hear/see well enough what's going on in the room and tend to be forgotten by those who are there.
I 100% agree. Much better if those attending in person just log in individually from their own desks.

On the wider point, I was working a hybrid model prior to lockdown so WFH wasn't such a change for me. However, after a year and a half it has been good to see colleagues face to face again - and some for the first time.

Hybrid is the new normal where I work. I will probably go in one day each week to catch up with colleagues, not because it is essential for my work.
 

Sm5

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Ive worked from home since 1997, never had a “fixed” desk, at the same time i’d have an average 100 customer, sales, marketing related trips a year to different cities (Many not in UK).

On Tuesday I did my first visit to my office in 18 months, today is the second, both are at my own initiative, just an alternative to Zoom.
I might have my first business trip since Feb 2020 at the end of November.

I found London quite nice on tuesday, 8am to London Bridge service is no more, as are all LBG services from my other station have gone extinct. Despite the reduction I still had a seat (not standing). At Farringdon there was no scrum at the barriers and the walk to the office wasnt bustling people in suits but a more casual walk.
Return home 5pm at Farringdon was an equally sedate affair, no problems with finding a seat… its a long way from the days of not physically being able to squeeze onboard at all due to crowds.

London is quite nice without the crowds, it feels a more social meeting place.
My Office had 6 out of 400 in.
 

JonathanH

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This is ridiculous, people need to go back to work on Tuesday!
Most people who work in offices should be continuing to work from home in any case under the current guidance.

I appreciate that not all workers work in offices but the percentage of workers able to continue their work at home is getting on for 50%.
 

Failed Unit

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All office based workers should be working from home anyway at the moment.
Really? My employer hasn’t altered their guidelines so i am in next week (and I can work from home if needed).

I guess TfL were hoping people who normally use London Bridge would go to Victoria then use the District line to get to the city. I know it probably is quicker to walk from London Bridge, but I suspect I lot of people who normally take the tube can’t / won’t walk. Bus is an alternative but in my experience is slower than walking.
 

JonathanH

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Really? My employer hasn’t altered their guidelines so i am in next week (and I can work from home if needed).
My employer went back to special circumstances only / no more than 10% occupancy which is, I think, a bit closer to what the government intended.
 

mmh

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Most people who work in offices should be continuing to work from home in any case under the current guidance.

All office based workers should be working from home anyway at the moment
Is this true in England? I didn't think that was the case. Regardless of "guidance," I think you'll find increasing numbers of employers outside the public sector wanting bums on seats.

Guidance is guidance. Where, like here in Wales, guidance turns into ludicrous legislation, it's effectively unenforceable and should be ridiculed and ignored.
 

JonathanH

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Is this true in England? I didn't think that was the case. Regardless of "guidance," I think you'll find increasing numbers of employers outside the public sector wanting bums on seats.
Yes, it has been the case since 13 December. Not sure of the review date but I don't think it is in the next two weeks.
 
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