Who wants to go to the office?

[Littleelf]

Yes true, though I know some people who used to take the piss in the office. A colleague of mine would often be surfing the web seemingly unconcerned that anyone looking in her direction could easily see it.

Yes that is true, some people really just live life taking the piss everywhere they go don't they I know of a few of those, one being my freind. She got fired from 3 job in 6 months though. I would be mortified.

How is it that some people can allways seem to get away with doing sweet f all?? I swear in every office there are people who do nothing and management turn a blind eye

 

[jaymie]

I've felt the opposite re the proving myself while WFH.

When I was in the office I felt watched, I felt under pressure every second of my day as I was so busy. If I wasn't at my desk my manager would give me a look, as if to say 'you're too busy to be in the kitchen making a cup of tea'. If I spoke to any of my friends at work i would get told off! (Like I was 15 in the classroom again) So it resulted in me hardly getting up from my desk for 8+ hours a day out of fear that my managers were thinking I wasn't doing a good enough job. This turned into some major anxiety issues, panic attacks and having to take time off work.

Since being at home I actually get more done, because I'm not panicking. I'm not rushing and worrying and getting myself into a state about how much I had to do and if I was being watched or not. Now I am calm and I know what I need to do and I feel free to take a breather if I need it. This has made a huge difference to my productivity. Which my manager has actually recognised, apologised for and agreed that working from home works best for me.

I know some people have used working from home as a way to take the piss and so the bare minimum though!

Your work place sounds toxic, kinda feel like my old place too.

 

[Tyla73]

Yes that is true, some people really just live life taking the piss everywhere they go don't they I know of a few of those, one being my freind. She got fired from 3 job in 6 months though. I would be mortified.

How is it that some people can allways seem to get away with doing sweet f all?? I swear in every office there are people who do nothing and management turn a blind eye

We've got one of these, and she does nothing but complain all day as well. She gets a very generous salary for a pretty easy job, comes and goes as she pleases, takes about 1.5 hours for lunch every day and yet still makes a big deal of anything she's asked to do and moans constantly.

This thread has really made me appreciate how good my employers have been - I'm horrified by how tit some of your employers are being about you going back in. We have put a lot of work into making our offices safe places to work and will be trialling hybrid working. However, hybrid working does mean that everyone will be expected to be in the office 3 days a week and I don't think that's unreasonable. There is definitely value to being in the office and seeing people face to face for part of the week, although I appreciate that will vary depending on the industry/kind of work people do.

I'm an Office Manager so I am quite interested in the range of attitudes there are about returning for work across the board. For those of you who can see that your employers have made reasonable arrangements for return to work safely but still don't want to go back, do you think it's reasonable on your part to expect the office to still be there, with your company paying rent, service charge and other associated costs, for some poor admin person to be sat there in very quiet or even empty offices, while you continue to have the luxury of working from home and just rock up for the occasional meeting when it suits you.

 

[Homebird44]

We've got one of these, and she does nothing but complain all day as well. She gets a very generous salary for a pretty easy job, comes and goes as she pleases, takes about 1.5 hours for lunch every day and yet still makes a big deal of anything she's asked to do and moans constantly.

This thread has really made me appreciate how good my employers have been - I'm horrified by how tit some of your employers are being about you going back in. We have put a lot of work into making our offices safe places to work and will be trialling hybrid working. However, hybrid working does mean that everyone will be expected to be in the office 3 days a week and I don't think that's unreasonable. There is definitely value to being in the office and seeing people face to face for part of the week, although I appreciate that will vary depending on the industry/kind of work people do.

I'm an Office Manager so I am quite interested in the range of attitudes there are about returning for work across the board. For those of you who can see that your employers have made reasonable arrangements for return to work safely but still don't want to go back, do you think it's reasonable on your part to expect the office to still be there, with your company paying rent, service charge and other associated costs, for some poor admin person to be sat there in very quiet or even empty offices, while you continue to have the luxury of working from home and just rock up for the occasional meeting when it suits you.

We've had nobody in, the IT team occasionally pop in if there is an update due. We're all working well from home. My employer has emailed this week advising that they have no money and will be making some people redundant. My department is leased to the organisation from head office and we pay them to use their office space so our jobs should be safe. They are getting us back with no safety measures, all approved by the unions apparently. I don't mind being in the office as I'm close by, its the lack of parking and just general gulag style of management that annoys me. I'm applying for jobs so helpfully ill be gone soon.

 

[Tyla73]

@Homebird44 your lot sound appalling, I don't blame you for being pissed at them and job hunting - I hope you get something soon and it's a big improvement. They shouldn't be getting anyone back in with no safety measures in place and if they get a HSE inspection (which could totally happen) they'll be in big trouble. I've had to put so much in place in my office I've got people complaining that there's too much in place to keep them safe . Listening to some of the situations on here and with people I know irl, I get pissed off with my moaners because they don't know how lucky they are.

My question was aimed at those who don't want to go back even though they are aware that what's been put in place for them is decent. I think it's very easy for those who've been working from home for 15 months to forget that a lot of people have cracked on working in their workplace throughout the whole thing, including some offices.

 

[groovy-chick]

My work want me to come back and I’m dreaaaading it so much

 

[Tyla73]

Why are you dreading it?

 

[Homebird44]

@Homebird44 your lot sound appalling, I don't blame you for being pissed at them and job hunting - I hope you get something soon and it's a big improvement. They shouldn't be getting anyone back in with no safety measures in place and if they get a HSE inspection (which could totally happen) they'll be in big trouble. I've had to put so much in place in my office I've got people complaining that there's too much in place to keep them safe . Listening to some of the situations on here and with people I know irl, I get pissed off with my moaners because they don't know ho lucky they are.

Thank you, they are a nightmare. I've booked a days leave which was declined for mid September. Its a special day, my sons graduation and they have said no. So I'm meant to miss the ceremony because we already have a few off. There are a few others going through the same thing. The money isn't great either. I'm fed up moaning about the place, my poor husband

 

[Tyla73]

Thank you, they are a nightmare. I've booked a days leave which was declined for mid September. Its a special day, my sons graduation and they have said no. So I'm meant to miss the ceremony because we already have a few off. There are a few others going through the same thing. The money isn't great either. I'm fed up moaning about the place, my poor husband

Oh I feel for you, I've been there with jobs in the past. I was once refused time off for an emergency dental appointment when all my face was swollen up and it was obvious I needed to get to the dentist asap. Just get out of there as soon as you can - the job market is actually pretty buoyant at the moment so hopefully you'll get something else soon.

 

[Homebird44]

Oh I feel for you, I've been there with jobs in the past. I was once refused time off for an emergency dental appointment when all my face was swollen up and it was obvious I needed to get to the dentist asap. Just get out of there as soon as you can - the job market is actually pretty buoyant at the moment so hopefully you'll get something else soon.

Oh bless you. I can't wait to leave. Thanks for your support. I sometimes think I overreact. Good that you've sorted out the safety aspects of returning though. We have no social distancing anymore and we're all crammed in. We're back in a few weeks, the sickness levels will go through the roof.

 

[Tyla73]

It doesn't sound like you overreact to me! I'd be a seething mass of rage with all the things you've mentioned on this thread. I don't know how some employers get away with being so monumentally tit.

 

[Homebird44]

It doesn't sound like you overreact to me! I'd be a seething mass of rage with all the things you've mentioned on this thread. I don't know how some employers get away with being so monumentally tit.

Yep, we're robots, not humans with families that are more important than their job.

 

[Ensay]

We've got one of these, and she does nothing but complain all day as well. She gets a very generous salary for a pretty easy job, comes and goes as she pleases, takes about 1.5 hours for lunch every day and yet still makes a big deal of anything she's asked to do and moans constantly.

This thread has really made me appreciate how good my employers have been - I'm horrified by how tit some of your employers are being about you going back in. We have put a lot of work into making our offices safe places to work and will be trialling hybrid working. However, hybrid working does mean that everyone will be expected to be in the office 3 days a week and I don't think that's unreasonable. There is definitely value to being in the office and seeing people face to face for part of the week, although I appreciate that will vary depending on the industry/kind of work people do.

I'm an Office Manager so I am quite interested in the range of attitudes there are about returning for work across the board. For those of you who can see that your employers have made reasonable arrangements for return to work safely but still don't want to go back, do you think it's reasonable on your part to expect the office to still be there, with your company paying rent, service charge and other associated costs, for some poor admin person to be sat there in very quiet or even empty offices, while you continue to have the luxury of working from home and just rock up for the occasional meeting when it suits you.

3 days a week still seems too much to me. I'd prefer to just do 1 day a week in the office, 2 maximum.

I wouldn't care if they said they were shutting the office down for good and we all had to work 100% from home permanently. We've proven we can.

 

[Homebird44]

3 days a week still seems too much to me. I'd prefer to just do 1 day a week in the office, 2 maximum.

I wouldn't care if they said they were shutting the office down for good and we all had to work 100% from home permanently. We've proven we can.

I'd be happy with a few days but we're back in five days in a few weeks. I did think they might put a staff survey out and ask what we want to do but no. Just a return date. They'll stagger it for a few weeks, but that's it.

 

[Ensay]

I'd be happy with a few days but we're back in five days in a few weeks. I did think they might put a staff survey out and ask what we want to do but no. Just a return date. They'll stagger it for a few weeks, but that's it.

Has anyone kicked back?

 

[Homebird44]

Has anyone kicked back?

We don't have a choice. We've just been told this is your return date and thats it. We went back in last summer and wfh was never a permanent thing, they've been desperate to get us back in.

 

[Tyla73]

3 days a week still seems too much to me. I'd prefer to just do 1 day a week in the office, 2 maximum.

I wouldn't care if they said they were shutting the office down for good and we all had to work 100% from home permanently. We've proven we can.

So there is no part of your job that you feel benefits from some in person interaction? Interesting. Of course it depends the industry - certainly there are some jobs that can be done 100% from home.

Of course ultimately it's up to employers if they want to retain offices or not and how often they expect people to turn up to them. I think it's a bit of a myth that we'll all be able to demand home working and have that accommodated from now on - some companies will do it but I think the best most people will get in the long run is a bit more flexibility and hopefully less pressure to come in when you have a cold etc.

 

[AllSeeingEye123]

Two days in the office 'will be the new normal'

YouGov found just one in five UK bosses will require all staff to come in five days a week after the pandemic.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Even two days a week in the office is too much. I am not afraid of going back to an office because I am double jabbed, young and healthy. I just don't want to go back because doing so I would get less work done, get ill more often and pay thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours a year in travel cost/time.

 

[petitspois]

I just hope that this pandemic leaves us with some lasting changes for the better. There's no need for huge swathes of people to commute back and forth at pretty much exactly the same time M-F, people with disabilities can work from home fine, it's easier for working women (as they shoulder the majority of the pick ups). I'm happy to go back part time but it's made a huge difference to my mental health just not rushing about so much. I'm probably more productive at home too.

 

[Lalalalaaaaaa85]

@Tyla73 I do a similar job to you.

I’ve spent the last 17 months making sure the office was kept maintained and we were ready to safely open. We are now open part time but take up is very low. I’ve spent time and money on improving the technology we have to support hybrid but hybrid is only going to work if employees come back occasionally. I’m hoping to start seeing more people use the office again.

A lot of people say they’re happy doing 2 days in office and 3 at home the annoying thing is everyone wants to do the same days. So doesn’t give us the opportunity to do anything drastic with the space we have as some days we will need all the desks we can get and other days the office will stand empty.