Working from home, good/bad?

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I cannot fathom managements obsession with a CBD office. We're all being forced back now but -

Productivity never slowed when majority WFH
Deadlines were never missed
The overwhelming majority are back office so no face-to-face customers ever. For that matter phones rarely ring, no meetings

Why not WFH? Old people running the show so everything must remain how it always has. Honestly surprised we don't have a fax machine in the office

Now instead of starting at 730am, I start at 830 and waste 90 mins in commute daily, and unavailable after 4pm rather than 5-6 as I was doing. Makes no sense but back to old ways now.
 
We're all heading back to the office as of next week, but with all of the social distancing restrictions they've put in place I don't see the point.
- no congregating at desks or in hallways and other communal areas
- capacity limits for each area. Some areas are at their limit if everyone is at their desk, so effectively no-one can visit them unless someone else is absent.
- requests to do video meetings rather than in person wherever possible.

If I want to demonstrate something on a colleague's screen I have to call them via Teams and share screens. FFS, I can do that at home.

When you add in everyone's commute time and the tendency to switch off work when you leave the office I expect our productivity to be drop when we go back.
 
MrKK said:
We're all heading back to the office as of next week, but with all of the social distancing restrictions they've put in place I don't see the point.
- no congregating at desks or in hallways and other communal areas
- capacity limits for each area. Some areas are at their limit if everyone is at their desk, so effectively no-one can visit them unless someone else is absent.
- requests to do video meetings rather than in person wherever possible.

If I want to demonstrate something on a colleague's screen I have to call them via Teams and share screens. FFS, I can do that at home.

When you add in everyone's commute time and the tendency to switch off work when you leave the office I expect our productivity to be drop when we go back.
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I work in a 14 story building with 4 lifts (one always out of order). Limit 3 per lift...There's 40+ per floor. That will cause problems when everyone is back

The commute is my thing. Why force people into an office for back office work?! Why not let them WFH and save the hour each way, you get more time out of employees naturally. Baffling to me
 

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Have been WFH since about the end of March, and I have say it has been brilliant. My productivity has been about the same, and I have got to spend alot more time with my kids as I don't have to sit in traffic for about 2 hours a day.

I do still go in 1 day a week, but there is only me and the MD in there so we can socially distance quite easily.

The interesting part is this. We have a Zoom meeting every Friday to catch up, and our MD often comments on how well we are working from home, and the quality of our work is still at a very high standard. Then, almost in the next breath he is wanting us to return to the office for the "new normal". To me, I don't get the rush to go back into the office.

Being in Melbourne, we're WFH until at least the end of July, but given the current climate here I day say we'll be home for a while yet.
 
The more exposure to WFH I have, the more it strengthens my belief that it's important to strike a balance where you can. For me I reckon that's probably 60-70% in the office on average. If you are a plumber who is out and about all day doing jobs then you still work from home when it comes to doing paperwork - none of the tradies I know maintain an office - but no one really talks about that as WFH even though it's been going on forever.

Today I probably should've worked from home. Was doing something that required concentrating at a computer for a few hours and people constantly interrupting me was a pain in the arse. Tomorrow I have a meeting (that could be done on Zoom/Teams) and will then be working closely with a couple of other people. So it's better if I'm in the office. I've had days in the office where trying to get hold of other people also in the office has been a nightmare so introducing not even being there adds an extra element to that mix. I also don't have a long commute (or kids), so if I was WFH and something came up and I needed to go in it wouldn't be a big deal. Others I know commute an hour each way. * that AFAIC but each to their own in that regard.

I do think WFH requires good self-discipline, though. I've been at home while the NBA Finals are on and from 9-11am (rough timing the game was on here) I did zero work despite my computer being right next to me.
 
I have been WFH full-time for four months now and I am so happy with it.

I am as, or more productive from home. I can do 98% of what I do just as easily from my home desk and that last little bit moght require going in for a couple of hours per fortnight, and can be shared around by several staff so once every couple of months would be all that is needed.

I access the work phone through my PC and can contact anyone on their extension still, but a message on Teams is usually more convenient. When a little more contact is helpful a quick Zoom meeting is great.

I save at a minimum 90 minutes per day not commuting. I spend the day in a comfortable space. It is honestly the best thing that has happened work-wise for me. I never want to go back.
 
Been WFH for 18 months now. First few months were the hardest, it took time to adjust to being productive when you're surrounded by potential distractions. Once I got into the groove of things I never looked back.

I save time & money on commute. Save money on lunches, work clothes, coffee, etc. I no longer have to spend Sunday afternoons ironing clothes for the week ahead.

Most client meetings are online and we can still achieve everything we need from them. It does take some getting used to and can be awkward at times, but it works. I can also work whatever hours I like. Randomly skip a Monday if I'm not up to it or finish early. Then I make up hours in my own time at night or on the weekend when I'm relaxed and there's nobody around.

Another perk is that I can literally work from anywhere - we've been looking at other countries. My role just doesn't exist in country towns, but if I work online I can live in a small town with a house close to the beach. It makes no difference.

It obviously doesn't work for every industry but it clearly is the future. Why spend all that time travelling to an office, paying for office overheads only to email the person next to you anyway? In 10-20 years it will be the norm.
 
Been feeling guilty lately. Moved into a new role at work where there's currently not a lot of expectation in terms of deliverables (for a few weeks at least). So I literally have several hour blocks some days where I can do nothing and get away with it, or clock off early. Part of me says "if you can get away with it and you're not falling behind, go for it", but another part of me says that I could be constantly learning more, or doing something productive.
 
Engimal v3 said:
Been feeling guilty lately. Moved into a new role at work where there's currently not a lot of expectation in terms of deliverables (for a few weeks at least). So I literally have several hour blocks some days where I can do nothing and get away with it, or clock off early. Part of me says "if you can get away with it and you're not falling behind, go for it", but another part of me says that I could be constantly learning more, or doing something productive.
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I was like this but the way I see it, someone earning a lot more than I do set the deadlines/workloads. If I can meet them and still get hours of spare time that's on their planning, not my conscience. They generally don't give much wriggle room when things are urgent, why should staff alert bosses to free time they've created through their own efficiency/initiative...
 
burge13 said:
I was like this but the way I see it, someone earning a lot more than I do set the deadlines/workloads. If I can meet them and still get hours of spare time that's on their planning, not my conscience. They generally don't give much wriggle room when things are urgent, why should staff alert bosses to free time they've created through their own efficiency/initiative...
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I see what you are saying. I've been in my current role since October last year working full time (38 hours). The lady I replaced was only part time working 16 hours per week. It doesn't feel like they have beefed up my role at all, to the point where alot of the time I am asking for more work. Sometimes I get a response, sometimes I don't.

If they can't have planned for a role to go from 16 hours per week to 38, then thats not my problem.
 
tangolikelama said:
Starting a new job in a few weeks and will be WFH for the foreseeable future. Nervous as fu** about the onboarding..
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Good luck!

I haven't listened but a colleague brought up this episode on Radio National. If you're nervous maybe it will have some good strategies you can implement. Only so much you can do as an individual though, a lot of it will come down to the team culture in how they on board you.

www.abc.net.au

All aboard! Starting and departing jobs remotely - ABC listen

Virtual meetings are tough enough, but imagine starting a new job where you can’t meet your new team members face-to-face. We hear some disaster stories but also how to best help workers start a new job or finish up including: * the benefits of “coffee roulette” in "onboarding" new staff; *...
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Mkcaptain said:
Good luck!

I haven't listened but a colleague brought up this episode on Radio National. If you're nervous maybe it will have some good strategies you can implement. Only so much you can do as an individual though, a lot of it will come down to the team culture in how they on board you.

www.abc.net.au

All aboard! Starting and departing jobs remotely - ABC listen

Virtual meetings are tough enough, but imagine starting a new job where you can’t meet your new team members face-to-face. We hear some disaster stories but also how to best help workers start a new job or finish up including: * the benefits of “coffee roulette” in "onboarding" new staff; *...
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
Click to expand...

Cheers. First 'proper' job out of uni. Permanent full time in my field and not entry level. Just gotta put my head down for the probation period.
 

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tangolikelama said:
Cheers. First 'proper' job out of uni. Permanent full time in my field and not entry level. Just gotta put my head down for the probation period.
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WFH is sensational if you can problem solve, have initiative, and can manage time. If you're heavily reliant on others in real-time, it may be a struggle
New job has a few stresses but provided your colleagues are responsive it shouldn't be a problem.
 
I started a new job a month ago WFH to start with and then they say we will go back to the physical office. Interesting on boarding through Teams although people have been very welcoming which has been good.
 
WFH for me is extremely productive.
I can knuckle down and focus but it does help I've got a spacious set up.
I work at an old school mentality workplace where they literally cannot grasp that people can be productive from home.
It's pissing me off though as they are still are going into the office and some aren't wearing masks which is just pure stupidity and occasionally you cop digs like on when are you coming to the office next kind of thing.

I can see how it would be unproductive if people had small apartments, had kids at home/home schooling or had to work from the dining table or one screen as an example but none of that applies to me.
 
What are everyone's productivity levels for those still WFH? I'm typically going at about 20% now, and days like today where I'm significantly unmotivated I'm at about 1%. Not real proud of myself, but I'm struggling for motivation now
 
Have been working from home full-time since March. Spent some money and labour converting my shed in May (putting in insulation, decent sized window etc.) when it was obvious we weren't going back in a hurry.

Love WFH. Can get plenty of work done, no commute and if I want to do my exercise in the middle of the day, rather than at 5:00 when I'm near exhausted, I can. Can listen to radio when doing administrative tasks and have no interruptions when I do deep focus work.

I've also noticed that as people have got more used to working on Zoom, meetings have got shorter and more to the point. All the crappy HR-required meetings have gone out the window. I do a lot of networking with people across the country and that has become smoother as people broaden their horizons and get used to working across time zones.

Going back? All of my team actually live not far away and we're all about 20 km from the office. We're talking about continuing to work from home and then do weekly catch-ups in a cafe.
 
Alesana said:
What are everyone's productivity levels for those still WFH? I'm typically going at about 20% now, and days like today where I'm significantly unmotivated I'm at about 1%. Not real proud of myself, but I'm struggling for motivation now
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I have good and bad days with motivation but generally I've got too much work to not be busy
 
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