How many times have you been into your office/workplace since March 2020?

[marty21]

Apparently the work cafe is re-opening, but it is at the main building - and I only visit there occasionally - ffs no cafes at other buildings . A week high of 7 in the office today btw !

 

[quiet guy]

I haven't worked out of a proper office for about 4 years. I changed jobs just before COVID and my only interaction with some of my new team was via Teams calls, I was recruited via Team call. I have visited a relatively local ops centre and sat with some of the contract support and Helpdesk staff and it feels wierd. Most of my time is either work from home, site visits to confirm job specs or work inspections and sign offs.
I do miss the human interaction but not the office politics.

 

[marty21]

Today, mainly due to transport strikes, out of the possible 44 in my department who can work out of this office, one is in (so far) and that one is me

 

[marty21]

my department has now doubled in size!

 

[marty21]

The great return is picking up pace - there are about 15 in the office today (normally we struggle to get to the half a dozen mark) .

 

[smmudge]

We've been 1 (sometimes 0) days a week since things opened up again, with no issues. A couple of months ago senior management said policy is everyone 2 days week. After only a few weeks they reversed, and said departments can decide for themselves how often people need to be in. DESPITE working fine at home OFTEN FULLTIME for over 2 years now, our director thought it still necessary for us to come in 2 days a week. One reason he cited for this is "employee engagement".

So when the employee survey went around last week, I purposefully gave bad reviews on director engagement and moaned in the free text box that they hadn't properly implemented the senior management policy of flexible at home working. Employee engagement scores is basically all they care about so this gave me great joy.

 

[Cloo]

I was going to go in tomorrow, after coming back from hols this weekend, but got a series of messages saying there's been a burst pipe on the 6th floor, so they're shutting for the rest of the day. I wonder how much damage that's going to have done - sounds like it happened during the day and they stopped the water quickly, so it wouldn't have been running for hours, but could still have done a lot of harm given it's towards the top of the building

 

[Numbers]

Back in this week for the first time since July. Plan is to come in 3 days a week.

Policy is still 50% attendance over the month.

 

[marty21]

After a busy day yesterday when 15+ were in , has tailed off to about 6. I think I've seen my gaffer in the office about 5 times in nearly 3 years , he loves wfh.

 

[Voley]

Office was about half full when I went in yesterday. Some departments are insisting on people doing 2 days in the office. Others are more lenient - the development team I work for spend lots of time on building sites anyhow so weren't in 9-5 pre-Covid anyhow. I'm back office so was 9-5 5 days a week but no-one's mentioned it. It can stay that way indefinitely as far as I'm concerned.

 

[marty21]

I hated wfh , so was back in the 1st chance I got & came in a few times at the height of the plague.

 

[muscovyduck]

I feel better when I go in overall, but it can be tough. It's way more expensive now food prices have gone up and I can't just slowly cook something through the late morning at home, I frequently get sexually harassed on my commute, and because we've not been in so much, other companies in the building are proper taking the piss taking over space they're not entitled to.

I do like that I feel like I'm reclaiming my home by not working at home so much.

Whereas pre 2020 + going into corona my main problem was work colleagues pushing into my personal time, 2021-2022 has seen people in my personal life massively overreaching into my work time.

 

[tommers]

I went in today, just for a change of scene. There was 1 other person in. Waste of time.

The other companies in the building looked pretty busy though.

 

[Numbers]

After a busy day yesterday when 15+ were in , has tailed off to about 6. I think I've seen my gaffer in the office about 5 times in nearly 3 years , he loves wfh.

Same for my boss and some of the other managers.

 

[Numbers]

I hated wfh , so was back in the 1st chance I got & came in a few times at the height of the plague.

I like(d) it but I quickly develop(ed) bad habits. The 50% requirement suits me down to the ground.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

had a day in what is theoretically my office base today (don't go that often, as meetings are still not allowed there, we have to go to main office about 15 miles away for that)

maybe 1 in 20 desks (if that) occupied - a few survivors in odd corners. some bits now closed / things out of order and not being fixed, very few kitchens with working kettles and so on.

felt weird. might feel more weird if i had ever been based there normally, i started while wfh-ing was still a temporary / emergency thing.

it's pretty much official the place will be closed down and everything moved to the main office some time (doesn't seem to be much urgency, but maybe they are waiting until end of lease or something)

night in b+b tonight then a day at the main office tomorrow (home is about 60 miles away)

 

[Voley]

I was in on Tuesday. Office about half full, I'd say.

I'd been wondering if my non-attendance was about to be mentioned but spoke to one woman who'd only been in to the office 5 times since the pandemic so think I'm good on that front.

I do quite like seeing everyone on the day I go in but for my job it's not really necessary. The one day a week I'm doing should keep the powers that be happy, though, and if that all stays the same, I'm cool with that.

 

[Voley]

The main argument for going in to the office at my organisation is that you need to see your team to work collaboratively. Which is a fair point but my manager is two counties away and the rest of the team are spread over Somerset and Devon. I think the next time I see them all irl might be the Xmas meal tbh.

 

[muscovyduck]

It seems to be a loop of ok for a bit and then all fall apart again. Management at my place now back in a cycle of throwing their weight around and making the place as uninviting as possible, which will go on for a few weeks before everything's fine again

 

[marty21]

Actually did wfh on Weds/Thurs this week - because I had to take the cat to the vet one day, and had a lunch-time dentist appt on Thursday. I like that the option to wfh is available, but I'm glad to be back in the office today. And in shocking news, my boss is in, he has finally decided he doesn't like wfh and has been in twice this week, and is actually getting a season ticket now to travel in everyday. He got tired of seeing his home as his office , and we sometimes have difficult conversations with tenants - or attend sensitive meetings with Social Services via teams and I prefer to do this with the tenants in their homes, or via Teams from my office.

 

[Voley]

Friend of mine who helps people with benefits said a similar thing marty21 - she said it was difficult during lockdown giving people bad news from her bedroom. Said the dividing line between work/home barely existed so she prefers being in the office for that, too.

 

[Voley]

More positively she told me about a backdated UC claim for 12 grand+ that she'd got recently.

 

[Cloo]

Things have definitely ramped up here since the beginning of last month. Midweek is now pretty rammed and although Fridays are quiet, it's not the Marie Celeste. Going in on Monday for the first time in a while, so we'll see what that's like.

 

[moose]

Our entire office building (huge old silk mill) is being refitted to accommodate the way people want to work now - regular desk space and small offices are being reduced and it's being reconfigured as large, airy meeting rooms, 'informal collaboration spaces' and eating areas. Only about 5% of staff want to work permanently in the office, the rest want to go in occasionally to get together on projects, so it makes sense. If it's successful here, they'll roll it out across all the locations where we still have buildings (got rid of a few as they weren't needed any more).

I still won't be going in unless I absolutely have to Not been once since the start of all this, apart from a meeting in the car park.

 

[krink]

I've gone from home working 3 days a week before covid to being in the office 5 days a week after covid. I live alone most of the week and 2 years of solitude was enough.

 

[PursuedByBears]

I've now started to WfH 1 day a week on Monday and in the office for the rest of the week because I'm bored of working from home all the time.

 

[Cloo]

Office is starting to make noises about wanting to see more people in on Mondays and particularly Fridays. Not sure there's any way they can achieve that - it's pretty crammed midweek and not too quiet on Mondays but people like their Fridays at home.

 

[marty21]

Fairly quiet in the office today - I was off on Friday but on Thursday it was practically full capacity!

 

[Elpenor]

I’ve been asked to come in on Mondays, but still only have to do one day per week in the office. Rest of finance are on 2 days a week which I think may be to do with our team being very short of staff.

Apart from having to be up early on a Monday (I like to do 7:30-3:30 when in the office), I don’t mind really as parking is easier at work. I also have fewer podcasts to listen to on a Monday, and anything that avoids Fridays which have traffic issues in the summer is good for me

 

[krink]

Office is starting to make noises about wanting to see more people in on Mondays and particularly Fridays. Not sure there's any way they can achieve that - it's pretty crammed midweek and not too quiet on Mondays but people like their Fridays at home.

Packed here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and dead on Monday and Friday. I don't want it to change as I like the quiet start and end to the week. I wish a few more would work from home and give us early returners our quiet office back all week