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The working from home thread

We were back in the office twice a week but now wfh every day. I'm quite surprised because they're very good at ignoring advice unless they have to follow it, but it seems like they've actually taken some initiative now. Everyone else I've spoken to has said their company is carrying on as normal :eek:
Same as this. Except that we were supposed to be in 3 times a week, but the reality was 2 times. And now WFH, although people aren’t banned as such, the office remains open for those who “can’t” WFH
 
We have never been explicitly told to go back to the office , so there are still plenty of people who have wfh for nearly 2 years now. I have chosen to go I'm as I really don't like wfh .
 
I’m in the office but only one here at the moment. We’ll see how things go. I’m trying to return home on Wednesday as that is the quietest train day apparently.
 
We were in the office 3 days a week from October but now back to wfh unless for mental health reasons you want to go into the office.

I'd just got used to it but there we go. Need to move my home desk as it's right by the window that's not right and it's freezing.
 
Back to WFH for me. After getting boosted & pre-omicron I was planning two to four half-days a week for project supervision & general management purposes.

Only problem is that my "workshop manager" is currently off sick [this will be week 4 - see work frustrations thread for context].

I was in the workshop over the weekend, to check progress, and do some specific jobs - eg commission some space heating.
Today - I have exchanged calls, texts and emails with various people already. As at the end of last week, I've also "suggested" masks for people working together and booking boosters for those not already jagged.
I'll be doing the planned "half-days" as evening shifts ...
First job tonight will be to re-arrange the painting area to make somewhat more efficient use of the space. I was going to do that today, followed by some catch-up painting.
 
I missed the first lockdown, in fact I was doing agency social care, so probably went in to more different places then was wise. Probably why I got ill. :(

I'm doing a new job now, so it's a bit of a novelty. We're also pretty dead. Must confess I'm struggling a bit already. It doesn't help that I'm still really new and learning. It makes getting a phone call I can't sort out even more scary. No bugger responded to me on Teams either. Now I've got nothing to do. I'm trying to use the time to keep learning, but I'd actually like a bit more direction or even actual work that I could plod along with.
 
Office closed due to Plan B, except for access for a few people who have been assessed as really not being able to work in their home setting. Was going to go in tomorrow for long lunch, now just going to long lunch - my manager's booked train down from Northampton, and other colleagues from other necks of woods, so they'll be sitting in cafes for the morning (which would be much less safe than the office, but there you go) - it's only 5 of us at lunch somewhere quiet, so I will go for it.

Not expecting to be back in office before Easter, but then I expected that back in late October after my last visit.
 
Similar situation here - if you need the office, it's open, but you should be wfh if you can. All of which suits me. I won't be going back until everything's much safer and my management are fine with that.
 
First test of both of us WFH today. Up till recently we've shared a single desktop PC, but luckily I've recently built another to replace it and have been slowly upgrading screens, so with the help of one I took from work, we've got 3x27" and an old 24" plus my work laptop on not huge bit of work bench in the spare room. I'm looking forward to moving and us each having our own room to do this in.
 
It sure does make a difference having different spaces, we're lucky in that regard, I currently sit in the front room and have 2 x 19" screens as well as my laptop screen, Mrs Numbers is in the spare bedroom and has a 24" as well as her laptop - we alternate rooms for a change of scenery.

I do like to go into the office tho' but probably won't this side of Christmas, or may go in 1 day or something.
 
A FB friend has been occasionally doing what she calls The Library, where she just turns on a Zoom and people wfh with mic off and just work with a view of another doing their this and the occasional typed message to say hi to one another/one another's pets in the background etc. I joined today and it was nice.

Maybe we should do an urban Library after Christmas if people are interested? I don't mind organising.
 
A FB friend has been occasionally doing what she calls The Library, where she just turns on a Zoom and people wfh with mic off and just work with a view of another doing their this and the occasional typed message to say hi to one another/one another's pets in the background etc. I joined today and it was nice.

Maybe we should do an urban Library after Christmas if people are interested? I don't mind organising.
I'm one of the people who have worked from home for years. I have several friends who also work from home so we used to have Windows Messenger (or whatever it was called) running most days so that anyone could have a quick chat over a virtual cuppa or vent over something stupid a client had just done. It's a useful way of staying connected when you're on your own at home.
 
A FB friend has been occasionally doing what she calls The Library, where she just turns on a Zoom and people wfh with mic off and just work with a view of another doing their this and the occasional typed message to say hi to one another/one another's pets in the background etc. I joined today and it was nice.

Maybe we should do an urban Library after Christmas if people are interested? I don't mind organising.

Thats a really good idea. Me and my manager did this a few times during one of the lockdowns and it was just nice to have someone there even if we were both heads down working.
 
A FB friend has been occasionally doing what she calls The Library, where she just turns on a Zoom and people wfh with mic off and just work with a view of another doing their this and the occasional typed message to say hi to one another/one another's pets in the background etc. I joined today and it was nice.

Maybe we should do an urban Library after Christmas if people are interested? I don't mind organising.
That's a nice idea Cloo.
 
I did 4 days in the office in November, one due to a mid-morning power cut at home, the other 3 as part of the 1 day per week I’ve meant to have done since September but had been avoiding.

I decided to stop going in a few weeks ago and stay at home every day. Several reasons - of the desks I can book, my laptop can’t connect to one of the docking stations at all, the other only lets me use one monitor so constantly looking up and down. At home I’ve got a laptop stand which avoids that.

It was also incredibly noisy as 6 people behind me were having a social chat all day, talking like they were in a noisy pub and it was hard to get anything done.

The final straw was discovering some total prick whose wife and kid were at home in bed with covid had been coming into the office and then gone home “feeling ill” and tested positive.

While he was actually following the (flawed) guidance at the time correctly, the common sense approach would be to work from home if you could in that situation. However he preferred coming in the office. He’s not very popular as you may imagine, the Greek woman who sits next to him who I chat to sometimes was incredibly angry.

I think working from home is ideal for me as I spend less than 15 minutes a day in “calls” and never have any meetings. I just quietly sit there doing my work, and it’s zero stress. Obviously there’s the other benefits such as Petrol savings and nicer coffee, comfier chair, listening to music too.
 
Someone brought their kid to our team meeting this week.

Made me realise how annoying it must be to have an annoying 10 year old in the house asking stupid shit all day. Only took him 20 minutes to work out nothing to do with work was being discussed though.
 
That reminds me of the time I was on our weekly Critical Incident Team call and my then-9yo piped up, as the CEO was speaking, something along the lines of "this meeting doesn't seem like it has much point to it".
Mrs21 did comment whilst I was in a meeting about how many idiots were on the call (there were many tbf) my gaffer pm'd me & put me on mute 🤣
 
That reminds me of the time I was on our weekly Critical Incident Team call and my then-9yo piped up, as the CEO was speaking, something along the lines of "this meeting doesn't seem like it has much point to it".

I was in a meeting where a kid started playing piano while his dad was presenting. The CEO asked the presenter to stop talking so the whole group could concentrate on the piano. It was such a nice way for leadership to work with online meeting incidents :)
 
Latest missive from on high is that we are being "encouraged" to go to the "hub" (we don't have offices now, we have hubs) twice a week.

Each team has been allocated an "anchor day" when the whole team is sort of expected to go in, and we should do at least one other day.
Our (w)anchor days have been abandoned due to the new government guidelines, but after two days in the office, both of which resulted in a "someone in the office last Thursday has rested positive", everyone had decided to pack it in anyway.

Must admit, I didn't mind the once a week thing.
 
I fear that returning to the office after what will be two years away is imminent.

I really cannot face this. I just hope they give us adequate time to 'adjust'.
I think a lot of people are similar , there hasn't been a rush back to my main office (Local Authority) . I'm glad that I have been going in regularly for about a year & going in occasionally from the start of the madness. The majority of work mates will have to start the process fairly soon. I prefer working in the office , realised that early doors . Good luck with your slow (hopefully) return.
 
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