Working From Home Megathread

Yet another survey that states the preference for WFH after covid, office dwellers are clearly in the minority.

Of the 90% of those workers who would like to work remotely, 28% said they would like to do so all the time, while 60% said they would like to work remotely some of the time.

Just 12% said they would not like to work remotely in the future.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0118/1274352-cso-remote-work-survey/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118475795#Comment_118475795

As a follow-up, England are planning to drop all restrictions on 27th January. (BBC News)

It will be interesting to see how the struggle between employers who want their offices full and staff who prefer to WFH pans out over the next few weeks.

What does the end of Plan B mean?

Plan B measures in England from Thursday 27 January, but what does this mean?

The end of mandatory Covid passes in England, with businesses allowed to use them if they choose
Mandatory face masks will end, including in classrooms for secondary students and on public transport - meaning people will not be criminalised for choosing not to wear them
The end to work-from-home guidance
Restrictions on care homes will be eased, with detail to be released
However, there will still be a legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive for Covid

While making the statement, Boris Johnson says the decisions reflect the government's intention to trust the British people to make the right choices.

The CSO have just released the results of a large survey carried out in Nov 2021 on the topic of WFH

https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/presspages/2022/pulsesurveyourlivesonlineremoteworknovember2021/

Further detail is linked below, go through the "Chapters" on the right of the linked page

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/fp/fp-psolo/pulsesurvey-ourlivesonline-remoteworknovember2021/workingremotely/

Infographic with summary info

Some of the more detailed statss

• Nine in 10 (90%) of those aged 35-44 years who could work remotely would like to do so when pandemic restrictions end
• Eight in 10 (80%) of those in employment have worked remotely at some point since the start of the pandemic
• Of those in employment in the Mid-East Region (Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow) who could work remotely, 93% said they would like to do so after all pandemic restrictions are removed
• Three in four (75%) respondents who were engaged on home duties and almost seven in 10 (69%) of those unable to work due to longstanding health problems would consider employment if it could be done remotely
• In the Mid-East Region (Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow) 59% of all those who would consider moving house if they could work remotely would move to a different county unlike those living in the South-West Region (Cork and Kerry) who were most likely to remain in their own county
• Just 3% of remote workers whose main mode of transport to work prior to the pandemic was a car are making more trips by car on days they remote work
• Almost two in 10 workers (18%) would like to work from a remote work hub or a combination of home and a remote work hub when pandemic restrictions end
• Of those in employment who can remote work, 88% would like to do so when all pandemic restrictions are removed. Of these, nearly three in 10 (28%) said they would like to do so all the time. Six in 10 (60%) said they would like to work remotely some of the time. The remainder (12%) said they would not like to work remotely in the future
• Those aged 35 - 44 years were the age group most likely to want to work remotely all the time (32%)
• Just under one in 10 (9%) who rated their home broadband as excellent would not like to work remotely in the future. This figure rose to 15% for those who rated their home broadband as poor
• Almost two-thirds (65%) of those in employment whose job could be done remotely but who have not worked remotely at any point since the pandemic began said they would definitely (49%) or probably (16%) work remotely if the opportunity to do so was available
• Three in 10 (30%) of those in employment whose job could not be done remotely with their current employer would be definitely (18%) or probably (12%) attracted to a new job that could
• Almost six in 10 (58%) of those not in employment would consider taking a job if it could be done remotely
• Gardening, the choice of just under three in 10 (27%) of those who felt they had more time available to them because of working remotely, grew more popular as age increased for both sexes with 56% of males and 38% of females aged 55 years and over choosing this activity.
• Nearly four in 10 (38%) of those in employment would consider a house move if they could work remotely. A further 7% said they have already moved because they could work remotely
• Compared to days they are in their workplace, when those aged 45 – 54 years’ work remotely 73% take less car trips, 34% take more trips on a bicycle and 50% taking more trips on foot

Various news reports on the topic

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/big-preference-for-remote-working-after-restrictions-end-cso-survey-1.4779520

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/demand-for-remote-working-most-popular-in-dublins-commuter-belt-41251801.html

bokale

That's an interesting one about people who previously could not join the workforce but wfh enables it. Hadn't thought of that.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118499740#Comment_118499740

How much of that decision is based on it being the right time to do this versus "Do something to deflect attention away from Boris and his parties" ??

This will be the second time that the UK have "dropped all restrictions" - It was a poor decision taken too quickly the last time , little to suggest that a complete removal of all restrictions in one shot is a better idea now than their last "Freedom day"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500502#Comment_118500502

Its different this time. I'm in London right now and people are over it. Things are back to normal and mask wearing is reducing, visibly, by the day. Covid is old news here

Gusser09

It should be as simple as this,

Staff who have proven that they can WFH and be as productive should be facilitated.

Staff who have haven't proven this should be brought back or let go.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500572#Comment_118500572

Don't disagree , everyone is beyond sick of it all and wants to get back to some version of normality. We should see the steady removal of all the restrictions here over the next 6-8 weeks as well.

However the timing of the UK announcement stinks to high heaven in the context of what's happening politically over there right now.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500502#Comment_118500502

How much of that decision is based on it being the right time to do this versus "Do something to deflect attention away from Boris and his parties" ??

Yeah that's definitely part of the reasoning, he's hoping to win over some of the anti-vax back benchers. Its why they've made a flurry of populist announcements over the last week relating to immigration, getting rid of the TV licence etc etc.

Cyrus

All of the white smoke is that Covid is over, for now at least, all restrictions to be lifted over the coming weeks, thank god (shout out to Andrew 😋).

At that point you would imagine most company's will go for a hybrid model, for the vast majority of people time in the office is beneficial with full time WFH in rarer instances co wide and maybe role specific in certain organisations.

Itll be good to get back to some normality.

Quin_Dub

Hybrid is really the only option.

No company will really get away with a mandated "Everybody back to the office 100% of the time , no exceptions" approach , equally no one will get away with "Everybody WFH for good , no exceptions" (no matter how loud the Hill St Blues theme is playing).

It will be varying forms of hybrid - some will set a minimum attendance (2 days out of 5 or whatever) , but most larger companies will probably leave it up to the employee to decide. You go to the office when you feel you need to and that's it.

If you want to be there every day work away , if you want to be there a handful of days a year - work away.

My guess is the commute will knock the shine off the hybrid option for a chunk of people leading to more going to 100% over time with them just doing rare, occasional visits onsite.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500623#Comment_118500623

I think it's a tacit acceptance that the lockdowns, vaccines and restrictions are useless against an omicron cold.

As for political deflection, it will only be a short term distraction, or none at all.

Edit: that was a long distraction.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-60056482

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500938#Comment_118500938

I disagree, for a lot of roles and in a lot of companies, face to face interactions are important, i dont foresee a scenario where a majority of workers who can work from 100% actually do end working from home 100%.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500996#Comment_118500996

Like I said, its a guess.

However, regarding face to face interactions, those have been served by video conferencing over the last 2 years with little impact so while face to face might be important, it does not require in-person

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501020#Comment_118501020

i disagree personally, video calls are a substitute but not a good one,

If you were meeting a friend for lunch would you rather meet them physically or would you feel that a video conference where you both eat your meal in your own house is a comparable interaction?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500572#Comment_118500572

Looks like the WFH requirements in England have now been dropped with immediate affect.

Will be interesting how many bosses will plan to get them back in their cubes next Monday!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501129#Comment_118501129

You are coming at it from a personal preference, I don't have a preference either way and am just looking at it from how things have worked out over the last 2 years which have shown, in the majority of cases, its not a make-or-break requirement. You prefer face-to-face, thats fine, but the last 2 years have shown we can run a crap ton of business functions without it.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501150#Comment_118501150

Not many. It’s overwhelmingly hybrid now. Most large companies have reconfigured their space over the last two years and couldn’t take everyone back even if they wanted to

bokale

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501129#Comment_118501129

I'd rather go to the restaurant in that case! Not sure it's comparable though. If my friend asked to meet me in a conference room they'd booked I'd probably prefer a zoom ha!

Frank Bullitt

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118502262#Comment_118502262

I disagree, the fundamental point is that human interaction is better in person, if you feel differently that's fine but you won't convince me otherwise.

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118501129#Comment_118501129

Are you really saying video call meeting is the same as meeting a friend for lunch?

I have said I would prefer a hybrid I had 1 reason before and that was basically a change of scenery but recently I was asked to train someone on something and that is so much easier face to face especially if you are showing them stuff on a computer like a system to use

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118503310#Comment_118503310

I was asked to train someone on something and that is so much easier face to face especially if you are showing them stuff on a computer like a system to use

A question if you don't mind, what kind of communication software do you use? Reason I ask is because at my place we use MS Teams and I find it way easier to train people using that then before when when I had them sit at my desk or vice versa

storker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118500502#Comment_118500502

"How much of that decision is based on it being the right time to do this versus "Do something to deflect attention away from Boris and his parties" ??"

Difficult to say. It would be anywhere between 99 and 100%.

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118503438#Comment_118503438

Jesus, if you find it easy with Teams, you'd find it a doddle with Slack! I facking hate teams, but I'll put up with it if I can stay WFH, and by all accounts this will be possible for me. My TL is in a family position that he would be one of the last to return due to the susceptibility of one of his kids. Because of that, and because they know him and his circumstances, it's making it easier for us to stay WFH, because a: they won't force him back in due to his circumstances, and if they won't force him in, they can't force us in, and b: he doesn't want to return anyway and wants 100% WFH, so is fighting for himself as well as us.

Re: meeting friends for lunch, video call would be preferred to having to deal with the public! Can eat what I want, and have connection issues when I want to leave. Then again, meeting for lunch is something I never did anyway. Why go for something to eat during the busiest time to get something to eat... no sense!

Lillyfae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118503438#Comment_118503438

It is so much easier. You share your screen and point with the cursor, the other person/ people can make screenshots or snips of whatever they want to make notes with, it's really an amazing tool in that respect.

Lillyfae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118502262#Comment_118502262

Have to agree with this. The pandemic has allowed us to seek knowledge outside of the country for our team which has been an absolute god send. We were searching for over a year and couldn't find enough people to do the work that it was in front of us (contributing massively to individual workload and stress levels) and found people outside of the country in a matter of weeks. No relocation costs, onboarding a doddle because of move to online during the pandemic and all of the media available to us now. They came to visit in September for a few days and I was really surprised about how I felt like I genuinely knew and had met them before even though we had only spoken over Teams.

Phil.x

Why do people want to work from home? Is it the freedom, the dropping and picking up the kids to school on work time, the hairdressers, the car nct, the weekly shop, the gym, the housework, the garden work, the home DIY, the extra late starts, the extra early finish, the work from bed, is that what people will miss if required to go back to the office.

bokale

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118504221#Comment_118504221

You've been doing the weekly shop during work hours?