Working From Home Megathread

We got our first update email this morning (public sector). We had a fair idea what our new arrangements would be from a while back, but we didn't expect them to be implemented until our new building opens in July. Now with restrictions going a lot quicker, I expect the new arrangements will be in place by April.

So, at the moment it is 50% in the office, 50% at home, over the course of a month, and non-accruable month to month. Currently there's a minimum of one day a week in the office, and then you work up the remainder of your 50% as you see fit, in agreement with your team. I think there will be some flexibility there, such as one manager lives in London and had been commuting to the office on Sunday night and then flying home Wednesday night, and WFH on Thursday & Friday. She now wants to work one week on, one week off in the office, so that she only has to commute every two weeks. I think they'll accommodate that.

They are also allowing us to work for 25% of the year in another EU location. So say you wanted to work from Spain for three months, you could do it and the one day a week/50% of your time in the office requirement would be waived, so that's a good thing.

I'm trying to figure out how I work my childcare arrangements with a 50% WFO requirement. Pre-covid we had to sign a document saying that we would not be taking care of children while WFH, but that's all gone out the window now. Nearly everyone I have spoken to with kids that are primary/secondary age have them at home after school. It's only the ones that have pre-school children that have them in childcare for the full day - sensibly enough because you can't work with a 2/3/4 year old around.

I'm hoping that I can go into the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. Then I travel home Wednesday lunchtime, pick up the kids and then WFH for the afternoon, and on Thursday/Friday. That means I only have to pay for after-school childcare two days a week. That's about €500 a month in savings.

Think I’d be dusting off the aul cv. I can’t understand these kind of employers- my hunch is it’s a middle management push to justify their positions and make life easier for themselves.

The government (despite their bluster) are keen to get people back to offices as it all has a knock on effect on the economy- revenue from commuting tickets, VAT/excise on fuel, office leases (pension funds/construction), coffee shops/retail, hospitality….this is coming from the top in my opinion as there’s lots of vested interests depending on workers in towns and cities

As I expected, the ball is completely in the employers court- if they deem the work cannot be done from home that’s all they have to do or say.

So much for all the rubbish they’ll be parroting about “climate change” and “mental health”.

I know two guys who were called back into the office for three days a week and from the 31st they will have to return 5 days per week with no option for wfh. All signs and screens have been removed so they can put all the desks back into the open plan office.

My employer is acting more cautious as they're afraid of having more staff out sick (absenteeism has been the lowest since the start of the pandemic).

Well that's the point isn't it. If you have a good set up at home - like not five people in a flat, good internet connectivity, no issues in the last two years regarding productivity, and are attending the office one or two days a week so that allocation of work can be done by management, then I think there's very little left for an employer to base their refusal on.

We have contractors working in my area (Government Dept) who were taken on during Covid and live all over Ireland and even as far afield as the UAE. I'm not sure if they have wfh written into their contract but I hope it doesn't become an us and them situation when it comes to dealing with hybrid working requests. I personally think one day a week when all the team are in the office and the option to wfh on the other days

It is an incredible amount of flexibility from their employer, especially given the CS/PS employees resistance to any change that doesn't suit them.

Working from a laptop in a sunny climate for 3 months a year would be fantastic

Yeah, I'm not sure we'll get much flexibility in reality. What they'll say is "your team is in Monday and Tuesday, rest of the time you can choose" which would only be a couple of extra days. That's going to be a pain, because my husband is likely to have the same arrangement where he'll be working hybrid but will be told his days, and it'll be just our luck that we'll be told the same days to be WFO. There will be the usual heart attack commute home to make it on time to pick up from two separate childminders before 6.30. Oh joy.

It's a medium sized finance company (Irish owned).

It will be interesting to see if different public sector departments implement different WFH guidelines or if they'll try to keep it uniform.

I'm on the Mobility Scheme for other departments in my area and neighbouring areas, just as a bit of an insurance policy (everybody should be on it). If I hear that another department has a better WFH policy I'll certainly be 'unholding' my application.

The stated plan for our company last August/September was a hybrid model - 4 days at home, 1 day in the office, but not in a hard and fast way. If someone needed to do 5 days one week and 2 or 3 the next, no issue.

Exceptions for people to be fully WFH are based on manager approval, but most are eager for it to continue.

Within six months we'll only have enough office space for about a third of the company anyway, and they're not planning on doing much about it, so the policy is more about keeping people out of the office than forcing them in. The aim will be getting the whole company together every 6-8 weeks, but outside of that we have no need to all be geographically together.

No particular bars on working abroad - we have a number of employees all over the place - though obviously it still needs to be flagged & approved.

I expect the rules for us will evolve over time as the legal situation does.