Working From Home Megathread

Still "stay at home" where I work, but I need to go in from time to time, so no change and they still have all those stupid restrictions in place.

I was referring to the working conditions, which are stupid now.

The people dying are almost all long past retirement age so are not at any risk from catching it in an office environment, as they're not in one.

I have a purpose built study that I use, perfect for WFH, I included it 15 years ago when I built the house.

Those of us who have a good setup at home are more likely to want to remain WFH than others who are stuck with a kitchen table.

Having said that I like the "free hybrid" model which is when you only go in to the office when a physical presence is needed, in IT support so that means hardware configuration.

Some modems can act as a print server so if you can put the printer next to the modem and cable it up, you can print that way.

Yes. It’ll be a transition and expect many to push back. I’m sure there was pushback when the 6 day week went to 5. But it’s inevitable IMO

Every summer for the last 3 years we’ve done summer Fridays - everyone in the whole firm (25,000) gets Friday afternoon off. Next step has been to ban all but absolutely essential zooms and any other meetings on Fridays. Add to that the fact that permanent hybrid working means that no~one realistically will be in the office on Fridays. So if you’re caught up, and don’t need the home desk day / catch-up day that a Friday now provides, then you’ve effectively got the option for a 4 or 4.5 day week. I would expect that for us, a 4 day week would then be formalised, perhaps in 2024 or 2025

if it is transitioned gradually like that, so that the culture and work practices accommodate it, then it is great. Everyone is happy and productively is maintained at the level that it was previously

While I am very much in agreement with the idea of a 4 day working week, it must not come with a drop in salary. It's unfortunate that you're on the wrong end of what is in fact a cut in income due to reduced working hours.

Usually a 4 day week means 4 days of longer duration to to maintain the same hours worked, I have worked a three day week pattern of 12 hours a day for a month with a couple of normal office hour days to make up the monthly worked hours.

Properly planned, where staff are shadowing each other to provide seamless cover over the main six working days of the week, it should work well for all. Most back office work is out of sight of the customers anyway and no one really cares who does it as long as it is done.

It’s good to see a few more progressive voices on this thread, to offset those that try to shoot down any fundamental and substantial changes to our largely archaic work practices