Working From Home Megathread

As someone hybrid (fighting a full 5 day return) I personally find the office a much worse place to work to be honest. I much prefer working at home, more productive overall (while actually working less) and just less of a chore. Even when on-site the vast majority of our calls are done online anyway even when there are a few of us in the same room as there is always other sites or fully remote people involved (even excluding calls with external clients). I find this better anyway as its easier share screens etc or get your point across and on calls you are only listening (which I end up on a lot) I can keep working away on other stuff while listening in - I've grown to really dislike meeting room meetings. That being said I have lots of interaction at home - wife works from home, family close by that I see during the day, kids are around some days so I don't find it isolating or this type of thing.

With that all being said I do have parts of my role that requires interaction with production and hardware development areas that do require semi-regular onsite presence so fully remote is not an option in my current role.

Ideally I would like to come in only on the days I specifically need to be there - that is probably 1 or 2 days most weeks but could be 5 days on occasion and no days reasonably often. Instead I have been doing 2 fixed days at home (moving around things to suit this) while having to come in days where I sit all day on calls due to it being a WFO day. To make matters worse we are under mounting pressure to be in the office 5 days per week every week which I am losing sleep over I find it that stressful a prospect.

The push back to the office has finally come. Expected to be back minimum 2 days a week, I did 3 days then following week I done 1. It is not entirely monitored yet.

One thing going for me is my manager or team doesn't work in my office so I can't see her jumping on my case if I only get 1 of those days!. At least I can still pick my days and I'll try Mondays as its quite and Fridays with the same logic. If they happen to fall on a public holiday that's not my problem 🤷

It was and even changed to make it stronger but I still think it has no teeth and is easily got around by an employer leaving little to fight them on it bar going nuclear like the WRC which you might as well leave rather than do in this case.

Wfh policies are set by a companies board of directors lads. No "manager" that you interact with during your workday gets a say in whether you can work remotely or not.

True but replae board with owner etc. No middle manager is setting remote work policy.

They're enforcing what they're told to enforce.

You are literally assigned work and your manager can see how you are performing.

Managers have now had several years to observe whether meeting expected speed targets is the only measure that matters.

It looks like they've concluded that it's not, and that there are other less quantifiable factors that influence overall rganisational performance.

Who'd have every guessed!

Where I've worked, it's often been the middle management in different private companies or agencies and public sector organisations who have been free (or had the responsibility) to make local arrangements with remote working. Years before lock down.

Even now our policy is it has to be signed off by the line manager. They can nix it if they require it.

Its not much different to organising shifts or holidays, or leave. Anything really.

There's a whole industry devoted to putting check boxes and objectives , targets achieved, customer ratings, satisfaction, retention, staff culture surveys, on anything and everything.

October 2023 I started a job and was told 1-2 days a month in the office.

January 3rd 2024, we got a new CTO who said in his inauguration speech that he despises WFH and was now mandating 3+ days a week in the office. I wonder did he co-write the book "how to lose friends and alienate people".

Of course then the predictable happened, lots of people showed up to the office and there werent enough desks for everyone. People who had travelled in from Portarlington, ended up sitting at one of the tables in the canteen, on a chair less comfortable than their home office at home.

My line manager lives in Denmark and has told me she doesnt care if I go to the office or not.

The point is, unless it is written into your contract, the employer can change their policy on remote working at any point.

In the company I work for anyway it has nothing to do with performance of that I am certain. Some of the most productive and successful times for the company (worldwide) have been during the period with a lot of hybrid/remote working (we also still retain contractually protected remote workers many of whom are management themselves). If anything the policy has hit productivity as many are "working to rule" so to speak out of annoyance with the policy - leaving on the dot of finish time, taking holidays when it suits rather than working around deadlines etc.

Yes and no, the mandates do come from the top, In our case I feel its similar to the other poster and its the CEO or certainly the very top rung of the company (though it was communicated as a board decision or something like that). Plenty of senior level managers have been forced back to the office also who were working hybrid for years and some have left so its hitting pretty much all levels.

That being said managers do have a say to a degree in that they can choose to turn a blind eye to things. My manager was/is currently doing this in my case but there is such a push on now that they are sort of asking me to be in everyday for now until things die down at least. I was also allowing people who report to me do a day or two from home but they are more junior staff and are less willing to rock the boat so have been coming in even though I wasn't pushing it.