WFH/Lockdown/Future of office work

[LondonManc]

Knowing how at peak times it can take 10 mins to get a lift with room in it, that's going to be fun.

Yeah, a friend sent a photo from HSBC lift lobby on the ground floor tagged at 8:58 a few years ago. Carnage.

That's without having people wiping door handles and everything else every so often.

[ladymuck]

I've never really wanted 100% wfh as I prefer being in an office environment, mainly because I like the separation between work and home. Since this started my anxiety has been off the scale for no real reason, to the point where some days I can't breathe. I can't wait to get back to the office tbh.

Home and work separation is very important. I achieve that by having a separate office that I can shut the door on when not in work mode. To try and properly switch modes I also had the lofty idea of going for a walk before and after my working day as a kind of mini commute. I have never achieved that. I will get out of bed about half an hour before my first meeting and then shuffle off to the living room at the end of the day. Maybe there's things about your daily routine you could tweak to help switch modes?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Whilst I'm sure one of the side-effects of everyone working from home is some businesses realising that it can work for them, it would be a mistake to evaluate the experience and productivity of people working from home whilst under a national lockdown due to a worldwide pandemic and all of the stresses and anxieties that stem from that (lack of experience with WFH, children being out of school, not seeing friends and family, no social life, money worries etc.) with working from home by choice under normal circumstances. What a lot of people are doing now is not normal and will never be normal.

[northernladuk]

Home and work separation is very important. I achieve that by having a separate office that I can shut the door on when not in work mode. To try and properly switch modes I also had the lofty idea of going for a walk before and after my working day as a kind of mini commute. I have never achieved that. I will get out of bed about half an hour before my first meeting and then shuffle off to the living room at the end of the day. Maybe there's things about your daily routine you could tweak to help switch modes?

I'm with King on this to be fair. I'm quite happy to commute in to Manchester to be in the client office rather than home most of the week. Couldn't say exactly what it is about it but just the change of scenery, the environment, the feel of going to work and coming back again. Dunno. Just sits better with me.

Got the full home office and all that, just prefer the commute sometimes.

[LondonManc]

Home and work separation is very important. I achieve that by having a separate office that I can shut the door on when not in work mode.

Totally agree. I've only had one completely WFH contract and cabin fever hits hard when you've got minimal contact. I think part of the problem was that the spec was nailed down and a large chunk of it was a delivery piece that took over two months - the client's main concerns were budget and functionality, so they were happy to have a dedicated resource take 10 weeks (i.e. cost = 50 * chargeable day rate) than multiple resources bring it in sooner but cost more. As such, no daily standups, a weekly summary of progress was a report with screenshots, etc. only two client visits and team meetings in five months.

As a contractor, I always made sure that I had a separate "office" within the house as soon as working from home contracts became a possibility. I think it's unprofessional not to. Either that or rent office space nearby (walking distance if affordable) and offset it against the project revenue.

To try and properly switch modes I also had the lofty idea of going for a walk before and after my working day as a kind of mini commute. I have never achieved that. I will get out of bed about half an hour before my first meeting and then shuffle off to the living room at the end of the day. Maybe there's things about your daily routine you could tweak to help switch modes?

Ideas I've heard/read/tried (comments after if I've tried them):
Book hour-long sessions max, but treat them as 50 minutes. Each session should have a ten minute alarm so that you know to down tools, have a comfort break, make a brew, etc. I've found this very effective at preventing eye strain, numb-bum and fatigue in the past and I'm trying to encourage the client to stop at 50 minutes in meetings too.

Dress differently - smart casual for working from home; jeans and a shirt, then symbolism kicks in at 5pm when you switch to a t-shirt instead. Tried it years ago, the enemy moaned about the extra washing but it was effective! CBA at the moment as item one is working well enough.

Mini-commute; as you say or simply go into the garden for a few minutes and take in the outdoor air. Then get a coffee or breakfast or whatever to take to your office. Never done it, can't comment.

Book a meeting from 5pm-6pm every day. This may or may not take place but is a boundary between your office and home life. Use it as a metaphor for your journey home. Put tomorrow's tasks into Outlook, do your scrum board updates, get your to-do list sorted, etc. then down tools. Log off your work account and close your eyes for two minutes to represent leaving the office building at whatever time during that hour feels appropriate. Sounds like a good idea, might try it if people start organising 5pm calls!

Good luck everyone - there's more to mental health than desperation.

[ladymuck]

I'm with King on this to be fair. I'm quite happy to commute in to Manchester to be in the client office rather than home most of the week. Couldn't say exactly what it is about it but just the change of scenery, the environment, the feel of going to work and coming back again. Dunno. Just sits better with me.

Got the full home office and all that, just prefer the commute sometimes.

Yes, I realised after posting that I wasn't trying to justify working from home but more thinking about how to make the best of it. As TCP says, the current WFH scene isn't normal as there's an undercurrent of worry from the vast number of unknowns.

Even when the commute goes badly, I still enjoyed sitting on the train staring out the window or people watching others in their cars in the same traffic jam.

[jmo21]

I was at a large corporate when they went through their move to virtual pc's/thin clients/hot desking/wfh 40% for permie's and contractors 3 years ago.

It worked really well for them, but even the days you were in the office, it was highly likely people you might want to have a meeting with wouldn't be there.

I can only imagine this current period will drive them even further down the path of reducing office space, moving more people to WFH. And if they do that, it'll mean they can start to look at recruiting people who would otherwise not move to near their office locations which could only be a benefit too.

Interesting times for "the future of work".

[BigRed]

This is also a chance for the Government to step in and force companies down this route to reduce pollution, traffic congestion, accident rates etc. It could be a good thing overall to reduce Global Warming. It could be a wake up call that we rely too much on the global infrastructure to support us as well.

[cojak]

That's an unnecessary comment.

That’s ole’ ‘holier-than-thou’ rogerfederer for you.

[PerfectStorm]

It's about presenteeism died in a ditch - along with the people (workers and contractors!) who enable it by working nervously to whatever hour they've mutually agreed to punish themselves into and declining to exert any work/life balance.

Maybe Corona could just be our saviour there.