I.t. Work from home positions

[fastrack1966]

During the pandemic I got the impression from mainstream news and from I.T. gossip that the employment world in the U.K. was changing drastically. That is - staff sat on their backsides all day in the office may as well sit at home and save on the costs of commuting and eating away from home.
Had no luck finding a WFH role for a while now - I had a few in 2020-2022. Now one agency have advised me:
"The WFH trend is fading, staff are more and more being called back to the office. By the end of the year it will be finished".
OMG WHY? Maybe she was just referring to 1st-2nd Line Support, is the seismic change really finished? Are staff returning to the office because they love the commute or are they being compelled to?

[sadkingbilly]

I've only taken on 100% wfh contracts since 2013, but i Am a professional.
The wfh explosion in the pandemic put lots of permietractors in their kitchens on laptops, so productivity went down the swanney.
It takes discipline to wfh (discrete office space, no interruptions from wifes/husbands/kids/dogs etc), and most pizza munching devs don't have it.
Hence employers are insisting on office attendance as the only way to stop tossers watching tv/utube/pron'r'us when they're being paid to work.

[Bluenose]

OMG WHY? Maybe she was just referring to 1st-2nd Line Support, is the seismic change really finished? Are staff returning to the office because they love the commute or are they being compelled to?

Many roles are advertised as hybrid but when you push for details it could be as little as one day per month in the office or, as much as four days per week in the office.

It does not make it easier but you kinda have to go through each role and get to speak to the person you will be working for, to find out the facts.

Agencies, agents, its surprising how little they know even if the reel off ´we have been working with this client for 25 years and know what they want´.

The truth is, they hardly ever know, even senior recruiters, until you actually talk to the person you will work for.

The agent told me for a gig once that ´yeah they are in the office 3 days a week mandatory´ for me to find out that none of them work in the office, ever and had only been to the office to collect their laptop.

[fastrack1966]

Thanks Guys. Certainly I can tell the call centre staff who are working from home. The background "sounds strange" and the computer softphone they are using can be dreadful, even if it is a bank! Getting to speak to the person I'll be working for is a hard one though, I tend to search via agencies and they are the buffer between jobhunters and end-clients.

[northernladuk]

During the pandemic I got the impression from mainstream news and from I.T. gossip that the employment world in the U.K. was changing drastically. That is - staff sat on their backsides all day in the office may as well sit at home and save on the costs of commuting and eating away from home.

What people forget is we had to WFH because of a deadly global pandemic. We had no choice. Everything was always going to change once Covid was over and people/business go their heads around WFH. There is no way it was ever going to stay the same. Businesses haven't done what analysis they need, no reports on mental health, productivity and all that. It was an overnight seismic shift. Can't change the working habits of an entire country, if not the world overnight. It's too big a change too quickly.

We are all back and are now picking up the pieces. You could argue it has changed significantly. Forget the bit in the middle around covid. Look at it as it was before covid and what it is now. Very very few jobs need you in the office all week and it's generally more time at home than the office. That's a massive shift and a great benefit to what it was three years ago. Why are people moaning so much about it still? Guess it's because people got used to 100% WFH which was only there because of covid.

Had no luck finding a WFH role for a while now - I had a few in 2020-2022. Now one agency have advised me:
"The WFH trend is fading, staff are more and more being called back to the office. By the end of the year it will be finished".
OMG WHY? Maybe she was just referring to 1st-2nd Line Support, is the seismic change really finished? Are staff returning to the office because they love the commute or are they being compelled to?

Yep, I said 100% WFH would become hybrid even during covid and that's what's happened. Blanket 100% WFH simply does not work for many reasons. Business's know it and even those more argent 100% WFH supporters will know it deep down.

What I cannot comprehend is why this is news to you? There has been a gradual move back to the office going on for years. Every single client/company bar none are doing it to some degree and there has been plenty of news in the papers about banks enforcing 5 days in the office and so on. Why are you like 2 years behind what is now the norm?

[northernladuk]

Hence employers are insisting on office attendance as the only way to stop tossers watching tv/utube/pron'r'us when they're being paid to work.

This is the bottom line. Yes a good percentage of us in our little area might say 'But I work harder at home then the office' but we are a bunch of old professionals that are paid on delivery. Look at the entire staff of a large company. All ages, all types of jobs and people, particularly the younger ones that haven't got a work ethic yet and you are telling me combined they all work harder at home? Poppycock. Not a chance they will and the fact businesses are demanding people back is the proof.

The real reason people are being called back in to the office are the people that don't want to be in the office. Self fulfilling prophecy.

[jamesbrown]

particularly the younger ones that haven't got a work ethic yet

Back at the dawn of time, when you were a younger one, you probably worked a lot harder than you do now. I know I did.

[gables]

Back at the dawn of time, when you were a younger one, you probably worked a lot harder than you do now. I know I did.

*ahem* probably guilty here

[fastrack1966]

What people forget is we had to WFH because of a deadly global pandemic. We had no choice. Everything was always going to change once Covid was over and people/business go their heads around WFH. There is no way it was ever going to stay the same. Businesses haven't done what analysis they need, no reports on mental health, productivity and all that. It was an overnight seismic shift. Can't change the working habits of an entire country, if not the world overnight. It's too big a change too quickly.

We are all back and are now picking up the pieces. You could argue it has changed significantly. Forget the bit in the middle around covid. Look at it as it was before covid and what it is now. Very very few jobs need you in the office all week and it's generally more time at home than the office. That's a massive shift and a great benefit to what it was three years ago. Why are people moaning so much about it still? Guess it's because people got used to 100% WFH which was only there because of covid.

Yep, I said 100% WFH would become hybrid even during covid and that's what's happened. Blanket 100% WFH simply does not work for many reasons. Business's know it and even those more argent 100% WFH supporters will know it deep down.

What I cannot comprehend is why this is news to you? There has been a gradual move back to the office going on for years. Every single client/company bar none are doing it to some degree and there has been plenty of news in the papers about banks enforcing 5 days in the office and so on. Why are you like 2 years behind what is now the norm?

I live in Hastings! Non-commutable to anywhere and ten years behind the norm . We still have a Sky HD+ box

[Cookielove]

I'm back to commuting in to London and it is grim, am doing 3 days and 2 at home and even this is painful the travel and the long day.

Last 2 days trains been messed up trains cancelled so it is like sardines....today was horrific no air con and everyone squashed together...dreadful I'd forgotten how awful it was as not commuted since pre covid. You would not transport animals in those conditions...

Once you get to London the buses can barely move for the roadworks and cyclists...cars and buses can hardly move as roads swarming with bikes everywhere so its a joke plus where I am there is us much building/developments works half the bus stops are shut and then additional traffic lights.

A simple commute just is not that at all...

I'm in Fleet Street/Farringdon area what is going on there are cranes everywhere and so much construction never seen anything like it....decades ago I worked in this area and it is unrecognisable at the moment.

Days I am at home I work longer hours as I have no travel time it makes a huge difference.

Finding a fully remote role is not easy in fact finding any work is a huge challenge and getting tougher by the day....