Forum Topic

Have we fallen out of love with the office?

Now that so many people are working from home and more employers have accepted and encouraged this and even Parliament is mostly working from home - and hotseating or hotdesking is no longer the in-thing - have we fallen out of love with the office? https://www.1843magazine.com/features/death-of-the-office?

Philippa Bond ● 2356d8 Comments

I hope so. If so it's been a very long time coming. I have worked from home for almost 20 years. I think there may be more homeworking than before but so many bosses just don't trust their workers.  And some people don#t like working from home for various reasons.  But it's time that everyone who can work from home is offered the option to do so. Cuts down on pollution, overcrowding on public transport and spreading disease, and benefits people who like (and often need) more flexibility.  I find it more productive too - an hour each way on crowded transport is a stressful, unpleasant waste of time. But predictably with the awful antedeluvian Mogg in charge, Parliament has voted to go back to its old ways in a couple of weeks.

Claire Moran ● 2356d

Even with my short memory, I don't remember hot seating/desking being a 'in-thing', but nonetheless, I'm very much missing the office and my colleagues. While I can give or take the commute, having no separation between work/home is a personal bugbear, as is the lack of human contact. I'm somebody who prefers being around others.

Gordon McDonald ● 2356d

I believe Twitter has said that all its 5000 employees can work from home permanently if they wish.

Ken Munn ● 2356d

I am enjoying working from home but not good for the waiste line I am afraid! I prefer human to human chat as I can sense straight away if the person is bulldunging me. So for me,the office is key but I fear it will be a few more months before we are all back in, plus I think Mrs S-J wants her space back!

James Smith-Jones ● 2356d

Have any of you working online from home arranged to meet up with work colleagues for a coffee and a chat online?  I know some offices do this.

Philippa Bond ● 2355d

Have any of you working online from home arranged to meet up with work colleagues for a coffee and a chat online?Yes,  I am regularly having coffee zoom catch ups where we try not to talk shop but rather chat about our lockdown experience and life in general.  It compliments the banter that you might have had when in the office and I find it helps to keep up working relationships.

Matthew Swain ● 2355d

Use the time you would have been commuting in the morning to work out / pilates / walk round the block and use the time you would have commuted home to go for a cycle / walk. Very important to decompress when working from home so exercise or a shower is a good delineation point.

Chris Blackwell ● 2355d

When I was working from home before retiring, the public holidays never seemed to be so special anymore.

Roger Talbot ● 2354d