OV9

So, I'm three days into working in an open office for the first time in 5 years.

It's just terrible, why did we all decide that we wanted to go back to it?

Is it just the people or is the environment ?

I like meeting up with people in my department because, as we have no fixed days in the office, it's variable who'll be in the day you are so it's not the same faces.

Downside is that from time to time, the office can be quite empty so if you're on a call, it can feel like you're shouting. I get less work done in the office and I'm always exhausted after, way more than if I work from home.

I prefer working from the office - but I like everyone I work with - we're a fairly small office (<30) and I've had the benefit of being involved in the hiring of everyone, so we wouldn't hire anyone we didn't like. I do around 1 day a week at home but I find it boring.

Do you reckon the boredom is down to the specific job you do - not suited etc. ?

IT s perfectly suited to remote working so I don't have that issue.

ZedLeg wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 10:16 am ...why did we all decide that we wanted to go back to it?

I don't think we did. I certainly didn't

In our group we try to all go into the office on Thursdays. We don't have allocated desks so we all sit in a conference room for the day. It's useful to be able to go through stuff face to face, but you inevitably end up doing some calls and when half the room are plugged into headsets having conversations that you could have stayed at home for, and working all day on a small laptop screen instead of proper monitor(s) it seems inefficient. I'm glad it's only one day per week.

dinny_g wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 10:26 am Do you reckon the boredom is down to the specific job you do - not suited etc. ?

IT s perfectly suited to remote working so I don't have that issue.

yeah, our projects are pretty short and fast paced, they work way better when everyone is in the same room asking questions, offering ideas and checking details.

All that happens when everyone's WFH is all the queries get saved up into long dull email lists that are usually too late to do anything about.

I like the constant chats though!

dinny_g wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 10:20 am Is it just the people or is the environment ?

I like meeting up with people in my department because, as we have no fixed days in the office, it's variable who'll be in the day you are so it's not the same faces.

Downside is that from time to time, the office can be quite empty so if you're on a call, it can feel like you're shouting. I get less work done in the office and I'm always exhausted after, way more than if I work from home.

A bit of both, some annoyingly loud people and I wasn't ready to return to the world of cheap office furniture.

I knew I was going to end up back in an office as nothing that I could do was offering wfh but it's still a drag

Rich B wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 10:40 am

dinny_g wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 10:26 am Do you reckon the boredom is down to the specific job you do - not suited etc. ?

IT s perfectly suited to remote working so I don't have that issue.

yeah, our projects are pretty short and fast paced, they work way better when everyone is in the same room asking questions, offering ideas and checking details.

All that happens when everyone's WFH is all the queries get saved up into long dull email lists that are usually too late to do anything about.

I like the constant chats though!

This is the argument that my old place used for trying to force everyone to relocate to Brighton. But considering I'd been working fine for years I refused and got redundancy.

I can see the benefit for project work and I'd said that I'd be happy to occasionally commute down as required but they were office or nothing.

I feel like the higher up management/entrepreneurial people seem to prefer working in the office. I would love to have a team and a studio where we could work for 3 days a week. True that some indsutries are better suited to it than others. Creative projects definitely benefit as Rich says.

I've been managing a small team for a client and one guy is terminally unsuited to the job, so whenever we let him WFH he will regularly do approximately 30 minutes worth of tangible work in an entire day. We've really struggled to manage that, and getting him into the office seems to consistently shift his outputs up to a better level.

I prefer being in office for management chats yeah, and most of my team are WFH full time so I just have to manage the less pro active ones a little more than the seniors. Pros and cons, like most things.

They're providing lunches twice a week still, an early incentive that they seem happy to prolong, but I don't see any new faces on those days, it just seems to bring the same crowd in twice a week

Similarly i went to our offices a couple of weeks ago. They are trying to start an initiative to go in on a Thursday. I did not enjoy it. I have a proper office setup in my house and i can get on with things well without interuption. I like playing music in the background also. Spent all day in the office wearing my headphones.

My favourite combination is working from the office (so no cats or dog to annoy me) but without any staff (so no people to continually ask me questions all day long). Alas this doesn't happen often enough

I'm wfh full time for all my clients. A few have tried to get smaller teams to go into the office on the same day each week, but its never really taken off apart from with 1/2 individuals for whom it really suits - i.e. they live close to the office or have a regular gym class nearby that day. For my Edinburgh one, although the office is only 9 or so miles from the house, it's 60-90 minutes by car or train depending when I leave, so just not worth it.

Shame really.

Ascender wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 12:59 pm I'm wfh full time for all my clients. A few have tried to get smaller teams to go into the office on the same day each week, but its never really taken off apart from with 1/2 individuals for whom it really suits - i.e. they live close to the office or have a regular gym class nearby that day. For my Edinburgh one, although the office is only 9 or so miles from the house, it's 60-90 minutes by car or train depending when I leave, so just not worth it.

Shame really.

Where are your offices?

We're also entirely remote workers, and we were doing four meetings a year in a hotel but the logistics got ungainly when we got past 20 people, including a few who need to fly in (NI, Azores (!)).

Now we do two meetings a year and we're doing smaller, team or intra team meetings in the interim for facetime/catchup/etc

Feels like a reasonable compromise to having an Actual Office (We do have a registered one obviously).

The idea of working full time in an office now is anathema to me.

My team has now decided to "expect" office attendance for our monthly team meeting, and for the team to work in the office all day, not just pop in for the meeting itself. Two of the managers below team leader level live far away so not sure how many will just not bother.

The wording from HR and TLs is getting more aggressive but we have 400 odd staff and about 320 desks in the office.

Like many, I work more productively from home so hybrod suits me and TBH, althouh I would rather not pop in often, it isonly 10 minutes away so it is not the end of the world

To be fair, I've spent the last 2 hours sat in a pub in the sun for lunch with my office workers - we're pretty good at the social stuff - there's about 16 of us all paid for.

The whole "culture" thing actually means something in some places!

scotta wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 1:13 pm

Ascender wrote: Fri May 10, 2024 12:59 pm I'm wfh full time for all my clients. A few have tried to get smaller teams to go into the office on the same day each week, but its never really taken off apart from with 1/2 individuals for whom it really suits - i.e. they live close to the office or have a regular gym class nearby that day. For my Edinburgh one, although the office is only 9 or so miles from the house, it's 60-90 minutes by car or train depending when I leave, so just not worth it.

Shame really.

Where are your offices?

One is Edinburgh, round by the airport - so its the bypass or two trains.

Others are train or plane ride away which I don't mind if its going to be productive.

I live 5 minutes from the office in the car so popping in or out of the office is absolutely fine.

I've done 2 hours at home first, then nipped into the office for a face to face, back home for lunch and a few hours ans then gone back in for a 16:00. (to be around for deliveries)

I've full IT kit at work and home so only need to carry my laptop and writing pad.

My new office is 15 mins away on bike or 45 by car or public transport.

At least I'm finally using that bike I bought for commuting like 4 years ago