Work

[Fatty Facesitter]

51 minutes ago, Nostalgia Nonce said:

Starting my first shift if a new job in about twenty minutes. In an actual office, surrounded by actual people, having been working in isolation at home for just over three years.

While appealing at first, having to get up over an hour earlier, having to commute (and thusly increase my fuel and insurance costs), and not being able to do the school run (and therefore having to wake the boy up over an hour earlier than normal and take him to a childminder) , I'm now questioning whether this was a wise decision. 

Oh, and I've got drop in somewhere that the mother in law died just before the weekend, so I'll be needing some time off (bathing in mind I'm already off in two weeks for pre-existing holiday).

Best of luck - one task at a time etc. Hope it all works out. 

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, Nostalgia Nonce said:

Starting my first shift if a new job in about twenty minutes. In an actual office, surrounded by actual people, having been working in isolation at home for just over three years.

While appealing at first, having to get up over an hour earlier, having to commute (and thusly increase my fuel and insurance costs), and not being able to do the school run (and therefore having to wake the boy up over an hour earlier than normal and take him to a childminder) , I'm now questioning whether this was a wise decision. 

Oh, and I've got drop in somewhere that the mother in law died just before the weekend, so I'll be needing some time off (bathing in mind I'm already off in two weeks for pre-existing holiday).

That's a fucking massive step after three years. I know I found it difficult returning to the office after the pandemic. It's very easy to get used to being alone at home and not dealing with all the other stuff.

Just take it all day by day. It'll likely all become normal again. It does sound like you've got other stuff going on that might be difficult to juggle but I'm sure you'll figure it all out. Just takes time really.

I'm a big fan of working from home but I do believe everyone needs a bit of human interaction. I don't think I could go back to 5 days a week but I do a couple in London and yeah they're longer and more expensive etc but I think overall the balance is important.

[SuperBacon]

41 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

I'm a big fan of working from home but I do believe everyone needs a bit of human interaction

Agreed. I WFH full time, apart from maybe one day a week, and genuinely struggle sometimes with normal conversation when in the office.

However, when I went in Wednesday, there was just me in an office of maybe 30 desks. I ended up having a half hour chat with the lad who waters the plants, who looked like he regretted stopping and chatting.

The Daily Mail would have a field day if they knew how empty our offices are sometimes (no one rat me out)

Edited May 15, 2023 by SuperBacon

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Agreed. I WFH full time, apart from maybe one day a week, and genuinely struggle sometimes with normal conversation when in the office.

However, when I went in Wednesday, there was just me in an office of maybe 30 desks. I ended up having a half hour chat with the lad who waters the plants, who looked like he regretted stopping and chatting.

The Daily Mail would have a field day if they knew how empty our offices are sometimes (no one rat me out)

Oh that's the worst thing. The number of times I've been told to come in because "everyone needs to" and then I just end up on fucking Teams calls all day because no one else has..

Or occasionally I get told to come in then go book a meeting room and sit in there all day working so I don't get distracted by other people! I mean seriously.

Doesn't help that it costs me £40-60 return so it burns. I mean sure, thank fuck I don't need a £6k+ season ticket anymore but somehow seeing the individual day prices is still upsetting.

[SuperBacon]

18 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Oh that's the worst thing. The number of times I've been told to come in because "everyone needs to" and then I just end up on fucking Teams calls all day because no one else has..

That is annoying but this wasn't due to thar. Our SMT are great believers in "Only come in if it's necessary" (for instance Friday, a departmental get together of about 200 people)

The only reason I found myself in an empty office was because I was due to be somewhere else and because of an overnight landslip cancelling every train, I had to work out of there for the day.

[TobyK]

Similar to others; I've been pretty much working at home for the past three years. I've definitely found that office or workplace talk much trickier and even a bit tiring now. Grown accustomed to not needing to deal with that or the day-to-day work crap that was previous. When I was in an office two weeks ago, in the environment of desks, office lighting, reception area, canteen, handshakes and "smiles", etc...it is very evident that it's no longer an environment that I'd be happy being in for at least 8 hours a day. Even the smell of it..was relieved to be out of there. I suspect my social skills have taken a nosedive over the past year or two, but I'm probably more content and relaxed now, knowing I don't need to show up to work norms each and every day.

[Lorne Malvo]

I'm very much the opposite when it comes to work. I really need that divide between work life and my own time and space so I choose to come into the office everytime (although it does help that the office is a 15 minute walk so I'm not out of pocket). I tried working from home when we were coming off furlough, and doing work emails and quotes etc while sitting in my scruffs in my gaming chair really fucked my head up. It was like I could never be fully switched on or off.

[Briefcase]

I think I have missed the boat with WFH in that the pandemic changed everything and it feels harder to get into this type of work now if you aren't already working from home (unless your willing to accept a lower salary).

Would appreciate any suggestions - I think I am done with facing the general public, travelling, seeing people & co workers every day.  

 

[Chris B]

9 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I'm very much the opposite when it comes to work. I really need that divide between work life and my own time and space so I choose to come into the office everytime (although it does help that the office is a 15 minute walk so I'm not out of pocket). I tried working from home when we were coming off furlough, and doing work emails and quotes etc while sitting in my scruffs in my gaming chair really fucked my head up. It was like I could never be fully switched on or off.

It's the old thing of working from home can = living at work.

I've found that buffer space between work and home really important. I've ended up using a local co-working space (because, for various reasons, working at home is less of an option than I'd like), and I tend to go for a walk or grab a coffee or a drink before heading home. For the most part, it's a similar function to the commute, giving me a little time of personal time and space while I decompress from one and go to the other.

[DavidB6937]

16 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I'm very much the opposite when it comes to work. I really need that divide between work life and my own time and space so I choose to come into the office everytime (although it does help that the office is a 15 minute walk so I'm not out of pocket). I tried working from home when we were coming off furlough, and doing work emails and quotes etc while sitting in my scruffs in my gaming chair really fucked my head up. It was like I could never be fully switched on or off.

I was like that to start with. Had to have my set up on the kitchen table because I didn't have an office. But since then we got a built in desk into one of the rooms, and then eventually moved to a bigger house so I have my own office now. It was never needed before because working from home just wasn't a thing unless you couldn't get to work. But now with the balance it's good to have.

It definitely fucked with me at the beginning or however many months it was because the computer was always there. But now I feel like as long as I can shut it away in a different room that I don't go into then it's not nearly as bad.

Thing that probably messes with me the most is having Teams on my phone. It feels like there's an expectation to be more available now beyond work hours. Even though people say "oh I wasn't expecting you to read/respond!" .. as if I'm going to ignore it if I know it's there.

Definite pros and cons to both ways which is why I'm happy to have that balance. I have to get up at 5am to go in (shit) but I get a couple of hours peace there and back (great when you've got kids!) etc etc.

[TobyK]

18 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

It was like I could never be fully switched on or off.

Yea I hear that. Typically at the end of a work day I'll have a few puffs of the RVD and go for a short walk (weather dependant) or run some basic errands...or just blast some tunes whilst tidying the flat. Activities are pretty essential to swap between the work state of mind and the personal time state of mind

[Keith Houchen]

I remember @Loki mentioning how the best way to work from home is to dress for the office and at the end of the day, go for a walk and when you get back, change out of your office clothes. I thought it was great advice to create the divide between work and home. 

[SuperBacon]

Yeah that really is good advice.

It's hard to stay motivated some times and I get really easily distracted so I've had to really try hard to make sure I'm in work mode.

I was watching films/TV in the background and sat on the sofa most days, but now I have a proper desk and working space (still in my bedroom as I only have a small house) I do try to limit my distractions. 

My job can be fairly admin heavy, so on those days I'm happy enough with the World Service on, and make sure I take regular breaks (walking the dog is an excellent way to break up the day numerous times a day) but its important to differentiate the two.

It is funny though when the "bad" laptop goes away at 5ish and the "good" laptop gets turned on

[Chris B]

29 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Thing that probably messes with me the most is having Teams on my phone. It feels like there's an expectation to be more available now beyond work hours. Even though people say "oh I wasn't expecting you to read/respond!" .. as if I'm going to ignore it if I know it's there.

I don't have Teams on my phone anymore, but when I did, I eventually used the 'quiet time' feature, where it mutes notifications on regular hours that you set. So you can set it to mute notifications outside of work hours, while you're set to 'Do not disturb'.

I found that a huge different-maker, in terms of not *having* to feel present at all times.

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, Keith Houchen said:

I remember @Loki mentioning how the best way to work from home is to dress for the office and at the end of the day, go for a walk and when you get back, change out of your office clothes. I thought it was great advice to create the divide between work and home. 

Yeh, I did that for a while - need to resume it. Maybe not the changing clothes, but the going out for a walk is a sort of "simulated commute" to break up the day, and it does work.