Do you prefer to work from home?

Where is your workplace of choice?

  • Working from home

    Votes: 118 57.8%

  • Working from an office

    Votes: 12 5.9%

  • Hybrid (working from home and the office)

    Votes: 69 33.8%

  • Other

    Votes: 5 2.5%
  • Total voters
    204
bwana

bwana

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Covid-19 has forced many to forgo the workplace and work from home. SA business predict that within the next three years 1/3rd of the workforce will [still] be doing so on a permanent basis.

Given a choice, would you prefer permanently working from home, or does an office environment better suit you?
 
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abzob said:
Yes. Don’t have to get up early, get dressed and drive all the way to the office to not do anything when I can just stay at home and not do anything.
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Are you a union member? Can't be a shop steward as they need to organise strikes, balloting, etc now and then.
 
R13... said:
Are you a union member? Can't be a shop steward as they need to organise strikes, balloting, etc now and then.
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Nope. They’ve stopped nagging me to join the union. I don’t see the point in paying the monthly union membership fee when all staff will benefit from union negotiations anyway. As far as I’m concerned, unions are a scam.
 
Since the start of lockdown, I have worked from home. Prior, I was used to arriving at office by 7.45 and leaving by 16:30. Walking to/from car. Walking between buildings on campus. Meetings spaced out and managed.

Since lockdown, I have worked from 7am to 7pm, every weekday. I have worked a few weekends as well. Meetings are back to back. There is no time for lunch.
There has been zero respect for boundaries from peers and uppers. Even after the CTO and CHRO made requests to manage meetings.
I have not even taken annual leave.

So I would like to go back to the office ASAP.
 
I wouldn't mind a 2 day office week, as waking up at 4.30 to get to the office at 6am to avoid an hour and a half of traffic. So I can leave at 3pm to once again avoid traffic.
Though as pointed out the back to back meetings and often over lunch as well can get annoying. What I don't miss is cramming into meeting rooms to wait for everyone else to get there 15min later sigh.
 
A bit of both for me really.

Since the lockdown opened up my team did a home office rotation every 2-3 weeks or so where we simply worked at each other’s houses for one day as a sort of offsite remote office location.

This worked surprisingly well for team cohesion and camaraderie as we would organise food and then make breakfast and/or lunch in between work which made for a good social extension to the work day.

Since the offices have opened up again we’ve been aiming for more of a once a week a week in the office kind of thing which works well for the more direct collaboration efforts and just seeing faces and socialising a little bit.

I suspect that will be the norm for at least the next few months after December holidays are over.
 
bwana said:
Covid-19 has forced many to forgo the workplace and work from home. SA business predict that within the next three years 1/3rd of the workforce will [still] be doing so on a permanent basis.

Given a choice, would you prefer permanently working from home, or does an office environment better suit you?
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[X] Working from home

a lot less office retardation to deal with.
 
I voted "Other". I am an "Analytics Maintenance Officer" which means that I am not office bound. I repair, service and calibrate gas chromatographs and online analysers, which I obviously cannot do when working from home. I have been going to work ever since the beginning of lockdown.
 
What gets me is this "team" crap. I don't need a team to do my job. And 99% of my time my responsibilties can be done remote with out a string of meetings. My take on "corporate team work" is that those who are capable have to drag the useless with and when the paw paw hits the fan the useless are blameless.
 
Been working from home for a few years and wouldn't change it for anything! Some of the most important things I learnt have been:
  • Create a defined work space, no kids stuff, bike spares or anything the family can use as an excuse to come into your "work time"
  • If my "office" when the door is open, you are welcome to come in, if not please don't bother me
  • Have strict working hours, in the beginning I would set an alarm to remind me it's time to walk away from my desk
  • Define the maximum overtime you will work and how many days a week. I will push an extra two to three hours, two days a week or add in an extra few hours on a Saturday ONLY if needed
  • I do not answer "business calls after 5pm or before 8am
  • If I receive a message from clients over whatsapp after 5pm, I respond with "will attend to it first thing tomorrow when I'm back at my desk". I have never had anyone respond negatively.
  • I decline meetings if there is pressing work to be done and provide an alternative date and time.
Get your family to keep you in check, it's so easy to get drawn back into working long hours and weekends, I suffered two burn outs from working 18 hours a day and taking only Sunday's off... Once I put boundaries in place, I actually get a lot more work done and get to spend quality time with my family everyday.

WFH isn't for everyone, you have to have a dedicated mind set with a defined home and work space.
 
I also prefer working from home, saves me from waking up early to leave before traffic hits. Our office hours are 7:45-16:00 but since working from home, there has been an expectation to work from 6 am until the middle of the night just because others don't sleep.

I've managed to keep to my working hours and indicate my personal time and household duties for those unnecessary afterhours meetings.
 
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