Work from home - becoming permanent

[Lupus]

Our company took out a lease from two floors to the entire building literally weeks before the 1st lockdown. Oops.

Ours started a revamp in February of 2020, new coffee machines and everything, most of the office renovations are still not finished of course, yet various things have taken a walk.

 

[Lupus]

I may have worked in the same offices as you (or very close...). Same for me. Subsidised fibre, got my computer equipment at home, and from the sounds of it, our team will never go back to the office. We have colleagues in India, so we work better remotely anyway. I have been back to Sandton once (to get my screens), and the office had been stripped and re-done, and I've worked from another office for 3 days due to load shedding/power outages.

Working from home saves me 2.5 hours a day and R3000 per month in fuel, and I think I deliver more than when I'm in the office. You do need some form of delivery-oriented management though, not time-oriented. My GF's company is insisting al people work from the office, because they think people will skive off (as if they don't in the office). Very short-sighted.

I remember having this conversation with my boss back in 2019 and how the corporates at the top didn't think it could work as people would slack off. Yes initially a lot of teams were unreachable initially but after 450+ days everything is still running and sometimes more then it was.
They had this archaic thinking that if you're in the office you're working, yet most of my days were spent in meetings, which thankfully have stopped so I can do some work

 

[Neuk_]

I hope that we move to more of a hybrid setup, there are benefits to WFH and WFO, I have found it difficult to WFH at times with two dogs, a baby, a nanny, our gardener and my fiancé all wanting attention at times.

 

[N@t3]

Been WFH since lockdown, and go in once in a while to sort out hands on work, Office lease expiring in October and was not renewed, so yep looks like we will permanently work from home.

 

[Superjakes]

I have also been WFH since the lockdown started - got everything nicely settled in and have not lost productivity.

The risk I see with this is (especially in multi-nationals): If my job can be done from outside of the office, can it not also be done from another country with cheap resources? Outsource all to India of Hungary, for instance. Any thoughts on that?

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

So anyone else who has a company that has made permanent commitments to flexi work even post covid?

There will never be such a time...

 

[Cius]

I have also been WFH since the lockdown started - got everything nicely settled in and have not lost productivity.

The risk I see with this is (especially in multi-nationals): If my job can be done from outside of the office, can it not also be done from another country with cheap resources? Outsource all to India of Hungary, for instance. Any thoughts on that?

We have a guy working for our larger department who recently moved to the Netherlands after his wife got a job there. Long term he will probably look for a job that side but he has happily been working for us while being based that side for a few months now. I think the exchange control side must be annoying and challenging but it can work.

 

[randomcat]

I have also been WFH since the lockdown started - got everything nicely settled in and have not lost productivity.

The risk I see with this is (especially in multi-nationals): If my job can be done from outside of the office, can it not also be done from another country with cheap resources? Outsource all to India of Hungary, for instance. Any thoughts on that?

You might lose your job, but they will come back to you. They will realize that you can comprehend English. For America and Europe, we are the cheap labour because we speed English and Randelas are worth jack.

 

[PsyWulf]

The risk I see with this is (especially in multi-nationals): If my job can be done from outside of the office, can it not also be done from another country with cheap resources? Outsource all to India of Hungary, for instance. Any thoughts on that?

There's some added complexity and costs involved like needing to incorporate in said country too for tax purposes
But this has always been a risk for remote-capable jobs to a degree,asses in a seat didn't prevent it

 

[Ancalagon]

I had been working from home for my previous job, for a bit over a year. It was a rough start, but I got used to it.

Now my new job is 100% remote - they have no offices at all. Apparently they might have us meet up now and then, but it looks like this will be very rare, and only once COVID is over.

I like the idea because it means I can live basically wherever I want. It used to be that you had to live in or near a city in order to have a high paying job. Now I can live in some backwater dorpie if I want and still earn good money. Even if there is a cost of living adjustment, I still come out on top.

I don't think I could go back to a fully in office job. I'm just so used to the flexibility now.

 

[Nerfherder]

I wonder if this isn't going to cause a glut of office space which will screw up commercial property investment. And these corporate offices aren't suited for development to residential due to location. Suppose they could be rethought.

It already is, I wonder how many of these big financial institutions have money in the property market ?

I think some places will be able to convert to housing which is probably good for everyone but I think mostly its going to end up being a lot of ghost town office parks.

I think there are only so many places that can convert to shared space.

I can't wait to get back to working with other people, I miss real interaction and I think so much is lost when you are only interacting online.
I'm also wondering how a generation of people entering the workplace will adapt. I think it takes a while to build up the skill and discipline of being able to work in isolation.

 

[Nerfherder]

I have also been WFH since the lockdown started - got everything nicely settled in and have not lost productivity.

The risk I see with this is (especially in multi-nationals): If my job can be done from outside of the office, can it not also be done from another country with cheap resources? Outsource all to India of Hungary, for instance. Any thoughts on that?

I think its going to affect companies providing outsourced resources the most. I think there will be a move to going directly to the source now.
I have seen a flurry of new jobs where you can work in SA for a UK based company, its cutting out the middle man.

 

[grok]

We've been having this in IT sector, been working from home for years, also all through lockdowns etc. but always struggled with a few clients that wanted bums on seats.
I have a colleague that stays in Langebaan but been working at clients in Gauteng for yonks but it was kinda the exception here, not so while I was working in the UK.
Was actually planning to retire in stages in exactly the same way, so I for one welcome our new remote working allowing overlords..

 

[Ecko_1]

I work for a smaller bank. We are also putting a flexi work policy in place that will put WFH in permanently, with a mandatory team day in per week.

I prefer it. Work in my gown, no travel time, and I can smoke my hookah while working. I have halved my fuel bill. Would be less but my wife and i take turns driving our parents to and from work as they don't have cars and we don't want them to take public transport during the pandemic.

 

[Claymore]

The one thing I miss is being able to chat to colleagues from other teams at the coffee kiosk. We used to sometimes solve problems by getting a different viewpoint or different experience. Now, unless I have a specific issue that requires other people, I largely chat only to my own team.

OK, two things I miss: I miss the canteen at work. I used to have an excellent breakfast every Friday morning, and the occasional lunch.

 

[PsyWulf]

I see Carte Blanche did a piece on this (first portion is about converting office buildings):

Convert all that excess office buildings into living spaces like flats,might find people to work from home from their former offices

 

[Okty]

Meanwhile in Merica:

Josh has quite a few videos on the above.

Big excuse CEOs and managers use, in order to want people to return to the office seems to be “office kultcha”. Although, I think most of these companies wants to keep the office building valuation up