The working from home thread: tips and advice

Edinburgh?

IT MIGHT BE. unless you're faking your geographic identity so THEY don't get you.

Ok well than I can confirm that I am in 'Edinburgh'.

ALL HAIL THE LIZARD QUEEN NICOLA

My 4G stopped working today, is that part of this as well?

It's a sign you need vaccinating.

Survey went around work the other day asking people how often they'd like to be back in the office once normality has returned. By far the most popular option was less than once a week, think it probably surprised management how high that was, though they committed to not reducing office capacity (yet).

We're seeing the same where I work. All the older people who live in nice houses with their family are quite happy to continue working from home as much as possible, whereas the younger ones who house or flat share, or live alone, are much keener to get back to the office.

Productivity has gone through the roof though, so senior management are keen to ensure that continues, but are also fully aware that face to face collaboration is a core part of what makes the business successful.

I was speaking to one of our younger guys yesterday and he hadn't left the house since Monday. He's really keen to get back.

Over the year our management have swung from "this is great, we will have a whole new model" to "standard 3 days a week in the office, some roles might need more or less".

I'm not surprised. It's one thing to take people with momentum and established networks and get them working remotely, it's a different thing to kick off new stuff and integrate new joiners. I've always thought office politics will drive everyone back in.

I'm not sure the 3 day thing will work either, at least not in a way that saves office space. The reason to come into the office is to see people face to face, so you need to be in on the same days as the people you need to see. Which means everyone is likely to gravitate to the same 3 days...

(Though as far as my actual role goes I'm pretty sure my manager will just trust me to do whatever works best.)

I think people who sold up in London expecting to be able to work remotely may regret it though.

Probably fine for the job they are currently in but it's going to restrict their ability to change. And even one day a week is a bastard if it's a long commute. In my last job I did one day a week in our out of town office which was 2.5 hours each way and it really screwed up the week. The out of town day was a total write off home-wise, but the evening before was messed up by having to get to bed early for the early start, and the day after I was on the back foot from having no real down time before going to bed and up again for work. I ended up making every other week a stay-over to space out the journey, but I was lucky that work would pay for that.

I've always thought office politics will drive everyone back in.

It's not going to take much for your average middling management meddler with a damp weak handshake to feel insecure with not having bums in seats and to get everyone back in.

My (pre-covid) ambition was to live out of town, and with two days a week in the office with an overnight in a travelodgealike. Still is my ambition, pretty much.

It's not going to take much for your average middling management meddler with a damp weak handshake to feel insecure with not having bums in seats and to get everyone back in.

In my industry I don't think it will be down managers wanting bums on seats, it'll be ambitious schmoozers coming in voluntarily to "bump into" senior managers, and then anyone who doesn't put in a bit extra in person time will get their card marked. Same reason in pre-covid days, in some teams if you turned up for work that's supposedly 9 to 5 after 8am, someone would say "nice of you to join us for lunch".

I changed jobs during the pandemic and have never met my colleagues (except to interview with my boss in march 2020, which seems odd in retrospect.) would maybe be nice to meet them at some point but can't say I miss the commute, plus I like logging off at literally 5pm every day

We are / were the same industry, i think.

Leaving before 6pm = "half day?" Or "thanks for popping in"

The cards marked bit is kind of what i was getting at - a manager confident in their hiring choices, and conversant with what their teams are delivering, isn't going to pay too much heed to glad-handing by suck ups.

I've been back in the office since December, mainly due to physical problems with my hip which I think developed from sitting down for too long/bad ergonomics in my home setup. However my mental health was really suffering, looking back, partly due to my own inability to switch off, compounded by my office being my lounge, and also my company's unwillingness to adapt to WFH life (I still don't think they've seriously thought about the long term implications of how this might work going forward).

Made me realise how much I value the separation of work from home, though my comute is practically 0 anyway so I didn't see the biggest perk if not having to commute. I'll not be rushing to WFH again in a hurry until I have a dedicated space (home office, preferably detached from the house).

I hate WFH. I just miss people. I think that's compounded by having a single half hour meeting a week (end period of postgrad), but yeah, not for me.

a single half hour meeting a week

For some people this is the promised land (but I totally sympathise that it leaves you feeling disconnected otherwise).

i spent 29 hours on video calls this week, im not sure i remember how to socialise in person anymore

38 hours this week gone. 32 the week before. Surely people are bored of me talking / having to look at me by now…

Anyone here used a portable screen?

I know someone on here suggested it to me when I was looking into that W10 screen tethering thing between laptops. But I'm now seriously looking into it.

Mainly looking at the Asus zenscreen MB16AC. Haven't really investigated anything else.

My main question is has anyone mounted one on a stand?

cross posting from my desk build thread

think i'm pretty happy with this now

Got the standing desk set-up finally. I'm now based and set up in the spare room as I was kicked out of the living room. It is a mess with the cables underneath but I do like it. I did screw a multi socket plug to the underneath to ensure nothing got pulled off if I went too high

One thing that intrigued me was all the instagrammers who had nice pictures in black.frames on their desks. Surely it just leaves a streak up and down the wall when they raise it or lower it?

I need to sort some storage solutions out for pens and pads. Also toying with a laptop drawer as now I got the separate webcam don't need to keep opening and closing the laptop.

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Not my set up unfortunately but this looks pretty decent

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One thing that intrigued me was all the instagrammers who had nice pictures in black.frames on their desks. Surely it just leaves a streak up and down the wall when they raise it or lower it?

Do you have an image?

I can't get my head around what "black frames" are?

Black picture frames, lent up against the wall?

Yeah this. Not a code word for anything.

Search flexispot on Instagram. Nearly all the influencers have some black frame resting. Not sure what paint they have but mine would just streak if I let it go up and down

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Boringly I think they just hold on to the picture to keep it away from the wall when they raise or lower the desk.

probably don’t even have the pic on the desk full time and only add it when staging shots for socials