[Dieseltuned]

I voted for the mixed option. Me and my team have settled in for the WFH for more than a year now and we have not missed a single deliverable across multiple products.

The biggest plus for my whole team in WFH is the time saved in the dreaded commute to and fro office. We had our office in Powai and people used to travel in from all corners of Mumbai. That has certainly helped them get more family time , and we as a team ensure that for most instances do not stretch or entertain official meetings post working hours. There have been instances when some of them had to stretch , but then that was amply compensated by additional day offs. No leaves were cancelled and no leaves deducted for Covid care.

However, enticing it may sound but WFH has its limitations. For teams to gel and bond some amount of together time is a must. So, I would like to get my team into office atleast twice a week for team meetings. I have seen in the past year , people who used to work together and eat lunches together get in a verbal spat just beacuase of communication breakdown. something which would have never happened in a face to face scenario.

That human to human communication in person cannot be replaced by any zooms or MS teams of the world.

Regards

[bluevolt]

I would go for a mix of both WFH and work from the office. My org appears to not open its offices anytime soon. I am expecting WFH till the end of 2022 at least even if the COVID situation starts improving.

The problem with permanent work from home is the very low utilization of our cars!

My Baleno did 26000 Kms from Sep'17 to Mar'20 and this car was 90% used for office commutes only and from Apr'20 to Apr'21, it has just covered 1000 additional kilometres i.e. odo now reads just over 27,000 KMs.

What I will do with my car if WFH is made permanent?

[greenhorn]

For me, it really depends on if/when day cares and schools reopen. With a 2 and 5 year old at home, wfh is not like it used to be in my bachelor days, and my productivity is a lot less.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by sunilch

Basic Assumption here:

1) We are referring to us as employees who will have an option to WFH. For those

...
...

as a lead/manager will not force everyone to come to office everyday and will rather give everyone a (limited) choice but personally I want to go back to office ASAP. Even with the current travel time of 4 hours a day, I want to sit at my desk and work from there with other team members.

Couldnt have said it better myself. Sitting and writing/reviewing code and making the numerous ppts and excel sheets can be done from home. What I miss the most are 2 things
1. The brainstorming sessions with a white board to come up with solutions with the team in a room. No amount of zoom/team calls can compensate for that. I see very little counter suggestions in calls compared to the F2F discussions
2. the casual watercooler chat/chai/lunch with folks. In fact, in WFH, we totally miss the informal discussion with peers from other departments whom we otherwise meet in office.

After the pandemic, i think most companies will be back to office but with much more liberal WFH policies.

[Thermodynamics]

Being in a research and development setup, I need to be in Laboratory at least two weeks a month. Ideally I can manage a mixed setup of WFH and Office. However I would still prefer, office. It feels better from a psychological perspective as it disengages personal and professional spaces.

[nirmaljusdoit]

Working from home isn’t for all and could work in the IT and ITES sectors partially.

Been hearing reports from my friends that once WFH started the pressure and stress has gone up along with working hours. Personal space is also getting affected at home.

Human beings are social animals and thrive with interaction. Office working with partial WFH would be the best formula. Will be interesting to see how the new fad of co working workspaces fares post pandemic.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by am1m

Continuing to pay for an expensive office space that hasn't been used in over a year .... But nope, office space still being retained, we'll be back...someday.

Speaking from Software development point of view, there is a major hiring boom across the industry. This has resulted in an interesting model :

1. Keep existing office pace
2. Hire 2X to 4X developers (X : numbers of developers office space can accommodate)
3. Assumption : Most developers will commute only 1 or 2 days in week
4. Reconfigure office space as a more "social" space to facilitate informal communication

Originally Posted by am1m

My quality of life has improved dramatically without that horrible commute.

This will be a major driver. All candidates have at least 2 - 3 job offers in hand now a days. WFH is a lever that does not cost extra to pull.

[pineapple_ameet]

Ditto! Have switched to completely WFH mode and intend to make it much longer (2 years+ atleast).
On one hand the clients have accepted that without any hiccups (as long as one delivers without any hiccups) and on other, even staff and colleagues have adapted it in all seriousness and intent.
So a big reason is the change in mindset on both fronts indeed. Interesting times ahead, as my newly doneup office is lying vacant since March 20'

[sagarpadaki]

I have told this before in other related thread and reiterating it here again.

I do not prefer to WFH permanently.

I face challenges of noisy environment because of playing neighbor kids, vehicles honking on the road, construction activities in neighborhood.

On hot days, sitting on a chair for long hours becomes really uncomfortable even with fan ON. Cannot invest in an AC due to constraints.

Downtime in Internet connectivity during important calls causes lot of issues.

Also, not everyone working in the IT industry is privileged to have a big home with dedicated office space with all the amenities and minimum disturbances which is important to be productive. It becomes even more difficult if there are multiple people WFH. Each of them will need a dedicated work setup - table, chair, monitor etc which may not feasible to many people.

[Fiestaboy]

My vote is for Mix of WFH & Office.

Though my Organization span across different regions, In India - WFH is established at mass scale after COVID (i presume it's the case for most of the companies in India). Even before COVID, we are allowed to WFH for a limited number of days/month, as agreed with our manager.

My role depends on both system & vehicles/equipment's. So typically i cant go for WFH-100% even though if i am willing. Getting into the vehicles & moving out with colleagues has been lost for a while.

One more challenge is that we can train our new joiners only in track & hence we need vehicles & people seeing f2f to conduct the training.

[whitewing]

Voted for mix of WFH & office.
If my organization permits, I would probably choose a once in a fortnight visit to the office.

For work that don't need collaboration, I find WFH extremely useful. I just have to turn off the office mail & chat and I get undisturbed time, which was always not possible in office.

But when it comes to whiteboarding or getting a personal connect with other team members nothing beats a face to face interaction.

[ron_9191]

I voted 100% work from office after the situation gets back to the good old days as we know it. The current situation has entitled certain people in the higher management to think they are entitled to put people to work as everyone's at home. What used to be 45 hours a week of work (and this is still how all of us are paid) has become a thing of the past now. That is seriously unacceptable and should not be entertained. As it poses serious health issues both mentally and physically.

In the office when things are getting to a point where you need to stay back, you could call it a day when you have far exceeded your time and people would accept it. However now, you are rarely asked!! The engine keeps running like a trans-continental train or something.

Let what should remain in the office remain in the office. Home is where you relax, enjoy and do whatever your mind says.

[rpunwani]

Currently for me it's mainly WFH with one/two days in the office. We are part of essential services, therefore our office/workshop has to be operational.

Non core functions like accounts & admin are strictly wfh till situation improves. Technical team works almost daily.

WFH surely save me a 35km one way commute and is kinder on the environment; however many households have still not come to grasp with wfh.

Case in point - when I am in office my wife hardly disturbs me. On days that I wfh, I sit at the dining table and I have to answer door bells, do errands like buying vegetables or mineral water, sometimes even kitchen duties

My daughter has set up a workstation in her room and remains there for most of the day. This was after we used to work on the dining table and she realised that she needs a separate space where she can attend meetings / calls without the usual household disturbances.

On the days that I come to office I interact with my colleagues and that feels good.

Going forward, when the situation is under control I will continue to wfh for at least 50% of the time.

[Ash_vtec]

In the interests of long term mental health and well being, WFH is not applicable in most cases.

A judicious balance of both is a must for success in personal and professional life.

[punto_]

My current work is fully WFH, this is case for over 2 years for me now. Kind of got used to this. However, I don't want this to be my permanent setup either. I would love to go out and meet people atleast a couple of days in a week. Working in office setup atleast few days in a month will be good. I would like to have flexibility for WFH, maybe 40-60 or 30-70 (lesser time in office that is).

This way one doesn't face too much traffic issues either. Current fuel costs, makes the best case for most days WFH.