[vj_torqueaddict]

I had mentioned in another thread related to Volvo announcing about parental leave policy. Will add the same here. Last year our company announced permanent WFH, covid or no covid, so I will continue to WFH 100 percent. My quality of life has improved leaps and bounds after last year's announcement, as I used to commute 3 hrs per day back and forth.

[JoshMachine]

I prefer a mix of office and home duties. Rather more of office, and less of working from home.

I feel I have gone past the initial euphoria of WFH flexibility, work-life balance etc. and now am longing to go back to the culture of working in a proper office setup.
Miss the office tapri breaks, in-person interactions and all the organization connects that can be done when in office campus.

And ofcourse, how can I forget my daily drive to office of 30 kms one way?
That's another powerful reason why I do want to go back to office on few days of the week!

[Piyush19]

Although I'm still ineligible to vote on polls, I'll still give my take on it here.
For me, I'm much high on excitement since I've got into my first job and location is at DLF Gurugram. So pretty much I've been wanting to report to the office for my first job, but since February, have been working from home and to be honest, I'm smitten . All in all, it'd be a mix of both the worlds for me, if given a chance to choose.

Piyush

[parik_ind]

Having transitioned from never working from home to my current situation, I am in two minds.

So far WFH has been a relatively stress free experience. Thankfully, we have enough space at home to set up dedicated work zones for my wife and I. Each of us has a comfortable desk, chair, large monitors and other necessary peripherals to ensure that we stay productive and comfortable. During the first lockdown we upgraded our broadband connection so we have more than enough bandwidth to connect to VPNs, conduct virtual meetings and also allow my son to stream OTT content or play on the Xbox. Our biggest advantage is that we have excellent family support (my mom and in-laws live in the same apartment complex) to take care of our son and, on many occasions, our dietary needs . And through sheer luck, we have not had a single positive case in our apartment till date. Between Swiggy and Big Basket our daily needs are also taken care of. The fact that I don't need to contend with Bangalore's dreaded rush hour traffic is a big win. When things were normal (feels like a long time ago), I would attend between 10 and 15 meetings at client locations in a week and all of that is now virtual and looks like it will stay that way. So technically, I can continue to do this for many more years.

The issue for me is that I liked the fact that my home and office were physically apart. While I never gave it a thought all these years, I feel that distinction has now become very important to me. I would always bring work home with me but the very fact that I had left my workplace for the day allowed me to cherish my time at home. Weekends helped close out the week and we would make plans to travel or visit friends/ family or just head out for a drive. I don't know if all of that will feel the same if I were to be at home all the time.

I also enjoyed stepping out of office to grab coffee or lunch with my colleagues or occasionally downing a couple of beers at the end of the day with friends. Busy and tough days also had elements of fun. For these things I would definitely want to head back to work.

The middle ground, and the most likely scenario, will be to work from home for 2/3 days and from office for 2/3 days.

Parikshith

[nax04]

In my case, it might be 90% work from home and 10% from office.
Our company took advantage of last year's lockdown and did not extend the lease of the existing building which was about to expire.
I think they might adopt hybrid working model of booking seats if we need to visit office going forward.

Also another major reason for working from home post pandemic will be the metro work which will eventually take off on Bangalore's outer ring road.
It will definitely create lots of new bottlenecks and increase the peak hour travel time to new heights.

[nikhilthegunner]

I've tried working purely from home but it doesn't necessarily work. It's actually quite difficult for me cause my mind associates the home with relaxation so to focus is not easy. I have to remedy it by going to the common areas in my accommodation and to school once in a while. Doing a mix of working from home and school is what finally works for me. Working from home suits me on days when I don't feel like stepping out but still need work done. Going to school to study helps when I'm sick of sitting at home and need some fresh air.

[no_boundaries]

Work From Home !

I've built a good atmosphere at home around this and also set up a good infrastructure to support my work.

Its been 2 years since I've been working from home and I feel it helps me stay more organised and certainly more focused on work. Any discussion or catch up is a phone call or WebEx away. Fortunately with internet being stable and no power issues here, there has been no interruption to my work. More so, I'm eating healthy and taking breaks with a good refresh when I return.

With this I'm also planing to move to Mysore for a quieter way of life and save on rent

Last 1 year has also proven this new reality as a stable option, hence I don't see myself going back to a work place and If my organisation chooses to do so, it would take some time for me to adjust to that.

[ecenandu]

My situation from Abu Dhabi, UAE.

100% of my colleagues are vaccinated, here there were no options, the vaccine was from Sinopharm, China.

There have been varying reports available online on the efficacy of the above vaccine, official values ranging from 76-85. But anecdotally, I can say the rate is even less, many of my colleagues got infected with the virus even after taking the vaccine, though, the majority of them had very mild symptoms, no one needed any intensive care.

During the initial stages of the vaccine drive, the UAE government had various incentives for the vaccinated people, with regards to movement across the emirates, quarantine periods, etc. Later, they took off these incentives, and for the vaccination to remain valid, we need to take an RT-PCR test every week.

[1985Darkkid85]

Voted on the Mix of home & office option after pandemic situation settles down

This is coming from a guy who was commuting 3 hours from south Bangalore to his office.
My office were kind of pushing us towards coming back to office in March 2021, but the 2nd wave hit and all are now scared for their well-being.

That being said, i hope this WFH situation continues forever (in an ideal scenario) as i am no fanboy of commuting 3 hours everyday in the abysmal Bangalore traffic.

Long term i dont think this WFH situation will be allowed to continue at-least in Bangalore, as all land banks/rentals/P.G's mostly owned by the politico class & they shall stand to lose massive revenue.

I'd pray for a hybrid WFH model , where you go to office a few days & rest of the weekdays are spent on WFH.

[subramaniamj]

Work From Hame does certainly have its own perks provided we follow a flexible timing.

I work at an organization that promotes a flexible work culture, and most importantly promotes its employees to take short breaks, power naps, and anything which makes you feel energized at work, provided you don't miss on your deliverables. Being at home helps me to manage my personal/family side better on odd days () where I get some sleep in the afternoon, play with my kid, make a visit to the supermarket/hotel and still finish my day strong.

The caveat - I'm a full-time consultant whose main mode of work is meetings. As a matter of fact, I spend my day time on my deliverables and my afternoon for meetings (I support projects from EU & Americas) which could extend past midnight on some days. This wouldn't happen at the office, where I used to follow strict timing and used to reject all the meetings post-work time unless a client schedules the same. This now happens all the time because my clients too are working from home now and one of them, in particular, starts as early as 3:30 AM EST (1 PM IST) and goes until 9:30 PM EST (7 AM IST), which can extend till 11:30 PM EST (9 AM IST)

In a nutshell, I'll prefer a mix of both for a socialization culture and peace of mind which would allow me to talk with a few people, have a coffee/lunch together, chit chat on Fridays, or a late-night drive to a farther cafe.. missing all those...

[Guru_GPS]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Going to be a mix of home and office. Most of the stuff can get done from home, but occasional visits to office will definitely be required. Ultimately it will be what the organization and individual groups decide. Personally for me, I would like to be in a mode where I can go to office, say once a week and work from home the rest of the time.

For job types which support it, while 100% work from home would definitely be very attractive to a lot of people, I guess it would be hard on many-especially those who are extrovert in nature and thrive on direct human interaction. So that is something companies and organizations have to keep in mind and plan for when making or offering 100% WFH decisions.

I agree on both the points. Being in a job which does not demand 100% WFO, all the conveniences we are enjoying right now make a lot of difference in terms of Employee satisfaction. Summer and Rains emphasized this best to me for the second consecutive season and commuting to and from office in the wee hours has been avoided [located in Industrial area, deserted roads] which has become a huge factor of satisfaction for my family.

[JayKis]

Voted 100% WFH.

Note: Work in the Financial Sector and need not go to office. Everything can be done online.

Advantages

• Saves commute Time.
• Saves commute Cost.
• Saves commute Stress.
• Enables more time with family and can interact much more with the kids and watch them grow.
• Daily play with Kids. In fact, could train my son for 1 hour in football every day in the evening. What started off as a balcony exercise with the first lock down had become a full fledged training till the second wave locked us in again.
• Good and Healthy Home cooked food.
• It could be Work from Anywhere as well. Could visit my parents and work from there as well.
• Boon in disguise - Dont have to meet people whom you really dont like!

Disadvantages

• Misses out on office gossip and grapevine.
• Meeting new people online would not result in the same camaraderie. (An assumption that would hopefully proven wrong with time :-) )

[swunkjyn]

To me it feels like WFH is now an overdose. Been doing it since March 2020 and I think the way its going, this will be a trend now going for another 3 to 4 years.

[bvk]

Just saw the poll result and it seems to be almost even split between 100% WFH and 100% WFO options where as large majority I.e more than 50% prefer a mix.

See that most who prefer option 1 or 2 cite commute times and traffic as reasons. Now if we just add a twist - if you stayed within 20- 30mins of drive to office would you change your preference? I am more than certain 100% wfh will have close to no takers ��

[kkunal.shah]

One common assumption each one seems to be making is that Organizations offering permanent WFM / Work From Anywhere would continue paying employees the same salaries & perks.

No matter all the show on we care, the sole purpose of organisations is the make a profit & keep shareholders (public or Pvt) happy, our salaries are defined based on various factors like city of work & its cost of living, demand-supply of talent in the city of operations, conveyance allowance etc. all of this will be up for review once the pandemic settles.

Will folks be ok with WFM/WFA with let’s say a 30-35% pay cut?