I currently spend four days per week working from home in Brighton, where I live alone. For the other day of the week (the day varies), I commute into London Victoria.
When I've travelled into London, I've been taking a train from Brighton just after 10am owing to the cost of a day return ticket being only a quarter of what it would cost if I travelled earlier at peak. I hope to be able to continue with this flexibility of working from home at the start of a day, travelling in mid-morning, then finishing later in the day and returning home in the evening. I envisage that when lockdown eventually ends, I'll return to the office more frequently than once per week. I may also move back to London by the end of the year which would make the commute shorter.
For the first year of lockdown, I was in a house share in SW London and in March 2021 I temporarily relocated to Brighton where I'm living on my own. I've found it increasingly lonely working in isolation and have missed the company and energy I get from being around others. I've welcomed returning to the office weekly for my own sanity and mental health, even if it's a longer commute to central London.
For me, there are several benefits to blended working, including seeing and reconnecting with friends and colleagues again in real life. I'm also saving more money and commuting a lot less and I can flex my working hours better around my life (e.g. jazz band rehearsal, exercise, appointments and chores). I also have more time to live my life owing to less commuting (although I don't always take full advantage!).
Of course there are challenges too. When I've come into the office, it still feels empty and often most of my colleagues are not there (so we still need plenty of video calls, which I'm finding increasingly draining). I find my productivity fluctuates more from so much home working as I positively feed off the energy of being around others. I'm also starting to feel more isolated and less connected to the business/ team as I continue to see fewer people in real life and virtually only; hopefully this will improve over time. Longer term, as normality returns, there is a risk of a division between those spending more time in the office versus those spending more time at home working which may have an impact on the team dynamic.
It will be fascinating to see how the future of work is for typically office based environments as we come out the other side of this pandemic. I appreciate there is a balance to strike for everyone. We all have unique situations and personal preferences.