Sorry, not sorry, but wfh really is much easier

I've WFH for >20 years (self-employed). I went freelance because I was one of those people who did everyone else's job as well as my own - I'm a people pleaser who has real trouble setting boundaries. Of course, this tendency works massively in my favour now that all the profits go into my own pockets. I do wonder though how I ever managed the daily commute, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with office interactions and meetings all the time while simultaneously trying to get things done - that was exhausting.

What I have found is that I have lost the advantage I once had, of being able to live somewhere remote. It used to mean prices were cheaper, but since COVID, not any more.

Oh and I never moan about it!

Yes, WFH is considerably easier, so if you can get the job done just as well but more easily, of course it makes sense to complain if your employer decides to make the job harder for no reason. This post comes across very bitter. I'm sorry your job doesn't let you WFH. Maybe find a different one.

I've WFH for many years. It came at a good time for me both professionally and personally.
Professionally I was senior, mature and confident enough to go it alone w/o immediate supervision. I knew (know) my managers trust me to manage my time and workload effectively.
Personally, my children were older so childcare (while challenging) didn't involve little babies and toddlers i.e. beyond the stage where you can only get anything done in the house when they are not there and thus the draw to 'just put a wash on, tidy up, get other house stuff done while they were at childcare had passed.
Also (again because the children are older) my own social life/hobbies are such that I don't feel isolated in my garden office. I can go for a run at lunch time knowing that I can work in the evening if I need to.

Evenings or very early meetings are fine as I don't need to supervise my teenager.

20 years ago it would have been hard - the home/life balance would have been very blurred and difficult.

I feel very grateful that I can e.g. fit the car MOT in around my day. Drive the car to the garage first thing, jog back home across the fields, sit in my running kit all day (unless it's really hot!), jog back and get the car.

Honestly OP your posts come across as very immature. You have some lazy friends who aren't doing their jobs properly. That doesn't mean that people who WFH generally have an easy time of it. I know lots of people who work in retail or in office jobs who don't do much at all most of the time, who dither about having coffees and chatting and moaning when they actually have to deal with a customer. Your inability to recognise that many people who WFH work just as long hours as you do with no breaks is quite frankly extremely naive, and your responses to individual posters - oh, I didn't mean you, you're obviously amazing etc - shows you still think that you're right.

Why didn't you just post that your lazy friends were missing you off rather than writing about people WFH in general?

Theres good and bad points.
I like not having to travel in every day, Ilike the flexibility around the kids, and I like that I can get more work done in a day.
There's negatives too though- lack of socialisation, days become dull there's nothing to dress up for, I feel less healthy because I move less, everything with the kids falls to me- if they're off sick etc I have to work around them because it's easier for me than my partner. My biggest problem is housework, when I was in the office the house was tidy because we weren't there- now there's constant mess that I struggle to have time to keep up with. It's also really difficult to switch off from work because it's always there- when I worked in the office I closed my laptop at the end of the day and that was me done.

I work with a LOT of men, and a lot of those won't put their cameras on.

We have meetings where it's mandatory, and some where it's not. I prefer not having it on, not because of what I'm trying to hide in the background (literally nothing except the fact the room is being redone over weekends so it's a tip), but because I struggle to control my face. When people are being dense or lazy or irritating, I can control my tone (mostly) but it's written all over my face. And sadly, I work with many muppets (thankfully not in my team, but in collaboration).

I'm getting better at it, but I genuinely just have one of those faces that shows my thoughts. Much better sometimes not to be seen.

TBF I hated a 9am meeting when I did work in the office too. Or even worse the 8am whole team brief on a Monday 😫

I WFH, I absolutely know how fortunate I am. I live on a farm in a very rural community. I've had commutes up to 2.5hrs each way, which nearly killed me. But mostly about 1 hour in the car, (no public transport) to get to any job I would like.

I am on less money than I could be on in an office, because to get a WFH position I took a bit of a step down. But right now you actually could not pay me to go back. I would like a hybrid situation where I had a day in the office per week.

But this really suits. Get up, DH brings DS to nursery. I do a few little jobs like dishwasher/ put on some washing/ hoover. At lunch I can hang out washing etc those sort of little things. I finish on the button of 5pm and go collect DS.

I think the point is that the jobs office workers are being forced into an office to do can be done from home. We have seen it work effectively. So why enforce the expense and rigmarole of performative attendance? It's total nonsense. If your job truly requires in person attendance, that's different.

For example, my job is mostly analysing data and writing reports. I don't need to speak to anyone or see anyone 90% of my week. The person I interact with most is based in New York. In the old days, I would spend most of my time in the office with my headphones on anyway, with occasional small talk with the people on my bank of desks. It costs me £30 a day in train fares for the privilege, a lack of sleep, a strong desire to eat junk food I'd never normally touch around 3pm, and no energy or desire to go to the gym or enjoy my hobbies or family time in the evening. I get home, eat, do a few chores and collapse into bed. No thanks.

Have you considered a career change?

You sound very bitter and jealous. If you are unhappy perhaps find a career wfh.
My dh has worked from home for 14 years. He runs two businesses and never switches off. Still, we feel we have a wonderful balance because he’s not missed out on our kids and he can spend his break times or “thinking through an issue” mowing the lawn or doing diy.
It works for us. Maybe find something that works for you.

Your clients must be all small, local businesses.
Most large and even medium size companies work with people from across the globe anyway.. doesn't make a difference whether they're at home or in the office!

It is! The days do go quickly because I spend most of it completely frazzled and stressed lol. But at the time I just needed any wage coming in and this was the first role I got. I’ve been looking at other roles and admin based stuff. More 9-5pm and not as hands on.

There is very little about America working culture to admire.

Agree.

I find it interesting how often in these threads we see criticism of remote working where someone does some perceived appeal to an authoritative outsider. Your experiences might say one thing, but this outside figure says different. Usually it's a male partner, as with OP. America is a new one!

How small minded and short sighted.

In my sector more organisations are going further with wfh and flexible working.

My own workplace has only few desks but lots of meeting space. They don't want people coming in to sit at desk. They come in if they want to meet. Apart from that they all work remotely.

We are considering moving to a 4 day week. I attended a seminar on 4 day weeks recently and there were more than 200 other organisations taking part.

Lots of employers have recognised that staff wellbeing, flexibility, and good culture supports productivity, recruitment and retention

If staff can't effectively work unless at a desk being supervised 9-5 the. You have the wrong managers and the wrong staff.

There is very little about America working culture to admire.

WFH is the best!
Dropped the kids off, back home before 9am and eating toast while listening to radio 4 in my pjs.
Been working since 8am... honest.

I would not be able to do my job as productively being in the office. I am on back to back MSTeams calls for most of the day. It’s simply not possible to do this in the noisey office. I cannot have the confidential and commercially sensitive conversations I need to have in these meetings when I’m in the office. I am paid to work 9am - 5.30pm with an hour lunchbreak. In reality, I work 8am - 6pm and rarely take a lunchbreak. I would not be able to work these additional hours if I was in the office as I would need to factor in the commute. My work get so much more out of me by me working from home.

it doesn’t work for everyone though. I do not agree with having children at home whilst working from home, and my DD is in morning/after school club for this reason. Some people who WFH completely take the piss.

Sounds like your friends are taking the piss so maybe take it up with them instead of having a blanket “wfh people moaning” attitude?
Laughing at your friends because they have to wake up at 6am to go to difficult, demanding jobs where they’re helping vulnerable people - which you said your friends did - is not ok.

And just to add, if people are finding it easier, isn't that an excellent thing? What possible benefit to anyone is it that people's lives are harder than they need be? A well rested, happy work force who don't find life a relentless slog is surely more positive all round.

Well its certainly easier for me. I'm in my 50s, in a senior position, know my job inside out and benefit from the uninterrupted time to concentrate, as well as all the work/life balance amd financial benefits you rightly point out. My family respect my job and I have a home office in which I'm not disturbed.
However, if I were in my 20s, working in isolation in my bedroom or at the kitchen table in a house share, or I had a family who thought WFH meant availability for extra domestic responsibilities; or I was trying to learn my role without access to the informal in person observation and support you get in an office; or trying to develop my career with no opportunities to network or become visible to my seniors; or had a stressful customer facing role, where I was subject to abuse or emotional trauma, and had to listen to that in my home with no team around me to off load; then I imagine I'd find it a great deal harder.

It depends on the person and their personality, but if you're so envious of those who WFH why don't you consider a career change?

Well I have been allowed to carry on working ( smug) from home because they are more than happy with my productivity, surprised at the amount of positive feedback they got about me from the new recruits , and I have key skills

So generalise away - it's coming across as rather bitter / jealous

Yes sone take the piss

I once sat behind someone who spent hours online shopping from the office
And in front of someone who never shut up , just gossiped the whole time , loudly
And the ones who disappear for lunch and come back sometime before hometime

So yes people can piss take in the office too

True

only people who don’t WFH have this idea that all people who WFH are moving the touchpad to appear online on Teams whilst lazying in bed. I was far less productive and strict with my time when I went to the office.

We have indeed, because some of us know this due to having measurable data. I don't doubt you may have seen differently, but this is because generalising when it comes to remote working is a terrible idea. There is no one size fits all.

I can't speak for the US, but the UK is a society with a significant skills shortage and not enough workers in general. On these threads we invariably hear from people assuring us that we'll all be back in soon enough, but nobody ever manages to back that up.

In particular, that claim doesn't deal with the fact that the public sector was already enforcing hybrid in some parts throughout the 2010s as a cost saving measure. The current government likes the skiving woke from home schtick, but it could easily enough change into entitled civil servants expecting the taxpayer to fund their offices and heating for jobs that could be done in the house. The fact is, workspaces for all your employees costs.

No real horse in the race here, incidentally, because I don't actually have an office and do a role that's so niche my employer had no choice but to recruit from a very wide area geographically, long before covid.

Sorry OP, but you are the one who is moaning here, and you do sound jealous of your friends who can WFH. Why not look at a career change so you can stop resenting your friends who can do mid-week drinking if that's important to you?

Unless they signed a contract which guaranteed that their role would always be entirely home based, they were foolish to make a major life choice on that basis.

Even if that job was always going to be WFH, people change jobs quite frequently these days.