If you Work from home, what do you do?

[rainbowrainfall]

My maternity leave is coming to an end, I have 1 more week and then I'm going back and doing a phased return, 2 days for a start and working up to full time by the end of the year.

I work in children's mental health but I've worked up to leadership level now so less hands on, more paperwork and meetings and I don't love it anymore. I don't want to work full time in such a demanding and life consuming role. I cannot walk away at 5pm and go home, if there are incidents, safeguarding etc I have to stay and sort it. Sometimes I'm distracted at home if there is a particular safeguarding issue on my mind.

I'd love to be able to work from home, so I can have a better work/home life balance but everything I see is call centre type work and I'd get bored! I need to be challenged and pushed.

If you WFH, what do you do? Do you enjoy it?

I'm a head of marketing. It wouldn't have been a home based role pre Covid but the company I work for is 150 miles from where I live so I will definitely not be going up more than once a week at most once Covid ends.

Do you prefer being at home? Would you rather it stay that way or back to how it was pre covid?
Do you have time to do things at home during the day that saves time in the evenings? Or do you have to work even more to compensate for not being in the office?

Accountant in a company, wasn't WFH pre covid but after a year we think working practices will change to be in office 2 or 3 days a week for collaborative work, remainder of time to be WFH permanently. Many colleagues will probably want to WFH 3/4 days and will probably be allowed.
Many things have changed in the last year and teams/zoom etc have made WFH much more practical.

Digital marketing manager at a tech start up. It’s my second start up and they tend to have a more flexible approach to working anyway so I was already doing a few days at home. Before that, I was in a corporate role and probably wouldn’t have allowed it. Who knows now.

Policy advisor in the civil service. Love it. Very busy and varied but great work/life balance.

University admin type manager. Likely just one day a week in the office when we do go back

Claims handler for car insurance. No I don’t love it but I only do 16 hours a week and being able to WFH is so good, whereas I obv couldn’t if I worked in a supermarket for instance (just trying to compare to similar waged job) altho tbf I earn well for the job.

Manager in software development company. Always did some WFH. Current new
Role was not advertised wfh but applied
Anyway but was upfront about location and the split i was looking for post covid and they wanted my skills and liked me
So accepted it. They have since hired others on a similar basis. We also no longer have enough desks due to growth so can't all be in the office at the same time
Anyway.

My ideal is 1 day per week office and 4 home.

I do 4 school drops offs am and one school pick up pm. And yes I use short breaks between calls and lunchtimes to sling vac round, put slow cooker on, empty washer etc. I also am a firm believe in a wireless headset to optimise this. Boring calls with no camera required are perfect for ironing. And actually I find i listen just as
Well when my hands are busy. Home
Schooling has killed all these golden moments off-but looking forward to getting a few back. I also might eat my lunch in the garden on a nice day or have a walk or do a workout.

I only WFH in this role since Covid, was always physically possible but just not the done thing, particularly in my team.
(But have been doing the role WFH for a year now with periods of Furlough)
I do admin for a high street fashion retailer.

Prior to this job I did a role which started out office based but was always very flexible if I did want to work from home etc. (This was 7 years ago) It ended up WFH all the time as they decided to save rent costs on the office as everyone's roles could be done from home.
That job was marketing/partnerships/promotions for a website similar to gumtree/free cycle etc.

I work from home, dont want say my title as it could be a bit outing but I think with any busy wfh role you'd still struggle to cut off, I do. Its like you always know its there, at home but you have to weigh up the benefits. I do prefer it overall. Its obv important to make sure you do take time for yourself, lunchtine walks for a break etc x

Service delivery manager for an IT Managed Services Company

Chemical legislation and compliance manager. I was office based but won't be returning to the office full time.

Lawyer. My area is very international and usually involves quite a bit of travel but it has all been done from our box from for the past year.

Auditor for insurance.
Can pick and choose when to go into the office.

I work in a senior healthcare administrative role. WFH for almost a year now, due to COVID and it is likely to continue.

Pros:
No commute
Flexible, parent friendly employer

Cons:
Being at home but unavailable as you still have an actual job to do, so constantly hushing and sending little ones away. There is a guilt of being physically present but mentally absent.
No commute means no space between work and home, where I didn't realise how much the zoning out on the train, listening to music on my walk, helped me decompress.
No natural team commaradarie or banter
Team communication is less naturally occurring

Personally, I hate it.

Accountant always flexible to WFH but been doing it for a year now. Will maybe go back to two days a week but might not always do that.

I like getting up later but I work late anyway.
I like seeing the dc or picking them up
More convenient for making tea or getting washing on
Do less exercise as I used to walk from tea in to office and out of the office at lunch
Miss pret lunches!
But I make nice lunches at home
Don't like being distracted by dc when they come home
Often shout at them late at night when I'm trying to work but they won't leave me alone.
Make less effort with my appearance
Get more work done

I'm spending this year reconfiguring the house to try to accommodate wfh without me being at the dining table!

HR project manager at ikea

@ChewedClickyPen

I work in a senior healthcare administrative role. WFH for almost a year now, due to COVID and it is likely to continue.

Pros:
No commute
Flexible, parent friendly employer

Cons:
Being at home but unavailable as you still have an actual job to do, so constantly hushing and sending little ones away. There is a guilt of being physically present but mentally absent.
No commute means no space between work and home, where I didn't realise how much the zoning out on the train, listening to music on my walk, helped me decompress.
No natural team commaradarie or banter
Team communication is less naturally occurring

Personally, I hate it.

Your Cons are interesting to read I don’t WFH but I absolutely agree they are really crucial and long term I think people would miss these things. Although I know some people but save a lot by not paying for train fares etc.

I've worked from home for years now, but my job means that during normal times I'd be visiting customers. My biggest customer, I visit weekly and work on site, the difference is I leave my house when my dd goes to school, so get there about 10am and leave about 3. I can travel in work time

Pros
Being at home when my dd isn't at school
Being at home for the dogs
I have my own office space at the bottom of the garden so I'm isolated from the home
Can walk the dogs at lunchtime
Flexibility to run errands and do chores
My job is v flexible so some days I don't do many hours, some I do more than I should
All my travel is expensed

Cons
Some people might find it isolating
I'm less active than when I was commuting

Legal and governance role in a multi-national company. Most of my work is online using various apps and software applications and email. As long as I have internet access I could be anywhere. I often have to get documents signed and lots of jurisdictions require wet signatures, but things like click and drop postage and courier services you can book to pick up from home addresses make that doable - and a company credit card to pay for things.

I'm a sales manager in the travel industry and was partly wfh before covid and full-time wfh since. I enjoyed the split far more than full time tbh, being here constantly means I have no separation between work and home. I miss listening to music in the car and stopping off for lunch somewhere! Normal every day things that I had no idea how much I enjoyed.
I so don't find it better for work life balance than working outside the home, probably worse. Its hard to ignore the work out of hours while the work is in the next room. I can't wait to have the mix again, back to normal two days at home and three out on the road.

I write software, WFH for over 25 years.

Lawyer

Prior to covid WFH very occasionally. Post covid firm aree saying 1 day a week in for collaboration but otherwise we can do what we like

Think I will go in 2 days a week- I miss going for lunch/round the shops with my work friends!

Counsellor, but I will be going back to face to face work eventually. I like wfh as I have no commute and I am here to see to the dog. I don't like it as it's isolating and I prefer to leave work at work.