All you people who love working from home, come and tell me how you make it work

[GoldenOmber]

I work in the office for part of the week and from home for part of the week. Employer encourages this. And my working from home days allow me to do more childcare pickup and dropoff, so I’d rather keep them as they are for practical reasons.

The problem is that I really don’t like working from home. I find it stressful and misery-inducing.

I know there are a lot of people on here who work from home all or part of the time, and lots of you really seem to like it. So I wanted to find out if there’s anything else I could be doing that I haven’t tried already, to make it better? Maybe I just have the wrong kind of personality or house or something, but if there is anything more I can do to make me less miserable about it I would like to give it a try.

My main issue with it is, I think, that I really can’t stand the feel of work and home overlapping. It makes me stressed and struggle to focus. I feel like work is constantly hanging over me when I’m not working, and home is constantly grabbing my attention when I am working.

Main things:

I can’t work from a co-working space or a cafe - my contract is home or office only.

I don’t have a dedicated separate room for working from home. I do have a desk, but it’s a desk in a communal (dining) room that’s also a through-space to other parts of the house. So it feels like my workspace is always there iykwim. And it’s not a big house, so clutter gets piled up on my desk, DH and sometimes the kids come trooping through the room to look for things, stop for a chat, let me know the vet got in touch about the cat, etc. And I feel like a grumpy witch going “shhh!” and “not now!” when I’m trying to get my brain into work mode.

I'd love to have this. Space and finances a bit tight though at the moment 😊

Have you got space in a bedroom, OP? We are very fortunate to have a guest bedroom with just enough space for a desk, but even your bedroom would be better than downstairs as you could shut the door on it for the evening (I'd even consider putting a throw over the whole desk setup at bedtime so you don't have to look at it)

I would move office space to bedroom so you can shut the door and not through space. I would move chest of drawers downstairs to where desk is if needed for space.

I think for me it also helps naturally that getting into my work system is a pita that takes a full 6-8 minutes (doesn't sound that long but it really is!). Multiple passwords and systems to boot. So there's no such thing as nipping onto work systems quickly to check an email or whatever. My laptop goes off when I finish, is firmly shut, chair tucked under the desk and then it doesn't go on until the next morning.

I'm on the dining table too. I don't mind wfh - but I have no-one at home with me during the day. Once the kids are home from school (or now in the school hols) it's very different .

I'd like a garden office if I stay in this house - @QuebecBagnet how much was yours if you don't mind me asking?

I work in our living room. I generally work during the day when no one else is in, but on the occasions that my family are here, they know they can't come in (we have a TV and small sofa in the kitchen diner and they can use the back door to get in and out of the house).
My desk folds away and at the end of my work day I pack the lap top and screen away, fold away the desk and tuck the chair behind the sofa. I then go for a shower and put on loungewear if I have no evening plans. For me, that draws a line under my work day.

A clear separation for work vs everything else is necessary for a lot of people who WFH, whether it's simply seeing the workspace there or the constant temptation to just get one work thing done when you're supposed to be off the clock. I had one remote coworker in a studio apartment who used a folding table as a desk and put it out of sight at the end of the workday. She had everything work-related in rolling cabinets and rolled those into the closet too.

You may not be able to move the desk, but keeping all work-related items in a movable file cabinet and portable carry containers might help even if you just tuck them out of sight under the desk. If a folding screen doesn't work for you WHILE you're working, it may still help to put it up around the area at the end of the workday, like psychologically closing the office door. And if you have a separate laptop and/or phone for work, put them away and don't use them for non-work purposes or outside of working hours.

You need active cooperation from your family; they should give you the same consideration as if you were working in the office and not interrupt you with something that can wait. You may have to be VERY clear about this; people often don't understand WFH unless they have done it themselves, and every job has different requirements. With children, perhaps arrange to take a regular break when they get home from school so they can tell you all their news, ask any questions, and get settled before you go back to work. (But remember also to work in some break time just for you if you need it.) If you can't enforce "no non-emergency interruptions!" then consider having some kind of "DND" sign even if you have to hang it on a suction hook next to your desk, so they know to tiptoe past and come back later.

Consider moise-cancelling headphones. If you're ever on calls for work, get the two-way kind with microphone which both amplify your voice over the phone and isolate the primary conversation from outside noise. Even if no calls, they do work a bit to shut out the outside world and minimise distractions.

WFH isn't for everyone. If you're better off overall working from the office, don't feel guilty about going back - your employer also benefits if your productivity is the best it can be. Also, if a coworking space would work best for you, have you checked to see if you can designate one particular address as your regular office instead of your home address? Lots of employers don't want you working wherever or in different places on different days and potentially using dodgy internet, risking having equipment or files lost or stolen, work conversations overheard, etc. - but a regular coworking space will have security and privacy measures in place, so they may be able to approve it.

In your position I think I'd argue for office space in the short to medium term until the time comes to move (which you mentioned you will plan to do in the next few years anyway?). It just doesn't sound as if you currently have a very suitable space, and that's not your fault, so your employer should be understanding. Or could you go down to one day a week as a compromise which would still be a slight advantage to you on the picking up/dropping off but keep working at home to a minimum?

Could you get a desk that you can close? Or a bureau of some sort? I really struggled when my work stuff was just there all the time but since we've moved it into the spare room it's much better as I can close the door on it at the end of the day. I think not having it in your eyeline is really key, otherwise there is the temptation to look; and it's very hard to compartmentalise.

The other things I've got much better at are taking a lunch break (even if I'm busy) - I'd pop out if I was in the office to get something, so I'll take half an hour away from my screen at home, even if it's not the full hour! I also treat my time like I'm in the office, so my DC go to after school care and I don't break up the day to do the afternoon school run/provide snacks etc for children. It also gives me a hard stop at the end of the day as they need collecting at 6.

About 7k including electric supply. But this was before the price of everything rocketed. It’s a log cabin with extra insulation and double glazing rather than a proper garden office but it’s been plenty warm enough

It has to be space.

I'm a nanny and homes are big enough that each parent has their own room to work from, and those rooms aren't used as bedrooms for themselves or their children.

So I guess the answer is being well off enough to have a number of spare rooms to use

Can you not put up a temporary dividing screen to form a private office space, hang a funny sign like 'Do not disturb or else!' and wear earphones to 'unplug' from your home environment?

It works for me because we have a dedicated office. We don't have children and I can close the door at the end of the day and not think about it. Wfh is the only reason I can work due to my disability but I do get how it just doesn't work for some.

We have a spare room that doubles as the office, and I don’t have any other distractions from family members as they’re all out. I love working from home (do 3 days ant home/2 in the office) and the cost of electricity is more than offset by the reduction in commuting costs. I’ve worked from home for years so it wasn’t really anything new to me, and with so much of my week spent on Teams I find it’s easier to focus without the chatter of an office.

There are some great suggestions on here already - I think the key thing is to have some designated work area with something to tidy your files/paperwork away in at the end of each day.