To ask about the true negatives and positives of WFH?

[Yogpog]

I am in a job where I have been for 18 months. I generally do well and am working at an appropriate level in all aspects of it. However my employer seems hell bent on cost cutting so is not prepared to play ball with regards releasing people from their hours for useful, employment related uni modules. I have even offered to pay my fees myself and just ask them for time and me mentorship and seem to be getting nowhere. This has been ongoing for many many months and I’m really starting to get quite a bad taste in my mouth about it. I feel like I can’t plan my life or when to have children because it seems like they might finally approve the uni stuff when we’re ready to start TTC. Age wise I’m not in a position to have the best of both worlds, I probably need to do the uni stuff in the next 18 months or so at most, before we start trying, or after that shelve it until any children are quite a bit older.

I need to do something to take control back about all this uncertainty, and I noticed my old employer has an advert out for my old job, where my performance was excellent, but I left because I was bored there. This time they’re advertising with a defined pathway to be able to work from home full time. They essentially want you to work from base for a year, and then you can home work 24/7, I think with “catching up” shift per month in base so you can have 121’s, update mandatory training, etc. I could perhaps even negotiate on the years waiting period having worked there before.

I know it’s a step backwards career and development wise, but i’m considering it just to get myself some mental peace and quiet and so I can stop jumping through hoops for my current employer.

It’s a job where I would need to be in front of my screen for the majority of my shift, save for toilet breaks and lunch, as I would need to pick up jobs as quickly as they come in, and make contact with the customer, etc. Home working staff are monitored for productivity more strictly than base staff.

There’s not much difference money wise, maybe £2k - 3k a year, but I’d be saving on fuel and energy and general stress. Maternity provision is the same in both places, just statutory minimum.

I feel like I’m seeking permission from myself to stop the constant hamster wheel in my head with regards progression/development/progression/development. It feels like a way to take some power back and just do a nice calm job that I can do with my eyes closed, without needing to get up at the crack of dawn every day to go to a place full of other people with their own agendas and a toxic atmosphere.

Is there some glaring problem here that I’m missing? Is working from home all it’s cracked up to be?

My friend started a job that was home based on April. She's currently looking elsewhere as she isn't enjoying it. She misses the office atmosphere and she's lonely.

Have done the same role in the office and WFH, I found wfh harder in many ways. I am utterly honest about my working time, and worked over and above, but always felt there is a perception that people think you aren’t working, especially if mid task and don’t reply instantly to an email, if you are physically present, they can see you are busy, but not so at home.
I missed being part of a wider group, and even with a manager who is a good manager, I felt that communication could have been better. I also didn’t get asked things which are my segment of expertise as I wasn’t visible. I would wfh again, but would want more office based time.

Agree with PP, it’s handy as a perk now and then but mainly because I need to fit in some non work stuff - like dentist, school plays etc. As a permanent arrangement it can be lonely and isolating and there is always an undercurrent of ‘are you really putting in the hours’ from office based bods.

I do 2 days WFH a week and wouldn’t increase it.

I wfh FT and have done for 12 years now. It can be lonely, and you miss out on bonding with colleagues. The worst thing is other people thinking that because you WFH you are free to do as you like!

However, I like peacefully getting on with my job, for me its a great balance to travelling for work, and once ds was old enough to be in the house when I'm working (really not till he was 9) it makes juggling a lot easier

I'm self-employed and WFH, just me and a laptop. It suits me, because I flat-out hated working in offices and all the concomitant politics and nonsense.

Pros: own schedule, no commute, own refreshments, cheaper lunches, easier childcare arrangements, no colleagues (if you're antisocial like me).

Cons: no colleagues (if you're not antisocial like me), you can feel constantly on call and find it difficult to switch off properly (having a dedicated work space can help, as does time).

I love it and would never go back to office-based employment if I could at all help it. But it's not for everyone.

Thanks for the replies.

One of the reasons I’m asking is that I think some of the normal benefits of working from home like being able to nip to the dentist and things like that might not actually be applicable in this job.
I would still have a set shift time, so perhaps 8am-4pm, which would mean being logged on and present near my computer for the whole of that period. Sometimes there is lots of work in the queue, other times there is non and I would be able to do a bit more home stuff.
Of course i’d be able to start the washer or nip and switch the oven on, etc between jobs, and I would benefit from nearly two hours of my day not spent travelling and I guess if I want to do something after work, at 4pm when i’d finish i’m free to log off in my spare room and go straight to whatever I want to do next.

I can’t say too much, without being incredibly outing, but think of it as something like remote IT support, with calls/tickets that need opening, dealing with and then closing. And productivity is measured against the number of tickets you’ve dealt with. But it’s not IT.

I do a bit of both. WFH is all upsides, no downsides for me.

But then I'm an unsociable person, like pp.

It also saves a fortune on commuting, food, clothes etc. My employers get more out of it too, as I am more productive at home without the stress of trying to ignore the constant noise in open plan office.

And my cats thoroughly approve too.

I think it would be quite lonely WFH full time. I do 2-3 days a week from home, usually a couple of days a week in the office, sometimes travel to see clients, so it's quite varied. I love my days working from home but I would go stir crazy if it was 5 days a week. And that's in a job which is flexible ie I don't need to be in front of my screen 9-5 and I can nip out if need be.

After having remote roles for most of the last 21 years I think being solely at home is hard. The advantage in your situation is that it is quite structured and you may or may not spend time talking to people on the phone regularly.

I am currently struggling because I have no structure and my work is entirely self directed - which sounds great but I often swim in a directionless sea (and spend time on MN).

I miss work friends, someone to laugh, cry and understand what is going on.

If you are part of a team how will you interact? Will you be dialling on to team meetings? Will everybody else be in the room ( I find this option really hard- much better if everyone is remote)?

I personally would think twice about 100% work from home. But that's me and I'm on a real downer about it at the moment.

OP you seem to be deciding between job A and job B, neither of which you love. Is there a job C somewhere that may be more rewarding and give you long term opportunities?

I think it’s very much based on the individual, some people need to ‘separate’ home and work and struggle to motivate themselves in the same way they would in the office. I have a friend who struggled with WFH as it didn’t feel like she was at work so she didn’t have the same motivation that she did in a busy office with everything working around her.

Other people like to leave work where it is and have clear boundaries of work and home. For example ensuring you don’t just work late because you’re already logged in, in an office physically leaving is a clear cut off so you need discipline to ensure you don’t work all hours when at home.

Also it can be frustrating if you’re videoconferencing and the tech fails, and it’s harder to follow meetings sometimes if you’re not physically in the room with others.

But for most people I think WFH is very much desirable - no commute, flexibility with errands etc. I believe it’s the way forward as tech improves and businesses no longer want to shell out for expensive building leases, maybe a large number of jobs will be remote in the next few decades.

I worked form home FT for almost 7 years. It was extremely isolating and messed up with my MH in major ways. I lost the ability to bond (even talk!) To people. I had no friends (still struggle with that).

I would never do it again FT. In my current job I don't interact much but at least it gets me out of the house and have the random chit chat here and there.

Positives: more time in bed/save time and significant costs commuting.

Can plan your day as you want, with fewer interruptions, depending on the sort of job and whether you have to do lots of telecons. You save time at the end of the day as well, so easier to fit in hobbies/collect kids from school/do shopping for elderly relatives. No office politics.

Negatives: sitting at home on your own. Doesn't bother me really but some people need the energy from colleagues. Cold callers. If something goes wrong in the house, I have to sort it because I am here (eg broken tap, broken boiler, broken fences). It would be nice if my husband rang around a few tradespeople on occasion!

Agree that it's much easier to do phone calls from home if everyone is on the phone, rather than everyone being in a room and you dialling in - I just can't hear people.

In my last employed role, I was similar to you op as I had to be on call for phone calls between 9-5.30. So if I wanted to go to the dentist I had to fit it into lunchtime and let the office know I was out for lunch. But it's still easier than having to fit it around an office-based role.

I don't think I could go back to an office-based role unless it was very local and part-time.

I can work from home up to 4 days a week but will be submitting for 2 only. I love working from home to enable me to have my own headspace, I hate feeling like I'm out the house all the time. It's cheap to make my own lunch fresh and will stick a load of washing on. It depends what task I am working on as to whether home or office is the best environment for it, so organise appropriately. But I do find being in an office more motivating, and like having company. So for me a 2/5 split in favour of working in the office is a nice balance for me with plenty of flexibility. I'd find it miserable all week!

I am self-employed and WFH full time.

Pros: no commute. I was a single mum and used to have a daily 90km round trip plus full time job. Just thinking about that and the fact that I don't have to do it anymore makes me happy even now, nearly 2 years later Less expense on transport, clothes, lunches, etc.
No colleagues - this is both a pro and a con!

Cons: Can be lonely and demotivating but I think this depends on your personality. I've found I have more energy to see friends and do stuff at weekends now I WFH.

The positive thing is you will have set hours on this contract, you will save both time and money on not commuting. I worked in an office based job where there were periods of time when I was alone. I got used to this and learned to shift a lot of work during that period of the year.

I think it's important to have a separate working space in the house you can shut off and leave. I think it's down to whether you can be on your own during your working day, if you are in contact with clients during the day you might find time goes quickly. Good luck whatever you decide

Pros:

No commute, so the moment you log off is the moment your working day ends
You can wear what you like
You can listen to the radio, podcasts etc while you work
You save money on travel, work clothes and potentially stuff like takeaway coffees/sandwiches
You don't need to take a day off if you need to get a plumber in or have something delivered to your house
You can focus on your work without the distractions of colleagues chatting around you
You can set up your workstation exactly as you want it
If it is a bit quiet, you can spend ten minutes reading the paper or scrolling through Facebook without feeling guilty in case someone sees you
You can do stuff like go the gym or for a run in your lunchbreak without worrying about making yourself presentable again afterwards

Cons:

If your workstation is permanently set up in a room you regularly use, you can feel like you're never really getting away from work
Some people find the lack of company really hard
In the winter you'll probably spend more money on utilities because you're home during the day and need the heating/lights on
It's a disaster if your broadband goes down
Meetings etc might be carried out via Skype etc which can take quite a bit of getting used to
Some people say there are too many distractions at home
Some people find that they actually don't focus as well on their work when there's nobody actually watching them
Harder to build up rapport with your line manager and team members etc

I work from home one or two days a week and the other days I'm in an office, as do most other people at my organisation except the ones who are home-based for the full week. We can tell when people are online (and, crucially, whether they are actually using their computers) so the opportunities for skiving are relatively limited. We are totally set up for homeworking with all the tech we need to do it really efficiently.

Personally I love my homeworking days and would happily work from home more often. But I know some people do find it lonely.

I WFH and I like it, but I'm self employed so for me at least part of it is due to being my own boss.

The biggest downsides are:

It's easy to be distracted by non work stuff (and social media).
The assumption other people can make that because you're at home, you're available for whatever.

I've found that I need to be really firm with myself, and my family about what I can and can't do during my workday.

I work from home for the majority of my job. I love it. I am a very introverted person though and I never get lonely so it works well for me. I also love having alone time once I have dropped the children at nursery.

It's not for everyone, one of my colleagues gets lonely and phones people all day. It's not great it you're not self motivated as it is tempting to skive off a bit.

I find now that I get loads of work done, just get my head down and go. No interruptions. I couldn't go back to commuting or office work now.

I've been working for a Corp company, at home for nearly 4 years now and I LOVE IT I actually feel like I work for myself as I get to sort my own calendar out, prioritise what needs doing when and I feel trusted by my employer.

Pros
I get more done in a shorter time
I have my dogs with me all day
I get to see my dc off to school each morning and I'm home when they get back
I can do bits n bobs around the house if needed
I often use my lunch break outside of lunchtime to get my nails/hair/shopping/gym/cooking/housework/lunch with friends done

Cons
It can be lonely
It's not as social (although my entire team is Homebase's so we meet up regularly)
You have to be motivated and structured

My job also involves visiting costumer a couple of times a month so I do get out and about and meet a fair few people which I think helps.

Positive: I'm not in the office

Negative: Everyone in the office seems to need to contact me before 11am to check I'm not spoofing .

I work 32 hours a week in four days. Two of those days are at home. I love it - it's the perfect balance. I have total flexibility as my manager trusts me implicitly to get my job done. It can be isolating though - esp if you're under pressure or struggling with how to tackle something.

It's lonely and I miss the interaction with other people. I like that both because I'm pretty extroverted, but also I find that speaking to people is a good way to get things done (whereas you're stuck on email at home).

It's also better for managing people I think.

The upside for me of being at home is one that you wouldn't get - I get to put my washing on, pick the kids up, and do random jobs that I can't do at work. I can concentrate on big papers or documents too where I don't need interruption.

I'd take an office environment any day!

Agree about people not thinking you're working as hard.

My practical output is 20% up on a WFH day. I'm senior, and this is critical to my performing my role in the business, because it's a small company, and when I'm in the office, people always want my input. I have to cut them off at the source to get anything done.

But do some people get that? Do they heck. My direct report always wants to stress that I'm 'available' if people need me. One or two others always seems to be 'testing' my response time when I'm out of the office.

The whole point of me working from home is that I'm kept clear of petty shit.

Having said that, I find it very difficult to maintain the same level of productivity two days in a row, so WFH one day at a time suits me with the rest in-office.

It really depends on how good you are at being on your own. Are you quite self sufficient or do you want company?

Also are you able to get on with stuff and not fuck about on the internet? Do you focus easily with distracting stuff around you?

I wfh 2 or 3 days a week and I'm not lonely. I've done a few weeks in a row before and I've been fine as well.