Working from home forever

[Ehupflower]

AIBU to be honest about how hard it is to be motivated working from home! I've had to work from home since the middle of March last year, (like lots of other people) and we got told today that this is probably going to be permanent! I love my job but I'm so fed up of working from home full time I'm finding it harder and harder to keep motivated and not be distracted......

I am too increasingly finding it hard to stay focussed

Permanent wfh is a really bad idea IMO. We need a blend

Not for me it isn't, have done it for 5 years and will never go back to an office. And this is in a tiny 2 bed flat.

Office working has been the accepted status quo up til now with zero fucks given to those of us who found it demotivating and bad for our mental health.

I really miss the office environment and my colleagues. I do find it harder to motivate myself at home (I'm the same with home exercise vs the gym). I don't want to go back to the office 5 days a week if I can help it, but for me 3 days in the office, 2 days from home would be the perfect balance.

But home working was forced on me and I miss the office. I'm also getting pulled up about my productivity whilst trying to home school. I want to say I'm struggling but I'm worried that I'll be taken down the competency route!

@Cam2020

I really miss the office environment and my colleagues. I do find it harder to motivate myself at home (I'm the same with home exercise vs the gym). I don't want to go back to the office 5 days a week if I can help it, but for me 3 days in the office, 2 days from home would be the perfect balance.

I'd like that too.

But home working was forced on me and I miss the office.

Office working was forced on me! Until I went freelance I'd never found an employer who would hear of anything different.

I'm chronically ill and it's the best thing that's happened in my working life. No commute, can nap in my lunch hour if I need to and I'm more productive rather than less. I do miss seeing my colleagues though.

I am finding it hard because of work and home life merging into one and also I miss talking to colleagues. Not just for fun or well-being but for talking about issues and sharing the burden with a sense of collective responsibility. Whereas WFH is isolating and stressful. I'm hoping to go back to 50-50 eventually. But I fear we will just move to 100% WFH and lose the office.

I’m more productive but I miss the people. I think we’ll be WFH for two days per week post-covid. That’s the management plan anyway. Those who don’t agree can still go into the office.

Wfh during a pandemic and home schooling is very different to normal wfh. It does depend on your employer. Mine looks at output rather than hours logged in so I have a lot of flexibility. I can nearly always drop off and pick up. I can easily go to school plays/ nativity etc. I arrange coffee etc with friends rather than random work colleagues. I can pop a load of washing on, work all morning then pop it out at lunchtime. I can go for a swim on the way home from dropping children off. If I need to I can pop to bank/ shopping. Fortunately most of the time I can wear whatever I like as I am not on display. If I get caught in the rain I can swap to pj at home.

Trying to wfh and home school is a nightmare. In fact just having other people around during the day is a nightmare. Really affects my concentration and I end up working at 6am to get things done. Even when they went back there was still the dread that a bubble might burst at any moment. Normal wfh is nothing like that. I know it is different because I have chosen this lifestyle but really it has lots of benefits. It may not be for you in the long-term but do keep an open mind.

I have wfh for 15 years and this past year has been by far the hardest.

It really depends on the person and the job. Some people are actually more productive without the distractions of the office, while others find they can't maintain focus at home.

If wfh versus office is non-negotiable, it's just one more thing to weigh when deciding if the job is a good fit, no different than pay, schedule, and how well you're treated by your colleagues.

@Cattitudes

I have wfh for 15 years and this past year has been by far the hardest.

I agree with this.

The last year of wfh has been hard, not least because with DH and DC at home I'm never just on my own working - there's always been someone else around.

I used to love dropping off at school and coming home to a quiet house where I could have a coffee in peace and then work without other people's interruptions.

The hardest bit is the lack of any other 'real life' interaction - no friends/family to see outside of work and no days when I go to the office for meetings and be able to catch up. The constant Zoom meetings are tiring - it never used to be back-to-back as it is just now.

Everyone is fed up of living on top of each other and it definitely isn't what wfh was like pre-Covid.

I hope most people are given the option to combine some of both once things become safer.
Personally, I love home working and am MUCH more productive. I've wfh for years and get really irritated by the distractions when I have to work in the office for a couple of hours BUT I don't wfh all the time. I attend meetings, and I do visits and I present training at different times, so I have a lovely mix. Peace and quiet and the chance to work to my most productive times and a certain level of flexibility if I want to make an appt in the day for all my admin and report writing, but also, seeing people, interacting with people and getting out and about.

I've worked from home before so never find productivity an issue. I do miss seeing colleagues though weirdly.

I love working from home!

No passive aggressive managers, no annoying colleagues. It's awesome. Would happily do it forever but I Think management will want us back in at least 2 or 3 days a week. Completely uneccessary.

I love WFH too ... never want to go back to the office .
Also not missing the endless business travel either.

I’ve WFH a lot on and off over the years and I’ve found I’m just as productive as long as I have a dedicated workspace. I have quite liked falling out of bed and shuffling across the landing to be at work in seconds, but I couldn’t WFH in my current role full time. I expect to be in the office 2 days starting April until September, then I suppose it will be down to how many people can share fairly tight office space. I’m lucky though that youngest DC is in Y10 with a full timetable via Teams.

I much prefer wfh and absolutely dread the thought of having to go back to the office. I hate it and hope I don’t have to. Wfh is much more convenient and efficient with my time. Office is an unpleasant noisy environment and I prefer the absence of office culture and waste of time small talk. Not to mention being stuck on dirty public transport.

management will want us back in at least 2 or 3 days a week. Completely uneccessary.

Yes completely. We must resist this. Mass revolt. They can’t make us.

I would also like a hybrid. In most ways WFH works well for me: I found commuting a huge burden and it also ate massively into a productive day so don't miss that at all. I am more productive at home than in an office and love being able to be on hand for my DD.

I do miss some of the office life and socialising and I think meetings, mentoring and networking are important. But I'm quite happy to distil this down to 2-3 days a week: I don't want to be going on the lash every night after work.

But I do think the pandemic has exposed the way companies prioritised presenteeism for its own sake: a lot of industries just wanted people at their desks and weren't really bothered about what they were doing there. I would be very happy if this attitude bit the dust after all this.

There could be local office hubs for any business/individual to rent space (whether short or long term, hotdesking or reserved spaces/rooms), so people who don't want to work from home still have an office environment, but they don't have to commute to get to it.

Would still be cheaper than companies owning whole buildings, and offers a compromise between the two current options.

I’d quite like to stay working from home with only the odd trip to London for a meeting now and then. Ideally once a month, or at most once a fortnight. I expect I’ll have to go back for at least two days a week.

I find the noisy open plan office makes it hard to focus on my work. Commuting is hours of wasted life. I’m saving hundreds of pounds a month by not commuting. I don’t miss it at all.

Office working has been the accepted status quo up til now with zero fucks given to those of us who found it demotivating and bad for our mental health.

Yes, absolutely this! A million times over. It's OUR turn to be happy and comfortable now so too bad.

I genuinely don't understand people who want to spend their days in office buildings and who get excited about seeing their colleagues. It seems quite sad to me!

Both DH and I have done it for years and absolutely love it. We are both so much more effective at our jobs working from home without the stress of being in an office.

If it really doesn’t work for you, there are alternatives like coworking spaces that should be available again once this is all over