To ask those who WFH with a partner who also WFH if you have separate offices/spaces?

[HairyHocks]

DH and I have both been WFH for the last year and it's not obvious when either of us will be back in the office.

I've always had my own office in the past, and have struggled not being able to talk to myself, wander about when on the phone, and even just be quiet/still to think.

DH has always been in open plan offices and enjoys the company. He genuinely can't comprehend that I'd like my own space, and he takes it a bit personally.

We have a room that could be turned into a second study without it being a great loss.

Out of interest, how common is it to work in separate rooms?

YABU - partner and I work in the same room without wanting to work separately

YANBU - partner and I work in different rooms of the house (or absolutely would work in a separate room if one was available).

@waterandlemonjuice

I agree that data protection applies wherever you work

But implying that everyone who WFH needs to get onto their HR or legal departments right now is completely over the top

Not particularly. There are a lot of people posting on here who seem completely oblivious to the issues over one year down the line. I simply suggest they firm up their situations ASAP.

I'm going to make sure I speak to hr about whether it's OK for my cat to be in the room when I'm discussing entirely non-confidential issues. Can't be too careful.

Pmsl @UrAWizHarry

Lol at “firm up their situations “

DD and I are both wfh, in separate rooms.
We're lucky enough to have enough bedrooms to have one each to sleep in, and another one each to work in.
I think we'd kill each other if we were sharing a room.

DH and I work in adjoining rooms - we always have the door closed if one of us is on a call, otherwise we sometimes leave it open for the feeling of company, even though we don't chat much (because we are working, obviously)

Luckily though Dh and I are both WFH for the same company (different teams) we don't distract each other, both way too busy for that and we are in a 1 bed flat so both work in the living room, but if we have to do a meeting then one of us will Just wear earphones so as not to distract too much

I’ve always wfh, so when we moved here we made sure we had enough rooms for me to have a big office (for my reference library and storage), and DH was studying and plays an instrument so we set up the fourth bedroom as a study/music room. That’s become his office while wfh. Both of our jobs need a lot of visual work so we both have big desks each with two large monitors. We also both need a lot of quiet thinking and drafting time. (Same field but different roles and organisations). It’d be impossible, with the amount of calls and meetings we both have, to share a space without doing constant musical chairs!

DH has the study, and I have converted a spare bedroom into my office. It's perfect for both of us.

What are all these jobs that require so much confidentiality? I take it it’s not double glazing sales!?

We’re same, loud DH phone calls so separate offices. We meet for tea breaks in the kitchen and bitch about Janice and Brian our imaginary admin staff who keep forgetting to put the dishwasher on and leave their socks on the living room floor.

They really are arseholes

We both worked from home part time pre Covid, occasionally together. We had 2 desks set up in the spare room. I couldn’t hack it. The calls were bad enough, but I was so close to killing him over the noise he makes hammering the keyboard! Separate rooms on separate floors it is now or we’d be divorced.

We both work from home but DH always has done so he already had an office space. We’re fortunate enough to have a spare room downstairs for me to have made into an office after a couple of months working on the dining table last year. I need confidentiality too and spend at least 3/4 of my working hours on zoom - I’m in HR.

We work in separate rooms, but just across the landing from each other, so we can see each other if we want to, and we take it in turns to make tea etc. If we want company then we open our respective doors (I open mine about once a week... ) Otherwise, I'm all about the separate space, I think it's saved us during this lockdown tbh. DH is a bit deaf, so times shouty man syndrome by 100 and you're about there, and I like to take calls on speaker phone so I don't have to sit holding my phone to my ear/wear uncomfortable earphones/headsets and can crack on with doing other jobs whilst I'm talking to people, so neither of us are easy to share a space with. (I hasten to add, I wouldn't do this if I were sharing an office with other people, but I can't speak for DH's workplace behaviour). We're also both on video/conference calls for much of the day so it just wouldn't work, I've already had DH wandering into the background of an important meeting with no shirt on, I don't need him as an ever present backdrop to all of my meetings.

YANBU

My husband refuses to work in the same space as me. I would like it but understand I am on the phone too much and he’s used to his own space

Luckily we have managed to free up two separate rooms we can use. DH at one point suggested I could put a desk next to his, but quite apart from other issues such as dealing with confidential things, we both spend quite a lot of time on calls and he talks really loud on the phone and drives me nuts!

Also although I used to work in open-plan offices, somehow I seem less able to mentally shut out his noises or talking than the general office noise before (I think it might be the combination of it being DH, so I'm subconsciously half expecting him to be speaking to me, not the phone, and being at home where I'm used to listening out for the kids and him calling me for stuff all the time), and I get quite distracted by it sometimes. So I'm very glad to be able to shut the door between us when necessary! We do have lunch together though, and coffee breaks sometimes (depending on meetings).

Workingfromhomeishell you seem a little over invested in everybody else's business here.
People work in thousands upon thousands of different roles. Also in all sorts of different size companies and organisations.
Also, you do realise companies have overwhelmingly asked their employees to do their best in what, for many, are incredibly difficult circumstances ?
This thread is not representative of the population as a whole. I - like many on here - am fortunate enough to live in a house where dh and I can work in different rooms. Not everyone is in that position. Most employers understand that most employees are doing their best in the circumstances everyone has found themselves in.

If your colleagues piss you off annoy you enough you can change job, not quite so easy with OH.
We've been WFH for a year too, it's been a looooong year.....

I was ok in an open plan office previously but only because people went into meeting rooms for their meetings. Now it's all Teams and phone calls at the desk, we both like to lock ourselves away to concentrate. Thank goodness we never embraced open plan living!

We try to have lunch together, and a teabreak when the children get home from school.

We both did a lot of wfh pre pandemic so we figured it all out a long time ago. We are able to have separate work spaces. We do chat in the kitchen.

Not interested in working in any shared space with DH.

I have a small house and no spare room so we both work in the lounge at separate desks. Bought a breakfast bar and stools for the kitchen and he pops out there to work if I'm on a Teams call. He types loudly so that's annoying! I'm going back to the office mid June though. Not sure I could do it long term, would definitely need to move to somewhere bigger if so! It's only been three months so far as prior to that he was furloughed.

Separate spaces. We’d distract each other too much. He has the office and I have set up my discs in the spare bedroom.

@Biscusting

What are all these jobs that require so much confidentiality? I take it it’s not double glazing sales!?

We’re same, loud DH phone calls so separate offices. We meet for tea breaks in the kitchen and bitch about Janice and Brian our imaginary admin staff who keep forgetting to put the dishwasher on and leave their socks on the living room floor.

They really are arseholes

Lol!

I'm a payroll manager and he is an accountant both for different companies so both discussing highly confidential information. So yes important that we have our own work spaces.

DH has an office in the spare bedroom as he was already WFH 3 days a week.

I got a small table to go in there but I generally prefer the kitchen table. DH has lots of phone calls and likes to talk to me as well.