Working from home - what has been the benefit to you?

[Rainydays55]

If you work from home full time or have hybrid working arrangement do you prefer this to full time office? What have been the main benefits to you?
If you had two job options -

1. 45 /50 minute commute, full time office working, pretty generous holidays
2. 10/15 minute commute, hybrid working , better pay, low annual leave entitlement

Which would you go for?

I used to end up using a chunk of annual leave to facilitate things I can now do during a working day such as taking deliveries or having appointments - much prefer working at home

Financially quite large. No commuting costs, no petrol costs, gross I am £10k better off.

If I were young person I’d absolutely pick no 1. As middle aged with kids, I’d still prefer hybrid if I had the option. Only did wfh fully when had to isolate in 2020 with symptoms, and became slower and slower until I eventually stopped! 2 would not suit me at all but hybrid might

1. An extra two hours' sleep.
2. Saving £100 a month in petrol.
3. Saving £3+ a day in lunches.

1 is the biggie. I am SO much happier now I'm not chronically tired.

I would definitely go for option 2. I'll never take a non-remote job again unless I'm desperate.

Even when in the office most people I interact with are remote so I spent most of my day on zoom calls and don't really miss the limited interaction between calls/walking to canteen to grab lunch.

I can concentrate better at home instead of noisy open plan office (which is a nightmare with severe tinnitus and zoom calls)

No commuting/lunch costs - beans on toast/eggs on toast really cheap!

No commuting time (1.5-2 hours back a day)

Get up at 7am instead of 5:30am (used to go in early to miss traffic)

Flexibility for meetings don't need to fit around lunch

Flexibility for personal appointments

Flexibility to have quick chat with ds when he gets in from school

Able to do a couple of quick 5-10 min jobs each day when having a break from the screen to move about a bit/stretch after 2 hour zoom calls such as put on a wash to hang up later, quick hoover one room, empty dishwasher and saves doing them later. Can prep food day before and stick in the oven ready for everyone finishing work.

The dog keeps me company and I can go out for a quick local walk with him before work (my new commute!) and at "lunch"/main break time

Can listen to radio of choice when not on calls and can enter their Cash Register competition every day 🤣

More time with my dog

I forgot about battles over the heating/air-conditioning with colleagues. And not having to use the shared kitchen or toilets. Or people bringing ridiculously smelly lunches. Or carrying people who toss it off. Or fighting for your own parking space because you're last in and someone invited their mates to use it instead of the rail station car park. Or catching covid because your colleague thinks it's not really and ignored all the rules. Or not having to pay into birthday collections or sponsor someone's midlife crisis hobby charity triathlon.
Well, that was cathartic.

I think it (as this thread shows) depends very much on your personal situation and also your workplace.

my "commute" was a 15 minute walk to work which I miss and clearly no financial saving. I already organised my week to maximise time with the DC, so no benefits there. And actually DH and I being forced to spend time together in a small space is causing frictions that weren't there before.
Plus my job is just harder remotely. I don't really work as part of a team and I tend to get forgotten so finding out information is a constant uphill struggle.

Option 3... 0 commute, wfh 100% would be my choice

I prefer it, have had four days in the office in almost two years. Saves time on travelling, can do small things as a five minute break such as putting washing in or out, feel more productive and indeed head of department has acknowledged this.

Also prefer cooked meal in the middle of the day.

I absolutely love working from home.

I used to commute 2 hours per day. That's 2 hours I now have free.
I have in-person social anxiety due to a few reasons, so much less overwhelmed now.
I get much more done in the home.
Feel more relaxed.

I lost my (non wfh) job when covid started, and because I have no qualifications and didn't want to work out of the home but had to pay the bills, I started doing webcamming and content making. Yes it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I choose my hours and can wfh. I also clean houses which obviously isn't wfh but at least I can mostly do my own thing in quiet.

I am concerned though that now having worked from home, I've realised how much I hated the commute and working out of the home - that it's be really difficult and depressing for me to have to go back to it, but I don't have the qualifications and confidence that most who wfh have, and obviously I can't do webcam forever. I'm studying at college mostly online in Business Administration and Customer Service so I hope to be able to get a non sex-work wfh job.

I started WFH before covid times.

Pros:
No commute! I had to use public transport and it always felt like a wasted two-three hours each day. I know people say you can read books or whatever but I'd rather read in a comfy chair at home!

Staying up late and getting up later works better for me than having to get up at 7am every day.

Never miss a parcel delivery, easier to order perishable stuff now too like plants and food.

I used to worry about home security leaving the house empty all day long.

Access to all your stuff at home so if it turns out to be colder or warmer, you can change clothes and never get stuck walking home in sandals in a downpour.

Less illness! I haven't had a cold once since I stopped going into the office.

Cons:

I live alone so sometimes miss the human interaction in person.

My boss often expects I'm around at all hours but that's more to do with my specific job than wfh as such.

Definitely option 2. I had a commute of 45 mins before covid. In reality some days it was more like an hour. I had to pay petrol and parking. I now WFH full time, but in future it’s meant to be hybrid and will probably go in once a week.

Do not underestimate how much that 2 hours a day commuting takes out of you. I feel like I have a life again now I have fgsr time back!

I struggle with being at home, partly because I am at the kitchen table and having terrible backache. When I was going in two days a week (summer to Christmas) I didn’t see any colleagues because numbers were so limited, so would have been as well at the kitchen table.

I do like getting up later, but previously walked to work in 30 minutes so no commuting costs saved, and I feel like I am always “at work” now.

The main benefits to me are saving £5.5k commuting costs and being at home is easier for arranging appointments, doing laundry, receiving parcels etc. I’d possibly go for your option 2.

No 3-hr round trip a day, costing £500+ a month
More sleep as a result
Eating better at home - more fruit and veg to hand
Less guilt about waste - the build up of Pret packaging in my bin at the end of an office day was alarming
Can focus on my work more easily
Sometimes have a nap when tired or under slept
It's been easier to return to work after having Covid, as more gentle at home
Spend way less money on lunches, coffee and incidental things at the shops near my office
Wear comfy clothes and no dry cleaning bills anymore
Can get to the gym in the evenings - was previously too late after commute (so I told myself)

Crikey, it's a lot - I do miss seeing colleagues and the general hubbub of London, people watching etc. Am lonely at home and need to find a way to get more contact. Overall physical wellbeing is definitely up though.

No commute resulting in shorter working day and reduced petrol costs
Don’t have to dress if I don’t want to ( except on days I have a teams meeting)
Dog can be walked at lunch time
Dinner can be prepared during the day
Can put on a wash / tumble during the day and basic tidying of the house ( time that would have been spent chatting at work)

Most of my contracts for the last 10 years have been wfh, and I love it. I can wear comfortable clothes, make my own lunches, and never have to make coffee for anyone else. I've been able to do school runs, and go to all the children's activities and clubs; If they are ill, I'm on hand to bring them home. I can work into the evenings if I want to take time off during the day. I don't have to make small talk with other people. Sometimes I take jobs that require going into an office, but it usually reminds me why I don't do it all the time.

Potion 2. I get up at 8.30 and finish at 5 and I’m done. No train journey with other people or walk in the rain from the station. No trying to stay upright when it’s icy. I save £150 a month and wear comfy clothes all day.no will be working flexibly from March as long as Nicola Sturgeon lifts the work from home rule.

No train fares
No huge commutes (3/4 hours a day round trip)
Dh is home so dc actually see him
I don't have to take my dh to station at 7am with dc in the car then onto school anymore.
No horrible office clothes
No shit salty pret lunches
No office aircon arguments
When a colleague pisses me off I can go to my fridge and indulge afterwards
Just a few things. Quite sure that's not all of them

Oh and dh not travelling abroad anymore so he can actually be there for us all instead of being away and never knowing what day he'd be back. That's the best for us.

DP commuted 80mins in each direction, so was out the house 7am-7pm every day. He was exhausted. Now doing a couple of days in the office each week but majority at home. The benefit of it for all of us is so much more sleep and time for each other (but I get that his was quite an extreme case).
In your position, I think I would go for option 2. What are the actual holiday entitlements though?

At first it felt odd, but now I prefer it.
I can get up later
No commute
I can have my lunch in the garden on nice days
I don’t have to make a packed lunch
My bathroom is nicer and more private than the work loos
The office has freezing aircon, which IMO isn’t necessary
My home office is nicer (and warmer) than the work office
I can chat with my team mates on Teams any time I want to
I get more done at home
In summer I can wear shorts and a strappy top
If anyone of us has to self-isolate it doesn’t affect being able to work
I can nip downstairs to empty the washing machine, start the dishwasher/tumble dryer etc – saving on fuel bills because we have solar panels and can use the electricity we generate

We are working on a hybrid basis, but most of us are still working mainly from home as we have the kind of job where it can be done so.

@Itonlytakesonetree

No benefit for me overall. I'm less focused, care less about how I look, do less exercise and work longer hours. I'm sick of looking at the same 4 walls and have no distinction between work and home. I cannot wait to be out of the house all day every day.

This.

I’d do anything to be back in the office.

Pretty sure I have ADHD as well which makes WFH even more difficult.

Depends on what the actual job is I think. My job is particularly emotionally charged and draining at times, and working at home, isolated from my colleagues, has been awful for my mental health with no space to decompress. If I was just doing straightforward ‘office’ work I would choose wfh every time.