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?

Thank you everyone. Option 2 holiday is 20 days plus bank holiday, option 1 is 25 days plus bank holiday days and a couple of other extra days

I'd still go with option 2 having gone from 5 days a week in the office to hybrid working - no question.

Financial benefits got rid of second car, saved commuting costs, use less wrap around care. Huge impact on family finances.

Other benefits: having more time at home with our children and easier to facilitate their activities and home work, housework/cooking/shopping on my lunch break, exercise as have time to walk to and from school rather than driving and sometimes walk at lunchtime, more sleep as don't need to be up as early in the morning, less stressed and knackered as not rushing everywhere, get the house to ourselves when kids in school

We both had 45-60 min commute 4 days pw beforehand.

Thank you everyone, I know everyone’s lifestyle is different but option 2 definitely sounds like it has benefits! It’s just the holiday allowance which concerns me a little

So are these 2 jobs you have been offered?

@Rainydays55

Thank you everyone, I know everyone’s lifestyle is different but option 2 definitely sounds like it has benefits! It’s just the holiday allowance which concerns me a little

Ask for more, they might give you it!

I've worked from home since 2017 but used to have to go in to an office once a month or so for meetings. Now I don't even have to do that.

I'm a pretty extreme introvert and would genuinely be happy to never do anything work related in person again.

Save money on fuel and carparking
Save time as no commute, so lie in every day
Day feels less stressful as I can start dinner at lunch time
Casual clothes, can sit in bed on laptop

My productivity is far higher at home than in an office. I physically wouldn't be able to get the work I need to do done if I was having to commute.

Commute eats so much into work time and is so pointless, removing it has made such a difference to me. And its just grotesque.

I'd definitely take 2: I couldn't go back to five day a week office work if my life depended on it.

I've moved jobs to have a hybrid pattern and I love it. I'd take the wfh any day. I lovey days in the office but adore my days at home!

The benefits of not commuting are probably the best aspect of working from home, but there are some minor benefits of WFH as well, and they all add up.

You can avoid casual meetings with the opinionated idiots (and their wives) who wander around the office pretending they are important. It is easy to avoid the constant after work booze-ups when someone leaves and to ignore the invitations to cheese and wine with the boss in the garden. You don't have to run errands to the supermarket to fetch a suitcase full of wine. You are less likely to be sacked when the boss needs a sacrificial lamb to appease the public and make himself look tough. You don't have to constantly wear your security pass so you can get past the police on duty at the big iron gates at the end of the road. You can avoid being grilled by the lady who is tasked with producing urgent reports that clear the boss of any wrongdoing.

WFH.
No commute. No train tickets. No standing on a platform waiting for trains in the rain. No rushing to the trainstations.
Don't have to buy 'work' clothes.
Don't have to spend time choosing work outfits and shoes.
Don't have to talk to twatty work colleagues.
Don't get involved in office politics.
Don't have to get hair done so often.
Don't have to start early/work late to impress boss.
Don't have to take lunch breaks between a certain timeframe.
Don't have to have the same mundane conversation whilst eating lunch with the same people every day.
Can do small jobs around the house - put on dishwasher/washing machine/tidy kid's rooms/fold laundry.
Can eat whatever I like, whenever I eat.
Can put phone on mute during phone calls and do other things instead of sitting around a boardroom trying to look interested.
Can drop children to school before I start work.
Am at home to take parcels from deliverymen which means I don't have to waste time on Saturdays collecting them.

Imo there are NO disadvantages to working from home.

And another one - if the children are ill, I'm at home anyway so they can curl up on the sofa and call me whenever they need something.
When I'm not well, I can still log on and muddle through the day in my pjs when previously I would ring in sick.

Somebody else mentioned their mental health. For me WFH is incredibly less stressful than the office. I don't mean the work itself but the politics around it.

Little managers trying to 'people manage' and micro manage people. Now they are spending their days doing actual work that can be accounted for instead of calling endless meetings in an attempt to justify their time/input into the organisation.

For those of you that would take option 2 with the hybrid working, would the low holiday allowance still concern you?

Is this an option, my friend works 37 hours a week but gets paid for 33.5 hours, so accrues 3.5 hours leave each week so takes 2 days off per school holiday week, always, and then books leave around the other 23 hours left in the week. Obviously your leave gets pro-rata'd down but could be an option??

I love hybrid working, I do 2/3 days in the office typically. I love when I wfh I can fit in exercise before easier, on quieter days I can take a lunch break & go for a run, I can on occasion collect my DD from school, we've not had to send her to after school club 5 nights a week (only 3), I can get a lot done with less distraction, I can make nice lunches. But I also get to see my team & find too long wfh impacts on my motivation so I definitely need the balance.

@Rainydays55

For those of you that would take option 2 with the hybrid working, would the low holiday allowance still concern you?

Personally no because the flexibility I get WFH would not be possible in the office and my commute of >2 hours a day means a longer working day, both of which would negate the longer holidays. But I’m much happier mentally at home so that may not be the case for you.

I decided to go for the job, took option 2, it’s a few weeks away still until I start and I’m already getting nervous! Nervous about starting the job in general and still a bit unsure about the holiday allowance situation. Any tips for starting a new job to calm the nerves?!!

Just giving another nudge in case anyone has any tips to calm new job nerves!!

Very much depends where you are in life of course I’m sorry if you’ve already said this but for example I am getting back onto the Korea later I’ve been really lucky I’ve been able to rejoin at the point that I got off but I need to claim it and claim it quick and for me that means my personal PR campaign in the office needs to be high-profile so I need to be there.

25 days per year plus bank holidays?

Legal minimum is 20 days per year plus bank holidays.

Option no.2

The long commute is one of the reasons I didn’t go back to my old job after I had dc.
(At least twice a week, it would take me 90 mins to get home due to traffic)

The main benefits to me have been more sleep, more money because of savings on train ticket, and more time because of savings on commute (and inevitable delays). That means I can go running more. Also less "life admin" claiming "delay repay" for me and DH!

Oh and avoiding dogs in the office which is the new thing. Two of my colleagues are taking their dogs in tomorrow.

I would go for option 2 because despite having a bit less holiday you will have more time.

Yes a few people have said that to me ‘despite having less holiday you will have more time’ . I think just any change scares me to be honest so I’m focusing on the one tiny negative instead of looking at the big picture