If you wfh do you go out and work from somewhere?

[C1239]

Not sure my subject title makes sense! But if you work from home or hybrid work do you ever go out to a local cafe or library or anything to work to mix it up a little? I never really know what you are ‘allowed’ to do when working from home!

Sometimes depending on what I have on, lots of meetings I tend to stay home but otherwise I will sometimes go to David Lloyd or a coffee shop if I can.

Nope- I need to stay confidential so can't work 'in public' - I work from my dining room every day! All on my lonesome- live with DH and DS who work out of the house so they leave for work 7.30- 8.00am Mon- Fri- get back 6pm, ish. I'm bored to death in all honesty! I have the option of going too- the point of booking desks and going in but it's just weird really- we chat a lot do no work, then go home!!

Really, how would anyone know? I work in an office upstairs, nobody I work with would have any way of knowing who else was in my house.

No, my work involves personal data and I need 3 large monitors to work effectively. If I'm on a teams call with more discussion I move the laptop to a different room or the garden just for a change of scenery.

No. I need two screens and have regukar Teams calls. I also have my own office at home. Working elsewhere would be inefficient.

I work from a co-working space occasionally, like in the summer holidays if I need to get away from the kids. It's harder for taking phone calls though, I wish they had booths for phone calls.

I have only ever worked from my own home. I recently asked and they were fine with me working from my parents house (which I’d asked about as they are happy for me to use one of their guest bedrooms and heat their house all the time 😂) but not allowed to work from a cafe due to customer-facing calls.

Almost never. I like the idea in theory. But in practise, the coffee is never quite how I like it. I can;t leave my laptop and stuff if I need the loo. A group of mums with screaming kids or men with loud voices always come and sit nearby. I like the tranquillity of home. I like putting m,y feet upon the sofa and mixing up working in my study or at the kitchen table or in the living room.

But I do go out every day either to a fitness class or for a walk with a friend otherwise I'd go bonkers.

Nope, not allowed to because of confidentiality. Plus I have a 2 screen desktop set up.

Gosh you are all super secret squirrel types!

I’ve WFH for twenty years. Now I use a shared office space and I’ve never been happier or more productive

That's why I gave up on the idea. I found a lovely co-working space but it had zero privacyunless you paid to hire the meeting room. Wasn't worth the money.

I don't, but I could so long as I take reasonable precautions.

As it happens I only live a couple of miles away from the closest place of work, I don't go in due to pure laziness. I need to change this though.

Yes, there's a nice Foyles cafe that I go to for work.
It helps me focus and keeps home as home, rather than work permeating everything.

I do sometimes, yes. To a coffee shop. Usually when I'm just checking emails etc, I have a second screen and if I'm working on something I prefer being at home.

No, I always WFH. I need 2 screens, look at confidential information a lot, and my home office is set up perfectly for me.

Plus I have a calls in the evening so I sometimes spend the morning doing housework etc. It's a really good balance for me.

@Hotandbothereds I think it's mainly done on trust (or if you mention something at work that raises a red flag) but as part of our security process at work when you onboard, you have to give details of who you live with for the background checks. There's also policies on updates - if someone moves in / out etc that you have to inform them. It's why we're not allowed to work from public places, just due to the nature of what we're working on!

No never. A cafe or public place would make it very difficult for me to work properly.
I have worked from my parents home before, when my dad went in for heart surgery and my mum needed a bit of help.

I might pop into the office once a month for a chance of scenery.

No, the WiFi isn't secure in these places. I sometime take my laptop to the conservatory if I fancy a change in scenery. For background noise, I like a podcast whilst I'm working.

Technically, yes, but in practice no. Most of the nice independent coffee shops around here have introduced ‘no laptops or work calls’ policies so I’m left with the chains, which tend to be busy, grimy and too noisy.

So I work from a spare room at home instead. When I get bored I buy a new houseplant 🤣

Yes, we're encouraged to work flexibly and sometimes a change of scene is really refreshing. It can be tricky to find somewhere suitable but yes, I do it every now and then on a day when I don't have many calls.

I take my laptop to cafes, the library, even the tearoom in a church sometimes

Me too @BoxOfCats with my very own cat by my side.
Otherwise I work on my bed which is really comfortable and I now no longer get that niggling lower back ache that I suffered from on and off while working in the office. This is also with my best furry boy by my side.

I do this quite a lot, but I'm in a role where confidentiality is almost never an issue and I rarely need much more than a laptop and a stable wifi connection. So a typical day might be checking mails and planning the workload at home, doing the school run, then taking a nice 30-min walk into town to work in the library. The walk gives me time to think about how I'm going to do the work and go over anything that is giving me problems. Then I get a change of scenery and the option of going somewhere nice for lunch. I'm also next door to the pool, so can have a swim during the day as well if I want. Normally works well enough.

I work from David Lloyd twice a week whilst kiddo is having tennis lessons

@Testng123 @goldfinchonthelawn dobt give up on finding a Co-working space. Mine has loads of sound proof booths for private calls / online meetings.