To wonder how you can work from home without a separate office?!

[anonuser63732]

Just that really. We don't have a separate area with a door that closes. I'm working from my desk in the dining room but as it's open plan, there's no shutting myself away. Our dogs are either barking at passers-by or whining by the back door (which I'm right next to). I find it so distracting to see all the house stuff that needs doing while I'm trying to keep my head down or to hear my husband about the house whenever he's home. Although I'm grateful to be able to be home if the nursery is closed or the baby is sick etc, I'm getting frustrated that I'm first in line to cover just because my work is flexible hours and no office.

So... how do you do it? I'm considering getting a different job part-time locally just so I can be in an office again but with some flexibility! I also miss working face-to-face with people. Bah.

Where have you got this idea from?

OP - I work from my bedroom and DH works from the kitchen table. Works fine.

We have a separate annexe but DH regularly
plonks himself in a study downstairs then says ‘I have a meeting now!’ with a worried expression at me. It drives me absolutely potty. At least he finishes early when he WFH, so that’s something!

I have a spare room but the last thing I wanted to do was turn it into an office! I'd feel like I'd "given away" a room in my home to my job.

I like to mix it up. I have a desk in my room. I also have dining tables in the lounge and the kitchen. I move around depending on my mood or what else I'm doing that day. But then I only need a small laptop for my job plus my hours are closer to part time. Its not a sit at a desk from 9-5 type job.

The bedroom is the obvious choice to be away from the rest of the house but from my experience I think you need to be able to pack away or shut away your stuff at night. It's not relaxing to be lying in bed and seeing your work computer sitting there!

Well, I'm glad it's not just me struggling haha. Unfortunately, I need 2 screens for most tasks so sometimes I can move around a little but not always. We were in a bigger house and had no child when I first started WFH - we had to move recently across the country and will be in this much smaller rental for a while. The only other space my desk could probably go is in the bedroom, but I've heard that you don't want your workspace and your sleep space combined. Not sure that matters too much if I can't separate home & work anyway! Thanks for some good ideas (and for not dragging me through the mud like some threads!!).

Oh, and the doggy daycare option is something that I try and do once (maybe twice) a week but isn't feasible financially every day.

What part?

Because none of it is.

On nearly all of the job applications I’ve applied for or sent out as part of my role when I worked for a job advertising company.

I work from the dining room table with zero issues but I don't have dogs to be fair.

I enjoy just being at home and putting the kettle on and sticking a quick wash on. I don't really think about it tbh.

We live in a one bedroom flat and we had a baby last year, I work from home 50% of my time, so my partner converted our old shed in the garden to a home office with electricity, wifi, etc. A life saver!

@Itsnotchristmasyet - what, they state it on the job requirements or application form?! Utter tosh. As everyone's response to you shows.

@AinsleyMoroccanCouscous What WFH job do you do and when did you get it?

I work from my dining table and I hate it. Laptops just aren’t the same as my workstation set up. I usually go to the office more than I WFH even though the journey is super annoying. I also end up staring at housework when I am home

I'm a senior manager in a professional
Services organization. 18 months ago.

I work for a global organization employing many hundreds/thousands of more junior roles/graduates each year and I can guarantee you only a minute percentage would be able to be employed if they needed a spare room.

You've not answered my question - are employers asking you this on their application form? As part of the job spec?

You know you've made a ridiculous statement as many PP have also called you out on it.

See we don't have work station set ups in our office. You'd have to cart in exactly the same laptop that you're using at home! Plus I find the work desks/chairs we have there to be less comfortable than what I have at home so there's no benefit in that respect to me going into the office.

I have a desk at the end of my dining room, with two screens on. I'm in a tiny space right next to the kitchen and the living room, but they do have doors I can close if I need to. I also have DH WFH in the study (he's FT I'm not so he gets the study) and both children at home FT as one is home educated and one is long term sick.
To me your issue sounds like badly trained dogs, and a messy house. The latter at least can be resolved by just tidying it up at the weekend.

I have a nice office tbh that’s partly why I keep going 🤣

What reason would I have to lie?

As I said I used to work for a company that would send out jobs and this was a requirement.

When going through potential candidates this was a big thing and candidates were also asked in interview.

I must have applied for over 30 WFH jobs myself when I was unemployed and I’d say at least 60% said it in the actual job application.
Of those that I got through, they also asked me in the interview.

On indeed when you click apply it will sometimes ask if you have a spare room/office and if you click ‘no’ it won’t let you apply.

I don’t know why you or anyone else think I’m lying about something I’ve experienced.

It’s actually really rude to call someone else a liar, simply because you have not experienced it yourself.

Perhaps they’ve relaxed the rules since covid as obviously lots of people were forced to WFH.

Bedroom, away from the rest of the house is perfect for an office desk if you have the room. It never bothered me it being in my bedroom as I just mentally shut it out.

We're the same, I have to cart the exact same laptop into the office where I just have to sit in a room where nobody is happy with the temperature and listen to inane chit chat all day, I'd rather be at home.

I don't have a bedside table - replaced by DHs up/down desk with laptop and two large monitors. I miss not having somewhere to put my hairdryer.

one child at school, one at childcare 3 days a week, no pets (although i'd love a cat). OH prefers to work at the office. I set up at the dining table near the kettle, turn on spotify and ready to go. We have a tiny office upstairs but i work with large scale drawing so need the space of the dining table really. I freelance so i don't have an office to go to anyway.

Its likely that OH will be made redundant shortly so i'm dreading him being at home, he always disturbs me with idle chatter when i'm trying to concentrate on something technical.

I'm a solo parent. I have a desk & office chair in a corner of my lounge. DS is old enough to let himself in from school and crack on with homework etc or hang in his room. He knows not to come in the lounge if the door is closed for meetings.

Well it’s not a problem for me because I am pretty much on my own in the house and no pets. Occasionally husband also WFH but we usually just sit in living room together with headphones on for calls. It’s basically no different to me being in the office and sitting on a bank of desks with 3 other people in close proximity- if anything it’s much quieter with less distractions.

so you're going on experience that is nearly four years out of date, at a minimum?
Yes obviously most places have relaxed rules from when WFH was fairly unusual, to when it's much more commonplace!

If I went on what my old company were doing 4 years ago it would be completely irrelevant to what they are doing now, let alone extrapolating that to the entire worldwide workforce.

It's like asserting confidently 'Most places let you smoke in the office' then coming back 'Well in MY experience that's the case...maybe things have changed since the smoking ban.'

I have a desk in a corner of our living room (it’s quite a long narrow room). I try to book a desk on the office most of the time thoigh as I just am not a massive fan of wfh . I don’t like looking at the work etc. I like it to feel like a ‘treat’ or a way to get lots of stuff done.

We moved house (moved to a cheaper area) so I could have an office. I love WFH and when Covid hit I just knew I didn't want to go back to the office 5 days a week, but equally couldn't work properly in a 'public space' in the house, not only due to noise etc but also motivationally, a dedicated work space helps me work and as much as I like my job I need to shut it away in the evening. So yes made the big decision to move house so I could do it properly (although it wasn't the only motivating factor, we wanted more space more broadly as well!)