How is almost everybody physically able to WFH?

[someladdersandsnakes]

This is something I just don't really get. I work at a company which doesn't pay that well in a city where housing is very expensive but still basically everybody has somewhere at home that they can work every day. I currently have an office at home because it's a 3 bed and I'm now expecting our second child, when the baby arrives it won't be physically possible anymore to do regular WFH because the only place will be the dining table in the front room, only really suitable for occasional use because there isn't enough space around it for a proper office chair or anything. Nobody else at my company seems to have a similar problem though. I thought appropriately sized housing was a major societal problem yet somehow since the pandemic everyone has a suitable permanent workspace in their house? Including families, young renters, people still living with their parents, etc.

I wfh full time and my desk is in the dining room. We had to scale back the dining table to fit..

@NoisySnail we've had plenty of bedrooms and landings that have absolutely nowhere for a desk. I remember rejecting a 4 bed house because I couldn't see an earthly way to get a cot into the master bedroom. We have a rich history of squeezing rooms to minimum feasible size in this country.

My 'fourth bedroom' , which is less than 6ft wide, is my home office. Everyone I know uses the spare bedroom (one the converted garage) as shine office. Oh I do know one who actually has a study she uses )her husband uses the spare bedroom).
Having an actual dining room though - know very few people with one of those (for most it's a table in the kitchen).

I’ve been a homeworker for 20 years, and need two large monitors, plus I have a large reference library I use all the time, so when we moved here we prioritised having a decently sized second or third bedroom I could use exclusively as an office. We were lucky we could afford 4 bedrooms, so DH could also have a music practice room, which has now also become his home office, as he wfh during covid and has been hybrid since. Colleagues who have been forced to move to hybrid have just sacrificed space in other rooms to fit in a desk or space to use a laptop wherever they can - living rooms, kitchens, garden sheds and bedrooms are all used by different people I know. Most people have found it a small sacrifice to make given all the gains they make in no longer having to commute regularly.

During Covid it was the dining table. My back suffered really badly. Tried a few different chairs and nothing quite worked. I'm now back in the office full time by preference

I did three years with the laptop at the dining table on a standard chair and it was never a problem. Now DD has gone to university I have gained a desk. Most people in my team are set up on kitchen tables or in bedrooms.

When I started WFH I was in a houseshare and worked from my bedroom. It was fine, even in the house with 3 out of 4 other housemates also WFH from their bedrooms (occasionally the living room or kitchen but that wasn't ever my preference). When I first moved in with DP I worked from the dining room table. Also fine.

I have a home office now and it's a game-changer, but all my previous setups, as suboptimal as they could be, were far far far preferable to working in an office.

We have a desk in the spare room. Currently trying for no2 so if/when that happens it’ll be a desk in the baby’s room, eventually wfh will be on the dining table though. Ideally we’d move to a 4 bed- but one of decent size that doesn’t need a large refurb is unaffordable to us ☹️

@Maglian that is true with more modern houses.

I have a garden office. It was built about 20 years ago as a way to get more space when an extension wasn't possible (mid terrace).
I have worked from home for nearly 10 years.
It works very, very for me. If I didn't have the office it would not work well AT ALL.

I can 'go to work', I can heat a small space, I have a proper desk and chair.

I work full time and am a lone parent. I put a lot of importance on the line between work and home and am grateful I am able to do so.

I have a desk/set up in the corner of our living room. Before I wfh the space was a kind of dumpling ground, so this is an improvement.

During school holidays I usually move to the conservatory, it's not ideal as pp mentioned due to temperature in winter and summer, but don't want teen dc to feel they have to stay in their rooms when at home.

I use dining table on a normal dining chair.

DH works beside me.
I love that laptops go away at the end of the week and there's no sign of work until Monday.

With a plate on my lap. Lived there for 16 years!

We have an office at home but we are high earners.

Most people i know have a desk in their bedroom, or use in a son/daughters bedroom. A relative has a table that drops flat against the bedroom wall and a desk chair that wheels into the cupboard when not in use.

A lot of more senior people are empty nesters with kids off at uni so have converted a bedroom.

I also know a lot of people who have bought garden offices. It seems like a lot of money but if you would be paying £4-5k a year of commuting costs its not as bad as you think over time - its only a couple of years worth of train fares.

My husband got himself a foldable little table and a foldable chair he can use in any bedroom ( we have2 childrenand3 bedrooms). He only really needs his laptop and phone so he can do it. When we're all out at work/school, he can sit on the sofa downstairs. It's not ideal but it just about works for him. School holiday are trickier and he usually works from the office more then. Our dream is a 4 beds house for this reason.

I work at a dining table or have a desk in my bedroom.
no snazzy office here.

We live in a village and have a house with lots of small rooms. So we have a study each downstairs.

Was there room with your cat?!?

We have a separate office in this house, last house and house before. House before dh worked from our bedroom. He’s been working from home for almost 14 years now so buying homes with office space became essential. However, we do have two kids sharing one room (and teen in another). Can your children share a room and you keep the box room?

Yet what is 'working from home'? I work with a laptop on my knee on the sofa. I work with a laptop on my knee on the bus (occasionally the train). I have popped into coffee shops and worked there until it becomes to busy. I have worked in a library with my laptop (which is something I quite like to do). If I have to communicate directly with people, I do have a desk in my bedroom, and I blur the screen so my 'workspace' is not visible.

One of the companies that I work for conducts an online 'safety at work check'. The check advises not using a laptop (although they supply remote workers with laptops) and having your computer at X height etc. It also advises not spending so long on screens (yet every task and all communication is online) and not carrying hardware around. However, health and safety aside, combining remote work with caring commitments means I may not actually be 'at home' when I am working.

We have an office at home but we are high earners

Lol.

I have in office in the conservatory but before we decided to use that, we had the smallest bedroom in our three bed as an office and our kids shared.
Is it bot an option for you for your kids to share? Surely baby will be in with you for the first six months anyway?
Having said that though, I don't think everyone who works from home has an actual dedicated space. The beauty of remote working is surely that you can do it anywhere? Kitchen table, sitting on your bed or sofa?
I've heard of a few people converting garden sheds too

Although I have a desk, unless I have a long meeting I prefer to work at the dining table or kitchen island. I feel I’m all cooped up on my own otherwise.

😀At the time I didn’t have a cat, as there wasn’t space to swing one! Now I have two cats, and space to swing them, but both cats are too heavy to swing. I can barely pick one of them up, let alone swing her.

Disclaimer: no cats were harmed during the typing of this message. Cats should not be swung inside or outside. The value of your cat may go down as well as up. Actually no, they only increase in emotional value.

The only colleagues i know who have home offices are those who are childless or whose children had left home.

i've worked with a number of people who said they had dedicated WFH spaces, but when pushed, have admitted to working perched on their bed. More common than you think.

i used to work from my dining room table -
other than starting to develop back pain, it was fine for me, as i work paperless and i had a lap top, fold up lap top stand, proper mouse and keyboard, which could be folded away at the end of the day.