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.

Maybe they have a spare room, bigger rooms, bigger house, have sacrificed their dining table, maybe their kids are made to share a bedroom or they have made space in another room. Maybe they do work at their dining table and it works for them. Maybe they don’t have kids. Can you really not imagine that they have different circumstances.

Just concentrate on sorting yourself out. It sounds like you’re annoyed at not having a proper office space at home in the future and so want to shit shit for others.

My partner works from home and we have a home office as do the vast majority of people he has contact with for work.

Yes pretty much same here with an oddly shared room I'm able to use!

Sorry my reply was to CoffeeandCardigans

I'm not sure people walking to the office was particularly common even pre covid tbh, and I say that as someone who did used to have a walking commute to a desk job. A lot of people who work remotely now will previously have been driving door to door, or close enough. Not having to commute also frees up time that can be used to move more than one would in a car, on a bus etc.

Same position as you OP with 2 kids in 3 bedroom house. I work from my dc’s bedroom and keep a large monitor behind his cot which I just have to lift up onto the desk/changing table whenever I WFH. Office chair takes up a lot of space in the room but a proper chair is a necessity. It’s not ideal but it’s just what you have to do if you can’t afford a spare bedroom.

I mainly work on my laptop sitting at the kitchen island tbh, no office here!

We have an office - it's a small room and before Covid it was basically a junk room, full of random stuff that didn't seem to go anywhere else, so we cleared it out and bought a desk and chair. DH works there and I work in the dining room.

I have an office set up on the landing which is a weird shape.

somehow since the pandemic everyone has a suitable permanent workspace in their house? Including families, young renters, people still living with their parents, etc.

Yes, all families, young renters and people still living with their mum, all have a home office…

OR, do you think lots of them actually work in their bedroom/lounge/dining room
table?!

We are very lucky to have a tiny box room which DH uses as a home office-he has worked from home for years, but when it came to lockdown, I was teaching from the dining room. Loads of people don’t have adequate home office space. Some of our younger teachers who still live at home/renting were running online lessons sitting on their bed.

We’ve converted our garage into a garden office with a proper corner workstation. Hopefully it will be a great selling point should we ever decide to move.

Small two bed cottage here 👋
We got rid of the double bed from the spare room and it's now my office.

I have a desk in our bedroom. DH built himself a garden shed and works from in there.

I work either from the dining table or the sofa. We don't have room for an office or a proper desk.

I just use one of my rooms, kitchen, lounge, bedroom….whichever

I have this desk as it folds away easily. I do video calls with WFH colleagues all the time. At least half are at dining tables I’d say.

I work on the dining table

We have two home offices - one of the bedrooms has been permanently repurposed so we no longer have a spare room, and we had a playroom for the children which we reclaimed

I have a home office set up in the spare bedroom but only really use it if I need to work from 2 screens.

I move around all day. My favourite spot is the sofa, but I also work at the kitchen bench, at my garden table, or propped up in bed! Oh and I like standing up for on-camera meetings so I'll pop the laptop on the mantelpiece or something else that's the right height.

I have a very long and wide landing so my desk is there tucked away in a corner.
Sometimes I'll just sit on the sofa and use a dinner plate coaster as a mouse mat.

Whatever floats my boat that day.

Before we moved, I worked from the dining table, I did have a home office but that was set up for my personal use and I didn't want it used for work (along with the twin screens, laptop, second keyboard etc).
Dining table was fine as it meant I could leave everything set up but we still had ample room to eat (v.big table!).

After we moved the new house had a much bigger home office so I could set up my work and personal work-stations on separate desks.
OH also has a "hobby room" so we don't get in each others way when working although as I have now retired it isn't an issue.

I have an Ikea secretary desk in a corner of the living room.

My DH worked from the dining table for 3 years. We saved up and bought a hullypod for the garden. Due to the nature of my DH's job he has lots of screens and sound equipment so needed a dedicated work space. He's been in the pod since December 2023.

Photo is of my secretary desk. I've made myself a branded background and use the virtual green screen. I have a proper office chair.

If I'm working unusual hours (ie when people might want to use the living room) I use the pod.

We’ve bought a family home but haven’t had kids yet so I’ve got a box room home office. If we have a baby, my office will be their bedroom and I’ll WFH in the summerhouse (a glorified shed).

I work with a lot of confidential materials and long hours so I need a private space to work in. I also find it impossible to focus when there’s cats/my partner/other people distracting me!

Husband has desk in corner of our bedroom (full time wfh). I have thesofa.... so opt for the office!

Perching on a stool or something with back support? If the former it really won’t be good for your back.

It's easy to get a cheap desk - 2nd hand and a decent chair and put it in the corner of a room. I do agree however it was a nightmare when I was on mat leave and dh tried to wfh so he gave up on that