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.

*cheaper

We recently moved to accommodate long term home working, 4 beds, 2 kids. I work from the spare room which easily holds a large desk and chair plus king sized bed. DP has a fully insulated garden office,

We're very very lucky!

I turned my walk-in closet into a small office as I'm required to have a private area since I deal with medical records and it was the only space available (very small home) I'm not big on clothes or fashion so it wasn't a big loss. If I could have I would've used the dining table as others have said.

Me and my husband both wfh although I do go to the office once a week (through choice) as my company has kept open a small office space. Not mandatory tho as we are hybrid.

We don't have spare rooms and our bedroom doesn't have space for a desk. After Covid kicked off and my company went fully remote and so did my husbands, we sacrificed half of our dining living room space and we both have proper desk set ups on one side, sectioned off by kallax units. It actually helps feels like we are working in an office. It does mean our living area space is much smaller but it's a sacrifice we are happy making so we don't have to worry about commuting etc

I have a spare room I can work from but I have a proper dual screen office set up in part of the kitchen. It's only six steps from the coffee/kettle which I use A LOT during the day. It's only me and DH in the house and DH is out for most of the day so it works.

Do whatever works for you.

This is one of the reasons my work is forcing encouraging people back to the office. Too many people sitting on the end of the bed/on the sofa in the lounge etc.
everyone is going to be signed off with bad backs in ten years time.

DH and I do hybrid work. I used to have a study and worked from there during Covid but we now have a third child and because of age difference (5 and 10 yrs) between our children, they can’t share. We turned the study which was big initially to a 4th bedroom and using a studded wall, I have created just a cosy and tiny space there as my home office. All I could fit in it is my long table and chair.

Dh works at the conservatory in summer and in the bedroom in winter. He only has a small desk which fits his laptop and monitor in a corner and I obviously can’t go in the room during the day when he’s in meetings but that’s fine.

Most people don’t have a dedicated office space. If your baby will be in nursery during your working hours then I don’t see why you can’t fit a small table and office chair in their room or in yours.

I just work at my dining table or on the couch- all of my team do

Only senior colleagues look like they have a hint office

I work hybrid and work where there is space, sometimes I work at the dining table, sometimes my daughters bedroom when she's at work, sometimes in the garden if it's nice and occasionally in a local coffee shop. Some office spaces offer free desks one Friday a month, occasionally a client will let me work in their office. I think most people are making do and using their home space more flexibly these days

How can you possibly work productively from your bed or couch though? No wonder employers are losing the will work working from home.

I have a home office, and I'm really glad that I do.

We have a 3 bed home and no kids. 1 room for bedroom, 2 are a home office. My DH office also doubles as a game room.

If we didn't have the 2 spare rooms then I would set up a desk in my bedroom.

It just depends on your focus needs. Some people need a quiet big room all to themselves, whereas others are ok with (or even function better in) a small crowded noisy communal area. I'm sure at least 50% of people are making do – dining table or table in bedroom.

I do have a desk and office chair. But I mostly sit in my recliner.

Only my boss and a colleague with no kidd has an office at home

I have a laptop tray. I don't need screens and can't use a mouse anyway.

If I sit with my feet down my ankles swell terribly. When I work from the actual office I have to get home and elevate my feet. I can barely walk.

Why would I do that to myself if I didn't have to?

Very easily. It's much more comfortable and relaxing, you can wrap up in a blanket if you're cold or put your feet up. If I had to sit at my dining table or at a a desk in my bedroom all day I would be utterly miserable, lol.

DS works from the desk in his bedroom. The same desk we bought him when he was at school. He already had an office chair and his employer provided a stand for his laptop. He could have used the spare bedroom that had a desk in but preferred to stay in his room.
I'm eyeing up houses on Rightmove for him to buy and particularly look at places where he could squeeze a desk in.

I know a guy who has an ironing board in the bay window. He has that at desk level and puts his laptop on that.

I can’t but my husband can. He does the same in his work office a lot of the time unless he is actually meeting somebody.

When I first started wfh over ten years ago now it was in a flatshare so I had to work from my room on a small desk, when I got my own place I moved to the living room, eventually got a place with a spare room and I will never give it up! Having a dedicated place where I can shut the door when I’m done for the day made such an improvement to my life that I can just shut it and not have work looking at me in the face essentially!

Yes I used to drive long hours. I now use the time saved driving to exercise before I start my day or during my lunch hour.

I'm in an apartment, earn min wage and have a desk in my living area
Old pic of it

Is it weird that I completely desire a landing set up?
Are you in a Grand Designs-esque pad?

Should add I have a full desk set up as I need a big screen, currently using a curved one

I work from the dining room table. I hate it