Working from home - it's not all it's cracked up to be

[ILoveJoeBrown]

Am I alone in not liking working from home?

I can, but I don't. It sounds like a great concept but...

My DH does and now my kitchen table is permanently covered in all his work stuff. Even the worktops are covered in junk. The kids come in to do dinner and have to keep quiet if he's in a call to USA for example. You can't make a coffee if he's on a call. I have 'my chair' at one end of the table but it's been commandeered by all his stuff.

There is a desk that I use when I do wfh. He has a study upstairs that's such a junk hole, he can't work in there and tbh he'd feel very isolated up there. in the kitchen, the dog keeps him company and he can watch the news at the same time if he wants to.

If I'm wfh too, he distracts me as most of his work is coaching via teleconferencing and so he's always talking and pacing up and down while I'm trying to concentrate!

Work is trying to encourage wfh, but theres no real buy in to teleconference or skype etc.

Maybe coronavirus will force people to change their outlook and wfh more?

Anyone else feel grumpy about the idea?

The pacing! Is it only men or does any woman do that?

At the very least they could push a mop in front of them while they are doing it...

I've done it for 8 years but its beginning to lose its sheen.

My current role I can choose to be in the office or home, or a mixture, and at first I was at home most of the time but lately I've been coming in to the office by choice.

The worst bit is the morning rush, I love being able to get up slowly and log on in my pjs at 9.

However, once I am in the office it is ok, I have begun to realise the social side is quite nice.

WFH is not the problem, especially when you have a space your dh could use. Your dh selfishly thinking your house, which first and foremost is your family home, should revolve around him working is your problem.

Tell him to get his office sorted out and to use it. If he wants silence when on a call he goes somewhere silent.

Meh, DH works from home 3 days a week and has since before DS was born. He started off in a corner of the kitchen but once DS got a bit bigger that wasn’t working, so we cleared a space in our bedroom and set up a desk there. He’s worked there ever since. If we had a spare room for an office it would be even better, but his set up works ok.

We try to keep the noise down if he’s on a call and use the downstairs loo at those times, although a few times I haven’t realised and DS has briefly joined a Skype meeting! But generally it works fine. He’s a very focussed person when he’s working, so that helps too. One of DS’s important jobs is to go and tell DH when the morning coffee is ready - both of them love that. And at the end of the day, we all eat together rather than having two sittings due to bedtime and commutes not working.

I occasionally work from home from the kitchen in my case, and I don’t expect the house to fall silent either. I use headphones if necessary to help me concentrate.

The problem isn’t with working from home, it’s with your DH expecting the entire house to revolve around him.

I did it for around 2 years when my oldest 2 were little because it was convenient & I could. I didn’t enjoy it although I was able to be far more productive (used to be able to get close to a full days work done during the 2 hours they napped plus 1.5 hours after they went to bed at night). I used to love my day a week in the office mind, even if I did get disturbed with random queries every 5 minutes from colleagues. I don’t think I’d do it again on a permanent basis, even if I could.

Sorry, I hit enter without thinking, so it posted. I used the dining table but I tidied everything away when I was done. I did used to do a bit when the dc were up but happily playing the noise of them playing & occasionally asking for a drink/biscuit was way less than I dealt with at the office. I saved phone calls for when they slept. I don’t think I’d have done so well if Dh had been working at home too.