Working from home resentment

[Mammut]

I’ve worked at home since the first lockdown. My job requires occasional travel but apart from that I’m in the house all day. There are lots of benefits of this of course, but I’m becoming increasingly resentful of the space it takes up in my house. I work in our small spare bedroom atm and the desk, screens, big chair etc just take over the whole room so it’s a nice space to use for anything else. I’m just resentful that my employers have managed to make me responsible for providing a work space. Does anyone else feel like this?

Latest news on teacher retention -

It's little surprise, then, that teachers are set to quit the profession in droves: research by the National Education Union found nearly half of all teachers (a staggering 44%) plan to leave schools altogether by 2027, with 52% saying their workload is 'unmanageable'.22 Oct 2022

Yes. I'm annoyed by the energy bills too!

And the Government is aware of the problems with the lack of flexibility in jobs that have traditionally been female professions. WFH will now become the default career option for the women who would once have been teachers or nurses. It is short sighted to pretend otherwise

@anexcellentwoman yes you’ve got it! I was a good teacher and I loved my job. I love my own children more. I am a much better parent now that I am not a teacher.

WFH is comparatively new. It has not yet fully affected recruitment for traditional female jobs. Nursing just about copes with recruitment abroad but that cannot be sustained in the long term.
There has to be drastic rethinking of the way hospitals and schools are run to offer far greater flexibility to women, mothers who are not able to enjoy the flexibility of wfh

Thank you to the teachers confirming my point. It is simplistic not to recognise what the future will look like if we do not drastically improve working conditions and flexible working for those who do not have the luxury of wfh

Something tells me that the women who lurve working from home won't love it so much when education returns to children being schooled at home via computer terminals

What are you saying? Most children needed support for their home learning during lockdown, thus people were unable or less able to wfh [braces self for the deluge of women who earn £4 million working 3hrs a month with a newborn and toddler around].
I've worked from home for years (editor for a scientific journal). Fortunately I have a very supportive manager because it was very, very hard to work when my son was home learning.

I agree. We don't even have a spare room to use so H has to use the bedroom and has the tiniest corner to work in. He goes online at 7am so I have to get my things out before then as he is teaching and has cameras, etc set up. It's an impossible situation but we have no choice. We are in a 2 bed new-build and there is zero space.

I don't share your view but think that if working in an office is better for you, your employer should offer it.

One of my colleagues goes in every day for what I certainly consider valid reasons as to why working from home would be impractical.

So just go into the office more. Or find an office job.

The WFH dilemma has more swings and roundabouts than a fairground!

Pro
No commute = timesaver (to relevant to you OP)
No commute = cost saver (ditto)
No distractions = get more done
No need to get fully suited and booted/makeup etc = time and energy saver

Cons
Household expenses increases = heating, lighting 5 days a week
Commute = time and cost
Same environment every day = mental fatigue, monotony
Loss of informal conversations with colleagues= social aspects gone, plus productivity lost
Home becomes office = no work life boundaries (relevant to you OP).
Home becomes office = mess, office stuff in home space (ditto)

For me, I benefit from a 2 days in office and 3 days at home pattern (which some weeks is 3 days in office) - we have a home office so it's less encroaching on the rest of the house,

For someone in your situation OP you don't lose your wfh dysbenefits by doing half and half because your work stuff doesn't go away from your living room if some days a week, you go into work, you still have the problem and frustration on your home days, sounds like you'd be better off fully in office. Can you ask your employer for a (loosely worded) reasonable adjustments on mental health grounds. Several of us did that even during the height of the pandemic for welfare reasons and we were supported by our employer (Government Dept). We justified it by our improved availability and we were classed as key workers.

My worry this winter was the cost of heating etc but it looks like our bills aren't skyrocketing so far this winter. I really missed the routine of going into the office during the Pandemic, and stared to go back in regularly long before the Pandemic ended, as it was helpful to my mental health.

the most important thing is having the choice and freedom. Companies will only save money on running costs (heating lighting etc) if they literally close down their office 1 or 2 days a week so nobody goes in.

Working from home sucks balls.
Promoted by businesses as good but it's isolating and makes work harder. People won't know how to interact face to face in the future.

I hear you, OP.
In my case, our office was closed completely / lease not renewed during the pandemic, and the carrot of a new office space has been dangled since...for us to be told in November last year that actually, they won't be looking for another office.

I endured wfh during the pandemic but have at no point enjoyed it - I miss people, chats, jokes, building relationships face to face. I even miss the commute fgs!

Yes, I could fix the wfh thing by finding a new job, but most places seem to be hybrid now which, while better than 100%wfh, still requires me to have the set up at home, at the detriment to my having a spare bedroom.

I am growing to not hate wfh and see the benefits of it, BUT will likely never actually get over the fact that I now don't have a spare bedroom for guests to sleep in, I had to purchase a desk at my own expense and there's no allowance for the increased costs of electricity/gas/WiFi etc.

I turned my spare room into a study/office but it does mean I can't use it as a spare room.
I get the frustration but it also means I can't have overnight guests 😂.

WFH has meant I could take a much better job further away though (on a bad day 2 hours, good just over an hour) I go into the office once a week when my team and boss go in, if I had to do it 5 days I don't think it would be possible financially.

The other benefits are I can go to the gym when I want, get the cheap supermarket delivery slots, go out for a walk. Downside is I can still be working at 7 or 8 at night after starting at 7 or 8 in the morning as I don't switch off at 5.

I get it op but you’ll get a lot of negativity on here because if you don’t like it shut up because it works for me comments, which stinks

I hate being at home all day and miss all the incidental interactions/osmosis skills etc.

I think it’s unfair if it was advertised as office as well.

I agree.

It’s not a race to the bottom. Making the conditions worse for other jobs to “help” recruitment for the NHS, teachers, etc is absolutely ridiculous (and wouldn’t work anyway). Perhaps focusing on improving the conditions and pay for these roles would be better than making others worse…

I think this thread shows the opposite; lots of different views and suggestions.

They're all TWATS now (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Haha love this, I'm a total TWAT, never go in on Mondays or Fridays.

I hated it, fortunately I was able to retire early, I was originally going to carry on working for about another 5 years but I didn't apply for a job providing my own office space and only worked about a mile away so commuting wasn't a problem at all.

I definitely get it, I've moved my desk downstairs so my DH and I have side by side set ups. I hybrid work, last week I went into services 5 days and am in 3 days next week. Looking forward to my next WFH day as I get so much more done!

However I think it does depend on your job. I work in housing but within refuge/homeless services, so when I go into the services I don't get alot done! I'm definitely more productive and have less interruptions at home. But that's not everyone's job and certainly not everyone's experience.

I detested hybrid so much I’ve just moved to a different job with onsite working ( I’m in HR so have moved to work in a group of schools) to avoid it. Depressing, frustrating and the worst of both worlds.

I can imagine a people-focused role like HR would be really difficult remotely, unless you have routine tasks that need undivided attention and focus and can all be done on the same day.

the job I do is one I can do via MS Teams or face to face, but which definitely benefits from being in the office for some meetings eg regular catch-ups with my direct reports where a bit of the 'human touch' goes a long way.

I don't think it's fair to say that non-WFH careers are traditionally female. What about

HGV drivers
Tradespeople
Construction (the practical side, not architects etc.)
Doctors & surgeons
Refuse collection
Utilities engineers
Etc