What if you really hate working from home?

[CallMeDiaz]

I need to find a new job. I work in marketing and have mostly worked either in an office or hybrid.

Thing is...the industry has changed so much in the last few years, and most jobs are remote. I can't do it. Mentally I think it would be really bad for me, and I find it hard to stay motivated.

It doesn't help that in my last few roles I've made incredibly close friends who I am going to miss a lot, and I worry I'll never have great work friends ever again if I sit in my own kitchen for, what, years on end?

Any local marketing job is with a small agency and way below my current salary and I can't afford to take a drop of, say, 10k.

What the hell do you do when you know that working from home isn't for you?

I guess you do what those who disliked working and commuting to an office did for many years. Suck it up.

it's not ideal, for you. It is for some.

I guess. I am worried about the impact on my mental health but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of choice.

I hate working from home, really hate it. Thankfully most of my job (community nurse) can’t be done from home. I was so appreciative during Covid that I was able to go into a work base and work with people (I had Covid once and obviously had to do work at home but it wasn’t my full role of course).

I much prefer to keep home and work very separate, I’d miss the camaraderie of working with people (colleagues and patients) if I wasn’t physically at work. I don’t even like writing reports or doing training from home. I also dislike video meetings although I can see how they are useful and save time re travelling etc.

even in jobs where it is possible to work from home I worry about the implications for new starters and people who need to learn on the job or talk about stressful or tricky situations as it is harder to do this online or remotely.

Well you can either find WFH hard or commuting to an office hard or find a mixture of the two hard!

Would it help to rent a workspace that you share with others rather than WFH? You wouldn't be working together but you'd have company.

@CallMeDiaz things have changed so massively since 2020.
are you in a position to consider a career change if things are unlikely to change in your line of work?

I’d avoid it if you can if you know it’s not going to suit you - in my experience it’s really bad for a lot of peoples’ mental health but we’re supposed to just ignore that because a load of people on London salaries don’t have to pay for season tickets any more so force the myth that everyone loves it.

Are there any hybrid options? That’s not so bad because you can get the best bits of both worlds.

I've thought of that, and would probably do it a day or two a week if I end up with a fully remote role. Id still be working alone though...just in a space with other people working alone.

I'm really wobbling. I work with a really close friend and so thinking of moving on is more complicated than it should be; I've tangled work and personal life more than I should've.

Do you work in London and commute? I certainly don't miss 15 hours a week commuting. That's almost another two whole working days.

I don't think I can; I don't have the option to take a backwards step and have it take years to get back up to the salary I'm on now.

No I don’t and my salary is commensurate with not doing that.

Go in house instead, working in corporate marketing is likely to be 2-3 days hybrid either way

Where are you looking for jobs? A lot of bigger companies are locked into their property leases so are super keen for people to be back in the office. I went to one of my client's last week and the place was packed - almost back to pre pandemic levels. Most people are only doing a day at home now.

@OdeToBarney I do actually commute and I LOVE it! A few hours alone in the car every day, tunes on...makes me really happy.

That's part of hating working at home; the thought makes me feel claustrophobic. At the moment I go into work super early because I just love the feeling of taking off in the car every morning by myself.

It's a sense of freedom and doing something that's just for me. I'd lose that feeling sitting in my bloody kitchen three feet away from a dishwasher waiting to be emptied.

I am in-house, and it's office based. There's nothing else like it within a 90-minute drive though. I live in a small place not near any cities.

So is mine. Lack of payrises specifically quoted less need for travel. I am actually underpaid for my role, despite working "in London" (which is still do, 33% of the week).

I do understand, there is definitely a proportion of the population who are better in an office. I personally don't enjoy it, although I think there are benefits to going in once or twice a week. Where are you based? Most London firms I come across (and that's a lot of different businesses in my role) would be happy to have people in the office full time, if they wanted it.

I spent a period, pre COVID when it became more the norm for many people, WFH and I found it very isolating. I missed the networking of being in the workplace.

Although I am very disciplined, so didn't find that aspect at all challenging, I really missed my colleagues and the support of being able to seek advice, bounce ideas off people face to face.

I'm sure it is better now with access to "teams" and "zoom" but I genuinely didn't realise how much I relied on face to face contact as part of my wider work routine.

Clearly there can be a place for WFH but it needs to be carefully managed and time bound to take individuals well being in to account.

I know no one on MN wants to believe it and I'm sure some roles/companies will stick with WFH, but there are loads of large firms currently looking at how they can get their staff back in. It's the thing most asked of HR consultants currently. Businesses are recognising that whilst experienced contentious staff may be just as/more efficient from home (because they're not having so many team interactions) it doesn't work for new starters if their colleagues are all remote, so you're not developing for the future. Also home working suits a certain sort of person and usually you don't want your whole workforce made up of them.

Things may not go back to exactly how they were before but give it 3 years and they'll be a lot more similar.

I'm in Scotland @OdeToBarney and pretty far from Edinburgh and Glasgow. I could do hybrid to Edinburgh at a push; I just worry about the days at home and whether I'd really be able to bring my best work and deliver what I'm capable of when I collaborate in person with my team.

It's a weirdly forbidden thing to say now!

Reach out to recruiters and get them looking for you based on your criteria.

Also, bare in mind that it's possible the jobs say fully remote because they think thats what people want and expect-to get people applying-but they may have a base or a different expectation. Just give the contact a call and ask some questions.

Another approach is to look at fully remote jobs (if all else fails) where they do it REALLY well. These companies are still few and far. Where they know how to build a strong online community etc. Ask the contact on the job
Advert how they get the team together how you will be onboarded etc-get a feel.

I guess another approach would be to take a second job or volunteering option that fills your needs but in a different way? And a really flexible full time marketing job that means you can choose your location and get out for a drive or to the gym or to meet friends everyday.

Its possible that wfh post covid in the right company would be a different experience to your last wfh experience if it was in covid times.

I also dont get on with fully remote roles and prefer hybrid.

So agree, my current employer is very firmly office based. Unfortunately it's just not really the culture for me, and it's not a big enough place for progression, so I do need to move. Maybe not urgently, but I need to start looking around and bloody everything I see really sells 'fully remote!' and my heart absolutely sinks.

If you live in a really remote place, you're seriously limiting your options if you want to go back into the office. Smaller companies have less need to have the overheads.

Can you move?

Also, is it the wfh part thats the issue or the very limited job opportunities if you are nowhere near any cities and do you need to move to find jobs that meet your criteria?

Not that simple i know

Interesting @vivaespanaole I do think I need to expand my life a little. My job has become almost everything to me in what has been a really hard year at home. I think I've lost perspective somewhat.