Is working from home really easier, or just a different kind of exhausting?

[warrenettie]

I keep seeing people say that working from home is more relaxed, but honestly, I’m starting to wonder if that’s true. I’ve been doing it for a while now, and somehow I feel more drained than when I used to go into the office.
There’s no proper boundary between work and home life — I find myself answering emails late at night, or feeling guilty if I take a proper lunch break. And don’t even get me started on the constant background noise from the kids when school’s out!
At the same time, I know some people love the flexibility and not having to commute (which I totally get — that used to wear me out too).
So I’m curious — for those of you who’ve done both, do you actually find working from home easier, or is it just a different kind of hard?

WFH is far easier for me, but I have a separate office and no young kids. I feel absolutely no compunction to work outside my hours, although as I have no commute I do start earlier. I love it, my cat is a better colleague than my actual colleagues, and I get so much more work done at home as its easier to concentrate, and I have no distractions (unless I want them!)

That actually sounds lovely — I think the separate office makes such a big difference. I’m working from the dining table most days, and it’s impossible to fully switch off when everything’s in the same space. I do miss the mental break of leaving the house and “coming home” after work.
I can totally see how it works better if you’ve got a quiet setup though. Maybe I’d feel the same if I wasn’t juggling kids’ noise and constant interruptions!

I do both. Working from home works if I have wall to wall meetings or papers to get out. I can honestly say that during the covid period I worked harder than at anh other time in my life. On the whole I value the boundary between home and work but my commute is 30 minutes with a parking spot at each end.

For the day to day operational stuff I achieve more in the office. So much can be dealt with in a five minute chat as you pass or bump into someone en-route to a cafe. At home that issue requires a tesms message to see if someone's free, a 10/15 minute slot, etc, etc.

I still believe work is a social construct and an important one and staff do a lot of learning on the job.

Working from home only works if there is appropriate childcare in place.
Humans matter.

You say it's hard as there's no proper boundaries between work and home as though that's out of your control, but it's entirely your own choice.

I love it and find it much easier. It's like owning a magic teleportation device. I blink and I'm at work in the morning. I blink and I'm home in the evening. No commute is a huge benefit to me financially, time saving, and no stress.

It's up to you to work in a normal way -work, lunch, work, stop - or not. Why do you think you feel obliged to behave the way you do?

I work at the kitchen table but I pack it all away when I’m finished and don’t look at it again until I’m next working. There’s no way I can have my children at home while I’m working, this only happens if they’re off school sick. I love working from home, I get so much more done as I’m not distracted by my colleagues and when I take a break I can make use of the time by doing a bit of housework or sometimes I go for a walk with friends or DH who also work from home. It’s not for everyone though, often when I tell people I WfH they say they would really struggle with it. But for me it works and honestly if I had to go to the office every day it would make family life so difficult to the point I’m not sure it would be worth it.

I find wfh much better for work life balance.

I’ve set my schedule so that I deliberately don’t take a lunch break, so that if I stop for a bit when the kids get home or finish early I don’t feel guilty. And a couple of days a week I have childcare till 5 so that I can work right through.

I do miss spending that time in the office with other people, and I make an effort to attend in person events, but on balance wfh works best for me.

You shouldn’t be working around your kids if you can help it, if primary age they should be in after school clubs or childcare if you’re working.
you need a proper desk set up, or a place to go. Can you rent a desk at a coworking space then you can go ‘out’ to work and have colleagues and free coffee etc

I hate wfh with a passion. I find I miss out on so much, and I like the commute to “switch on” and then “switch off” again. Fortunately it’s not a thing where I work. We trialled it, people took the piss, so it was scrapped.

I like it as it's given me the opportunity to work for a company I would never have considered before.

I find it hard to switch off in the evenings, going into the office is a long day as it could be a 3.5 round trip more on a bad day.

I think you have to be disciplined about when you stop working that's it, you don't go into your office/study/switch the laptop on. I now leave my work phone in my office too. I'd shut the door at the end of the day, but one of the cats loves my computer chair and sleeps on it, and I dry my washing in there

But for all the downsides the upsides make up for it, I do a job I like, with bosses I like, who treat me with respect. I can go to the gym at lunchtime when it's quieter, I only sit in traffic one day a week and not 5, the cats are free to come and go on my wfh days which they absolutely love (I'd have to pay a fortune to get a cat flap put in a glass door if I was in 5 days a week).

My commute is stressful, drive, train and tube. so working from home is a godsend. I treat an office day as a social activity and wfh when the grafting gets done

I don't wfh on days the kids are home. The kids will either be picked up by someone else, or they're in after school club until I've finished. I also have a proper desk/chair/monitor set up,

Same here - separate office, no young children, and at this time of year, no lengthy commute. The traffic is awful between now and Christmas and what should be a half hour drive takes three times as long.

I get what you mean. In the office, I always go out for a walk at lunchtime, but at home I'll have lunch in the same room I work, and my laptop will be pinging away with notifications that I feel compelled to check! There's nowhere interesting enough to get me out for a walk from home.

I think different things work for different people.

I felt lazy and disgusting when I worked from home, so I now going into the office Mon-Fri. It actually used to make me really angry when I’d get emails because it was meant to be my own space and I like to keep home life and work life separate. I would also find myself panicking and logging on late at night to answer emails. I just feel it really blurs the lines.

I also missed the social side of work. Just going in and having a coffee and a chat before working.

I know SO many people who swear by working from
home though and say they are way more productive. Different strokes for different folks I think.

I find WFH much easier. But I think it depends on the work, and your personality. Some people find it very draining to be by themselves, and its interaction with others that gives them a necessary boost. That is not me.

The freedom from mega early mornings and commuting is the benefit for me. I work from the kitchen so I do pack away at 5pm and set it all back up again in the morning so I do have that separation.

Answering work emails in the evening, no disrespect, is your own dumb fault. You don’t need to do that.

And you could take a lunch hour. Have a set time each day and go for a walk or move to the living room and watch tv or read for half an hour. Anything to just get away from the laptop and get a mental break.

You shouldn’t have noisy kids around you either. Get them doing their homework or quietly watching tv or book them into after school club.

You need to get in the mindset that it’s not ‘being at home’ during working hours, you’re actually employed and it’s working time where you just happen to be at home. Be professional.

I hate both - need a new job.

I much prefer working in the office but as my jobs is peaks and troughs I prefer to be at home when it’s a quiet period so I can get on with other things.

But I really like that there is always someone at home when DD (15) gets in from school (DH also works hybrid). I think that’s been very beneficial for her.

At the moment I’m 50/50 (working 4 days a week) but things are getting busier so I think in the next year I’ll move to 3 days in the office.

I don’t really like sitting by myself in an empty house.

Commuting - 2 hours a day, gone
Dress - I can be comfy and not wear restrictive feeling (to me) “smart” clothes
Sleep - I can wake up 90 minutes later, no 6am starts
I take less time to get ready in the morning
I’m not stressed out when I start work because of the commute
I’m less distracted as I am very very easily distracted by office noise and people, so I get twice as much done - literally (ND)
I can sit on the sofa with my laptop if I have a long job and don’t need a second screen
I don’t need sick days for colds/flu/headaches as I don’t have to drive and be uncomfortable all day
Flexible hours, so I don’t have to polish chairs with my arse 9-5 and can work when I actually need to
And my dog has some company.

So for me it’s infinitely better. I don’t have young kids though! And I do have an office at the back of the house which is lockable so nobody bothers me if they are home.

I don't find it easier. It's just different. I get up an hour later (7am, not 6am, which is nice,).

I use my in-office days to meet with people face to face ("collaborate" I guess) and my wfh days to get my head down and get some proper work done.

I have a dedicated office at home, take a lunch break and never work late or check my emails once the working day has ended, so I have no "blurred lines" between home and work.

I would say though, having worked in a desk job for 20 years now, I'm finding it physically and mentally exhausting sitting infront of a laptop for 8 hours a day now I'm in my 40s - whether I'm in the office or at home. I ACHE to be physical and feel like I'm climbing the walls, which is something I didn't used to struggle with.

I hated it when I did it in lockdown, no separate space here and teenagers coming and going. But I only have a short drive to work (25 mins), free parking there and lovely colleagues who I actively look forward to seeing on Mondays. Our work is very collaborative and a great deal gets done by means of a quick impromptu chat. I also like being in a different town at lunchtimes, I like where we live but it would do my head in to only leave a couple of times a week, I like to spread my wings and be part of more than one community.

Edited to say - my colleagues feel the same, no one WFH

I think it depends. I used to be a teacher, so I now find WFH absolute bliss but that may be because teaching was absolute hell in so many other ways! Also there was no flexibility at all whereas now if I have that. My quality of life is so much better.
I have an office and work full time over 4 days but my children are always in childcare/school while I'm working. But life is so crazy outside of working hours that I find it a welcome calm. Not sure I'd feel the same if I was single/didn't have very small children.

I think as well there is an expectation to work even when you’re ill if you work from home.

I Teams messaged my line manager telling him I’d had a seizure in work and was going home. He said ‘this is the joy of being able to work from home. Message me when you’ve logged on’.

I just didn’t log on obviously, but there is definitely an expectation that you can log on if you’re half dead.

I like hybrid but full time WFH was too much for me - home started to feel a bit like a prison. I loved being able to run errands easily and cook from scratch at lunchtime though. And on cold rainy mornings it was bliss not having to leave the house.

I like hybrid, I usually do 1-2 days in the office per week, and 2-3 at home. I like the balance, it means I can use breaks to catch up on house stuff whilst at home. But nice to go to the office for social side. My toddler is at nursery full days whether I'm at home or office, but being at home means I usually take her later / collect earlier.