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 so much better - not only can you utilise the commuting time more productively, but you also avoid a deteriorating infrastructure, and travelling public behaviour (not using headphones, feet/bags on seats, eating fast food, poor hygiene, and general low level microaggressions).

I know what I see and who I talk to thank you!

I’m hybrid working and my husband pretty much WFH for years.

I like the balance, 2-3 days a week in office. At home dedicated area, second screen. Husband has an office at home and he disappears into that room to rarely emerge until the end of the day, but he has WFH for years so is much more disciplined at finishing and walking away.

We have always utilised Breakfast clubs and Afterschool clubs when they in primary school. Neither of our jobs would have tolerated us disappearing for a school run and it’s unfair on the child as we both would be working & on calls till 5.

Our work policy states a suitable working area to be able to participate in calls and be on camera. And allowances only for emergency childcare.

Negative I do find myself stuck from 8-5 on calls and working, less likely to take a break or even have lunch. At times found myself working much later.

I absolutely love WFH. I’m more productive by far.

I go into the office 1x day a week and have my own office but it’s distracting and I do spend a lot of time talking to colleagues, and get quite behind whereas at home, I have my own office, I can totally focus, zero distractions.

Husband also WFH and has the garden office. We sometimes meet in the house to have a quick lunch together, which is great.

We have a home gym so I work out every day but instead of it taking me 1.5hrs to get to the gym, change, shower, etc I can work out and get on with my work. The dogs don’t care if I’m still in my sweaty work out clobber.

I do put more hours in as I use my previous commute time of 1.5hrs (one way) to work. So start at 7am, but that’s from bed having a coffee with my husband. Then at around 9am, we go off to our separate home offices and get on with our day. Neither of us take the piss, we both take our roles seriously and recognise how fortunate we are to have the option of WFH.

WFH means I can be around if my little boy needs me, he’s at nursery but I can be there in 10
mins. I can be at home with my dogs (which I love) and I can simply get more done. I can hyper focus like I’ve never been able to do in an office environment.

I find it more exhausting. Different reasons though.

I find it harder to work at home. Just can’t get into work headspace and the depression from isolation dulls my brain. Being around people energies me. Work feels like an abstracted concept now not a real thing. Because it’s not attached to anything real, such as relationships with other people or teams.

It takes longer to get things done as lo said, as you can’t just quickly grab someone for a quick chat or discussion. All creativity and ‘added extra’ at work is gone due to the lack of Relationships and extra insight and learning that comes from being around other people.

I have a dedicated office room, I take my breaks and log off on time, but am contactable one hour after my shift then that’s it. You have to set clear boundaries, I pretty much plan my own week, as I also do site visits.
i love getting up and not rushing round , not sitting in traffic , not sitting in a noisy office with people I don’t like, making small talk. I eat better, just generally now have a far better work life balance I feel quite lucky.

I find WFH much easier but I do have a separate office and don't look at emails etc outside my work hours. I also have to go get DD from the childminder after work and even though it's a 10 minute walk, that provides some separation.
Noise cancelling headphone also cut out the background kids noise unless they have a blazing row. Although the youngest is only here if DH is caring for them as my work don't allow us to WFH and care for primary age children, and my oldest is teenage and fairly quiet. If you're caring for kids at the same time then yes that will be stressful.

I work from home full time and I love it. I do make a conscious effort to shut the laptop at the end of the day and switch off until the next morning. I actually go for a walk before and after work - even if it’s just for 20 minutes or so, I treat it as my “commute” so I have that time to get into or out of work mode, plus I get some fresh and and steps done 😊

I really really don't agree with this working from home. It seems to be balanced highly in the favour of people with children. Do people really put in their full working day at home? I don't think so. Catching up on house stuff working from home? How do the rest of us manage? I've never had the option, worked right through covid and never got the chance to work from home. It does bother me as in my past work place people who worked from home did often say 'just wiggle your mouse every 7 minutes and they will think you're online'. I am one of the people who believe that now Covid is over that everyone should be back in the office. I couldn't believe my ears last week when I heard someone say 'no I'm not coming in, I live far away and have 2 young children'. So those of us who don't have kids?? Sorry, I just find it very very unbalanced and unfair.

I wfh occasionally (maybe one day a fortnight); I don’t have such a good desk setup as in the office but ofc I could do if I wfh more.

I like the fact that I don’t have to drive there and more to the point, home; when I stop, oooh I am home already! I also appreciate getting the wash in when it rains or answering the door for a parcel.

But overall I prefer the office. Contact with others even if it’s just a kitchen chat; easier to deal with quick queries; separation of work from home. That’s me tho; I have friends who dislike the office. I also think some ppl take the mick wfh but tbf that’s possible in the office too (in a different way maybe).

Sorry I missed that this was an old thread! Sir good posts tho

I wfh 2/3 days a week and office the rest, it’s a lovely hybrid setup.
I have a separate office at home and my dc are not small anymore, 14 and 2 adults so no crazy noise or distractions when the youngest is home although I do take a break in working to say hello to him and sometimes have a snack with him.
It really works for me but I’m at that stage of life where wfh is much easier. I love not having the commute on my home days and that when I log off I’m immediately home and ready to do whatever I’m doing that evening.
really appreciate being able to do little jobs in and around work too.

I find myself answering emails late at night, or feeling guilty if I take a proper lunch break.

There is your problem right there. You need to be disciplined about sticking to your working hours and taking a lunch break.

as someone who has worked from home for 20 years - i certainly don't just wiggle my mouse. everything i do is monitored and counted. my productivity is the same as 1.8 people in the office. I work harder and faster with far less distractions. whether you agree with wfh or not is not really relevant.

Agree with you. This attitude usually stems from jealousy. If people taking the p**s was that much of an issue it wouldn't be allowed. Said people would be fired too. You may get a day here and there where you could get away with not doing much but not in the long term.

yep exactly. also depends on role i suppose. but everything i do is reported and checked so i could not swan off. not that i would want to.

It seems to be balanced highly in the favour of people with children

I found it mainly colleagues with dogs and caring responsibilities for elderly parents. I think most parents of young children have childcare in place.

You must mix with people with a poor work ethic.

Nothing could be further from the truth in my case and that of my workmates in my team.

I get far more done at home than I do in the office because I have no distractions.

WFH a million times better for me. I have a primary aged DC and office is a 1.5 hour commute away.

I am good at making sure I get out every day for a cycle / run / walk / gym and try and make sure I have a social engagement each week so I don’t get too lonely.

WFH FT time for me lead to habits of working too many hours and the boundaries between work and home were blurred. I think this is more common than those who are juggling childcare or watching Netflix but it’s not something that makes headlines or commentary funnily enough.

This is really a management issue. Ultimately somebody should be measuring their productivity. Also you don’t know if people are working flexibly. I also do school runs (2 days) and I hang around the park on Fridays after school for an hour. But I also start wfm at 6am every day and I work on Saturday mornings for a bit. I work alone so I don’t need to be there during typical office hours but - if I wasn’t working it would become obvious very quickly as they are measuring what my outcomes are.

That's good. I just get tired of seeing instagram posts from people in the park in the sunshine when they are allegedly working from home.

Another hybrid worker with 2 office days and 2 WFH days. I find WFH is very peaceful and I like being able to get my head down. I have my own office at home and my children are grown ups and working themselves, so even if they are WFH too, it is still peaceful.

I am very boudaried and do not work outside of my work hours (unless it is an emergency). I've always had a laptop and even before WFH was a thing, the temptation to log on in the evenings was still there. However, I've been good at not doing that for a long time now - possibly because I'm ancient and can't be fucked and know that it brings zero benefit to me!!!!

Bit of both.

i can start and finish when i want because my job isn’t tied to a phone system or front line contact, so as long as i can attend meetings i have a lot of flexibility. My DD is 11 so i can be here when she leaves and comes home from school but she doesn’t need my attention constantly so i can keep working, i can also wear what i want and do appts and bits of cleaning during the day.

On the other hand i am expected to be available 24/7, i often have meetings at 8pm or 6am as I work with a global team, and there is no switching off from work.

I think this entirely depends on your home set up. I’m mostly at home and sometimes the office. Both are nice but being at home is more relaxing. No commute, no noise and I like to play spa music 🤭
But I do have a separate office and no children so that obviously makes a big difference. My colleague who has 3 children goes in the office every day in the school holidays 🤣