Full time WFH opportunity - too isolating?

[minnie300]

I have the opportunity to WFH full time with occasional UK travel for team meet ups. The frequency of those hasn't been decided but I expect it would be once or twice a year. I'm desperate for a change as I've become bored in my current hybrid role (same job for nearly a decade) and the new opportunity is in a completely different field. On paper it all sounds ideal but the full time WFH is making me have serious doubts.

I'm definitely an introvert but I do find it nice to go into the office once or twice a week. Having said that I don't have direct work colleagues or a 'team' so it's a case of a passing 'hi' in the corridor and I do feel lonely at times. I suspect the new role would have more of a 'team' feel to it.

What do people do for social interaction whilst working from home? I've thought about gym/ classes at the gym (but who chats at those?), and maybe volunteering but otherwise I think I might go stir crazy.

I’ve WFH FT for the past 2 years, it’s definitely my preference. I would be far too distracted in the office. Everyone in our (massive) dept WFH FT so we’re all in the same boat. We have regular teams meetings to just chat, and those of us who’ve made friends usually have a video call going throughout the day. We’re all from different parts of the country.

You do need to make sure you get out of the house though, I take the dog for a walk in my lunch hour. I don’t find it isolating at all.

I think you go in phases. I'm sometimes uber productive WFH and other time not. You'd need to find other social interaction to avoid becoming a pod person.

Currently I'm out and about lots and thriving rather than mouldering at the same screen all day.

I don't think social interaction with work colleagues is affected much by office vs wfh. Especially going from hybrid with no close colleagues to remote with a closer team.

Actually, I think my work team have become closer since we started working remotely, as we have online team calls where we can speak more openly, whereas in the office it feels a little more stifled.

You'd need to find other social interaction to avoid becoming a pod person.

Oh god - is that someone who listens to podcasts to ease the isolation of WFH? I fear I may be a pod person!

Are they any co working spaces? Obviously that would have a cost attached.

it sounds like you’re very interested in the actual job so take it and deal with any problems that arise from WFH if and when they come. You might find you absolutely love it.

You could try it. I did and I put on a stone and my mental health was in the gutter. Nobody checked in virtually and I was incredibly isolated. Thought I would have more appetite for my own social life and getting out, but felt too low to bother! My current job is a bit of a nightmare but I love going in every day.

You could rent desk space a couple of days a week. Places like Barclays Eagle Labs offer shared workspace (I don’t know if they’d be suitable but it’s worth asking the question as they’re lovely spaces:

https://labs.uk.barclays/membership/

There will be similar ‘business clubs’ in most towns and cities where you can rent desk space and work alongside other people.

It works really well for some people but I did it for a couple of years (not during covid) and at the beginning I loved it and after about 3 months I realised I was quickly gaining weight and looking like a slob wearing the same pair of jogging bottoms 5 days in a row and had lost all pride in my appearance and myself in general!
an interesting experiment but I’m now in 2 days a week and I do much better like this.

I would hate it, but surely you can tell how it would be from working in a hybrid role. I learnt from covid that there is no way I can WFH even part time. Other people love it. It really depends on what you are like.

School pickups, go to the allotment. I like it after working in an office for 25 years. No daft politics to worry about.

I enjoy being in the office more than at home but only as I work school hours so I don’t lose the convenience element…

When I was in a fully remote role I would socialise more on evenings or weekends to get out of the house.

My weight shot up and is now dropping again, I am back to an office environment.

If absolutely loathe it personally and I think that it’s been catastrophic for a lot of people. Hybrid is my go to. People need people 🥰

I have been full time at home for over 10 years. I’ve pretty much forgotten the inconvenience of a commute but yes, it’s lonely. Because this has been our set up for so long, the company recruits from all over the world so none of us live particularly near each other. My nearest colleagues are 50+ miles away.
My job is one where you are partly in competition with your closest colleagues.
We end up each with our own network of relationships, some current teammates, others former teammates or people I just happened to have a rapport with. Day to day it’s ok but think of all you miss from an office. No birthday cards, Christmas lunches, nights out, we have conferences a few times a year which help somewhat but we have to be selected for those, if you don’t get selected that’s a very dull year.
I do go to the gym and we do chat although it’s a specific type of class which helps. The loneliness gets me out there if I’m not in the mood to exercise! It feels awful at the end of the day to have been in front of the laptop all day.

WFH is definitely not for everyone.

I've left home twice in the last 7 years and I bloody love it! But then, I don't like people... I work on various projects, from 6 months to several years at a time, so I get closer to some colleagues than others...and then I move onto the next project and start again.

If you're already having doubts I suspect it may not be for you.

It wound drive me nuts. I struggle with more than 2 consecutive days WFH!!

I love it, WFH since 2020, but we do make effort to keep in contact within the team. Never want to go back to an office.

I work from home full time and don't find it isolating at all. We have a casual Teams chat where we message throughout the day, the kind of non-work talk you'd have in the office (current events, TV, whatever). I have video calls with at least three different people throughout the day.

I definitely don't log off at 5 and think I need to go to a random gym class to be near other people!

Me too, I’m leaving a 90% wfh role for a 60% office based role. I find too much wfh very isolating. I also manange a large team and it feels like I have a daily battle to stop people working in silos.

I have WFH FT since the start of covid. It works well for me, but it most definitely isn’t for everyone. Most people will be much happier with a hybrid arrangement.

I’m quite introverted and I have always been happy in my own company. Many people would feel lonely & isolated being on their own all day every day & would really struggle. Winters are worse than summers, obv. You won’t know if you can handle it until you try. For me, the massive cumulative savings in the time & cost of commuting to an office are the biggest benefit. The main downside is that I often feel ‘out of the loop’ in many ways.

Also, you need to be pretty self-motivated & disciplined to make it work. I keep to a regular schedule & routine, I work in my spare room which has a proper desk, chair & monitor set up and I get out of the house every lunchtime to exercise (walk, run or bike ride) whatever the weather.

I like working from home, I don't feel isolated at all. I do get outside at weekends for other hobbies and I can pop out on a lunch break if I need to. My sort of work requires a lot of concentration and I found with the hybrid working I was struggling to transfer from home to office and found my work performance struggled when in the office as there was too many distractions.

personally i’d hate it but I enjoy going to the office and chatting to colleagues, just the routine of leaving the house. But everyone is different.

It depends on your personality tbh. I’ve exclusively worked from home for almost 12 years and I can’t imagine going back to an office tbh, maybe when the youngest child is older, but I’ve always been happy in my own company. I do NEED to get out of the house at weekends though.

I hated working from home during covid and was one of the first back in the office. I now do 2 days from home but try to avoid making them consecutive. I also do volunteering and am a member of a gym but those relationships are quite superficial, so better than nothing but not the 121 chats you get in an office.
I've heard 'remote first' companies can be a lot better though as they've designed their working model that way. You could always ask what they do to build connections between staff and exactly how frequent in person meetings are.

That’s why I explained that I don’t work closely with colleagues because we work individually and if the OP will be in that situation then that makes quite a big difference to the loneliness factor. Not everyone has your exact scenario.
I don’t go to a “random gym class” either, it’s CrossFit which is a community. Worth doing in itself but is a lot more important with my WAH life. And LOL at logging off at 5, you seem to have a nice easy time.