I’ve worked from home a few years now, and whilst the upsides are well known I’ve personally found some challenges there too. Have you experienced anything similar? How did you deal with it?
My tale:
When the UK went into lockdown (along with everyone else) in early 2020 I started working from home full-time. For the first year I was with the same team I’d worked with for years whilst in the office, so nothing really changed except my location.
I switched jobs mid-2021 and the new team was much smaller. I work as a software developer, and this team was a grand total of three people including myself. We didn’t have many meetings, only one a week, and except for being assigned new work I never interacted with anyone. It took a big toll on my mental health and I quit after three months.
I took an extended break from software development and started working on a plant nursery, driving tractors and tending plants - it was so much fun, but paid very little and ate into my savings a lot.
Went back to software development last year and thankfully manage things much better. I’m not a very social person, so it was surprising how important socialisation was to my mental wellbeing. I’m now part of quite a large team that speaks regularly, and when I next change jobs I know that this is something I need to look for.
I also have a garden now, so when the call of the wild hits me I go outside and sniff my tomato plants. I do miss driving tractors though.
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I work from home (since the pandemic), and it’s mostly ok. I don’t miss the commute — from my old house and old job it was a 1h15m commute each way, and from my current house and current job it’s 1h30m. I absolutely could not do that every day, not anymore. So I definitely appreciate that.
Another positive is that my ergonomic setup is way better at home than it would be at the office, which is really important since I’ve been battling ongoing wrist pain.
Also at home no one can hear me swear at my computer all day except my partner in the other room 🙂
On the other hand, I really do miss the social aspect of the office. Which was surprising for me to realize as an introvert when the pandemic hit. But lunch chats, coffee breaks, Friday afternoon beers, even just overhearing people on different teams talking about what they’re up to, etc. are something I miss, and added a little fun to the day even when work itself was a slog.
I go into the office once every couple of weeks now, and it really makes me appreciate seeing people in person. Even just not having the small but ever-present Zoom lag makes such a big difference for me in reading body language, being able to jump in without talking over someone, actually staying somewhat focused, etc. Of course in person meetings are exhausting in their own way, but Zoom meetings can be like a special level of hell to me.
I feel like I wrote a novel, hah. Last thing I’ll say is that an extended break from software development is something that’s sounded quite appealing to me for a little while now, I just have no idea what I’d do instead 😅
I love working from home! I really like hunkering down, focusing, and getting into a good flow, and doing that from home is easy for me. I’ve been WFH about 3 years now and can’t see myself ever taking an office job again. I also have kind of brutal anxiety that is so much easier to handle from home.
One thing I do like is when my team meets for an in-person event, once or twice a year. It’s a lot for me, but I’m ready for it and have a good time when it rolls around.
I’ve also been in a position of managing folks who are remote, and I find that to be a lot easier as well. I made better connections on Zoom than I did in the office from a manager level, because it removed a social anxiety barrier I had. I don’t manage anymore, but if I did, I’d be happy to have a remote team and wouldn’t want it any other way.
I absolutely love working from home. Started in office but went and have stayed full time remote when covid hit. I eat so much healthier now, as I often wouldn’t want to meal prep and would just get something near the office for lunch. I’m able to be home when packages arrive and don’t have to worry about them getting nabbed. I can get chores done.
Plus not having to be around a bunch of people made my transition so much easier and comfortable. Being able to do it on my own terms without thinking about what others may think about me was very nice and put my mind at ease a ton
I’ve been fully WFH for about 3 years now, and its a mix of pros and cons. Mostly pros, though. If I had to pick the key factors, they would be (in no particular order):
Pros:
- No commute, I get more time per day!
- I control my working environment. I pick the temperature, music, lighting, furniture, and everything else.
- Privacy (I previously worked in a cube farm)
- Flexible(ish) working hours. As long as I’m available for meetings and slack conversations, it doesn’t really matter when I actually work. I can sleep in and work late, or vice versa, without it being a huge inconvenience.
- More time with my wife!
Cons:
- Call me strange, but I really miss the social aspect of working in an office. Water cooler talk, team coffee breaks, lunch with friends, secretly passing birthday cards, and all that stuff. Even office drama can be fun once in a while.
- Lack of a daily structure
- No option for a face-to-face meeting, even if its really needed.
I’m with you on the cons. I know it’s “work” - but I was friends with my coworkers. Sometimes best friends or “work spouse” status as we would call it! (terminology & person approved by my actual spouse). I absolutely miss being around people.
Same! I know some people prefer to keep work separate and not make friends there, and people can obviously do what works best for them, etc. But I like work friends! I spend so much of my time there, if the people are cool then why wouldn’t I want to be friends? To me it’s like if I’d gone through my schooling years with the mindset that I was only there for school and not making friends.
So. Much. This. Been working from home since the pandemic started. I guess being an introvert helped a ton since I know a lot of people who struggled with it.
I think for the social aspect, I noticed working from home removed (or at least dramatically decreased) the feeling of being in a team. I do miss that, surprisingly. Now it feels more like I’m a hired gun rather than a part of a team. We do have regular team meetings but it’s just isn’t the same.
Another pro is I get to interact more, despite in a limited fashion, with people from different countries. We usually had our higher ups manage that and just cascade when there was information to relay.
I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the office, tbh.
I’m supposed to be managing a small team and from that perspective, it’s a mixed bag. Everyone I supervise has taken a firm stance that they want to be 100% remote, and I support them because I can see that work is getting done, and I want to retain the talent that we have. At the same time? I’ve never met any of these people in person, I don’t have a great sense of who they are and what motivates them, and a couple of them take 60-90 minutes to respond to an e-mail from me.
When I go into the office, every two weeks or so, I can have more meaningful interactions and I feel like I know the in-office team members better than I know the people I manage. If they don’t respond to my e-mail right away, I can turn my head and see if they’re busy, out to lunch, or just watching YouTube. I try to be pretty easygoing about it but the fact is, there are a lot of advantages to being in-office if you’re expected to give people performance reviews. I can only view so much when I’m in Washington and my team member is in Texas. And you always have some people who will take advantage of the flexibility that they’re entrusted with.
I’ve been work from home since March ‘20 (with about a month in office near the start of ‘23), and I absolutely love it.
At the start I was doing a lot of end-user tech support and kitted out my workstation with a nice desk and chair, and I’ve never been more comfortable working at a desk. I think ergonomics are one of the biggest perks of work-from-home, plus the whole saving on commute thing.
The ergonomics are huge. I like naps, so my lunch break nap was very… awkward to do in my office at previous places, And a proper chair for yourself plus laptop stands, wrist cushions, 60% keyboard, etc are huge long term improvements that often aren’t invested in by a company for you.
I’ve been working from home for about ten years, so when COVID happened, it was no real change for me.
Generally, I love it, but I’ve always worked on and with geographically separate teams, so even when I have an office nearby, I’d only be going to it to be on Zoom/Teams meetings anyway.
Financially, it’s great! It’s wonderful not having a commute, saves a ton on gas, vehicle wear and tear, and the habit of spending money on lunch. I also don’t have to maintain and upkeep as many “professional” sets of clothing.
It’s also great for keeping up with house chores, when I take a break to stretch, I can throw in some laundry or fill up the dish washer.
Downsides- work life balance. Work is always there. My work set up is right next to my personal PC set up and when an email comes in after hours, it can be tough to not address right there.
WFH so far is great for me. Naps during lunch break are wonderful, and I’ve built up some nice gear (ie, boom mic and very nice webcam) that will stay with me regardless of where I work now and have made my day-to-day routine far comfier.
I work from home pretty much full time with a team and stakeholders spread across the country and a few in various place around the world.
I’ve been WFH almost full time about 18 months, prior to that it was a a couple of days WFH a week, starting with COVID (which initially was full time WFH for a few months).
I love saving 2 hours a day by not commuting. Like you mention, I find I have to deliberately organise in-person meetings or catch ups with friends otherwise I don’t get the social interaction that as an introvert I previously avoided. I get to see my kids way more, and I also work somewhere very flexible on working hours (since half the team are in different time zones) so I never have to worry about when I’m gonna get a chance to see the doctor or dentist or chaperone a school trip.
I went full WFH in 2020 then back into the office in 2021. At that point people began clamoring for some kind of long-term WFH policy and we eventually landed on up to 2 days WFH per week.
In 2020 it was rough. I didn’t adapt very well, and work time versus personal time started to become very fuzzy. There also just wasn’t a whole lot of socializing being done in general at the time, and losing that aspect from work didn’t help.
Fast forward to today and I’m better adjusted to the current setup. I think I’d be fine with going full WFH again. I’m just glad that they haven’t yet decided to backtrack like so many other businesses have.
its amazing and i never want to step foot in an office again
