Remote work

[Stratman50th]

We have been working remotely for about seven years now. It has been fantastic! When the contract came up for renewal several years ago I worked it so we no longer had to live geographically near the office. At that point we sold our house and moved to Florida which is/would be our eventual retirement location. In addition, we have an RV. I can travel to anyplace in the continental US and work as long as I have an internet connection.
I used to work in the Metro DC area. I lived 33 miles from work. It took anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or more to commute in. Worse, 1.5 hours to sometimes 2 hours to commute home. Most of the time suck was the last 9 miles to the office.
So I'll say again.... Yes! Yes! Yes! love to work remote!

 

[luv2cheer92]

My career isn't really conducive to remote work. Some of the specialties are able to make it work, but it's hard to provide the same quality compared to in-person. Definitely can't do it in the hospital setting. I would love to be able to work from home at least part-time.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I absolutely loved it... now I am back in the office.

 

[Jennasis]

I have worked from home for nearly 19 years. I love it.

 

[maxaroni]

Love it. we can achieve everything that needs to be done being home. Production is up and everyone is happy. It has also allowed us to downsize our home and move to a different state. There are no plans for us to ever go back to the offIce. DH is also working from home and enjoying it.

My DS28 can’t wait to be able to get back into the office. He is a state employee, still goes out into the field but any work that is done in the office, they are still Doing at home. My daughter in law went back to the office today and hates it, she loved working from home.

 

[ronandannette]

Nope, nope, nope. I only had to WFH for two weeks at the beginning, when I was in quarantine. It was only bearable because it was so short-term but no way was I fully productive. Neither was any of my staff.

My department has two types of jobs - field and administrative. Of course the field tasks have to be done in person and the admin work relies heavily on paper files/records and the office equipment and proprietary software employees don't have at home. Staff working remotely required somebody being their "hands and feet" in the office which was an unfair burden on whomever had to do it. As the department manager, after a few very unsatisfactory experiments with staff working from home, I declined all further requests. Anybody who wasn't in officially mandated quarantine had to come to the office.

 

[sasywtch]

If I was still working, I would have loved to work from home. My co-worker who is still there loves it. She said they get more work done and they've gone from renting 3 floors in a building to 1 floor. People have to come in one day a week (staggered) to pick up paperwork, make any copies, help answer phones. All the cattiness, bickering, favoritism has dissappeared.

 

[RedAngie]

I like how my job has evolved into a hybrid position. Two or three days at home, the others in the office or out in the field.

Even before the pandemic I started working from home maybe 2 or 3 times per month.

 

[Skywalker3]

LOVE It, and hope we never go back regularly into the office. I do miss seeing/talking to my co-workers in person, so maybe could have a once/month in person day, but that would be plenty! I keep wanting to look for a new job, but working remotely is such a plus, it's hard to give that up.

 

[nene0182]

I love it. My stress level and quality of life has improved so much. We were supposed to go back to the office today for Tues-Thurs but they have postponed that. My job is pretty remote anyways even if my butt if just filling a chair in the office. The six finance people in our office all support different regions (I do payroll for 60 drivers and I’ve probably met 5 of them in the last 7 years) so we rarely collaborate together as a team. I have a backup I will work with occasionally but nothing is lost by having to send an email or call compared to being able to turn around talk to her. Any other teams I’m a part of are with individuals from our corporate office that is 5 hours away so even if I was in the office, everything would still need to be done remote. I literally do not see the point of having to go back to the office but I know the day is coming.

 

[LovesTimone]

I have several friends that have been working remotely... overall most of them really liked it during the pandemic, due to the fact that their work loads had slowed down, and they were able to work and get what they needed done in a short amount of time, and still get paid... and the bosses where much more in tune with the kids at home, and trying to school them.

Now things are swinging the other way...

Now most of them don't like it so much... Due to the fact that they are working all the time now, people feel free to email and text after mid-night, calling all weekend long, the division of family life and work life those lines are becoming blurred for them... which now they are working more, and putting in much longer hours, and the pay is the same. Basically on call all the time...

One of my friends has a co-worker that does her work in the middle of the night, because her kids play on the lap tops during the day... so around 10:30 pm, she starts sending emails, and the work that my friend has needed during the day to complete her work, is arriving in the middle of the night.

Another friend her phone is constantly going off, She said that "office hours" don't exist anymore... Her Boss was in California on vacation, and called her at midnight to have her take care of something right then, when she said it's midnight here, his response well you work from home, just get up and take care of this for me, It's not like I'm asking you to go to the office or something...


For me personally I would not like working from home... People talk about keeping Work and Family separate... That's not happening, when you open the door and let your work life into your living room.

 

[Wendy1985]

I have several friends that have been working remotely... overall most of them really liked it during the pandemic, due to the fact that their work loads had slowed down, and they were able to work and get what they needed done in a short amount of time, and still get paid... and the bosses where much more in tune with the kids at home, and trying to school them.

Now things are swinging the other way...

Now most of them don't like it so much... Due to the fact that they are working all the time now, people feel free to email and text after mid-night, calling all weekend long, the division of family life and work life those lines are becoming blurred for them... which now they are working more, and putting in much longer hours, and the pay is the same. Basically on call all the time...

One of my friends has a co-worker that does her work in the middle of the night, because her kids play on the lap tops during the day... so around 10:30 pm, she starts sending emails, and the work that my friend has needed during the day to complete her work, is arriving in the middle of the night.

Another friend her phone is constantly going off, She said that "office hours" don't exist anymore... Her Boss was in California on vacation, and called her at midnight to have her take care of something right then, when she said it's midnight here, his response well you work from home, just get up and take care of this for me, It's not like I'm asking you to go to the office or something...


For me personally I would not like working from home... People talk about keeping Work and Family separate... That's not happening, when you open the door and let your work life into your living room.

wow that is out of control it is public knowledge my phone is off at 8pm and on between 4:30 and 5 am unless I am running behind

 

[shawthorne44]

I love love love love WFH. Even when in the office, collaboration happened through messaging. I remember one time I needed a message answer right away (unusual) So, I tapped the person on the shoulder (cubicle next to me) and said, "Look at the message"

I've noticed some culture shifts. Pre-lockdown people worked really hard at keeping non-office sounds out of conference calls. I remember once being shocked when I heard a bird chirp/sing. That is gone. Kids, animal sounds in the background is no big deal. We even had a company wide zoom meeting (small company) that turned into a 'show off your pet' because so many pets were in the screen.

I was reading an article recently that the WFH is exposing who hasn't been doing much work. People can't sit at their desk looking harried, or walk around carrying stuff. I remember my first post-college job I replaced a guy that retired (so company was happy with him) Training started with "Do this every day (explained that task)" and tell me when you're done. By the end of the week, I was getting done by 9am what he had done all day. I asked my office neighbor and she said "Well, he seemed to walk around with a folder a lot"

My companies gross income went down, but profits were up. They kept the same office space, so it wasn't that. Business travel expenses became almost null. The business travel was mostly sales related for big accounts. Before, if you didn't travel to them, the perception was that you didn't really care. So, you'd lose out to someone that did.

All our vacation time for the next year is already planned. But, if it weren't, I'd be planning a vacation where we could stay in a really nice business hotel for really cheap.

 

[Moliphino]

I absolutely loved it... now I am back in the office.

Same. I can still WFH on occasion, which is better than before the pandemic when it was strictly not allowed, but not on a regular basis anymore.

 

[nkereina]

I used to work from home two days a week, but with the pandemic, we were switched to full time. We now have the option to work out of the office when/if we want to, but its hard to justify it. I waste 45 minutes in the morning and at night commuting. I waste time in the office chatting with people and taking a formal lunch to get away from my desk. I waste time walking to the other side of the building to get water or use the restroom. I'm far less productive in the office. That said, having human interaction I've noticed does help my mood and gives me energy. The days I do work in the office go by faster for this reason. It also helps me appreciate coming home and allows me to relax more easily at night, since I haven't been cooped up in the house all day.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I loved it last year when we worked from home for 3+ months. I saved so much money on gas and was able to get things done at home during lunch break. Loved it. However, I have an administrative job that requires access to certain paper files and we still had incoming mail to deal with. What we did was each of us came into the office for one day a week (we have a small office). It worked out well and didn't put an undue burden on any one person in the office. Unfortunately, my company doesn't allow working from home, but will occasionally approve it for special circumstances.

 

[tzolkin]

Nope, nope, nope. I only had to WFH for two weeks at the beginning, when I was in quarantine. It was only bearable because it was so short-term but no way was I fully productive. Neither was any of my staff.

I suppose it must be the specific nature of your work with it being inefficient without access to paper files. I thought most have found employees to be more productive at home than in the office.

At all of the in-person jobs I have had there tended to be quite a bit of socializing or just sitting around being "at work" for X number of hours a day. My current job (at home) is completely flexible so I ensure that I am spending a full 40 hours (or more) of actual productive working time during the week rather than just being "at the office" for that many hours, but perhaps only efficiently working a few hours a day.

For me personally I would not like working from home... People talk about keeping Work and Family separate... That's not happening, when you open the door and let your work life into your living room.

This is true-- and also why many have found their employees to get more done at home (because they tend to work more hours). It is very easy to let your work creep into every moment of your personal life. That is why it is so important to set boundaries and ensure that you have a proper work/family life balance.

I manage a company so I do have to be available for emergencies beyond a 9-5 schedule, but I still try to set aside time that is uninterrupted and make sure I'm not overworking (because I have a natural tendency to do that). I have a separate phone for work and only the company owners have my personal number. The work phone is on do not disturb from 8:30p to 5:30a and I also shut it off whenever I don't want to be bothered like dinner, family activity, etc. Since my typical work hours span about a 12hr period each day, I set aside dedicated time for breaks where I can go for a walk, schedule personal appointments, or use the computer for personal things like vacation planning or arguing with random strangers on the Disboards

 

[LYSE]

Love working remotely, been full time remote for 7 years now and it would be difficult going back to spending any amount of time in an office.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I have several friends that have been working remotely... overall most of them really liked it during the pandemic, due to the fact that their work loads had slowed down, and they were able to work and get what they needed done in a short amount of time, and still get paid... and the bosses where much more in tune with the kids at home, and trying to school them.

Now things are swinging the other way...

Now most of them don't like it so much... Due to the fact that they are working all the time now, people feel free to email and text after mid-night, calling all weekend long, the division of family life and work life those lines are becoming blurred for them... which now they are working more, and putting in much longer hours, and the pay is the same. Basically on call all the time...

One of my friends has a co-worker that does her work in the middle of the night, because her kids play on the lap tops during the day... so around 10:30 pm, she starts sending emails, and the work that my friend has needed during the day to complete her work, is arriving in the middle of the night.

Another friend her phone is constantly going off, She said that "office hours" don't exist anymore... Her Boss was in California on vacation, and called her at midnight to have her take care of something right then, when she said it's midnight here, his response well you work from home, just get up and take care of this for me, It's not like I'm asking you to go to the office or something...


For me personally I would not like working from home... People talk about keeping Work and Family separate... That's not happening, when you open the door and let your work life into your living room.

Our work hours are 8-4 and we are expected to be online during that time (except for lunch and coffee breaks...).
I don't have a work issued phone so nobody is contacting me after 4 - my laptop is shut off.

 

[shawthorne44]

One thing I really love. Instead of taking a lunch, I take three 20-minute breaks where I lay down in bed and read. My job is flexible so they don't care when I work except that it be day-ish. I found the short horizontal breaks so to be so much more refreshing than a lunch.