Remote work

[jsmith]

I cannot do the majority of what i do remotely. I was out of the office for about a month last spring and the only thing that we could accomplish was online refresher training in some areas. Additionally, I work for an organization that operates 24/7/365 and the period of time when some people were able to work remotely caused the line between work time and not work time to go away and people assumed you were available to deal with their issues at any time of day or night-sooooooooooo glad to be back to a point where they are only expecting to reach me on my office phone in mostly regular business hours. A real full nights sleep is an awesome thing.

 

[NMBCFangirl]

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.

I spend my lunch hour laying on the couch reading a book or playing a video game if I need to vent some frustration. It's so nice to be able to just move straight to your relaxing place!

 

[LYSE]

Granted not every job calls for it, but try working off a 15-page set of blueprints when viewed on your smart phone.

Big plotter prints are hard to replace but most of the engineers I work or have worked with primarily work with 2-4 24 to 30 inch monitors and that included work from home setups (laptop with dock)

 

[wilbret]

I would like a hybrid. I don't want to go to the office every day just to sit in meetings that I can join via Teams, but I like the option to have a place to go. It could even be a shared space where you just grab an available spot or a conference room for a meeting.

I changed jobs during COVID, and have never had to go to the office at all. I have gone by choice just a couple times. We are going back 2 days per week starting next month, which I think will be okay, but honestly, the thought of the commute has started to weigh on me. As traffic builds, I am looking at realistically an hour each way, and this is Atlanta... expect much worse from time to time. I won't have the ability to come in super early and leave early to compensate for traffic, I will have to drop off kid at school. I also will need to pickup a kid at school, it's going to be a huge mess.

 

[nkereina]

I agree, you were very lucky to have a space to work from, and already had a routine to keep you grounded. Most people were just thrown into this and really had no idea on how to handle it.
I know my best-friend's - DD and Son in law were trying to work from home, with 2 elementary school aged kids doing distant learning... and both kids had different lunch break times. My friend would go over some days, and help take care of their lunch, due to the fact both parents were on conference call or zoom meetings during the kids designated lunch times... so way more chaos than normal in their everyday life. Their 8 year old broke out in hives due to the stress.

Yes, a lot of people had to adjust on the fly and those of us already used to some form of remote work still had to adjust if there were school aged kids now at home during the day too. Definitely a big adjustment with people trying to stay afloat. But, I know a lot of companies are shifting to full time work from home or a hybrid that will be a permanent change going forward, so my best advice with experience in this is to get a routine and a designated working space in the home so you can still "go to work" and hopefully prevent it from encroaching on your home/family time.

 

[Minnesota!]

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.

Same, but mine is a 20 minute walk in the AM, then a 20 minute basketball session with my kid, then a 20 minute "clean the house" frenzy...dishes, laundry, etc.

My department went paperless Jan 2020, and JUST in time. It would have been chaotic to throw all the new procedures together within a day or two...from when the WFH 'test' started on March 18 til...now?

 

[tzolkin]

I agree, you were very lucky to have a space to work from, and already had a routine to keep you grounded. Most people were just thrown into this and really had no idea on how to handle it.
I know my best-friend's - DD and Son in law were trying to work from home, with 2 elementary school aged kids doing distant learning... and both kids had different lunch break times. My friend would go over some days, and help take care of their lunch, due to the fact both parents were on conference call or zoom meetings during the kids designated lunch times... so way more chaos than normal in their everyday life. Their 8 year old broke out in hives due to the stress.

Yes, there's definitely a difference between choosing to work from home and being thrown into it unprepared while also having your kids at home without structure.

I have worked from home for years. It has really made absolutely no difference that my kids have been at home for the last year plus because I don't even really notice that they are here. They stay in their rooms most of the day other than quietly using the kitchen to cook something. In the afternoon, they'll peek into my office to see if I'm busy and come in for a few minute break to chat but that's about it.

There are things parents could do to mitigate the stress like pack lunches the night before or have snacks readily available so the kids can be more self-sufficient, but I think most people were so overwhelmed with being thrown into it, not knowing how long it would last, etc that they didn't have the opportunity to plan ahead or get a good routine going.

My nieces and nephews are all younger and I know it took the parents hours each day to assist with their school work, so that drastically cut back on the amount of time they had for regular household tasks like cleaning, meal prep, etc. which just added more stress on top of all the changes.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Other than having to play part-time teacher to DD, I've really liked working from home. I actually took my current position during the pandemic, so I've never had a "office culture" to get used to. Most of the people I work with on a daily basis are in another state anyways, so I'd be on the phone for meetings with them regardless. If I have a few minutes free I can fold the laundry. Or start dinner. Or pick up the coffee table. Or run to the store. Walk the dog. All the things I used to have to fit in the few hours I had between work and sleep. My stress level has significantly decreased. In September, I'm supposed to start going in to work once a week for meetings and such, but that shouldn't be too bad, especially since DH is still working from home and can be there for whatever DD needs.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I'm a teacher and we did virtual learning for a year (March 2020-March 2021). It was hard - you can't really make the connections with the students that you do at school. Like someone above said, there was a real issue with time and boundaries. Of course, we weren't penalized by our administration if we only worked from 8-3, but with so many kids working on things in the evenings once parents were finished with work, we got lots of questions/emails/etc during that time of day and most of us tried to answer promptly so they could continue with the work. I would be laying in bed at night at 11 PM answering questions in Google Classroom about things.

Although I didn't miss the commute or the getting up so early, I was VERY glad to go back to school in March.

 

[shawthorne44]

Also, I really expect that my dog is still alive because of remote work. She is a 13-year-old Akita. Life expectancy for this breed is 9-11, which is normal for big dogs. I am the center of her universe, and she has been so content to spend 24/7 at my feet.

 

[ronandannette]

Big plotter prints are hard to replace but most of the engineers I work or have worked with primarily work with 2-4 24 to 30 inch monitors and that included work from home setups (laptop with dock)

I’m talking about the trades in the field - the people actually building things.

 

[LovesTimone]

I'm a teacher and we did virtual learning for a year (March 2020-March 2021). It was hard - you can't really make the connections with the students that you do at school. Like someone above said, there was a real issue with time and boundaries. Of course, we weren't penalized by our administration if we only worked from 8-3, but with so many kids working on things in the evenings once parents were finished with work, we got lots of questions/emails/etc during that time of day and most of us tried to answer promptly so they could continue with the work. I would be laying in bed at night at 11 PM answering questions in Google Classroom about things.

Although I didn't miss the commute or the getting up so early, I was VERY glad to go back to school in March.

I have to say Thank you for just being a teacher, I know that this is a hard job, really more of a calling. I can not imagine how hard this past year has been for you. Wishing much pixie dust and magic for your up coming year and a hug for when you need it the most...


My DH works in essential services, and since he is the boss. He sets the example and is a great leader, his people love him. He is always on call, 24 hours a day, so for us the phone ringing in the middle of the night, or dealing with stuff on the weekends is part of our lifestyle. I knew it when I met him so I knew what I was getting into, and I support him 100%. I understand where you are coming from with the late night problems.

 

[Skywalker]

My friend hates it, she says "I thought I'd be working from home....turns out its more like I'm living at work"

For me I definitely prefer working remotely. I am not sure if my company is sticking with it permanently or not. I think "the office" is a real outdated concept at this point, where the technology exists to work from anywhere for most people. I save time, money, & stress. The environment saves 2 hours of gas fumes per day and my company saves overhead and gets me pretty much 24/7. Win-win.

 

[LYSE]

I’m talking about the trades in the field - the people actually building things.

Well the trades won't be working from home obviously..although even on site / field has ways of reducing paper but that's another scenario

 

[AvidDisReader]

I work from home, but I am on the back end of my career. The plan is to retire next July (2022). So, I can save all the costs of commuting-gas, tolls, wear and tear on auto- and concentrate on arranging assets to cover the loss of income come 2022 and beyond. The negative, 3 days a week my wife watches 4 of our grand kids. The problem comes when she goes outside to work on her garden and leaves the kids unsupervised. This will be cured in a couple of weeks when all go back to school. I like the quiet, but it does get a little too quiet.

 

[Snowflakey]

I love it!!! Love, love, love it. So many benefits - aside of saving money not having to drive my car, be tempted by ordering lunch out, etc. I'm also a better worker. Work more hours, less stressed and so happy to not have to deal with the catty type of people in the office!

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Loved working from home and could do it forever. Unfortunately my company is in commercial real estate and per the CEO it would look bad for us to not occupy commercial real estate! I’ve been back I. The office since early May. Next month I will be relocating to our HQ to start a new team. My commute will go from 6 miles to about 16 but the traffic in the area isn’t too bad.

 

[aprilgail]

My daughter had a job that has been remote since she got it in May-they originally said they were going back to office in sept so she started looking for a new job that is remote- today she found out she landed the remote only job so she will now be remote totally for this company. She had no desire to be in an office, deal with co workers and waste time commuting so she got what she wanted.

 

[tvguy]

My wife's former employer yesterday switched two departments back to remote work due to the spike. They were out for over a year, and back in for two months.

My former employer brought the last department back in from remote work yesterday, except the entire department called in sick yesterday in protest. Not sure how that will work out.

 

[Gramingo]

Question for those that work from home: If you wake up and aren't feeling well, do you call in sick or do you just work through it?