“Work From Home” has been relatively new to many of us. Especially WFH for most/all of the week.
What have you learned about your work habits during WFH?
Your best pro? Worst con?
As things are opening back up in many states, will you be heading back to work as pre-COVID? Or do you expect a more permanent WFH/Workplace routine?
Myself, I expect to be WFH through May. I suspect we will start going back to the office in June.
Because I work largely on my own - from office or from home - I think I haven’t felt as much void as many others do. Lists are key, my notepad keeps me organized even more at home.
Pro: established routine of exercise before and after work. Sometimes I will even just go and walk up and down the block for a 5 minute breather. Because I am on a large campus at work, this is a little harder to do. I think these breaks have refreshed me for completing tasks.
Other Pro - my makeshift standing desk which really works for me!
Con: Less division between work and weekend. I am working in a spare bedroom/office and when end of day Friday comes I shut the laptop and don’t go in that room until Monday morning, but somehow walking down the stairs doesn’t scream “WEEKEND!” 
Also physical cons: miss my large desktop screen and ease of printing, etc.
I would love to settle on a blend once we “go back” - the opportunity to WFH 1-2 days a week would be awesome. I’m not confident this would be allowed on a regular basis. We are a smaller department and most could not do this so I’m not sure this would go over well - one can hope! I do have a walled office at work and I like my space.
I have to chuckle at the offices that more recently have gone to “open concept” vs. closed traditional offices. Not ideal right now!
Technically, I’ve been WFH for a long time (years) although I do plenty of meetings outside the home (restaurants, client’s place of business, client’s home, etc.) Used to rent a large office for myself, staff (many years) and eventually moved everyone home as rents went up and the NEED for a centralized office diminished.
With shelter at home, meetings have all been online. Docs can be signed online. The tech is there to operate digitally (far better than just a few yrs ago). I could probably function in a WFH world. Client relationships would have to be thought through. Much easier to develop bonds in person.
But I do see my future as doing more established client meetings online. I used to think of it as useful vs. driving several hours. Now I see it as useful vs. driving across town. Client comfort level will determine a lot of that but I think many prefer it today as it saves them a lot of time.
Pre-virus: many employers with employees who could work remotely had a general expectation that employees would come to the workplace most of the time, but working remotely was acceptable (on the honor system) for occasions like travel, minor sickness or injury that is not worth a sick day, needing to stay home to care for another member of the household, etc…
When virus concern got hot (before additional government restrictions): “work from home unless you need to come to the workplace to do your job”.
Now: “work from home unless you need to come to the workplace to do your job (if allowed under additional government restrictions)”.
Future (even if all additional government restrictions were lifted): Either (a) staying with “work from home unless you need to come to the workplace to do your job” for the time being, or (b) limited return to the workplace, with much more acceptance for employees who choose to work at home most or all of the time (as opposed to just occasionally like before).
Future if/when effective vaccine is widely available: More people will come to the workplace, but it is likely that working from home will remain more common and more accepted than in pre-virus times.
We’ve been WFH for 21 years and love it. Maybe if I were an extrovert, it would be harder. I love being able to sleep late if I want to and then work at midnight, when I’m most productive. I love being able to run errands whenever I want. I love not having to do my hair and get dressed up every day.
We transmit all our drawings electronically. I have several long-time clients I’ve never met in person. DH has to go out for site visits, which is good since he’s more outgoing.
I can’t think of many cons. I guess the office is always here, but engineers work long hours, anyway, and I pulled my share of late-nighters in lonely downtown offices before we branched out on our own.
The open floorplans allow getting more employees into the same (expensive) office space, which is likely the primary motivation for having them. It is also less costly to rearrange the floorplan.
Enclosed offices would be less space efficient, but if lots of employees work from home most of the time, they may be workable with the same amount of office space and number of employees in combination with hot-desking.
I love it and am crossing my fingers they don’t call me back until the SIP is lifted in June. My employer is opening back up Monday but the order also suggests to WFH as much as possible. I believe my boss is fine with it. My big boss is the one who does not like technology.
Pros - naps! I usually get 20-30 min at lunch. Now I can take a full hour and eat my bagel while working. Or skip lunch and walk with H or go to the store during normal business hours.
Cons - there aren’t many. Work is much more seamless than I would have thought. I don’t miss talking to co-workers so much because we still text and send pics and stuff. The only thing that’s a PITA is working on arcgis with the VPN. It’s super slow. I make local copies of data which is fine except when I need to make one edit to an old map. What should take 5-10 min can take 2 hours. But that doesn’t happen too often.
I started to WFH about 5 years ago, about 60-65% of the time.
I absolutely love the autonomy I had with that job & being at home with the freedom to work unconventional hours (I’m mostly laid off now).
I DREAD the thought of a regular office job with an early rise at a particular time, a commute, & a long long day cooped up in an office.
I hope it doesn’t come to that.
I have mixed feelings about it. At my level we were pretty much expected to come to the office even after we introduced some work from home options at the corporate office. In early March it all changed and we all began remote work. We adjusted well. I dearly miss the socialization, though.
I have countless Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings all day. About 70% of my work became virus-related, while the “regular” work didn’t stop. My days are long and boundaries don’t exist. It is a crisis situation, so that is to be expected. It’s eased up a little now- but still very busy.
I like getting to exercise a little later in the morning (7 am instead of 6 or so) and not having to rush to get ready for work and drive 20-30 minutes. This morning I had just rolled into the house after a run and was sweaty, but had to answer an emergency work call.
We are not bringing our corporate office back anytime soon. Our beautiful buildings into which we moved in 2014 with wonderful space where we could all meet together, outdoor spaces to sit and chat, large meeting rooms with lots of chairs… all being reconfigured for safety. We are working to make the buildings as touchless as possible. Will have temperature checks upon entering. Meetings are a thing of the past. All VP and above offices will have large video-conferencing screens for virtual meetings. Food service will change to ensure safety. I’ll adjust, but it makes me sad. I loved my workplace. I’m on the committee for reopening the office. You can’t imagine the work that goes into something like this. We have a call every single weekday morning. We want everyone to feel safe. Some people have been going in- some jobs required it. We staggered people. We will continue to do that upon reopening with probably no more than 25% of the workplace there at any one time.
My own boundaries haven’t been good. I get my exercise in, and I turn down 7:30 meetings. However, I find myself eating meals at the computer where at the office I would have taken a lunch break to sit with co-workers and talk.
I’ve wfh for 8 years, with all the pros and cons mentioned above. What I’ve discovered in the past 3 months is that the lunch meetings, travel to sites, conferences, etc. really made it tolerable. Just being in this one room with one screen and a phone to connect with people is wearing.
I am LOVING it. My employer previously did not allow any WFH - for no rational reason, other than they obviously don’t trust us. We have transitioned seamlessly. And yet…they plan to start calling us back and advised they have no intention to let any WFH continue once the state says we’re clear. Our national parent company has said they will begin non-renewing property leases later this year to save money and allow people to continue to WFH since it’s been such a success. The head of my division quickly emailed us to advise that direction did NOT include us. I will be miserable beginning my 2 hour round trip commute again. Hopefully the economy recovers and I can find something else!
WFH is the future of my husband’s company, now shuttered. When the business slowly recovers from covid (it’s dependent on international travel) he plans to keep it small enough that he can run it himself, with maybe one remote staffer and a free lance accountant. He wants to keep it small and mobile. Which would allow us to rent our house, move for several months at a time to an inexpensive country with a low cost of living, having the home rental more than cover our expenses, and the rest going to rebuilding our retirement savings. Which have been decimated. My 401k is down 50% in two months.
Thank you for the responses. It’s good to hear all the emotions.
If you have already been working from home prior to COVID feel free to post, but I’m especially interested to hear from those who have been in this cocoon only for the last couple of months - it’s still very new and for many, thought to be temporary - as opposed to those who have done it for years. Therefore I think the emotional and productivity comments are helpful to hear or relate to.
I’ve worked from home for four years and love it for the most part.
Pros: I’m less distracted working from home and get my work done faster. I feel like my time is my own and I’m good at structuring my days in a way that allows for work to be completed while also feeling relaxed and less stressful than when I was still in the office. I haaaate dressing up (even business casual is a stretch for me), so getting to work in leggings and a sweatshirt feels like a gift. I get to spend more time with my family. My husband travels for work non-stop (or he did), so the flexibility that comes with WFH really worked well for balancing that.
Cons: I miss my coworkers and often feel unconnected to what’s going on in the office. This is especially true when we get new hires. My job is sort of isolated and unique, and when new folks come on I feel less and less like I am part of the team. That’s on me though - I could do a much better job of reaching out and introducing myself, going to birthday lunches (when that was still a thing), etc. Right before the pandemic, I reached out about getting an office on campus that I could use very occasionally to find a better balance with this.
Overall, I love being at home but I would say that it took me almost a year to really settle into it and find my footing.
I’ve been working from home since early March and hate it. Just found out today that we will be working from home until after Labor Day - I need to set up a new routine.
I enjoy the sleeping late part, very much, but have now also gone to bed even later - so no extra sleep. I enjoy being about to go for a hike every day (now that the weather is good) at 5pm, and finish up emails when I get back.
I really miss the socialization with colleagues at the offices. Lunches out and in person conversation. Getting dressed and out of the house in the morning for the day so that there is a variety in my life. I miss hearing about my coworkers families and normal chit chat. I find that we are not as apt to talk over the phone or zoom as we did getting coffee every single morning. I feel out of the loop personally and professionally. Small groups are discussing business (calls/emails) and I used to hear about it during normal work conversations, and don’t now.
Currently i get up and go immediately to my desk and get through initial emails and requests before getting dressed and sometimes get so distracted that its lunch before I’ve had even coffee. This is not working for me.
The small firm I work for (about 50 nationwide, 4 offices) has 4 local worker “volunteers” that will be going back to our office beginning Monday (I’m not one of them). We are putting some pretty stringent safety measures in place, as well as sign in/out for contact tracing. The kitchen and all appliances are off limits, as is the conference room, all eating must be done outside (we have a lovely park right across the street), no sharing of any equipment, one person is delegated to dole out supplies as needed. Masks are mandatory indoors. And of course the 4 will be spaced substantially from one another. There are other measures, these are the broad strokes. That will be for the next 2-3 weeks.
For me, I find I get a lot of work done from home, I’d say equal to when I’m in the office. It took me about 10 working days to get my groove (missing supplies, organizing my makeshift work space, etc.) but once I did I find I’m happy to work from home. I do miss my coworkers, even with 2 30-minute zoom calls a day.
@suzyQ7 , at least you have identified where you can/should make a change! Like getting dressed before diving in.
I am getting up largely the same time (and going to bed about the same time - I’m just using my morning time differently. My routine (at least for the last 10 years) was to walk the dog for 20 mins before leaving for work. He passed February 20 so I had at that time told myself I would continue that 20 minute walk each morning - it was good for me. I have not stretched it to 30ish minutes each morning and the “luxury” of a few extra minutes when I return from that walk to have a few quiet minutes or house organizing minutes before I sit down to work.
I do think there is a lot to be said for the amount of time that CAN get wasted at an office environment. At home I’ll take breaks but they are more “my choice” what I do with that 5-10 minute break. I really value every minute!
Yes - I did identify the issue a while ago, but I haven’t actually done it! I am working way more than I did at the office and feel more chained to my desk than ever before because I don’t want to miss and email or for people to think i’m slacking. Its stupid. I need to evolve in regards to that - shut down earlier and not feel guilty about it.
I miss people - I like people. I have friends that live alone and that used to travel 80% of the time, so this WFH is really killing them. They are used to the hustle and bustle of travel and companionship in the office and even on the road. I’m glad I have my husband to talk to at least. Its hit or miss with my D since she’s a miserable rising college freshman and bitter about her lost Senior spring. She’s getting better though…
Also - i’m tired of cooking!
I’ve worked from home since 1998 as a sole practitioner architect. In theory this isn’t that different. I really miss chatting with the guy who makes my blueprints, my regular contractors, some of my clients. Unlike my husband only my art classes have moved to Zoom. For me the biggest difference is having my husband around, and having way less work. I’ve been getting exercise more regularly and I hope we can keep that up even when he goes back to the lab.
My husband thinks those kinds of contacts are conducive to better ideas. He thinks creativity is best fostered among people talking, sharing concepts… sometimes a comment or an observation from someone else can really spark something unique and exciting.