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Working from home - pros and cons

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kevin_roche

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Being single and living alone I find working from home really depressing. It can be days before I see anyone. I'm thinking of giving it up.
 
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AntoniC

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I`m a Civil Servant and have been working from home since March 18th doing my full range of duties (post inbound & outbound phonecalls).
At the start I thought it was great swopping a 2 hr commute each day for a 1 minute to my mini office, now I am missing seeing my colleagues face to face as Teams meetings aren`t the same.
The one thing I won`t be doing is renewing my annual zone ticket @£115/mth when I eventually return to the office, as the rumour is that we won`t be working full time in the office like we did before.
I hope everyone keeps safe
 

pdq

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Agree with a lot of this. My wife and I have been working from home since March. I've been into the office about a dozen times to do practical work that had to be done on site, but as an IT manager/technician I can do nearly everything remotely. Even if I was in the office I couldn't stand behind a colleague to help them - I would have to do it over the phone and a remote session even if I was sat a few metres away.

We are lucky that we had an existing study with a massive Ikea desk on the landing, which I have commandeered with 2 24" monitors plus my Surface; my wife took the bedroom with a trestle table, as she takes confidential phone calls so had to be behind a door, especially when the children were home. She had been WFH in her previous role and had only moved to an office based job in February. In those 4 weeks she had already noticed the cost of parking and travel eating into her cash. Between us, we are probably saving in the region of £3-400 a month, by not commuting, parking and getting lunches.

In my wife's work especially (local authority), there was resistance from managers at the outset, but that quickly dissolved when it was seen how much £££ they were saving, and the evidence that work productivity has increased. I suspect that one of their offices will remain mothballed.

I do find myself doing longer hours, though I work on a flexi basis so extra hours over a couple of weeks = a day off. I can start as soon as the children leave for school at 8:15, if not earlier, and often carry on to 5:30/6pm if I'm in the groove. Or I stop at 4pm if not, and call it a day. In the office I was governed by the hourly train, so had to drop everything by 16:35 whether that was convenient or not.

Yes - I miss the camaraderie and the gossip, and it will be good to get back to some of that, but I also enjoy being able to focus on work without interruption when necessary.

I think the overall WFH situation depends on many things - having suitable space, the stage of life any children are at (both mine are at secondary school), and the willingness of the employee to provide the kit. We're lucky that all those aspects slot into place for us. Long term, I can't see either of us going to purely home based, as that will require a change of contract; but the genie is well and truly out of the bottle in terms of the acceptability of WFH as a model.
 

EssexGonzo

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Well, I've never really verbalised or written down my views on the extended WFH situation this year. I'll probably repeat all that has been said but here goes.

Before lockdown, I was:
  • Spending c. £230 p.m and 2 hours per day in total getting into London and back.
  • Spending c. £120 on coffee / lunch whilst in London.
  • Driving about 1000 miles p.m. to further flung places - maybe 3 trips per month. I occasionally tried the train for those longer trips but after the misery of peak hour commuting a solo car journey was a pleasure.
So, the pros and cons of the enforced WFH, and by extension a future WFH-biased existence:

Pros:
  • Money! Saving £££££. Our heating was on all day in winter anyway because of others at home, so no more expense there for me.
  • No London peak commuting. Hurrah!
  • No 5am starts for the longer journeys and no M25 hassle.
  • Extra time in bed.
  • Extra time devoted to exercise.
  • Teams isn't that bad - and I'm now an expert.
  • It's generally easier to get hold of people remotely where before the protocol might have been to set up a F2F session which was more difficult.
  • Easier to fit in personal activities / tasks during the day.
  • I bought myself a Gaggia coffee machine with my travel savings because I was missing decent coffee! Winner!
Cons:
  • No "commute" to act as a firebreak.
  • Less interaction. Whilst the nature of my job was peripatetic, I do miss occasionally bumping into colleagues.
  • I like driving to various places - the variety and some of the journeys themselves.
  • Some job activities and tasks are harder remotely - e.g. workshop and planning activities, programme startups, client and stakeholder activity.
  • Productivity - I know some colleagues aren't pulling their weight. At home, there's not even the pressure to be seen to be working.

Overall, I'll probably work more at home after the pandemic than in an office. But I will look forward to visiting various office locations 4 or 5 times per month. Hopefully, I'll also become home based which means that expenses will be paid from my front door, rather than from an office in London.
 

The Ham

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There's some definite things which are useful, such as doing things in my lunch break (today I set a load of washing going having just moved the previous load onto the tumble dryer, set the bread maker going, emptied the kitchen bin and are lunch) which would otherwise have to be done at other times.

For me, where I walk to work, there's no cost savings. However, can see how having that is a big thing for others.

In terms of desk space I'm in my daughter's bedroom, so that helps with the home/work separation as I don't normally go in there. However my wife is in our bedroom (however due to her work she's WFH about half the time and in the land the other half).

I suspect that there'll be a lot of up to 3 days WFH, and whilst there'll be more who primarily WFH than was the case before it's likely to be in the minority unless the person can justify it.
 

birchesgreen

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I don't save much money, especially with the increased electricity costs though i really hope i can continue to WFH from now on, or at the very least don't have to go back to the office until the spring. I don't miss sitting in traffic looking at a sea of red lights (plus my office is next to HS2 Birmingham Interchange so is amid a huge building site at the moment!)

Though as its getting colder, and my house has no central heating, its getting a bit nippy now at my desk (which has no gas fire near it). I had to put my coat on today. Mind you my office is often cold as well.
 

philjo

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Our team is based in 7 different offices spread across the country. So even when working in the office we would have regular Skype/teams meetings with our colleagues at the other sites. However when connecting from the office the network connection was much quicker and reliable as everything was internal. Today at home I was finding connection drop outs making it difficult to interact in meetings.
One of the offices I usually go to I was the normally only person from my team at that site though did interact with other teams in the same office. Though if that other team had a meeting/event I found find that I was the only person in the office that day so might as well worked from home!

At least I get up an hour later when working from home, not needing to catch the 07:14 train ...Though probably don’t get as much exercise as I should during the day.
 

najaB

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Onboarding new starters to our teams has been hugely difficult this year.
Tell me about it. I'm onboarding two at the moment, though they're in the US and Manila offices so I wouldn't have met them anyway. But they would at least have met the rest of their respective teams.
 

3rd rail land

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Being single and living alone I find working from home really depressing. It can be days before I see anyone. I'm thinking of giving it up.
I'm in the same situation although I am certainly not thinking of giving it up. I've been WFH since mid September 2019 with the odd office trip here and there. It was fine when I was able to go out multiple evenings a week to participate in my hobbies as it allowed the social interaction that was much reduced by the WFH. Now that all everything is on indefinite hold its becoming tough going. I keep telling myself all my hobby related activities will restart eventually even if that isn't until 2021.

The programme I work on for my employer is a remote based one so people only go to their local office when they have a need to. It means that even if I do go to the office I might only see a very small number of my colleagues, perhaps only 3 or 4 at best. Plus the fact that I work in a secure area whereby I only have access to the rooms needed for my programme means I don't even get to see colleagues from other programmes unless I happen to bump into them in the corridor or the kitchen.

I don't find separating work and home life is hard although I can completely see why it is hard for a lot of people. If I had a partner/wife who was also full time WFH I imagine it would get tough especially if you are unable to work from different rooms. That all being said I do get fed up being stuck in my flat all the time as I have no real reason to go out with everything being cancelled bar visits to the supermarket or to go for a walk.
 
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MotCO

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No "commute" to act as a firebreak.
One thing that I find consistently tricky about working from home is the lack of "switch off" time between shutting the laptop and home life - it's straight into keeping the kids happy with no mental break between the two, no matter how disciplined I am about ending the working day.

That was one thing I did find about commuting - it did create a break between home and work life. (So commuting did have an advantage :smile: )
 

yorkie

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Most people I know are both more productive at the workplace and generally prefer it, though many of them do like a small amount of working from home as part of a well balanced routine.

As I type this my closest colleague is supposed to be working from home (nothing to do with Covid!) but is desperate to be in the workplace.

I rejected the opportunity to work from home full time (this was pre-Covid), and I am extremely glad I made that decision.

I personally feel one (or perhaps two) days working from home, with the rest in a workplace environment, is ideal for me.

The impact of home working on new staff and the long term coherency and cohesion of a workplace looks bleak if too many people work from home too much of the time; any business that gets the balance wrong will do so at their peril.

Those who argue they can work at home all the time are also effectively admitting their jobs can be outsourced abroad, so anyone who argues that could end up regretting it.
 

westv

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One thing I don't miss is the situation when you just start a conversation with a colleague at their desk and then their phone rings allowing the person at the the other end of the line to butt in.
 

najaB

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Those who argue they can work at home all the time are also effectively admitting their jobs can be outsourced abroad, so anyone who argues that could end up regretting it.
Only if the requisite skills can be found overseas at a price that makes it worthwhile to the employer.
 

WelshBluebird

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Those who argue they can work at home all the time are also effectively admitting their jobs can be outsourced abroad, so anyone who argues that could end up regretting it.
That isn't really true though.
There is a lot to be said for:
  • Being in the same time zone
  • Understanding and being part of the company culture
  • Being close enough to be able to travel to client sites if required
  • Having people already with the knowledge of a project rather than having to onboard entire offshore teams
And specifically in terms of outsourcing abroad - generally that is done with a view to reduce costs which means that generally, money talks and the contracts go to the cheapest possible option. That kind of decision making usually comes back to bite after a couple of years as it is clear that the costs are cheaper for a reason - usually the reason being poorer output.
I agree. In my part of the IT industry the correct skills and in-country availability at the right price are all important.
And to back up my points above - after the initial outsourcing IT serge several years ago, it didn't take too long for companies to realise that it wasn't always a good idea and often caused more problems than what it solved. At least in my part of the industry, the current thinking is that your main teams will still be here, but with secondary or tertiary teams based abroad where the offshore teams are mainly used to support spikes in demand (where without the offshore team the company would either have to turn away some work, or hire contractors here for a much higher cost than any perm staff).
 
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Tracked

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Those who argue they can work at home all the time are also effectively admitting their jobs can be outsourced abroad, so anyone who argues that could end up regretting it.

Having to have to travel to work is not an indication the same cannot be done either.
 
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A benefit to working from home for me was it motivating me to clear out my spare room so I could use it as a home office. Other than work I don't spend much time there so it helps separating my work from everything else. Other benefits have included being able to get things fixed much quicker due to being in all the time for repair people to attend to issues. Also I've been able to get things delivered to my flat which ordinarily I'd have had to get picked up, delivered to my parents a few miles away or scheduled a weekend delivery which would cost a bit.
 

Ianno87

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Having to have to travel to work is not an indication the same cannot be done either.

"Do you insist on coming to the office? Then we'll give your work to someone that doesn't have to..."
 

SteveM70

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Another pro I’ve just remembered - I can make soup / stew in the slow cooker and also bake cakes when the kitchen is five yards from my desk

Another con I’ve just remembered - I’m eating too much cake
 

al78

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Pros:
Don't have to get up as early in the morning.
Save £50/month on petrol.
Don't have to queue for the microwave or toilet.
Doorways and corridors don't have people standing in them.
My house is superior to a pre-fab for comfort.
I can nip to the allotment or a local shop in my lunch hour.
No gobby ******* next door having a loud 2 hour conference call.

Cons:
There are a few people at work who I miss.
With lockdown pretty much eliminating any social life physical social contact, I miss face to face company (I live alone). Zoom is not a satisfactory alternative.
Increase in noise in my immediate neighbourhood from screechy children, dogs, next door neighbour revving the engine of his specialist car, and his infernal reversing alarm as though he thinks his car is a lorry.



Those who argue they can work at home all the time are also effectively admitting their jobs can be outsourced abroad, so anyone who argues that could end up regretting it.

Theoretically most of my job could be outsourced abroad as long as my line manager wouldn't mind never being able to have a physical meeting and having to conduct all conversation electronically taking into account time zones. The MSc lectures I give are arguably better done in person than through Zoom. My job is quite safe.
 
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nlogax

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This was published back in April before long-term WFH fatigue was even a thing. That said it's just as relevant now.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...n-covid-era-means-three-more-hours-on-the-job

An executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co. gets unapologetic messages from colleagues on nights and weekends, including a notably demanding one on Easter Sunday. A web designer whose bedroom doubles as an office has to set an alarm to remind himself to eat during his non-stop workday. At Intel Corp., a vice president with four kids logs 13-hour days while attempting to juggle her parenting duties and her job.

Six weeks into a nationwide work-from-home experiment with no end in sight, whatever boundaries remained between work and life have almost entirely disappeared.

With many living a few steps from their offices, America’s always-on work culture has reached new heights. The 9-to-5 workday, or any semblance of it, seems like a relic of a bygone era. Long gone are the regretful formalities for calling or emailing at inappropriate times. Burnt-out employees feel like they have even less free time than when they wasted hours commuting.
 

najaB

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This was published back in April before long-term WFH fatigue was even a thing. That said it's just as relevant now.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...n-covid-era-means-three-more-hours-on-the-job

The important part of this is "With many living a few steps from their offices, America’s always-on work culture has reached new heights." The same can't be said for all employers - certainly, it's a lot less so in many UK companies. As usual, many European companies are way ahead of us, with many companies enforcing a work/home balance through things like meeting requests outside of working hours being auto-rejected, Teams going to "No not disturb" at the end of the day or emails sent outside working hours not being delivered until the next morning.
 

LSWR Cavalier

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For high-skilled jobs where perfect English is needed there are no places where employment costs are significantly lower

Quite a lot of organisations have brought jobs back to Europe, they do not talk much about having done so
 

nlogax

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The important part of this is "With many living a few steps from their offices, America’s always-on work culture has reached new heights." The same can't be said for all employers - certainly, it's a lot less so in many UK companies. As usual, many European companies are way ahead of us, with many companies enforcing a work/home balance through things like meeting requests outside of working hours being auto-rejected, Teams going to "No not disturb" at the end of the day or emails sent outside working hours not being delivered until the next morning.

I was talking to a colleague in the Netherlands on Teams yesterday evening, and he made no bones about the fact he was turning off his laptop with a cheery 'have a good evening, speak with you tomorrow'. Many of us aren't great at setting those sorts of boundaries, especially when working with colleagues five to eight hours west of us - their working days become an unwelcome extension of ours.
 

SteveM70

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I was talking to a colleague in the Netherlands on Teams yesterday evening, and he made no bones about the fact he was turning off his laptop with a cheery 'have a good evening, speak with you tomorrow'. Many of us aren't great at setting those sorts of boundaries, especially when working with colleagues five to eight hours west of us - their working days become an unwelcome extension of ours.

My specific issue is the sheer number of 15 or 30 minute meetings I get invited to, mainly to replace quick conversations at the desk when in the office. They’re hugely disruptive and it means I often end up working 5ish to 630ish so I can “do the doing” rather than just be a professional meeting goer
 

westv

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I was talking to a colleague in the Netherlands on Teams yesterday evening, and he made no bones about the fact he was turning off his laptop with a cheery 'have a good evening, speak with you tomorrow'. Many of us aren't great at setting those sorts of boundaries, especially when working with colleagues five to eight hours west of us - their working days become an unwelcome extension of ours.
Not sure why. When you leave an office you switch your system off on your desk so I don't see why people don't do the same when at home - I do.
 

nlogax

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Not sure why. When you leave an office you switch your system off on your desk so I don't see why people don't do the same when at home - I do.

No, we hotdesk. Bring in our laptops, connect them to a monitor, then pack them up and take them home with us when the office closes.
 

SteveM70

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Not sure why. When you leave an office you switch your system off on your desk so I don't see why people don't do the same when at home - I do.

Because in my case my working day is less efficient than it was before. So I need to catch up at the end of the day, although to be fair the net result is still positive as 60-90 minutes work has replaced two lots of about an hour’s commuting
 
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