Working from Home vs Working in the Office and other workplaces

[Formershyguy]

Because of the pandemic most companies are now working from home. I was working at a nice big publishing company with 800 people in this one site alone! But then when the pandemic kicked off we were told we had to start working from home. I thought I wouldn;t be able to do it as I'd get distracted but I got so used to it! I only did it for about a month then I was told I'd be redundant due to budget cuts caused by Covid!

After April I was on Furlough til July so not working. It actually felt good having that long break. I started this job Thursday as it seemed to be really good, not too far (30 minute drive) and paying really well. Also its only for 3 weeks so seems like a good way to reinitiate me back into work gradually.

So who here is now working from home? Are you enjoying it and is it better than working in the office? or do you miss the workplace?

[Rubik]

Have been lucky as have been working as normal throughout, but have had to work at the office. The employer has finally coughed up funds for enough laptops for my team, so will be working from home full time soon. I'll look forward to saving money on things like fuel and having better life work balance. I get cabin fever very quickly and ironically prefer being around busy places, so not looking forward to that, so will plan to do jogs or walks in my lunch break. I would say I'm glad not to have to deal with the usual social awkwardness and small talk as much but fear it would be detrimental to my SA progress. I went through a period when unemployed of being a hermit which wrecked my mental health, so might have to tackle some old feelings of being stuck within four walls.

[roro_1990]

I haven't worked in an office for 5 years. I have a good degree but my social anxiety gets too bad in offices, especially at the thoughts of meetings and having to speak at them: no way!

I've been self-employed since 2016. In some weird way, I was kind of well prepared for the pandemic because having to work isolated from my laptop with no colleagues was something I was used to anyway so it didn't make me feel any worse. That's probably more of a damning indictment on the sadness of my existence though than something to be happy about.

[Orwell20]

I really hope this is a death blow to the hell hole of offices.

[mj187]

I’ve been working at home on a part home part office based for a number of years now. Started at my previous job & then I changed jobs in August 2019 & cont this way. I have been fully home working since last March. I really like it this way & it saves time & money as my office is 30 miles away. Not sure if I want to go back to the office now.

[Captain Nemo]

I was issued with a laptop back in March, sent home and told to get on with it

Prefer working at home because I work far more flexibly and get more sleep. If I have a bad/unproductive day can always put a few hours in at the weekend.

Sometimes it's nice to pop into the office though for a change of scene - hoping that after the pandemic we'll be able to work from home at least some of the time. I'd be quite happy to just have 1 or 2 days in the office per week. Think they'd be daft to insist we return on site full-time, given the positive impact on people's well-being. Some in my office have long commutes, so they'll certainly push for it to continue as well.