Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

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How do you feel about working from home?

I like it more than I expected
5
28%
Less than I expected
2
11%
I expected to like it and I do
4
22%
I expected to dislike it and I do
0
No votes
I always worked from home
3
17%
I’ve gone to work the whole time
4
22%
 
Total votes: 18

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ghostrunner
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by ghostrunner »

I imagine it’s better or more tolerable the less your employer tries to control what you do at home. Luckily mine is flexible so outside of meetings I can schedule the day how I want. I go take walks or get on the elliptical trainer. Go to the grocery since it’s easier early in the day. Or work less one day if I have appointments and make it up later. That’s always been true but easier to manage based from home.

Getting that hour of commute back is nice though I do miss the 1.5 hour ride in when I bike. I can bike when I want but it’s also easy to find other things to do instead.

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mikechamp
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by mikechamp »

I figured this article is applicable to this thread:
Why a wide-scale return to the office is a myth

For two years, employees have been waiting for ‘the day’ when everyone goes back to the office. But it’s probably never coming.

Workers were meant to have returned to the office by now. Our expectation, back in early 2020, was that once the pandemic had ended, we’d all collectively resume our pre-Covid patterns of office-based working.

Yet that’s not how things have turned out. Two years on, employees around the world continue to face ongoing uncertainty as to when – and if – they’ll be expected back at the workplace in person. The emergence of different Covid-19 variants has exacerbated matters; Omicron has triggered record cases globally, forcing employees who were slowly adapting to a partial, hybrid return to the office to reverse course and work remotely again.

Today, the idea that we’ll all return to the office together again seems highly unrealistic. Some companies have already switched permanently to remote work or hybrid models. And, while others may be holding out for staff to come back to their desks, each delay further entrenches flexible working patterns – rendering a full-staff return less likely.

“The return-to-office date has died,” says Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University, US. “Endless waves of Covid have led most CEOs to give up, and instead set up contingent policies: if, when and how to return to the office.”

But if we finally abandon the idea that there will ever be a day when we’re all permanently back at our office desks, what should we expect instead?

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20 ... -is-a-myth

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Popeye_Card
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by Popeye_Card »

I think the percentage of the US workforce that can indefinitely perform their work from home is relatively small. It is overwhelmingly a white collar, middle to upper middle class population, and still only maybe half of that group. Maybe 5-10% of total workers?

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TheoSqua
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by TheoSqua »

I love not having to drive and being more comfortable while I work. Spending more time with my wife and kids has been a nice plus.

I miss getting out of the house and getting more social interaction with certain people. I also miss just moving around.

Working from home has made my work/life balance a blur compared to what it was. When I work a lot of hours it feels like i just go from waking up to working to eating to sleeping rinse/repeat.

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Popeye_Card
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by Popeye_Card »

TheoSqua wrote:
January 19 22, 11:12 am
I miss getting out of the house and getting more social interaction with certain people. I also miss just moving around.
Working indefinitely from home would probably drive me mad. I certainly lean more towards introvert than extrovert, but I need more in-person social interaction than my wife and dogs can provide on a daily basis.

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cardinalkarp
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by cardinalkarp »

Since my office was filled w/ generally annoying people and add in the fact that it’s about a 45 min drive each way I would prefer to never go back.

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TheoSqua
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by TheoSqua »

Popeye_Card wrote:
January 19 22, 11:22 am
TheoSqua wrote:
January 19 22, 11:12 am
I miss getting out of the house and getting more social interaction with certain people. I also miss just moving around.
Working indefinitely from home would probably drive me mad. I certainly lean more towards introvert than extrovert, but I need more in-person social interaction than my wife and dogs can provide on a daily basis.
I have a detached garage that I spent more money that i'd like to admit on converting into livable office space. So now i have like a dedicated spot where i "go to work", even if it's just in my back yard.

For most of the pandemic i've worked out of my bedroom. So my "office", bed, and bathroom were all within about 10 paces of each other. So i could literally spend 22-23 hours a week in the same 200 sqft area. It was pretty rough.

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cardinalkarp
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by cardinalkarp »

TheoSqua wrote:
January 19 22, 12:08 pm
Popeye_Card wrote:
January 19 22, 11:22 am
TheoSqua wrote:
January 19 22, 11:12 am
I miss getting out of the house and getting more social interaction with certain people. I also miss just moving around.
Working indefinitely from home would probably drive me mad. I certainly lean more towards introvert than extrovert, but I need more in-person social interaction than my wife and dogs can provide on a daily basis.
I have a detached garage that I spent more money that i'd like to admit on converting into livable office space. So now i have like a dedicated spot where i "go to work", even if it's just in my back yard.

For most of the pandemic i've worked out of my bedroom. So my "office", bed, and bathroom were all within about 10 paces of each other. So i could literally spend 22-23 hours a week in the same 200 sqft area. It was pretty rough.
Yeah, that would be hard. Having a dedicated office space, and I recognize my situation is fairly uniquely in that my fiancé and I both have the same job so we get to work together in our office and can converse and bounce things off eachother. It’s made the work from home experience much much better.

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Leroy
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by Leroy »

It kinda sucks working in a van down by the river.

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mikechamp
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Re: Has Covid changed your opinion on working from home?

Post by mikechamp »

Popeye_Card wrote:
January 19 22, 11:22 am
TheoSqua wrote:
January 19 22, 11:12 am
I miss getting out of the house and getting more social interaction with certain people. I also miss just moving around.
Working indefinitely from home would probably drive me mad. I certainly lean more towards introvert than extrovert, but I need more in-person social interaction than my wife and dogs can provide on a daily basis.
@Popeye_Card - The comment I'm about to make is 100% not directed at you, but in response to the situation that you describe (because others are experiencing similar circumstances):

Volunteer

If one is looking for social interaction, it can be that simple.

As someone who has worked from home for 12 years, I'm totally fine not leaving the house for 3-4 days at a time. Now, I would describe myself as neither an introvert nor extrovert. I can do both just fine.

But I volunteer via my kids' sports. However, one does not need kids to volunteer. It makes it easier, sure, but it's not necessary. Animal shelters, food pantries, nature trails, adopt-a-highway, etc. Those are just top of mind. I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities out there. Just have to find the one(s) that is/are right for you.

The bonus is that it'll get you out of the house, unlike some hobbies (gaming, movies, model trains, woodworking, knitting, scrapbooking) that could/would keep you in the same space.

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