Just kicking this around. I work from home now. Always wanted to. I’m very lucky to be able to do so. My work allows it (COVID took care of that) and I have the capabilities and space for a home office.
My question would be - Do you work more or less hours now that you are working from home?
Same amount as in the office, more or less. There might be occasions where I work about an hour extra because a deadline suddenly came up, but those are few.
I found the time spent working was roughly the same. Technically it might have been a little more at home as I wasn’t pulled into conversations with coworkers. (Though I missed that part).
I work a few more hours. I leave my laptop on most days, and often check my email or something after supper. When i was in the office, when i left for the day, that was usually it.
Yeah. Oddly though, working from home I’m getting to know co-workers better. We chat during the day. We use Slack. Works very well for us for quick questions. And the written word works much better for me. I’m hard of hearing.
I spend more time working when I work from home, but I also don’t have the hour or so drive to and from work. So even though I spend more time doing actual work, my work day ends sooner at home.
I also get a lot fewer interruptions at home so I spend more time doing actual work and am much more productive.
I have an office in my basement (it’s a finished room, not an unfinished basement). One thing that I have noticed is that I have to be in my office. If I take my laptop upstairs, I tend to get distracted and don’t get as much work done. I need to be in my “work” area (my home office) to really get things done.
My gf works more hours at home. She skips the two and a half hours commute and works that time. She also will go to her office some evenings and bang out a few productive hours.
A friend, who now works four out of five days a week at home, solved the same problem by setting up an office at the back of his garage. In the morning, he gets dressed, has breakfast and “goes to work”. His wife usually brings him tea during the morning and at lunchtime, he leaves the office and eats in his kitchen.
His one day a week in the office gives him the chance to catch up on what’s happening and talk to the people he interacts online with the rest of the time.
In the UK, there is a modest tax advantage to having a set space as an office. A condition that is not fulfilled by a laptop on the dining table.
I work more because I only go to the office less than once a week. Because I live alone and don’t have anyone else to consider I sometimes work at night or on weekends if some idea or the solution to a problem just pops up. Rather than wait for business hours I just get it done.
Mind you, on work days where my mind is just in slow motion, I sometimes have a long, long break - watch a movie , read a book, have a nap. But over all I work more than my contracted hours now.
Same here. When I was out of the office (OOO) that was it. But that bugged me. When I get an idea, I like to test it. Now I can.
March 2019. I was taking care of my ailing mother (100 miles from my own home) and I emailed TPTB that it’s ridiculous that some seem to be able to work remote, and others not. There was no policy. I was shot down.
Three days later, anyone that could work from home started to. I’m in IS/IT (whatever you want to call it). This crew of 16 people had 250 people working from home in 2 weeks. It was quite amazing.
My office is the loft over our bedroom. It’s nothing grand as a ‘loft’ might suggest, but works out great. About 80 sq. ft.
My Wife will start working from home a couple days of the week in August. Her office is sort of a second entry way to our house that we never really use. Recently completely redone. Lots of windows and has a heated floor. Has a door to the outside, and a door to the inside of the house. It’s perfect really.
We sort of fell back asswards into perfect work from home set ups.
Roughly the same hours, but obviously I get 60-90 minutes of my day back that I’m not in the car communting. I use that time to do things around the house, run errands, exercise, etc. I also occasionally check my emails in the evening (early morning in India) in case I can unblock someone at the start of their work day.
In our new house, my office is a 7x12 (84sq’) space off the dining room with a sliding door. It has 3 windows though and built in hanging cabinets and works great for me. Even has a small ceiling fan, which is good as it takes a duct booster to get adequate heat or cooling to the room. Though today I just have the windows open and it feels wonderful.
I do think for an office, small might be better. It isn’t like I constantly have computers I’m repairing/building anymore.
Ironically, despite this excellent setup, I ended up deciding to retire instead. So now I don’t work from home anyway. We moved here in the middle of the pandemic.
Yeah. I was doing a screen share with a fellow in Jordan at 1am a couple of weeks ago. He was helping me. Glad I didn’t have to drive into work for that.
Oddly, I find myself getting up much earlier. I check emails for whatever happened over the night or weekend. Get that taken care of and then we can all move on with our day. I’ve always been an early riser anyway.
Same here. I’ve become my dad. I’m usually awake by 5 am.
I think my time at the SDMB is the same either way (is that what you’re asking?)
As for real work, it’s about the same whether at home or office. My office is only 10 minutes away, so the commute isn’t a big factor. I have less distractions at the office (most people are still working from home)
At home, for example, I might take an hour or two off and mow the lawn or something. I don’t have any set hours, so it’s hard to say, but I have a feeling I’m more focused at the office.
My Wife’s office is 10x11. It doubles as a spare bedroom when needed. She used it at the very start of COVID for a few weeks. The problem we found is that it has to much sunshine, so I need to start thinking about blinds/shades. Too bright for computer work.
When work from home started, we had a contest to show each other their home office. One woman shared a picture of her stand up desk - a laptop on top of a 30 pack of PBR’s 
She is slated to replace me when I retire in a few years. Perfect, I like people that can improvise and have fun with it.
I think we have it all pretty much sorted out for WFH. It initially surprised me that many balked at the idea. But now I do completely understand.
We are all really different, and I love to here stories about this transition that some of us can make.
I’m hybrid, two days in office. I work about the same hours. Some days this means not much at all, but in truth, when I’m in the office and don’t have much to do, I slack off just as much. I do the work that needs doing no matter where I am. Sometimes that’s a little and sometimes that’s a lot. I recently implemented a self-care plan where I have to spend at least X hours a day working and that’s helped me get a lot of random stuff done that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. You know, that stuff with no particular deadline that never gets done because I keep pushing it off. Since I started implementing my “rule” I’m getting more of that stuff done.
Except for the hybrid part, that’s completely me. I’m nearing retirement and am working on videos of things that I manage and how others can manage them.
Our department is mostly hybrid except for two of us that are full time at home. This has helped immensely for those with children that may need to stay at home because of a sick child or pet. Or if you’re sick your self. Coming down with something, but should isolate.
We are lucky that we do have a very nice office space. It has since all been redesigned. We all pitched in to move stuff. And had pros to help with the redesign.
My Grand Boss (a great guy) had a one to one meeting with everyone about this. Some wanted the hybrid, I wanted to work from home. One is working 1000 miles away. It’s working great.
I have a coworker who is also a mother and we talk all the time about how our jobs make it possible to both have a kid and a career. We have an exceptionally understanding boss and CEO. In fact, when all this stuff with my kid came up, he needs therapy for a couple hours twice a week to start, they were 100% supportive of me doing whatever I need to do for him. And not just lip service - when my son’s IEP meeting was scheduled the same day as a mandatory workshop, they told me “family first.” I know I’m very fortunate which is why I do the best possible job I can.