Soldato
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Mate if you want to join a load of old fellas for a game then you can always add me on steam
Working from home worth it?
- Thread starter flibbage0
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Soldato
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- Officially least sunny location -Ronskistats
He got me into H1Z1 Battle Royale on the PS4 when I was off work recovering from a broken back. I got really good at it on controller (used to decades of k+m) and was able to finish top 10 nearly every game. Was great craic until he moved on to the next game but I went back to work and the PS4 gaming died off. Wife used to go nuts how loud I was and the roaring of laughter.
Love it, I am Scottish and usually my accent and people trying to understand me is a laughing point for many.He got me into H1Z1 Battle Royale on the PS4 when I was off work recovering from a broken back. I got really good at it on controller (used to decades of k+m) and was able to finish top 10 nearly every game. Was great craic until he moved on to the next game but I went back to work and the PS4 gaming died off. Wife used to go nuts how loud I was and the roaring of laughter.
Soldato
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Yeah the thick scots swearing usually gets me giggling but its so much fun and you only have to mess about for an hour or as much as you want. The best thing is you get to see who's about and make friends in different ways and sometimes they share same interests or do a similar day job. Always worth it to keep you sane. That and do some physical exercise to clear the head will be a good balance just enough so its not a chore.
Soldato
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We have two scots in the group and a welsh dude
There's a joke in there somewhere...
I'm amazed at how responsive and supporting the community can be on here, really do appreciate it. I went down to grab something to eat and already I've got a dozen responses.
If it helps the decision making I can divulge some more information:
-I'm single
-Live at home with parents (we get on most of the time)
-Not in great shape, not obese but definitely work to be done (this is my main priority to get into shape, so going to the gym before work is key, I feel so much better when I do but my current work keeps changing my hours due to staff shortages)
-There is one person I used to work with she is the one that told me about this job role originally I could possibly meet up with them (she said that work colleagues meet up once a month or so). Unfortunately most of my friends live quite far away and none of them work from home.
If it helps the decision making I can divulge some more information:
-I'm single
-Live at home with parents (we get on most of the time)
-Not in great shape, not obese but definitely work to be done (this is my main priority to get into shape, so going to the gym before work is key, I feel so much better when I do but my current work keeps changing my hours due to staff shortages)
-There is one person I used to work with she is the one that told me about this job role originally I could possibly meet up with them (she said that work colleagues meet up once a month or so). Unfortunately most of my friends live quite far away and none of them work from home.
Soldato
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Just make the effort once in a while, naturally something will go your way. Do the meet ups see if they can assist with either getting to the meet or choose a location that's easier for you to get to.
Are you able to work remotely, rather than entirely from home? This opens up options to travel a little too and stops you being fixed in one place. I appreciate using multiple screens becomes more difficult.
I work 3/2 at the home/office which is a nice balance and it benefits my role. If I had a full remote working position or one that required a few days a month, then I would probably find somewhere local like a quiet cafe or coffee shop that I could work a day or two a week in.
It sounds daft but as much as many of us hate people and the public, we do need to physically be around them to retain our sanity and not feel entirely isolated.
I work 3/2 at the home/office which is a nice balance and it benefits my role. If I had a full remote working position or one that required a few days a month, then I would probably find somewhere local like a quiet cafe or coffee shop that I could work a day or two a week in.
It sounds daft but as much as many of us hate people and the public, we do need to physically be around them to retain our sanity and not feel entirely isolated.
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A few things I would say, I might be quite a bit older at 38 (well 38 in 2 hours time anyway) but working at home full time if a parent is home might be distracting and or make the job difficult, if that happens then that could be a bit of a nightmare so that's something to consider, then again my account manager at the dc who has also become a mate as we have been working together for years, he was basically in your position and works from home and has also been hitting the gym, he has lost literally a me in weight over the last 6 to 9 months and honestly he looks great and has been making really positive moves in life. For me though I don't think it would ever have worked as me and my mum could never really live together as we clashed quite a lot so at 16 I lived with my sister which also didn't really work
My mum now lives a few thousand miles away so obviously we get on a lot better these days and I go visit her 3 or 4 times a year for a holiday I think part of the reason it works for me is quite simply because there are no distractions 4 days a week, it's just me in the house doing what I do. I am strict with my time, take my normal lunch break where I ship all the stuff people bought the day before and generally make it work that way. The wife calls me at lunch each day and I have several work meetings daily. Basically I'm busy and can go to the gym etc either before work or when the wife is on her way home from work. For me it frees up more time to do the things I love. Ive found time to do much more learning to fix stuff and just generally enjoy my life more than spending 3 hours a day traveling.
I'm sure you would be more than welcome... Although after that GIF i'm not so sure.
Soldato
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What I did when I was commuting was spent the 50mins listening to podcasts if I wanted to learn something or hear intelectual discussion or member of the wifes apple music package and streamed albums to relax. I personally would rather be like vince where I value the time to get stuff done around the house (like in summer when grass grows insane fast - hop on the mower and do that in my lunch break) or chip away at them hobbies where you couldnt do that at work as your time tends to be drained as people have access to you or chat small talk when you could have been productive.
Man of Honour
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100% this. I choose to go to the office or in town twice a week at least as I get a lot of energy from being around colleagues. I couldn't do 100% WFH. It's not for me. Despite 200 mile round trip I don't resent it at all.
If you feel it is something you'll miss then I personally would explore how WFH it is (i.e. is there an office at all?) or put in mitigation for it i.e. go and work in a shared office space or ensure the side hustles or hobbies are not solitary affairs.
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I also have the choice with my WFH hours and I chose to go in for 2/3 mornings a week.
I live close enough to the office that my commute is < 15 mins in decent traffic.
For me, I get my best work done in the early mornings and then evenings, so I end up breaking my day up into sections of work / relaxation. I find it helps with the problem solving to be able to switch off for a bit, then the answer tends to come to me.
But like the above I do crave the human contact side of things which a teams meeting doesn't cover. Neither IMO does my active online gaming group for an evening, it's just no the same.
I live close enough to the office that my commute is < 15 mins in decent traffic.
For me, I get my best work done in the early mornings and then evenings, so I end up breaking my day up into sections of work / relaxation. I find it helps with the problem solving to be able to switch off for a bit, then the answer tends to come to me.
But like the above I do crave the human contact side of things which a teams meeting doesn't cover. Neither IMO does my active online gaming group for an evening, it's just no the same.
I'm 100% work from home and have been for 3 years now. There is is an option to go into the office, but I only go in if there's a team catchup+pub lunch or something like that.
Is it lonely? Yes it is. Do I care? No. The upsides that have already been mentioned elsewhere in the thread far outweigh the negatives. I do have a wife and two young kids and never have been particularly keen on socialising though, so I can appreciate that if you're younger, single and more sociable, then you're going to have a very different view.
As long as you're disciplined, you can easily use the extra time/flexibility that WFH gives you in order to arrange activities that involve meeting people. If you're not disciplined and end up spending the extra hour or two you gain in your day sitting in front of the TV, then that will get very lonely very quickly.
It's not a forever move though. It sounds like a good time for a move, so try it out. If it doesn't work for you then look for another job in an office. Better than spending all your days thinking what if.
Is it lonely? Yes it is. Do I care? No. The upsides that have already been mentioned elsewhere in the thread far outweigh the negatives. I do have a wife and two young kids and never have been particularly keen on socialising though, so I can appreciate that if you're younger, single and more sociable, then you're going to have a very different view.
As long as you're disciplined, you can easily use the extra time/flexibility that WFH gives you in order to arrange activities that involve meeting people. If you're not disciplined and end up spending the extra hour or two you gain in your day sitting in front of the TV, then that will get very lonely very quickly.
It's not a forever move though. It sounds like a good time for a move, so try it out. If it doesn't work for you then look for another job in an office. Better than spending all your days thinking what if.
- Side hustle - just be mindful that if you are taking a WFH job so you can pursue something else that perhaps calls into question your commitment, sure if you have a job you can get by with 4-5hrs work leaving 3hrs for other projects then great, but don't bank on that or you might find yourself disappointed/struggling.
- Social circle is an issue in my experience, I see friends maybe 3-4 times a year, but when I was working in an office I'd usually have some sort of social event every month, plus just generally having people I got on with at work who I could chat to about stuff
- I'm fortunate I guess in that while I miss/crave more social contact at times, I never get bored if I have the freedom to do what I want. So I don't feel particularly lonely, thanks to the internet there's always something to keep me occupied. I know loneliness and boredom are different things but my mental makeup is quite good at suppressing loneliness if I am doing something enjoyable like playing games. I get human contact from my family anyway.
- When I do go into the office or even just talk about working patterns there tends to be a bit of an echo chamber around "oh it's great to meet up face to face, very productive, I feel energised bla bla". I'll be honest, part of it feels like people are trying too hard to convince themselves, I mean I'm a bit of a hypocrite here I'll say the right things but if I look at it objectively how much value do I really get from it?
- For sure you get less casual interaction WFH, meetings are very transactional (meet to discuss X, agree actions and disconnect abruptly) compared to physically chatting to people as you leave a meeting room. You don't overhear other people having conversations so you don't pick up on things, you can't just hear others talking about football or TV or whatever and just sidle your way into the conversation (although heavy public use of collaboration tools like Slack can help).
I would agree with this, you clearly aren't happy in your current workplace so what is there to lose?
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The obvious advantage with working from home is lack of commute, not much of an advantage if you live a 5 minute walk away but for many it's good to save the time and money doing it.
However in my case I work in Central London and when I do things in the evening it's usually in Central London therefore I'm not really saving time and money when this happens.
I do find time goes quicker at home and I'm not dreading going into work as much. I also have the freedom to stand up and wander round when I fancy it and I can shout expletives at my screen with nobody noticing.
However working from home is still boring work no matter what way you look at it. It's still long working hours and you're more likely to bombarded with something 5 minutes before home time because people no longer have a train to catch. Your entire time working is at your computer which is exactly the time I want to minimise. The most enjoyable thing I've ever done during working hours is going from A to B.
However in my case I work in Central London and when I do things in the evening it's usually in Central London therefore I'm not really saving time and money when this happens.
I do find time goes quicker at home and I'm not dreading going into work as much. I also have the freedom to stand up and wander round when I fancy it and I can shout expletives at my screen with nobody noticing.
However working from home is still boring work no matter what way you look at it. It's still long working hours and you're more likely to bombarded with something 5 minutes before home time because people no longer have a train to catch. Your entire time working is at your computer which is exactly the time I want to minimise. The most enjoyable thing I've ever done during working hours is going from A to B.
I've worked from home permanently for the last 2.5 years. I simply haven't been back to the office. I absolutely love it but I do have a dedicated office space in my house and bought myself really good equipment (desk, chair, monitor, superb keyboard, excellent headset, etc - work offered basic stuff but I preferred my own and even before the pandemic I was getting myself into a position to be able to work remotely from anywhere). However I am a family man and am surrounded by my wife who also works from home and teenage children. So it's never quiet or lonely and I have a lovely garden area where I can take breaks or even work in the summer. If my circumstances were different then I would probably hate doing it permanently because of the isolation. It also saved me a 1.5 hour commute each way (so 15 hours commuting every week) and a lot of money.
That said, I am about to start a new job where I go into the office three times a week, although with a much shorter and cheaper commute. I am quite looking forward to the social interaction again. I think my ideal job would be this hybrid model but with only two days in the office and the other three at home.
That said, I am about to start a new job where I go into the office three times a week, although with a much shorter and cheaper commute. I am quite looking forward to the social interaction again. I think my ideal job would be this hybrid model but with only two days in the office and the other three at home.
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