Working from home? Love it or hate it?...

[dawgstudent]

I hate it. I feel like I have to be tied to my computer 24/7 instead of having face to face conversations.

ETA - I need to clarify that I don't mind it in spurts but doing this as my every day would suck.

 

[o_Spectre]

Love it. Hopefully it becomes the norm in the economy moving forward.

 

[aTotal360]

Hate it. But I guess it all depends on your job.

 

[PBRME]

Loving it since 2011. Now the wife working from home is a whole different story.

 

[Drebin]

Hate it. I've done it for years. I travel a lot, but when I'm not, I'm working in my underwear.

There's a social component to going into the office that I think is invaluable and you don't really realize it until you don't have it. There's also tremendous collaborative value (whiteboarding,etc.) that isn't the same over the phone.

 

[TBone.sixpack]

Week one had contractors and Mother and step Dad here.
Week two they leave and I breathe some.
Week three holy sh*t is this really gonna last as long as they say?!

Growing a fat beard, still working out. Now I have to put down the Reese’s cup and Chips and dip so I don’t gain the Covid19.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Love it. Done it for years. Hate the kids though... Err, I mean, I hate them being home.. yeah. The second one.

 

[My Bru]

There's a social component to going into the office that I think is invaluable and you don't really realize it until you don't have it. There's also tremendous collaborative value (whiteboarding,etc.) that isn't the same over the phone.

I agree with this and this why I think this will not spearhead the whole country into working from home. You simply cannot replicate this aspect. Obviously the extent of this will vary from job to job.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

i like it. some of it can be challenging, but it saves me so much more time and get more done. i don't waste a lot of time. I'm home with my dogs. I think it would be better if it wasn't situational and everything is pretty much shut down outside. It's saved me a lot of money not commuting or going out for lunch. i've worked a lot on line and done distance online education so it's not a major change for me. I've been pushing my office to allow more telework for a long time. i think this has been a good test for people to find out what gets done and what doesn't and where the challenges are for doing it long time.

 

[Go Budaw]

So far I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s only been a week. I can do 90% of my job from home currently, so its not a whole lot different. My company had been considering doing some work life balance improvements before the shut down, where everyone could work maybe 1-2 days every couple of weeks from home instead of coming in to the office. I think that is probably the sweet spot for most folks, where you have the flexibility to work from home periodically but still do most work from the office.

 

[Apoplectic_Objurgator]

Love it. Hopefully it becomes the norm in the economy moving forward.

love it!!!! no pants or deodorant going on 3 weeks now. feel better too. maybe it's true there too many chemicals in the daily products we use.

 

[Cooterpoot]

Mixed bag. I get an extra hour of sleep and save a lot of money. Whole family is here for first time in 3 years. But damn, it's boring as hell! Still in adjustment mode I guess.

 

[Shmuley]

Never done it. Not doing it now. 17 covid.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I'm set up for it. About to do some from home, but going to continue coming into the office as much as possible because work office > home office.

 

[ronpolk]

Hate it. I've done it for years. I travel a lot, but when I'm not, I'm working in my underwear.

There's a social component to going into the office that I think is invaluable and you don't really realize it until you don't have it. There's also tremendous collaborative value (whiteboarding,etc.) that isn't the same over the phone.

Pretty much my opinion on it. I can make it work from home and it’s not bad some days. But I enjoy going in to the office to see people.

 

[NewTweederEndzoneDance]

Love the 15 second commute from my bed to the office.
Love being able to eat at home for lunch.
Love being able to workout at lunch pretty regularly.

Hate feeling like I am out of the loop all of the time.
Hate missing out on collaborative discussions about what I am working on.
Hate the lack of out of office/home work activities, as I got antsy if I had to be in the office 5 days in a row already.

Love/Hate the easy access to food and snacks all day.
Love/Hate that it's pretty much socially acceptable to drink every day.

 

[Awwhellnaw]

It has its positives and negatives. We have a son in kindergarten so that is a huge distraction. Several hours of our day are now committed to trying to stay on top on his daily curriculum. We were blown away with the amount of work that was sent to us to cover. Apparently expectations of young children are much higher than they use to be.

 

[johnson86-1]

So far I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s only been a week. I can do 90% of my job from home currently, so its not a whole lot different. My company had been considering doing some work life balance improvements before the shut down, where everyone could work maybe 1-2 days every couple of weeks from home instead of coming in to the office. I think that is probably the sweet spot for most folks, where you have the flexibility to work from home periodically but still do most work from the office.

That is where I am at. I work from home periodically and find I'm more productive in short stretches. But if I have to do it several days in a row, it starts tailing off. Part of that is having some stuff that would be more efficient in the office. Part of that is just losing focus; I feel under the gun working at home b/c I know there will be more potential distractions, so I push hard when there aren't any, and that effect wears off after a couple of days.

 

[Nunya.sixpack]

did it when a business partner and I were starting up a business 15 years ago. hated that entire year we spent working out of the house.

I've been homebound for 2 weeks now, have hated it. have liked it. now I'm just tired of it. need to get back to the plant.

 

[Nunya.sixpack]

love it!!!! no pants or deodorant going on 3 weeks now. feel better too. maybe it's true there too many chemicals in the daily products we use.

you get an A+ for social distancing.

 

[kired]

I'd love it if my kids were in school.

I've worked from home every so often before this, and normally I feel like I can get more done. I spread out my work throughout the day - I'll get up & work an hour first thing in the morning, then normally 3 hours before lunch, 3 hours after lunch, and a couple of more hours in the evening. Gives me some breaks to get things done around the house, run errands around town, don't waste time commuting, etc.

But during this mess I've only worked from home 1 day and felt like I didn't get anything done. Hard to focus for more than an hour with the kids around.

 

[hatfieldms]

I don’t hate it, but I definitely prefer going to the office.

 

[Go Budaw]

That is where I am at. I work from home periodically and find I'm more productive in short stretches. But if I have to do it several days in a row, it starts tailing off. Part of that is having some stuff that would be more efficient in the office. Part of that is just losing focus; I feel under the gun working at home b/c I know there will be more potential distractions, so I push hard when there aren't any, and that effect wears off after a couple of days.

Agreed. It does get hard to stay productive especially towards the end of the week.

One other thing that has been nice is being able to set my own schedule to make time for the wife and kids. My routine so far has been to work 7-10ish, play with kids / eat lunch with family, work another 2-3 hours during kids naptime, stop for dinner and more family time in the evening (or go for a run or whatever), then pick back up for a few hours right before bed. Conference calls sometimes make things a bit more rigid, but for the most part I’ve been able to flex it how I want.

 

[civildawg88]

Like with everything, it has its pros and cons. Love the not having to wake up early/shower/eat breakfast to beat morning traffic. Also like being able to do small things around the house when I have a few spare minutes. I do miss the interaction with coworkers and the small things like going to lunch

 

[patdog]

I'm sure it would drive me crazy. Agree with Drebin that there's a lot of social value in going to the office and it's a lot more efficient to talk to someone face to face (at a safe distance) than over the phone. I could work from home right now if I wanted to (one of our other managers is), but I'm pretty isolated at the office. We're having fewer conversations, and most of those are with one person standing in the hall while the other is in their office.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Already worked from home a lot anyway, but I don't like not being able to go see customers. A lot of relationships that I don't get to participate in that I enjoy.

 

[msubrave]

Hate it. I'm home with a 2yr old and 5yr old. And my wife is working from home. 17ing impossible to work and babysit and teach.

 

[Xenomorph]

Sounds like all your troubles would be lifted if only you could get laid off til all this blows over.

 

[CoastDawg18]

Liking it. I’d like a split of 2-3 days in the office and 2-3 days at home. That would be ideal.

 

[KentuckyDawg13]

It's awesome, no more commute (45 mins). Have the flexibility to do whatever I need to do. I do need to work on my work-space, dining room table with a laptop is not ideal. Beer is close by though.

 

[Hankp22]

Big Fan

Though I'd be curious to see the response in 6 months.

I am a huge fan of it.

A job with flex hours/remote work is a huge benefit to your employees. Its a way to compete with some higher paying jobs that may not offer the same opportunity.

The 8 to 5 traditional model for most of your employees has been on the chopping block for a decade now. I think this stretch here will push more to do it.

 

[ll Martain ll]

Hate it, but it’s more situational. I’m definitely appreciative that I not only still have a job, but our company went remote pretty seamlessly. I recently moved to a new city for the 2nd time in less than 2 years, so being stuck at home is amplified by not having a friends/family network here yet. Very thankful for XBox Live right now.

I think I would like working from home if A - the world wasn’t shut down and we could still go to church / bars / the movies/ to play and watch sports / to the gym, and B - lived in a place where friends and family are, so you still get that aspect of life outside the office, and C - I lived in a house with a garage/patio/backyard again, instead of an apartment.

 

[trob115]

I love parts of it.

We have a 3 year old and a 5 month old. Balancing work time has been a huge problem. Taking care of the children is priority 1, and thankfully my employer is understanding that I'm basically full time babysitter. I love getting to work with my 3 year old on his school stuff.

I would love to work from home 1 or 2 days a week, if the kids are in school/daycare.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

Personally, I love it. No commute. I get more sleep. I can go take a coffee break with my wife. Get to eat lunch with wife and kids.

Professionally, I don’t like it. I think it costs about 20% efficiency by not being able to meet and collaborate in person. Even things that technically ought to be interchangeable to a remote environment simply are not.

 

[J-Dawg]

I like it, but not 100% of the time. A mix of office and at home would be perfect going forward. Hoping our partners will allow us to utilize at home more often after this mess clears.

 

[Watchdog999]

Love it been doing it for several years .. stream some Dan Patrick in the morning along with CNBC other on other tv plus something else on others .. try to create sports bar atmosphere

 

[seshomoru]

If my kids were in school I'd love it.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

I like it, but not 100% of the time. A mix of office and at home would be perfect going forward. Hoping our partners will allow us to utilize at home more often after this mess clears.

agreed. we have some in our building that do it more often it just depends on management. i'm hoping this brings more managers around to letting more people do this more often. i think it's effective in a good mix of work/life balance. I've been pretty productive and not having as many distracting type things. Some things i know are being missed without collaboration and white board meetings. But i've had a lot of experience having meeting via web because i work nationally a lot. It's possible to do collab meetings with web cam's etc. and virtual whiteboards. people just have to get used to it.

i work spread through out the day and night and work when i need to. it allows me to sleep later and do things around the house in small breaks. It is saving me a ton of time and money not commuting and not going out to eat. Plus i'm getting to exercise by taking walks around the neighborhood in the afternoons and mornings without having to commute so long.

I think doing this a few times a week going forward would be great.

 

[mount lefroy]

I would love it. But I'm at work.

I hate it. I feel like I have to be tied to my computer 24/7 instead of having face to face conversations.

ETA - I need to clarify that I don't mind it in spurts but doing this as my every day would suck.

I'm only having to work 3 days a week though, starting this week.

I dont think I will like it very much working from home.

 

[jamdawg96]

Both.

Love that I can lounge in the comfort of my home and appear somewhat professional from the waist up when needed for video conferencing, but do everything else on my own terms/pace.

Hate it because staring at a screen all day can be maddening and I am too easily distracted or tempted to 17 off around the house to get things done as efficiently as I would at my actual place of work.