I’ve worked from home a few years now, and whilst the upsides are well known I’ve personally found some challenges there too. Have you experienced anything similar? How did you deal with it?

My tale:

When the UK went into lockdown (along with everyone else) in early 2020 I started working from home full-time. For the first year I was with the same team I’d worked with for years whilst in the office, so nothing really changed except my location.

I switched jobs mid-2021 and the new team was much smaller. I work as a software developer, and this team was a grand total of three people including myself. We didn’t have many meetings, only one a week, and except for being assigned new work I never interacted with anyone. It took a big toll on my mental health and I quit after three months.

I took an extended break from software development and started working on a plant nursery, driving tractors and tending plants - it was so much fun, but paid very little and ate into my savings a lot.

Went back to software development last year and thankfully manage things much better. I’m not a very social person, so it was surprising how important socialisation was to my mental wellbeing. I’m now part of quite a large team that speaks regularly, and when I next change jobs I know that this is something I need to look for.

I also have a garden now, so when the call of the wild hits me I go outside and sniff my tomato plants. I do miss driving tractors though.

  • Hazelnoot [she/her]@beehaw.orgEnglish
    7·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been fully WFH for about 3 years now, and its a mix of pros and cons. Mostly pros, though. If I had to pick the key factors, they would be (in no particular order):

    Pros:

    • No commute, I get more time per day!
    • I control my working environment. I pick the temperature, music, lighting, furniture, and everything else.
    • Privacy (I previously worked in a cube farm)
    • Flexible(ish) working hours. As long as I’m available for meetings and slack conversations, it doesn’t really matter when I actually work. I can sleep in and work late, or vice versa, without it being a huge inconvenience.
    • More time with my wife!

    Cons:

    • Call me strange, but I really miss the social aspect of working in an office. Water cooler talk, team coffee breaks, lunch with friends, secretly passing birthday cards, and all that stuff. Even office drama can be fun once in a while.
    • Lack of a daily structure
    • No option for a face-to-face meeting, even if its really needed.
    • CraigeryTheKid@beehaw.orgEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      I’m with you on the cons. I know it’s “work” - but I was friends with my coworkers. Sometimes best friends or “work spouse” status as we would call it! (terminology & person approved by my actual spouse). I absolutely miss being around people.

      • lunasloth@beehaw.orgEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Same! I know some people prefer to keep work separate and not make friends there, and people can obviously do what works best for them, etc. But I like work friends! I spend so much of my time there, if the people are cool then why wouldn’t I want to be friends? To me it’s like if I’d gone through my schooling years with the mindset that I was only there for school and not making friends.

    • CheshireSnakeEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      So. Much. This. Been working from home since the pandemic started. I guess being an introvert helped a ton since I know a lot of people who struggled with it.

      I think for the social aspect, I noticed working from home removed (or at least dramatically decreased) the feeling of being in a team. I do miss that, surprisingly. Now it feels more like I’m a hired gun rather than a part of a team. We do have regular team meetings but it’s just isn’t the same.

      Another pro is I get to interact more, despite in a limited fashion, with people from different countries. We usually had our higher ups manage that and just cascade when there was information to relay.

      I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the office, tbh.