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.
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.
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.