Would you rather work from home or at an office?

What is your preference?

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RJN

RJN

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Which do you prefer? I like going into work, since I have a hard time focusing at home and I find going to work to be more social. But I know a lot of people feel differently
 
When I was full time in London I worked in office every day and hated the restriction of it and would always say I’d rather work from home every day

Since covid I now say that’s a load of shit. For many many reasons that you can’t fathom until you’ve actually done it.

Hybrid is the way forward. More flexibility, but being in the office is essential for productivity.
 
Perhaps it depends what sort of work you do. I think it has suited Mr L reasonably well, but on the occasions I had to do it (when self isolating, as I fought against it otherwise), I really resented letting some aspects of work into my home. The boring paperwork stuff was fine, as much as I sometimes had difficulty motivating myself and invariably worked quite odd hours to make the time up. It was more the dealing with trauma and child protection issues in my own home where I massively struggled with managing it.
 
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Home by a mile. All my close colleagues are either in London or abroad anyway, and I've never been a morning person. Having the extra hour in bed these past two years has done absolute wonders for my mental and physical health.

I spend most of my day on Zoom calls anyway so I never really feel the isolation.
 
Hybrid with most days at home, which is what I have now. To be honest I wouldn’t mind going in most days when I am in London (it’s not far from my house), but I like the flexibility of going up North for a week or so etc.
 
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I've just got into the routine of going into the office two days a week and that would be my preference. There are less distractions and I find much of the work easier/quicker to get on with in the office where I have two screens, and even each individual screen is larger than my laptop. Could have a two screen setup at home but don't really have the space.

Also like having a reason to get out the house, the social interaction with some colleagues, getting to overhear phone conversations, the work canteen...but it's nice some days to log off at 5pm and then not have to waste another hour getting home.
 
Hybrid with most days from home has been great, and how I want it to continue.

At my work, they’re offering everyone who wants to work from home to sign their own hybrid deal. The only thing missing for me is that I’d want to be able to work from abroad sometimes and this doesn’t allow it on a regular basis.
 
I can't do all of my job from home so it's a moot point, but last spring we did talk about a hybrid system where we'd do any admin stuff/design work etc from home, and schedule the production work so we'd go on site on particular days to do it (probably a two days at home/three days on site pattern). It never got too far beyond the idea stage, but I would have been quite up for it :(
 
Jacques said:
Also like having a reason to get out the house, the social interaction with some colleagues, getting to overhear phone conversations, the work canteen...but it's nice some days to log off at 5pm and then not have to waste another hour getting home.
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The being done immediately does sound nice. But also I think I just hate driving. Where I work now doesn’t have good public transportation but if I got a job that did, I don’t think I’d mind as much
 
I'd happily work from home forever. An extra hour and a half in bed in the morning, daytime pyjamas, saving on petrol, not having to deal with boss's niece and see her sitting in MY office everyday - what's not to love? My boss won't like it though and I imagine she's going to throw a wobbly in the morning about it being brought back in. Because I was on the clinically vulnerable list last time she was constantly asking "so when are you coming back to work then?" even before the Government had said we could go back which made me really uncomfortable and I'd rather not go through all that again.
 
It must be a psychological thing but I am 100% more productive at home as well. At the office I was terrible for procrastinating. Without that feeling of being trapped and watching the clock, I just get my internet browsing out of my system and crack on at my own pace.

Living alone probably helps. Anecdotally it seems to me that people with families or partners have found it much harder to adjust to being stuck under one roof all day.
 
My team changed recently so I’m perfectly happy to work from home. My main job role allows me to work on my own and to have music on or the telly on in the background which I enjoy but at the moment we are helping other areas for a month which means we are dealing with customers more so if that were to continue I think I’d rather be in the office.

Ideally weekdays in the office and weekends or public hols at home.
 
I’ve worked from home for years, long before it was cool. I actually now prefer a mix, 2/3 days in the office is about right, gets me out. That said, we dont get in until 9:30-10 so I dont have to deal with rushour etc.
 
SilVoR Bells said:
It must be a psychological thing but I am 100% more productive at home as well. At the office I was terrible for procrastinating. Without that feeling of being trapped and watching the clock, I just get my internet browsing out of my system and crack on at my own pace.

Living alone probably helps. Anecdotally it seems to me that people with families or partners have found it much harder to adjust to being stuck under one roof all day.
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I get really annoyed when I'm working from home that Mr F doesn't make my dinner every day but when I make myself dinner he expects me to make him some too. He gets on my nerves at the best of times but when I'm trying to work it pisses me right off if he just sits and watches telly all day because he can't do any hoovering or cleaning if I'm on the phone with clients and then I get more pissed off because the house isn't getting cleaned, the poor bugger can't win!
 
Holly said:
I feel a lot more effective at home; I don’t get half as much done at work when there’s always a colleague that wants to talk or to have a coffee break.
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I'm exactly the opposite. I much prefer going to the office with the option of working from home once in a while if need be (most often practical reasons - a hot mailman, a hot painter, a hot electrician etc.)
 
Floppet Christmas Carol said:
I get really annoyed when I'm working from home that Mr F doesn't make my dinner every day but when I make myself dinner he expects me to make him some too. He gets on my nerves at the best of times but when I'm trying to work it pisses me right off if he just sits and watches telly all day because he can't do any hoovering or cleaning if I'm on the phone with clients and then I get more pissed off because the house isn't getting cleaned, the poor bugger can't win!
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I always make Mr L's lunch when I'm home, be it day off or if my pattern has changed. And somehow now I've started making his sandwiches/lunch for the two days he's back in the office because I felt guilty thinking he had to do it himself, despite the fact that I never did before and don't take lunch myself.
 
Hybrid would be my preference.

At the moment I'm working from home full time in a job which I've only recently started. I did go into the office a bit at first but nobody else was so i decided to save my energy and money and stay home.

The issue I find with home working all the time is that I find it quite stressful trying to pick up a new role when my only interaction with my colleague is virtual. It feels like a lot more faff picking up the phone to ask silly little questions that you'd usually just turn around and ask the people at your desk - if you know what I mean?
 
I've been working from home permanently since we went into lockdown in March last year and I love it. I have my own office set up so I like that it's separate from the rest of the house. I honestly don't miss the office environment at all as I'm always on Teams calls and speaking to people. My team are all spread out over the UK and none of them work in Belfast so I've no reason to go into an office.

I've never actually met anyone in my current team face to face as I only started this role in May but I'm flying over next week for a work event in Birmingham (:zombie:) and I'm quite looking forward to meeting them in person!
 
Working from home is not an option for me at all, although I think I'd love not spending 2.5 hours each day travelling!
 
Gangsta Baby said:
Hybrid would be my preference.

At the moment I'm working from home full time in a job which I've only recently started. I did go into the office a bit at first but nobody else was so i decided to save my energy and money and stay home.

The issue I find with home working all the time is that I find it quite stressful trying to pick up a new role when my only interaction with my colleague is virtual. It feels like a lot more faff picking up the phone to ask silly little questions that you'd usually just turn around and ask the people at your desk - if you know what I mean?
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Do you not have an instant messaging service? We use Microsoft Teams for everything now. It's like the golden age of MSN Messenger, minus the drama.
 
SilVoR Bells said:
Do you not have an instant messaging service? We use Microsoft Teams for everything now. It's like the golden age of MSN Messenger, minus the drama.
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Oh absolutely, but I'm part of a small team of people who are very busy, and don't have time to reply :)
 
While I'm not currently employed, I am working. I couldn't think of anything worse than doing this job from home. I understand it's entirely different from an office job, and that's why I'm doing it.

That being said I've been off ill this week and there was no opportunity to anything from home.
 
I’m currently doing 3 days in the office and I like it. I find being home all the time boring and demotivating.
 
Messaging for help on teams is maddening at times. For me if I’m asking for help it’s usually something unusual or complicated and you can just count down to those support contact statuses instantly turning red from green upon receipt.
 
Bit of both for me. I work in IT and I’ve found my productivity and the organisation as a whole just dropped right off when we were working from home full time. Getting people to do anything was a fucking nightmare if a requirement spans maybe two or three teams compared to just saying “can you do this for me and then can you follow up with this” in the office and it actually getting done. Plus from home you miss those conversations that aren’t directly dictated at you but they can help you out.

Although I’ve noticed on the business side of my organisation the product owners etc. might as well not bother being in the office as they don’t really collaborate but it would be nice to have a sprint meeting that’s not fucking torture on Teams.
 
Absolutely a hybrid but with more focus on the office. Aside from far better communication with colleagues, having that routine of leaving home and returning does wonders for my mental and physical health.

I like the option of working from home just for efficiency, especially if you might not be physically able to travel for any reason but still able to work (one of my friends broke his leg one week before lockdown in 2020 and otherwise would have been out for much longer before we were allowed to work from home). But also just because I no longer have to take a day or half day off work just to receive a big delivery or get the boiler serviced etc. or even pre-empting travel delays like strike action might not have the same annoying impact.
 
I would never go to the office again if I had the choice. I've always found offices a nightmare because of my ADHD; I can't concentrate with loads of people around and I end the day knackered and stressed because I'm having to work twice as hard to accomplish half as much.

Plus, I can start and end the day when I want at home and I'm not beholden to shitty, expensive, terminally unreliable trains which force me to waste time travelling when I could have already started working.
 
HOME, perhaps with 2 days in the office per week strictly for when collaborating in-person works better, and of course it's nice to get out and socialise. The manager sent out an email last week inviting us back on a "first come first served basis" and then had an emergency Teams meeting a few days later that he thought the response would be overwhelming but no one volunteered. :D :manson:

REALLY? Have these people been under a rock?
 
PranceRJN said:
Which do you prefer? I like going into work, since I have a hard time focusing at home and I find going to work to be more social. But I know a lot of people feel differently
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I have a hard time focusing anywhere. Hybrid for me.
 
I’ve been working from home since August 2020 when I started a new job with a remote organisation, it was difficult at first getting to grips with a new role - especially as I technically work for two separate remote organisations as I’m employed by one and seconded to another - but I would really struggle to go back to full time office working now.

There are so many perks, it really suits my slight introvert/socially awkward nature and I am able to really excel in a remote environment managing a team despite only meeting them twice.

On a personal level I’ve also never been in better shape and feel like I have far more time for ‘me’ things. Only down side was my cigarette intake skyrocketed but I’ve recently switched to vapes until I wean myself off altogether
 
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