In the past, survey after survey showed that the majority of people want to work from home. Well, now we’ve had a chance. For the past six weeks or so, every job that could be done from home has been done from home. And you know what? It’s okay to hate it.
While this world-wide shutdown didn’t happen to test out just how effective working from home is, it’s been a nice side effect. And some people have discovered that they hate it.
Now, it’s important to remember that Coronacommuting is not the same as normal telecommuting. When you work from home in regular times, your kids are at school, the cafés are open, and you’re not concerned about you or your loved ones dying. So, don’t think this is how working from home has to be. It isn’t. But, even working from home during normal times isn’t something that works for everyone.
To keep reading, click here: Why It’s Okay to Hate Working from Home
Yes, amen, and you go girl …
I’ve been working at home now for 6 weeks.
When it’s pure computer work (what at one time we called “paperwork”) everything has been just fine. When it was teaching a student over Whatsapp, it was clunky but bearable. But when it was (and still is) a time-driven project with an unforgiving deadline, involving a client, 3 different groups in our agency, and some 7 staff members, it is absolutely horrendous. For example, what could normally be hashed out by a quick, one-time 30-minute meeting among the groups and involved staff devolves into a series of back and forth phone calls and emails over a period of 2 days. Oh sure, we could be or should become more efficient and more coordinated and more whatever (and frogs can fly), but the reality is that in some cases, working from home doesn’t actually work all that well.
And on top of all this, my wife is working from home, we don’t have 4 bedrooms so sit at the same table, and, need I say more?
At least yours is working. Mine was furloughed a week or so before shelter-in-place became official, so she’s banging around the house, reorganizing, and my best escape is the front porch (which is great in good weather).
To be fair, I found out I tend to mutter while working — she’s frequently asking “what’d you say??” THEREFORE I infer that my 15-months of a telecommuting gig has been a MUTUAL blessing with my coworkers.
Pffft, if you’re working you’re better off than me. I was unemployed before the pandemic. I feel like I’ll never work again.
On the other hand, companies that went to remote work have no further excuse not to hire me if I’m out of state and willing to relocate. 80% of the people I worked with at Exjob weren’t in the office, so I’m used to that.
Hire me now so I can afford housing, and I’ll be happy to do the in-person thing as soon as this stupid virus takes a break.
I am one of the lucky ones. We have a spare bedroom which I am using as an office. We already had an office which my wife is using. It is just the 2 of us and one very annoying, spoiled, and demanding cat.
I am not looking forward to going back to work. I have so much more time now and it is much more than just the commuting time. There is less time getting ready. I can put a load of laundry to wash or load the dishwasher or something similar on quick breaks from work.
I am enjoying working from home. I don’t miss my co-workers as much as I thought I would.
I loved work from home when I made an office of a stairwell nook and my husband and I agreed that he would stay away in working hours. I “saw” enough of my coworkers in chat and virtual meetings and was delighted at how quiet it was at home between meetings: none of those “I can’t stand when my coworker makes that noise!” cube farm issues. The only problem was the rare occasion when my husband went to the hardware store. The cat would come to my office and cry loudly that he had abandoned us and our life was over and we were going to die, oh! Invariably I’d be on phone conference when the caterwauling began.
Hope you don’t forget those that still go in every day. I am IT and 2 of us are in the office every single day to make sure the buttons get pushed that need to be pushed and we are feeling very demoralized by our coworkers who basically order us around BECAUSE THEY ARE WORKING REMOTE!!! HELLO IT DO OUR BIDDING. I will never look at them the same again. They want us to be available 24 hours now because they can work whenever they want, they want us to fix their personal equipment (they literally need only the most basic machine to connect to the GREAT equipment in the office that we do support). I am so tired and ready for a vacation – or even 1 day working at home.
Thank you IT person. IT reminds me of payroll and HR. People very rarely think about what you do until something goes wrong and then they want you to fix it “like yesterday”.
So on behalf of the people out there who haven’t said it, thank you for helping people work at home, troubleshooting all kinds of computer and printer setups, and letting people know that if they have crappy internet service it doesn’t matter how great their computer is they are still going to have lag and connectivity issues 🙂
Hang in there.
While — technically — I’m approved to work at home, it’s too much of a hassle. I share a small, 3-bedroom, apartment with my Son and older Grandson, and the only available workspace is the kitchen table. Furthermore, for cybersecurity reasons, we’re not allowed to connect our work laptops with our home printers, so I have to go into one of our offices to print anyway, of which I do a lot. The main benefit I got from the COVID-19 crisis was the ability to work — at least part-time — from an office much closer to my home, cutting many miles and much time off of my daily commute. Hopefully, that perk will remain after the coronavirus subsides.
Thank you for making this blog…Continue doing your passion and keep on blogging.