Working from home versus traditional office environment

[Masked Bandit]

Hey Beyond,

I'm hoping to get some insight from those who have lived on both sides of the fence. Ideally you've work both from home and in a traditional office setting with the same or very similar job. I wondering what your experiences were like. Were you as productive at home as you were at the office? Did you discover anything about working from home that you hadn't thought of, good or bad? Did you perhaps miss the social aspect of having coworkers around on a daily basis? I'm asking about this because one of the options for us down the road is to dissolve our office space and have all staff work from their homes. I spend a few days a month working from home but that's not really the same as doing that daily for the next ten years either.

TIA

[revelations]

Hey Bill,

I quit my office/electronics lab job about 5 years ago. I work contract IT now (lots of remote sessions, etc.) Here is what I found:


- office has to be quiet (if kids at home)
- you might need a standing desk (I made my own, amazing how much better)
- you will miss the camaraderie unless you're a total introvert
- not everyone can motivate themselves at home (after too many days working at home I have to find a "desk" at the library to work sometimes)
- watching a snow storm in your home office is cool (poor folk stuck in traffic)
- outings include randomly checking mail or jogging/gym during the day
- fridge is sometimes too close to me .... easy access

[NoSup4U]

Originally posted by revelations
Hey Bill,

I quit my office/electronics lab job about 5 years ago. I work contract IT now (lots of remote sessions, etc.) Here is what I found:


- office has to be quiet (if kids at home)
- you might need a standing desk (I made my own, amazing how much better)
- you will miss the camaraderie unless you're a total introvert
- not everyone can motivate themselves at home (after too many days working at home I have to find a "desk" at the library to work sometimes)
- watching a snow storm in your home office is cool (poor folk stuck in traffic)
- outings include randomly checking mail or jogging/gym during the day
- fridge is sometimes too close to me .... easy access

I've been just over 5 years working from a home office and agree with everything Revelations has stated.

My biggest negative would be the lack of the social aspect, however this can be a good thing on days you aren't in the mood for people.

The positives for me far out-way any possible negative (going a few days without ever putting on pants when its cold and snowy out is a such a win). I really don't think I could go back after this long, I would be like a caged animal being released into the wild for the first time....

[Skyline_Addict]

This is going to be me in a few months too.

I think revelations' points are very accurate as to what I'm expecting as a challenge.

- office has to be quiet: no kids, single
- you might need a standing desk (I made my own, amazing how much better): this is exactly what I was going to do as well.
- you will miss the camaraderie unless you're a total introvert: I'm definitely more on the introvert side and get more than my fix of socialization outside my current 9-5.
- not everyone can motivate themselves at home (after too many days working at home I have to find a "desk" at the library to work sometimes): this is ultimately the biggest challenge of working from home and not working for anyone. I plan to spend the majority of the day that I'd usually spend at a 9-5 job doing physical activities, personal education (reading books, learning languages), playing musical instruments, cooking, etc. I don't think I'll have a probably becoming someone who will just "veg-out". If I do that, it's because I have a 9-5.
- watching a snow storm in your home office is cool (poor folk stuck in traffic): I also think about how awesome this will be.
- outings include randomly checking mail or jogging/gym during the day: yep, probably.
- fridge is sometimes too close to me .... easy access: I'll be eating healthier, so not a big deal.

[RawB8figure]

I have been working out of my home office full time for the last 3 years(self employed).

Positives:
- Cost savings - gas, parking, food.
- typical day = coffee/breakfast, work for 4 hours, work out in basement, shower, lunch, work another 4-8 hours.
- flexibility to run errands during days and work later in the evening.
- tax savings / write off sqft, supplies, not sure if this will apply to you as you work for a company
- Listen to music on the HiFi, or listen to vulgar podcasts

Cons:
- lonely
- feels like I am always at work even when I am not actually working.

Highly recommend a sit/stand desk, good office chair, and one of those exercise balls.
For interaction I do lunches with friends or old colleagues. The odd video conference or teleconference.
Other than that it's me and the cat for 8 hours until the wife gets home from work.

What kind of work do you do? I'm a materials handling designer.

[schurchill39]

I work from home frequently with my job (lots of night work) but unfortunately don't have the pleasure of making it a full time gig.

For myself as long as I have a dedicated space to work (my home office) then I am way more productive at home than I am at my regular office. I don't mind socializing but it takes up a fair chunk of my day. If I am at home then I can crush out my tasks then my break becomes taking my dog for a walk or making lunch then I get right back to it.

I do sometimes feel that it blurs the lines between work/home life but if my line of work wasn't so customer and "meeting" oriented I would choose to work from home hands down.

That being said at home its just myself, the Mrs. and a dog, with kids I think that would add a whole other dynamic that I'm not sure would help with productivity.

The father in law runs his own company from home and has their whole lives. They have a great relationship with their dad because of it (although I don't really feel that his line of work is all that taxing).

[revelations]

Oh of course, dont forget to add the IT support costs as well ..... if you need a serious setup.

(new printers, monitors, etc. )

[nickyh]

I honestly prefer working from home and enjoy it when I can swing it.

Pros:
no one popping into my office to steal my time, I am way more productive and can get 2x the work done I normally would.
I can sleep in later as no commute time, plus I can throw on sweats and pull my hair back so getting ready takes me 10 min.
I don't enjoy my coworkers so it's a bonus to not have to see them or talk to them
I can do some odd chores around the house and throw dinner in the crock pot during my "coffee break"
I actually take a lunch break and go for a walk around the block or workout in the basement


Cons:
It's hard to communicate certain ideas via email or having to walk someone through a file while on the phone
Having to access corporate drives via a VPN that decides to crap out on you
I only have one small monitor at home and at work I have three large ones, so even though I'm fast without interruptions I could work faster.
No printer so I have to view documents that I need to key data into a spreadsheet, it sucks when the numbers don't add and you have to go through a 200page PDF and recheck your work whereas I could tick and bob a paper copy faster.

Overall I am much happier and less stressed when I don't have to go into the office. There is something about walking through those doors that just seems to suck the life out of me.

[Masked Bandit]

I kind of abandoned my own thread here...lol

Thanks for all the replies guys, lots of good points, most of which I was already aware of to some extent but it's always hard to guess how significant those points would be when push comes to shove.

I'm not worried about the cost of tech since I own the company and already have an oversized dual screen set up at home. Costs incurred for new equipment at the house are irrelevant because I would have to spend the money for the same gear at the office anyway. My nagging concern is the long term absence of the social aspect for both myself and my staff. Having twice weekly lunch meetings just isn't the same. It would also make on-boarding a new staff member more complicated. The potential upside for me is saving the overhead of rent and the loss of personal time for commuting. Adding that up over 10 years is basically a retirement fund for a lot of people and that's not even factoring in the personal time. There's a lot to consider but I've still got 3.5 years left on our lease so it's not like I can make a fundamental shift right now even if I wanted to. We'll see.

[RawB8figure]

I use skype mainly, for team communications. it has group messaging,video, and screen sharing.
But there are other more sophisticated tools out there as well.

https://open.buffer.com/distributed-team-benefits/

Make sure every on the team has a good internet connection, nothing worse than group meeting with lag.

[Xtrema]

Lack of social aspect sucks.

And if your job make you get out to meet people anyway, it's not that bad.

[91_Integz]

I agree with basically all of the pros and cons that have been stated above. I've been considered "mobile" for the past 5 years; for me that typically means at home 90% of the time.

I've worked with the same group of core people for the past 8 years, so I had good relationships with everyone at my work before we gave up our designated office space. This made it easier to "stay connected" when we weren't seeing each other in the office every day anymore. One thing I've found over the years is that new employees do find it tough to get integrated into the group - for obvious reasons. It's tough to get to know people when you aren't socializing in person. It's just not the same over video calls/Skype.

I will say that working from home isn't for everyone. It takes a different mentality, and some people can't do it easily, especially those who crave social interaction. For me, I'm lucky that I still have office space I can use when I want, so I make a point of getting out of the house at least once a week to keep sane.

Like mentioned previously, I find when you work from home your work life and home life become more integrated than they would if you're commuting to an office for a 9-5 job. This isn't for everyone. However I will say I'm WAY more productive workwise when I'm working from home (less distractions).

From a business perspective it's great to save money on leasing office space, and giving people the work from home option really provides a great work/life balance that's hard to put a $value on. I can't imagine going back now to be honest.

I don't think there is a better feeling than waking up to a snow storm and throwing on sweats and making a coffee to start work without even thinking about having to step outside.

[Anomaly]

I guess I'm the opposite of most people in this thread, Majority of the time I was far more productive at the office than at home. Had a hard time getting in to a work mindset at home. There's always something more entertaining to do at home than work

[killramos]

I would personally never work from home regularly.

I would just negotiate it as a day off, work 4 days a week or whatever.

Also in my experience everyone I know who works from home just treats it like a flex day anyways ( doing errands, walking the dog, watching tv, getting lunch). I would just cut the bullshit with the employer and call it what it is.

If i get a call on a day off or whatever I answer it and take care of it so whats the difference.

Fighting with VPN's, IT, printing and equipment reimbursement? Cluttering my home office with work stuff? Gross.

Also when the company implements it there will always be people who want to work on different schedules so person X is never here on Mondays, person Y is never on Fridays. Makes scheduling and holding meetings a pain in the ass even if they "call in".

I think its good to separate work/home.

Do most of you who do this work IT? Most people i know who "work from home" are IT related.

[D'z Nutz]

I'm in IT and work at an office, though I do have to work from home time to time when I am doing system upgrades in the middle of the night. I prefer working at the office by a long shot. In fact, I dislike working from home so much that if I'm in a situation where I need to be at home during business hours for whatever reason, I'll just take a vacation day.

My main reasons:

- I try and disassociate my personal life from my work life as much as possible. This includes not checking my work email when I am off the clock otherwise I'll keep dwelling on things that need to be fixed at work or emails that need to be answered. I am a bit of a workaholic so I have to set these boundaries or else I'll be working all the time. The office is work. Home is home.

- Social aspect. You really can't beat just being around people, especially if you need to collaborate with them or just need to pop over for a quick question. Same thing with meetings. Actually one of my pet peeves with people who work at home is trying to get teleconference working for a meeting. In an hour long meeting, I can't even count how many times the first 15-20 minutes is spent trying to get the phones working, figuring out where the echo is coming from, or waiting for everyone to call in.

- If a service I am responsible for goes down or is impacted by another dependency, I need to be able to walk down the hall or to another cubicle to find out what's going so service can be restored. Uptime is important and I don't want to be playing telephone tag.

- It's easier for me to focus at work just because of the professional environment.

- It's just good to be able to get out instead of being cooped up in the same 4 walls all day long.

- I also know for a fact that there are people here who will abuse a WFH day and just not do anything as long as they answer a few emails throughout the day to give the impression they're working.

[nickyh]

Originally posted by killramos

Do most of you who do this work IT? Most people i know who "work from home" are IT related.

I'm in accounting, so I'm pretty antisocial naturally so that's why it works for me.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
Hey Beyond,

I'm hoping to get some insight from those who have lived on both sides of the fence. Ideally you've work both from home and in a traditional office setting with the same or very similar job. I wondering what your experiences were like. Were you as productive at home as you were at the office? Did you discover anything about working from home that you hadn't thought of, good or bad? Did you perhaps miss the social aspect of having coworkers around on a daily basis? I'm asking about this because one of the options for us down the road is to dissolve our office space and have all staff work from their homes. I spend a few days a month working from home but that's not really the same as doing that daily for the next ten years either.

TIA

I've done both. I didn't really like working from home full time. I now do a combination. I didn't like the isolation of working at home. I work for a large contract furniture company now and somewhere on our system there are some white papers done on this exact subject and what the pros and cons are to each way.

I can't off hand remember the extant of the paper but the one thing I do remember is that for many larger companies they actually found their productivity went down when a good chunk of workers ended up working from home. This was highlighted by Yahoo exact Marissa Mayer formally at Google but now CEO at Yahoo. They found that face to face interaction among employees fosters a more collaborative environment and hence better productivity.

Let me see if I can find the paper. We have all sorts of research articles on the office including the interconnected workplace and well being.

[googe]

^Nah, Marissa didn't find shit. That was just a gut move, not based on research or data. Weak managers need butts in seats or they get worried. She has also utterly failed at Yahoo, so there's that. If you're concerned that people will slack off and treat it as a vacation day, you hired the wrong people, so it doesn't matter much anyway. But easy for me to say I guess, I'm not the CEO of a fortune 500.

The reality is, it's going to be different for everyone. Some prefer remote, some prefer private offices in a shared building, some prefer open workspaces.

Doesn't have to be all-or-nothing though. In Seattle there are a few shared co-working spaces that you can lease or book out for certain days. Not sure if Calgary has anything like that.

Personally, I worked mostly at home for a few years, with some occasional travel, then took a job working for someone who gets cranky when butts are not in seats. It's not that I hate showing up, but it's just not worth sitting in traffic for. Four out of five days I do the same thing that I could have done remotely, except I'd be less burnt out over it if I had those 2-3 hours a day of my life back. Seattle has too many fucking people, and there's no good reason they all have to be on the roads. I hope we figure this out as a society, because it's such a massive waste of resources.

BTW, have you heard of Slack? It makes communication a lot easier, you might want to see if it works for you.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by googe
^Nah, Marissa didn't find shit. That was just a gut move, not based on research or data

Actually...If I can find the white paper that she referenced, I'll post it.

[Minimalist]

googe pretty much covered my views. I'd add, let's face it there is a shitload of time wasted in the office environment. I've been working from my home since 2014, it works for me. Bought an IKEA stand up desk (crank model) a few months ago. I just can't and won't do traffic, such a waste of time, resources and greatly adds to stress levels. Today I had to be in Inglewood, 18 minutes waiting for a train both ways and me with a full bladder. I'm not outside material any more.

Looking at moving further out of the city, riverside somewhere for the fishing.