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My first two weeks working from home: unbelievably productive. Best two weeks since I first started in this role. The last four weeks: terrible. My "home offic

My first two weeks working from home: unbelievably productive. Best two weeks since I first started in this role. The last four weeks: terrible. My "home office" used to be my hobby zone, with all my books and other things I tinker with to "zone out" after work. I hate coming in here now. I'm always getting pings, late in the evening, as everyone else is always in front of their screens too. Some of this is the nature of the work from home situation (during a pandemic) and other things are disrupted (schools) that wouldn't be in a different mass work from home scenario.

zackmorris 7y ago
The feeling of being on-call is what sucks the soul from a worker's body. I've experienced it off and on over the last 20 years and IMHO it's one of the great problems of our time. I'd like to see labor move towards a direction more like Uber, where you decide when you're on the clock, and when you're off, you're off. One of the difficulties though is that the Uber model only works for saturated and playbook industries like driving, delivering food, walking dogs, etc. It doesn't work so well for the decision-making tasks of more complex jobs where there are ramifications for every step: https://blog.ycombinator.com/read-this-before-you-build-uber-for-x/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/read-this-before-you-build-uber... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15150083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15150083
wenc 7y ago
Do you have separate work/home computers/mobile devices? This for me -- along with dressing in work-attire (even when I'm at home) during office hours and changing out after hours -- helps me establish a psychological separation between work/home in the same space. It really works. I have a KVM setup that switches between my work laptop and my home desktop, and only 1 computer is on at any given time. (Ideally work computer and home computer are in separate rooms, but I don't have the luxury of space in a city apartment) Work phone doesn't get checked after hours.
- remarkEon 7y ago
  I have a separate work laptop. No separate phone though, but that is a good idea ... I have an old iPhone I suppose I could wipe and just use that with work. Apartment is too small to keep things physically separate.
  - wenc 7y ago
    I hear you -- I live in a very small place too. 1 desk, 2 monitors, desktop box (home computer) under desk, and a small side table for the work laptop. Total footprint = 15 sqft. The HDMI + USB switch (which functions as a KVM) is what makes it work. I only need one set of keyboard/mice/monitors and can toggle between work/home.

zackmorris 7y ago

The feeling of being on-call is what sucks the soul from a worker's body. I've experienced it off and on over the last 20 years and IMHO it's one of the great problems of our time. I'd like to see labor move towards a direction more like Uber, where you decide when you're on the clock, and when you're off, you're off. One of the difficulties though is that the Uber model only works for saturated and playbook industries like driving, delivering food, walking dogs, etc. It doesn't work so well for the decision-making tasks of more complex jobs where there are ramifications for every step: https://blog.ycombinator.com/read-this-before-you-build-uber-for-x/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/read-this-before-you-build-uber... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15150083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15150083

wenc 7y ago

Do you have separate work/home computers/mobile devices? This for me -- along with dressing in work-attire (even when I'm at home) during office hours and changing out after hours -- helps me establish a psychological separation between work/home in the same space. It really works. I have a KVM setup that switches between my work laptop and my home desktop, and only 1 computer is on at any given time. (Ideally work computer and home computer are in separate rooms, but I don't have the luxury of space in a city apartment) Work phone doesn't get checked after hours.

remarkEon 7y ago
I have a separate work laptop. No separate phone though, but that is a good idea ... I have an old iPhone I suppose I could wipe and just use that with work. Apartment is too small to keep things physically separate.
- wenc 7y ago
  I hear you -- I live in a very small place too. 1 desk, 2 monitors, desktop box (home computer) under desk, and a small side table for the work laptop. Total footprint = 15 sqft. The HDMI + USB switch (which functions as a KVM) is what makes it work. I only need one set of keyboard/mice/monitors and can toggle between work/home.