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In my experience lonely people are happy to go back and those with a life outside of work (family, friends, hobbies) are happy about the time they save not comm

In my experience lonely people are happy to go back and those with a life outside of work (family, friends, hobbies) are happy about the time they save not commuting in order to have more time for the things they live for.

Thlom 5y ago
Not my experience. Some people just like to have people around, some don’t have space for an office at home, some need the socializing at the office and so one. People are different. I prefer working at the office even though I have a life outside of work and I have an office at home. Granted, my commute is only 15-30 minutes depending on traffic.
- rleigh 5y ago
  I commute into the office 5 days a week even though it's a 60 minute commute each way. It's for my own mental health. The complete and legally enforced isolation during the lockdowns was too much. I can't work in permanent isolation. It really made me realise that I'm not actually antisocial, just very introverted. Don't get me wrong, I was super productive for several weeks. Less distractions and I got in hours of solid coding and loved it. But after several weeks my motivation just fell off a cliff, and I started going back one or two days a week. It very much depends on one's specific situation. I'm working with hardware and software, so I do need to be onsite for some time out of necessity. But one point which I haven't seen brought up in the rest of this discussion is that the nature of our discussions can differ greatly online vs in person. Also depends upon the company/team culture. There is value in face-to-face time. Meetings tend to be focussed upon specific topics, but informal chat about random stuff also leads to useful discussion about things which wouldn't be covered by meetings, and those can also be of high value. And there's also the camaraderie and team-building aspects as well.
ianbutler 5y ago
I have friends and hobbies, but I like separation of work and home, having work in my home has felt like a violation of a personal tenet of mine for the last few years. It may also have to do with the fact my commute is 30 minutes so I use that time to tune out and read on public transport. With that I've always enjoyed working in the office and find my commute to be a pleasant context switch.
- Wiseacre 5y ago
  Wfh is a violation of your personal space but spending an hour commuting 5 days a week isn't a violation of your personal time?
  - ianbutler 5y ago
    Yes, I enjoyed my commute and did things personally useful to me like read. A commute doesn’t require me to think about or organize that time where as consciously fitting reading into my schedule is a pain.
- asdff 5y ago
  I work from home and I turned my commute from 50 minutes of hell into a 30 min yoga session and a 5 minute walk around the block with a mug of coffee in my hand. I do something similar at the end of the work day. I think having that mental break between work and home is important, but you can still get it from a work from home situation, and I like being able to chose exactly how my 'commute' manifests vs trying to catch a train and being stressed out about missing my transfer. My home office is also outside on my patio under the sun vs inside, so I don't feel like I'm sacrificing any living space and its certainly far more luxurious than the windowless room with the bad chair I had at the office.
  - ianbutler 5y ago
    Personally having to intentionally organize things like that just doesn’t happen with me, I’ll just work for another 30minutes unless something forces that separation. Consistently working out is about all I can budget for. That’s great, I’m happy for you. Luckily we live in a world where I’m sure you can find wfh employers long term and I’ll look for in office employers.
plandis 5y ago
I downvoted this comment because I think you’re being extremely condescending towards people who don’t like working from home. I go into the office explicitly because I have a family. It’s hard to work from my house now that my wife and I have a baby. We have two bedrooms so now my workspace is in the living room and working while there is a screaming baby in the background is not great for concentrating.

Thlom 5y ago

Not my experience. Some people just like to have people around, some don’t have space for an office at home, some need the socializing at the office and so one. People are different. I prefer working at the office even though I have a life outside of work and I have an office at home. Granted, my commute is only 15-30 minutes depending on traffic.

rleigh 5y ago
I commute into the office 5 days a week even though it's a 60 minute commute each way. It's for my own mental health. The complete and legally enforced isolation during the lockdowns was too much. I can't work in permanent isolation. It really made me realise that I'm not actually antisocial, just very introverted. Don't get me wrong, I was super productive for several weeks. Less distractions and I got in hours of solid coding and loved it. But after several weeks my motivation just fell off a cliff, and I started going back one or two days a week. It very much depends on one's specific situation. I'm working with hardware and software, so I do need to be onsite for some time out of necessity. But one point which I haven't seen brought up in the rest of this discussion is that the nature of our discussions can differ greatly online vs in person. Also depends upon the company/team culture. There is value in face-to-face time. Meetings tend to be focussed upon specific topics, but informal chat about random stuff also leads to useful discussion about things which wouldn't be covered by meetings, and those can also be of high value. And there's also the camaraderie and team-building aspects as well.

ianbutler 5y ago

I have friends and hobbies, but I like separation of work and home, having work in my home has felt like a violation of a personal tenet of mine for the last few years. It may also have to do with the fact my commute is 30 minutes so I use that time to tune out and read on public transport. With that I've always enjoyed working in the office and find my commute to be a pleasant context switch.

Wiseacre 5y ago
Wfh is a violation of your personal space but spending an hour commuting 5 days a week isn't a violation of your personal time?
- ianbutler 5y ago
  Yes, I enjoyed my commute and did things personally useful to me like read. A commute doesn’t require me to think about or organize that time where as consciously fitting reading into my schedule is a pain.
asdff 5y ago
I work from home and I turned my commute from 50 minutes of hell into a 30 min yoga session and a 5 minute walk around the block with a mug of coffee in my hand. I do something similar at the end of the work day. I think having that mental break between work and home is important, but you can still get it from a work from home situation, and I like being able to chose exactly how my 'commute' manifests vs trying to catch a train and being stressed out about missing my transfer. My home office is also outside on my patio under the sun vs inside, so I don't feel like I'm sacrificing any living space and its certainly far more luxurious than the windowless room with the bad chair I had at the office.
- ianbutler 5y ago
  Personally having to intentionally organize things like that just doesn’t happen with me, I’ll just work for another 30minutes unless something forces that separation. Consistently working out is about all I can budget for. That’s great, I’m happy for you. Luckily we live in a world where I’m sure you can find wfh employers long term and I’ll look for in office employers.

plandis 5y ago

I downvoted this comment because I think you’re being extremely condescending towards people who don’t like working from home. I go into the office explicitly because I have a family. It’s hard to work from my house now that my wife and I have a baby. We have two bedrooms so now my workspace is in the living room and working while there is a screaming baby in the background is not great for concentrating.