Working from Home?

eusap

Is there many people in Kildare working from home?

How do you handle the isolation?

L1011

Couldn't handle it 5 days a week, tried and failed. Did one in one out for a fair while (Mon/Wed/Fri in the office). Found remembering to actually go outside and also drink fluids to be easy to miss when you're alone.

Changed job to one that's frequently off-site anyway so I don't do it anymore!

GavMan

I did for about a year and still do a lot still (3days WFH)

Maybe its just me but I find the isolation a benefit to getting stuff done so not something I need to 'handle'. Then again I suppose the Mrs comes home from work after 8 hours so its not like you're alone for that long and I pick up the kid at 3:30ish.

TV for some background noise and I speak with colleagues regularly so its all good

Orion

I work from home all the time. Didn't think I'd like it but I find it much more conducive to getting stuff done. tbh even when I was in the office I didn't work with anyone in Dublin - my colleagues are London, Chicago and India so it wasn't much of a leap.

It's important to have a routine though. I have my box room set up as an office and I treat it like a workplace. Take my lunch at more or less the same time every day. Always have a large (reusable) bottle of water beside me. Things like that.

I'd find it hard to go back to commuting now tbh. Saved 2 hours a day by working from home.

Zeek12

Did it for a year - and got totally sick of it.
A couple of days a week from home would be grand. But 5 days a week drove me a bit nuts.

While its true you get more done away from the usual office noise and distractions, the days seem very long and the sense of isolation imo wasn't very appealing.

eusap

I work 5 days from Home, i also converted a bedroom to an office. Go there at 9am leave at 5pm. I have done it for 5+ years as i also work with remote colleagues.

You do have to be quite structured (no tv etc....) but i find it a huge benefit to family life, no commute, get house work done at lunch time and best of all home at 5pm.

The down side is not interarcting with colleagues, no coffee machines chats about soccer/rugby etc... but that also means you get a lot more done in less time.

I do 1-2 times per month go to a cafe for lunch (just to get out of the house)

Maybe we should start a working from home lunch club?

I do laugh when i hear friends tell me there working from home 1 day a week to catch up on box sets ....... gives us homeworkers a bad name

mloc123

Have WFH 5 days a week for almost 5 years now... I could never go back to sitting in an office listening to the ****e that people talk..
I get up every morning, sit and have breakfast with my son, drop him to creche come home and work and am there at 5pm when my wife and son get home. Had I to commute I would be gone before he is awake and home just as he went to bed...

I chat to colleagues all day and have multiple meetings and calls each day, this is plenty for me. Couple of trips to the US each year for actual team 'bonding'.

lordgoat

I will hopefully move to WFH in the new year but I think I'd only go for 2-3 days a week at most, I like going to the office and having a work place but the nature of my roles means some tasks require 4-5 hours solid on same topic and WFH would mean no distractions and being able to focus better than a large open plan office space.

The Cool

I've been WFH full time for 6 years now, it was an adjustment but I love it, you do have to structure your days with some kind of routine, and make sure to get out for something social quite often, whether that's a gym class or a coffee date.
I try to stick to a normal working day routine similar to my OH, I get up with him in the morning and get to my desk with a coffee around 9.30, I work til 6-7 and then make a point of going "off duty" even if it means just going from my desk to the couch. But I also like that I can do an extra bit one evening and then free myself up to go for a swim or to shops at 11am the next day when it's nice and quiet.
My friends nearby are primary teachers so it's nice to be able to meet them for a coffee at 4pm. When I worked in the city I was only getting home off the bus at 6.45. Aside from that, a dog is great company! a WFH lunch club would be nice though!

d4v1d

I work from home one day a week. I find that day where I do not have to face into M7/M50 traffic more of a relief than a Saturday or Sunday. I absolutely despise wasting my time in traffic.

Personally, I would love to WFH full time but my current employer is against this. I have email, instant messenger and various screen sharing and video conf software so that if I need to chat with someone it's easy to do so. Isolation has never been an issue but distraction and context switching in the office is.

I find the pros of WFH are
- Much better quality of life
- Cheaper cost of living (fuel and lunches)
- More productive days
- Happier in my job

Cons
- ??

chancer007

WFH 5 days a week,
have SIRO broadband, cook some lunch myself during the day
no diesel costs to dublin
if you have the chance, go for it!

d4v1d

now that there is a massive cohort of people working from home i am very curious as to what opinions people have on this topic.



for myself, this lockdown has improved my quality of life considerably as the daily commute was by far the biggest negative in my day-to-day living.



even when it is lifted i do not see a future involving the m7 on daily commutes.

Mantis Toboggan

It's been fantastic not having to face that N7 every morning and sit in traffic, then on the way out after 5 sitting in traffic again and looking at the same cars you saw earlier. Life is to short to be wasting away in traffic. Complete madness.

I started lockdown enjoying working from home and getting plenty done. I've since had my first child and must say it's been very tough getting anything done since. Very tough for people with young kids who aren't in school. Trying to help as much with the new arrival while also keeping up with work stuff, along with the lack of sleep I've found this quite tricky.

All in all we're likely to see working from home become a lot more common going forward. For me 3 days at home and 2 in the office would be the perfect balance. Being able to cut the lawn or get a shower at lunchtime is still a novelty.

eusap

At this time it is hard to say this is "Working from Home" for most people. There is huge benefits to working from home, no commute, no lunch bills, get some home jobs done during the day, better work life balance etc....

But during covid times this is not normal, my wife is home working, daughter is home from creche, so we are trying to juggle all of this.

If you are serious about working from home Post Covid you have to imagine what it will be like then. It can be hard not having People contact from early morning to evening, only talking to people on phone/teams etc... You need a fixed routine, and if possible a fixed work place so you can close the door at 5pm (that is the hardest)

As the commute is the huge headache, how much is the commute worth to you? If you took a 20-30K pay cut could you work more locally and have the better work life balance / save on commuting etc... its worth thinking about

mloc123

The current situation is NOT working from home. The last 8 weeks of work for me do not resemble anything close to the 4-5yrs before that.

lordgoat

WFH since end of March, love it will not be going back to a 5 day in the office. I do find that I end up working longer hours with no commute and tbh that doesn't really both me as overall having the flexibility during the day makes it worthwhile. I will say having no kids makes it a lot different to some of my colleagues.

Orion

lordgoat wrote: »

WFH since end of March, love it will not be going back to a 5 day in the office. I do find that I end up working longer hours with no commute and tbh that doesn't really both me as overall having the flexibility during the day makes it worthwhile. I will say having no kids makes it a lot different to some of my colleagues.

That would depend on the age of the kids. I'be been wfh for nearly three years. My kids are now 16. But I have the boxroom set up as an office - they know if the door is closed I'm busy or in a meeting. If it's open then they can come in.


Like anything else setting your own boundaries helps. My home office is exactly that - when I go in there in the morning I'm at work.

Browning

Pre-Lockdown I used to try do Monday's and Fridays from home to break the cycle of commuting and break the weekly routine. Now I have 3 people in the house working from home and two students who are finished College now until Sept/Oct. Boss told us yesterday that its unlikely we will get back to the Office in the next 6 Months and to plan accordingly. Definitely missing the social side of work and random conversations with colleagues. Social meetings on teams if not just the same.