WFH

We’ll see how this goes: Everyone in our company is working from home for the rest of March. I have been doing this every Tuesday for years so I’m used to that much. There will be positives and negatives to this experience, I’m sure.

I’m just as productive at home as I am at work. I can get done just about everything and the only drawback as far as work is that the server can be slow. We have remote meetings via Zoom, and I find those to be detached since I’m not in the room with everybody and I don’t like having my face on the screen, but the meetings are mostly fine and get the job done. I’m not on the phone that much so it’s all email anyway. I work the same hours and can “stay” later because I there’s no reason not to. The only thing going on at our house in that time is our son getting home from school, doing homework or whatever. I do still have a good work/life balance. A lot of people have trouble turning off after the work day ends but I don’t. I’m around if people need me but I don’t have the type of job where people call me at 11 p.m.

I have long been a proponent of working from home because it’s not the wave of the future, it’s the wave of the past. Many companies adopted this years ago. I don’t have to take off for repairmen or things like that, since that work can happen in the background while I’m home, and I can do laundry while I work. I know there is a need sometimes just to be in the same space as your coworkers so I don’t know if it’s practical to do all the time, but I’m up for working from home more.

I’m also much happier working from home as I’m not starting my day aggravated by drivers who absolutely cannot handle the slight amount of extra sun glare following the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. The lack of a commute will be a major blessing for me this month because I hate it I hate it I hate it. I’ll also save on gas.

There will be some drawbacks, inevitably. For one, I snack way too much at home, since the food is right there. I don’t have to wait for a coworker to leave brownies or something in the kitchen. Oddly, outside of lunch time, I never get hungry at work because there’s usually no extra food there. However, I will have more time to exercise since I will have a free hour in the morning between dropping our son off at school and starting work. Who knows if the gym will close but I can at least go for a walk.

We’ll also see how it works if Steve has to work from home. We have a nice desk setup with two monitors and everything but we only have one desk, so the other person will be working somewhere else. There will also be awkwardness with virtual meetings, competing music, etc. Plus, if they close school, the three of us will be cooped up trying to learn and/or work.

So I guess we’ll see. Nothing we can do about it.