Those pictures remind me of the one big plus for WFHā¦ you get the privacy and sanitation of your own bathroom.
Iām one of those people who really dislike public bathroomsā¦ especially for the more āextended visitsā so this removes that out of the equation entirely. I know people may not want to discuss this but on my team weāve talked about going up or down several floors to find a less used bathroom.
Another is also related to Covid, but now our increased number of Amazon deliveries are more secure. As soon as they arrive we get our Arlo alert (or dog barking at delivery truck alert) and I bring them inside. Makes the porch heisters sad.
One con, gardener dayā¦ they always seem to know when my important meeting is and rev those lawn mowers and trimmers to the max during a call.
I work in manufacturing so there is not much WFH. However, where I am at in NC, the commute isnāt bad. I find myself getting more distracted on the days I do WFH, so I feel like I do better traveling to work and keeping personal/side business seperate
This ties into my original post. In less urban areas work from home isnāt quite as popular and one big reason is commuting. Whereas thebigtuna might be spending 2 hours a day and 300 bucks a month if he had to commute, you are probably spending much less time and have free parking.
Iād be somewhat less adverse to going back to office if it wasnāt an hour drive during rush hour (to go five miles) plus 200 bucks a month to park.
My company evolved into a full whf company even before the pandemic. We have the buy ins from all the executives so it is much easier. My team is all over the country, itās fine if you have people you trust. I have had people I didnāt trust and it was tough to babysit them.
Honestly, and thatās very cheap too given Iām relatively close to NYC. Most folks are paying $500-$600 on a bus/train monthly , then parking at the train/bus stop etc
Lunch nowadays in the NYC will run you $15-$20 and thatās for a sandwich/salad etc.
Wow would I want to jump over crackheads at the port authority or Penn Station while I can sit at home, eat a home cooked meal, listen to music and browse thru LH in the comfort of my home.
if it was costing me $200 a month to just park I would be way more inclined to find somewhere with free parking or WFH. I definitely see this as a regional thing, my commute is 25 min to go 30 miles and free parking.
I donāt know, I actually kind of miss the commute of a regular day job but then again I also had a reverse commute (going out of town when others are coming in)
Why is the assumption that boomers also donāt want to WFH? Itās kinda weird, IMO. Regardless of age, everyone would rather not spend hours every week commuting.
I feel you.
Iāve worked remotely forever. The odd time I did have to go into an office - usually a clientās site - I kind of liked the commute from the hotel to the office. It was nice to have that 10-15 minute in between work and not work time. With WFH, itās hard to do sometimes.
The yuuutes way over estimate what boomers want from them. Iāve heard this before, boomers had to spend 30 years in a cube so they want to make sure we (genz) do it too. To which my reply is they donāt give a fuq what you do, stop thinking youāre the first and last thing on their mind every day.
And besides the vast majority of boomers are long retired already. The oldest boomers are 76. The youngest are 58. Chances are the boss who wants you back in the office is a GenXer. Thatās who your beef is with not boomers who are 10 years into retirement already.
My theory is Boomers (or older Gen Xers) donāt have kids under the age of 18. A lot of people of all ages donāt want telework but teleworking becomes more important when their are childcare concerns involved, or even just spending more time with family.
Certainly not an absolute rule. Lots of people like teleworking. But Iād strongly suspect people with kids at home are amongst the biggest demographics supporters of remote work.
I know for me, Iād probably have a much more mixed feeling about being permanent remote if I didnāt have two young kids. But the almost two hours a day I save no commuting is $10k worth of childcare over the course of a year plus an extra hour of sleep everyday.
Nope, itās absolutely the boomers in my office. Early 60s, mostly divorced, no kids at home. They want us to come back because theyāre lonely at home and donāt have social lives. Not my problem.
The Gen Xārs and old millennials are on board with working from home. Way easier to juggle kids with that schedule. Most of our work is using chemical engineering software, so thereās no point in driving an hour to a computer.
If thatās the case, then I see why companies want people back in the office. If youāre spending your āworkā hours taking care of kids, then youāre not really working. I have kids under 18 and WFH. But I have an office above the garage, where I pretty much disappear to during work hours. Functionally no different than if I were 10 miles away in an office building somewhere.
And besides my kids donāt get home from school until 4:00 to 4:30. If all this is to spend than extra 30 mins with kids before 5:00, it seems kind of irrational.
Yeah, Iām not watching children while I work. I drop kid off at daycare at 745am and am home, logged on with coffee by 8am, at which time babysitter comes for our little one. I work till 5pm, then pick kid up while wife relieves babysitter and starts making dinner.
If you add 90 minutes of commuting into both of our days that schedule becomes totally untenable.
Oh I see. Youāre saying the commute time adds to child care costs. Got it. I misunderstood what you meant. My wife quit working when we had the first and never went back. We had no child care costs. I mean we had it in the sense of no income, but I never had the mind set of how much will daycare cost, since it was never a thing for me.
So I guess Iām an older Xer because childcare is no longer an issue for meā¦ but, there are still other stuff my kids need me for until they can drive themselves.
So Iāve always tried to work close to homeā¦ specifically because I donāt like dealing with traffic or long commutes. This also helped with the misc kids errands, medical/dental appts, house maintenance appts, etc, the latter people will have regardless of generation.
Had I known how much more convenient WFH was, I would have released a pandemic virus years ago. So for those of you who are benefiting from thisā¦ keep pushing for it, itās just a more efficient way for responsible people to work.
And for those who donāt knowā¦ child care costs are astronomical. Technically, if you WFH, youāre not supposed to be taking care of your kids tooā¦ but I shouldnāt be on LH right now eitherā¦ oh waitā¦ Iām on break.
Kinda off topic, but I know a couple with 2 kids. And both their parents provide basically on call 24/7 babysitting service. His parents moved to where they live specifically to be able to do that. So between the 4 grandparents, someone is always there to take care of the kids.
I have never been so jealous of anyone in my life. Between my parents and in-laws itās a big deal if they look after the kids for 4 hours on a Friday night, LOL. Meanwhile these two are off to Las Vegas or ski trips or what have you every other weekends, sans kids, plus free day care 5 days a week.
Agree. My wife works 3-12 hour shifts at a hospital. I have a 5 year old in half day kindergarten and a 1 year old. When my wife is off, I go to my āofficeā while she takes care of the kids. If she needs help with something, I just add the time I used to help her on to the end of my day and work ālate,ā or fit it in on the weekend. On the days she works, I take my 1 year old to daycare, drop off the 5 year old to kindergarten on the way home. He does half day, so I pick him up when done, make him lunch and he goes and plays on his own or watches his educational videos on his Chromebook beside me. Around 5 or so, we go pick up the 1 year old, and I bring them home, cook and get them ready for bed before my wife gets home.
As long as I put in my 8x40/week, and get my stuff done, the boss doesnāt care when I work. So Iām saving gas, 1 hour each way to/from work of life a day, and saving money dealing with what to do with a half day kindergartener after heās done for the day. Plus, it provides me and my wife the flexibility to fit in doctor appointments, and whatever other BS that needs done that I couldnāt do if I went into the office.
Iām all about WFH. I have no need, nor desire to go into the office if I donāt absolutely have to. My office even bought me a new chair and desk for home. They also give me a stipend to go toward my internets. Going downtown, fighting traffic, paying to parkā¦itās for the birds.
