Work from home – are we over it?

In the spirit of playing devil’s advocate, can we talk for a minute about how working from home ALL THE TIME kind of sucks?

Sure, there are many great things about working remotely (Yay, no commute! Make a nice lunch! Yoga pants are now your daily attire!) but on the other hand… there is stuff you aren’t allowed to mention or complain about that can be somewhat entertaining to review.

This mostly applies if you have had the privilege to work remotely (because we recognize that that has not been the case for everyone). If anyone has lost their job due to the pandemic, they will immediately be upset with this article and our collective complaining, but here goes – for entertainment purposes, of course.

There is no division between work and home anymore.

Somehow you had to set up a “dedicated work space” in your home, but the effectiveness of work-life balance really depends on your home layout. If you live in a studio or 1-bedroom apartment, your computer and screen(s) are now on your kitchen table. If you had a spare corner in the dining room or even an extra bedroom, it is now your make-shift office.

You didn’t set it up with your motivational posters and family pictures because you had no idea how long you were going to be there. However, your work is always there and in your face, even if you’re trying to enjoy that new Netflix original.

You are single and/or you really enjoyed the collaboration and friendships you experienced at the office.

You may enjoy some of the alone time and TV to yourself now. But being completely cut off from your social outlets and work happy hours is a drag.

Your spouse has a whole lot more to say about your daily routine.

They tell you when to wake up, ask “when are you free?”, and want your attention if you’re not in a meeting. They can see what you eat all day and how you sneak chips in every day at 2:47pm. And man, forget making your own choices for lunch! You somehow have to compromise on what to eat, every time. And you definitely don’t get to go “out to eat” because that’s an unnecessary luxury now.

Your dogs need your attention every hour or so.

If you are on a quick break between Zoom or MS Teams meetings, your furry loved ones seem to sense it and get right into your space. In your best dog voice: “It’s time for a walk, it’s time for a walk, it’s time for a walk! No, I don’t care if it’s 103 degrees outside, it’s time for a walk. Yes, pet me, let’s go, oh I’m so happy you are home! Isn’t this wonderful?!”

You may have a child or children, and suddenly you are both their parent AND their educator.

The needs of our children can vary by age and number of siblings, but this is something we parents haven’t needed to manage alongside our daily work before. We were either stay-at-home parents or working parents with childcare arrangements. It seems near impossible to be BOTH of these identities at the same time, 24/7.

You feel like you’re in a constant state of failing: Either the parenting isn’t you at 100%, or your work doesn’t receive your full attention. It feels like a lose-lose and you know each day will bring the same juggling act. And to top it off, you’re not supposed to have play dates or take trips to visit loved ones to get a change of scenery or parenting support.

TechRepublic shares some results from an IBM study of 14,500 adults in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom; basically, fewer people want to work from home going forward. Not to mention that other countries have concerns about how their employers are handling health and safety as offices and hot spots open back up. Many also share concerns over their mental health from being cut off from their colleagues and the lack of teamwork. IBM says that mental health was the #1 factor influencing future working environments.

It seems it may be incredibly challenging to onboard new employees in a 100% remote environment as well. C-suite is considering why they do want to bring employees back. CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, says he sees no positive to long-term remote work and expects Netflix employees to come back to the office as quickly as they can – even if other tech giants have said they will have employees work remotely in a much longer term capacity.

The reality is, despite the good and bad parts of working from home, it does open the door for more flexibility. Many employees say they also don’t want to return to 5 days in the office per week. But many have said they would enjoy a balance between heading in and working remotely.

The thing is, we haven’t all just been “working from home” for the fun of it. We’ve been working remotely during a global pandemic, which brings with it a whole host of anxiety, worries, and feelings of uncertainty. It feels like a pendulum has swung to the extreme towards remote work. Hopefully it will work its way back to the middle – ideally letting people choose what works best for them and their families.

Yes, there is gratitude in the ability to work from home but it didn’t come with zero mental health costs.