Working from home like it or not?

TELLIT01

The comments about never switching off are definitely valid from what I see my wife doing.  She has always been up by about 6:30 but now will start her systems up while the kettle boils.  She will then sit with a cuppa to catch up on what happened the previous afternoon after she had finished at 4pm.  Her hours are supposedly 8am to 4pm but she regularly starts early, doesn't bother with breaks during the day and takes a short lunch.  It drives me nuts but she takes no notice.

If/when she's back working from the office she will have no option but to leave work at work!

Barny1979

Working from home since March 2020, I've noticed that even when finishing at 5pm, when logging on at 8ish in the morning, there are at least 10 new emails waiting for me, as people are working in the evenings.

Brie

Barny1979 said:

when logging on at 8ish in the morning, there are at least 10 new emails waiting for me, as people are working in the evenings.

So true!  Our employer issued us all with laptops last spring and removed the pcs from the office.  So now we have to bring our laptops to work every day and take them home every night "just in case".   so get sick, you can still work.  it's a Saturday, you can still work.  even if you are not supposed to be working, you can still work!!!!

NBLondon

Brie said:

So true!  Our employer issued us all with laptops last spring and removed the pcs from the office.  So now we have to bring our laptops to work every day and take them home every night "just in case".   so get sick, you can still work.  it's a Saturday, you can still work.  even if you are not supposed to be working, you can still work!!!!

I would just leave the laptop locked in my desk in the office.

In fact, in a previous job, the policy said I should take my laptop home each night for security.  I pointed out that I was leaving it in a locked drawer in a locked office in a building with metal shutters on the windows, a barbed wire fence and 24 hour security guards.  If that wasn't secure enough, why did they think taking it home (or leaving it in the boot of my car was also permitted) would be an improvement.


On the original topic.  I started WFH in March 2020 and my employer decided it would be permanent as they closed the office earlier this year.  I've adjusted.  I certainly don't miss the cross-London commute but I take the point about needing the mental break between shutting down and getting home.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I am in a similar situation and l am fed up with the lack of interaction. It sounded great at first but it's soul destroying staring at a laptop for hours every day. 

And of course it's always there in the background. No way would l want to do it all the time. 

lisyloo

NBLondon said:

LBrie said:

So true!  Our employer issued us all with laptops last spring and removed the pcs from the office.  So now we have to bring our laptops to work every day and take them home every night "just in case".   so get sick, you can still work.  it's a Saturday, you can still work.  even if you are not supposed to be working, you can still work!!!!

I would just leave the laptop locked in my desk in the office.

In fact, in a previous job, the policy said I should take my laptop home each night for security.  I pointed out that I was leaving it in a locked drawer in a locked office in a building with metal shutters on the windows, a barbed wire fence and 24 hour security guards.  If that wasn't secure enough, why did they think taking it home (or leaving it in the boot of my car was also permitted) would be an improvement.


On the original topic.  I started WFH in March 2020 and my employer decided it would be permanent as they closed the office earlier this year.  I've adjusted.  I certainly don't miss the cross-London commute but I take the point about needing the mental break between shutting down and getting home.

So what happens if you have to isolate for 10 days but are feeling fine?
I was lucky to have 2 laptops but I still took the charger home in case I needed to isolate.

General_Grant

Brie said:

Barny1979 said:

when logging on at 8ish in the morning, there are at least 10 new emails waiting for me, as people are working in the evenings.

So true!  Our employer issued us all with laptops last spring and removed the pcs from the office.  So now we have to bring our laptops to work every day and take them home every night "just in case".   so get sick, you can still work.  it's a Saturday, you can still work.  even if you are not supposed to be working, you can still work!!!!

Are you able to link the laptop to a proper screen so that you can sit properly with the keyboard on a desk and a detached screen at the correct height (top of screen at eye level when you are sitting straight)?  Or perhaps you are not using the laptop keyboard for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

TELLIT01

My wife's employer is moving from working at home all the time to some days in the office and some at home.  That's OKish for those using laptops but my wife and most of her colleagues use computers with small base units plus 2 x 22" monitors.  That means that, every time she moves from one environment to the other,  she has to disconnect the screens, mouse, keyboard and power supply and take the base unit and power supply with her and reconnect in the other location.  Desktop base units are not designed to be shifted all the time and this must cause wear on the connections.  Even if working in the office for multiple days the base unit must be removed and locked away every night.

Tokmon

Reading all the comments about people needing to "unwind" on the way home from work and hate being reminded at work while at home must really dislike their job?.

I personally can't understand the need to unwind at all when you finish work.

TELLIT01

Tokmon said:

Reading all the comments about people needing to "unwind" on the way home from work and hate being reminded at work while at home must really dislike their job?.

I personally can't understand the need to unwind at all when you finish work.

In which case I can only assume you have a job with absolutely no stress either from the work or occasionally annoying colleagues.  I only ever had one job which I can say I truly hated, but I didn't want to have anything to do with work outside working hours unless I was on paid on-call duty.