What is great and hard about working from home after doing it for over a year

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lot of companies having their employees work from home. A lot is going back to work as the pandemic calms down and some are making it a permanent change like my company. There are a few things I have really enjoyed about working from home. There are also some things that are hard.

The Great

More time in the day

It is quite amazing how much time results in getting ready and then driving. The short trip to my office is certainly convenient. It is especially a time saver during the wintertime when it is snowy and cold. No need to put on a million layers only to take them off shortly after arriving in the office.

Flexiblity

I have always worked at pretty flexible jobs. Most of the time I am able to go run any errands. Working from home is even better. I would always feel a bit guilty for taking off to run an errand, maybe it was just me. When I don’t have to walk away in front of people it feels easier. This does not mean I work any less as I usually can start work earlier or finish later. It was much harder to do that when working in the office because I would have to either wake up super early or stay later, hit rush hour traffic or want to go home because I was hungry.

Fewer interuptions

It would be very common for someone to yell over to me or come to my desk and ask me questions. It is hard to put that on pause like it is with a notification from slack. You am able to finish my thought, line of code, email.. etc then respond.

Your office

You can make your office your own. I have plants around. Pictures hanging. You can have any decorations or technology you want to.

The Hard

Human interaction

I would say probably the hardest is the reduced human interaction. While audio/video chats are great I don’t think they are the same. I consider myself an introvert and even I find it hard at times. Gone are the days of saying hi to people in the breakroom.

Chasing down people

A problem I face with electronic communication is people can ignore them or forget about them. Back in the days where I worked in the office if someone did not respond to my emails they could be prepared for me to show up next to them asking them the same question. I can still message them on a different platform, so if I sent them an email before, maybe I will try to message them on Microsoft Teams.