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Working from home = depressing


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Eternal Sunshine

Just curious about people that work from home. It seems to be a new trend. On the surface it looks to be great: no need to wake up too early, no need to worry about traffic or even getting dressed but...

 

I prefer interaction with people at work. I also love picking outfits and doing my hair and make up every day. It kind of gives my day a structure (9-5pm) thing.

 

I currently do some code testing for one of the popular search engines at home. It's only a very part time/casual thing and I still work at my regular job.

 

People working from home: do you really like it and find it preferable?

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Loved it since social interaction in a forced atmosphere like a work environment, is boring and a waste of time for me. I also detest routine.

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Copelandsanity

It depends on your personality. I'm an introvert who hates small talk, office politics, and others exerting authority over me. So I absolutely love working from home :D I love not having to commute, not having to dress up formally, I love the flexibility of scheduling. Is it socially isolating? Yes. But I remember how it was like before and I never want to go back to it ever again (public accounting).

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Copelandsanity
Loved it since social interaction in a forced atmosphere like a work environment, is boring and a waste of time for me. I also detest routine.

 

Exactly. I hated having to brown-nose superiors, pretending to be friends with people I didn't like or care for, making boring small talk, getting flack from bosses, etc. There's so much forcing yourself to act a certain way that it's draining.

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I pretty much need the structure of having to go in to work. If I didn't have to, absolutely nothing would get done. I'd procrastinate and probably end up not having a job at all LOL

 

The funny thing is I loathe getting up and curse my alarm clock every morning as I hit the snooze button.

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I recognize all that the OP is saying. I love to dress up in a smart outfit and look forward to a busy day in which I know I will meet a lot of people and will reap the full benefit of my social and professional skills. I have the perfect combination of the two. I work some days at home and some at the office. This combines very well with the ages my kids have. In the office I get to have meetings which make it easier to talk in depth about decisions that have to be made, catch up with colleagues who have become friends and enjoy the office ribaldry. At home I can concentrate better on the offers, reports and mails that I have to write and I can spend some time with my children when they come home from school. It is also easier to skip an hour of work during the day for something private and then finish stuff later in the evening. I think a mobile office will be the new way to work for most of us and with the online meeting facilities it is easy to stay in touch with the rest of the world, literally, from the comfort of your own home.

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I don't like working at home. At times, it actually makes me angry. :laugh:

 

I am only required to work 30 hours a week at my job and we are allowed to do the rest at home. I choose to come in early and stay late because I get nothing done at home. Home for me signifies rest, whereas my office signifies work.

 

I have a friend who works at home and her routine amazes me. She wakes up early every morning, gets completely dressed and made-up, and goes into her home office. I don't have the discipline to do that.

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I don't like home or the office. I like my job the best when I was out on the road most of the day.

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I love the idea of working from home but I know if I had to, I'd get absolutely nothing done. I'd almost have to have a separate building, away from my house, or a room I only go to when working.

 

As it is, I do have to work from home a lot, but it's my choice to do so. I don't have to do it. It makes my job easier if I do, but I don't HAVE to. For the past 3 years, I worked my tail end off at home plus going to work. Now I've decided to leave work at work. I rarely do anything at home because home is for play, relaxation and chores. When the line between work and home became blurred I felt like I was working all the time and it drained me.

 

When I have lots of work to do at home, it seems never ending and I don't get anything else accomplished.

 

Or... I go the other route and end up getting absolutely nothing done for work because I put it off thinking... yeah... I'll do that later on.

 

Besides that... going to work is pretty much the only time I get to socialize with other adults. I'd be depressed pretty quickly if I had no one else to interact with other than my child.

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People working from home: do you really like it and find it preferable?

 

A lot of people out here work from home, due to the reality that home is where they grow the crops. Some commute to their remote ranches but many live where they work. I've been walking a couple hundred feet to work since the mid 1980's and don't mind it at all. Customers don't seem to either and, surprisingly, few ever bother me outside of work hours. To me, the key is liking what one does for a living and being comfortable working alone, as well as with others. I've done both over the decades, whether working alone, moonlighting as someone's employee or being an employer when things are busy. Always something to do.

 

However, if one *needs* social stimulation to feel accomplished and productive, working from home may not be a healthy work avenue, especially if one does not have a family and the work is solo. As an example, my dad did a lot of work from home but he was always meeting with clients (taxes and bookkeeping and other financial stuff) so he was rarely 'alone' during those times, plus having a regular 'office' in a commercial building. If one 'needs' that kind of contact, probably better to have a 'work at home' job which includes it. I don't need it and, if I don't see a human for a week, I'm OK with that. YMMV.

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I'm in grad school, which isn't technically 'work' (I suppose it is, in a way), but we have a flexible system here that allows me to work from home pretty much whenever, barring meetings with the supervisor or team.

 

I love it! Mostly because of the flexible schedule. 9-5 hours really, really do not work for me, I'm a night owl and love having the flexibility to work whenever my mind is at its best. Social interaction is not an issue since I can interact outside of work (friends, SO, etc).

 

I suppose it helps that my home is very well situated in a high rise apartment that gets plenty of sun - I can wander off to the balcony, look out at the sea and relax whenever I want. It's a nice, serene, quiet (well, except for the damn renovations recently) environment that I can really focus in.

 

I also enjoy the comfort of working in a comfy nightie. :p

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Eternal Sunshine

Maybe because I am single and my social life is in a rut. I also genuinely get along with most people I work with. I like most of them :o

 

I can see it if I had a steady relationship or a wider social circle. Right now, working from home means going to bed at 6am and spending ton of time over-thinking, worrying about the future and basically being a hermit. I ENJOY office atmosphere :D

 

I have also seen what years of working from home have done to my brother. He lives with his gf but he is totally socially isolated otherwise. His social skills have regressed, he is constantly obsessing over health problems that don't exist and he is apathetic and depressed. He even acknowledged that working from home is partly responsible for his state.

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I have also seen what years of working from home have done to my brother. He lives with his gf but he is totally socially isolated otherwise. His social skills have regressed, he is constantly obsessing over health problems that don't exist and he is apathetic and depressed. He even acknowledged that working from home is partly responsible for his state.

 

Why can't he get some socializing done outside of work? Does he live in a rural area or something?

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regine_phalange

I work part time in a small project from home, while doing my master's thesis. It's annoying that I have to do both at home. Sometimes I go to the library to study for this exact reason :laugh:

 

I don't react very well in very crowded offices either. In my previous job, we were 11 people in a not-too-big room. It was really distracting, because someone would talk on the phone, someone else would yell at somebody, others would discuss work matters in a low voice, someone else would test something on a kinect and would jump around. :laugh: God, that was too much sensory overkill for a poor introvert like me.

 

My dream is having my own office :p And if possible, my own company, have my clients come over, decorate it just like home... :love:

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I enjoy it, though prior to this I traveled all over the country, which got old after four years. Working from home allows me to save on gas and food. I can better plan my workouts. The lack of social interaction is really the downside, though between my dates and getting out to see my friends once or twice a week it isn't bad at all.

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I get the appeal of the flexibility - but you can have that same flexibility by working for yourself, I've run some very small scale business before I went into the fire service at 18 and the flexibility of it is nice, being able to start late if you want or schedule stuff around hitting the beach or whatever. But theres no way I could work from home in the staying-in-your-house/home-office way.

 

I like going to work, I like spending time with the people I work with, there not just colleagues there friends and I like meeting people on the job and getting to help them out......i'm not bothered about dressing up or lacking motivation I simply like being around people, I think if I worked from home id just get mind numbingly bored.

 

 

That said though I don't think I could do an officey job whether it was from home or not - 9-5 day in day out, being indoors not able to just go outside when you want - its just not for me.

 

Plus I like to stop at the door, home should be home, work should be work. Its interesting cause we have retained firefighters, who are basically just on call all the time - I think that must be really hard...I do 2 days on, 2 nights on, 4 days off, and when your doing a job that's can at times be mentally and emotionally tough as well as physically (which I guess all jobs have there moments) I think its important to be able tp leave it at the door and have a break.

The guys who are at home on call - you never know if you might get a call, it must be tough!

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I have the option to work from home but I never do. I'm the only person in the office who doesn't from time to time. I just can't imagine spending my day in the same environment I woke up in (popping out to buy food, etc included), it's not stimulating enough for me. Plus I like the people I work with - though one of the girls that sits near me has been sharing a bit too much lately and started getting annoying - and we have a laugh every day.

 

I live quite close to work, like my walk in the morning, get my coffee on the way, walk along the river Thames, cross one of the bridges looking at the water rushing under my feet, boats passing. Tower Bridge in the distance. I never get tired of how lovely London can feel in the morning, regardless of the weather.

 

No, I like getting out and about far too much to be couped up in the same space all day. I'm an introvert too but I can put music on when the yapping from the extroverts gets too much.

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I enjoy it, though prior to this I traveled all over the country, which got old after four years. Working from home allows me to save on gas and food. I can better plan my workouts. The lack of social interaction is really the downside, though between my dates and getting out to see my friends once or twice a week it isn't bad at all.

 

I'm glad to see that I am not alone in considering this a priority!

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Coping Vortex

I have worked from home for 20 years. It's a double edged sword. It's been great not having to drive in traffic and bad weather to go to an office. No having to deal with office drama. I can get personal things dine when I need to. If I am too tired I can take a nap. Hard do that at work. It's been great meeting friends for lunch etc. save money on gas. Can sleep late.

 

But.....

 

But it is lonely at times and can be boring if work is slow. Sometimes you feel like the world is passing you by. Can't make new friends working in your own home office. No office parties, no after work get togethers.

 

Can get monotonous. But when it feels like that I remember the office drama and don't feel as bad.

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I am a full-time remote employee; with the exception of a trip to our main office every other month or so, I work permanently from home. It definitely has its pluses and minuses.

 

Pluses: I have very young kids, and this gives me the flexibility to see them more, to have lunch with them, go to preschool events, etc. I also save money on commuting costs, professional clothes, lunches, etc. I can get laundry done or go grocery shopping during the day. If the weather is bad, it doesn't matter. My husband works full-time as well, but at a regular office a fair distance away. Even though I'm working the same amount, I'm able to pick up the slack on some of the household tasks that are otherwise hard to squeeze in.

 

Minuses: It is extremely isolating, and I say that as someone who is a complete and self-proclaimed introvert. Sure, it's nice to have my own space and not have to make small talk with co-workers in the kitchen, but it can also just get really darn lonely sometimes. And while it's nice to just throw on jeans and a sweater every morning, there is some part of me that misses the feeling of "getting ready", doing my make-up, etc. There's also the obvious downside of being distracted all of the time. We have a full-time babysitter for the kids, but they obviously still know I'm here. Sometimes I really just want to go get a glass of water without the guilt trip of a three-year-old asking if I'm done working yet, and can I please play hide-and-seek now, you know? I can hear my baby crying downstairs right now, and it's tough. (Obviously, being on LS doesn't exactly count as being productive, so I feel even more guilty for slacking off than I would if I were in an office... :rolleyes:)

 

Also, because I'm an introvert (and also because of those aforementioned young kids), I don't exactly have the most active social life. Even though that's usually fine with me, there is something to be said for the daily interaction with people in an office setting.

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I'm in grad school too and the course doesn't need me to go on campus everyday. Being at home makes me depressed, my life lacks a structure, and zero social interaction except with my parents makes this an ansolute nightmare. I am desperate to find a job and start having something in my life. Because of the depression, I find myself unwilling to go out now.

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I tel-commuted for about 2 years and determined it is not something I can do. I am very motivated at work, but it's hard to stay motivated at home. I found myself working odd hours and during the weekend to catch up on my work due to my procrastinating. I never procrastinated when I was in the office. So I made a change and now I'm back in the office every day, 7-4. I have not worked a single weekend hour since and that is good!

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Love it, I get to set my own hours, and do so in the comfort of my home. If I feel like watching a movie while working, I can. If I'm hungry, I don't have to wait for it to be my "lunch hour", and works really well with my school schedule. I tutor online through a company, and their service is 24/7, so there are always hours at any time I can pick up. Heck I'm working right now as I make this post :lmao:

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I work from home and enjoy it overall. I love managing my own time. I am up at.630 each day with my kids, get a full days work done in a couple hours, then whatever...go see a movie, meet a friend for lunch, etc.

 

I do have regular contact and meetings with peers so I am not isolated at all. After working so long in an office putting in 50 to 60 hours a week, I almost feel like I am on a very long vacation...probably because now I work just a bit more that i did when i would be on vacation.

 

Tips for success...you HAVE to give yourself structure and set deadlines...no procrastinating as it is a bad habit that gets hard to break...

 

I am a very fast worker, so i am able to get a ton of work done without having all the typical office interuptions.

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Eternal Sunshine
I'm in grad school too and the course doesn't need me to go on campus everyday. Being at home makes me depressed, my life lacks a structure, and zero social interaction except with my parents makes this an ansolute nightmare. I am desperate to find a job and start having something in my life. Because of the depression, I find myself unwilling to go out now.

 

This is EXACTLY how I feel. Working from home makes me want to go jump off a bridge :(

 

In fact because of my view of this, I very much hesitate to date guys that work from home. I just get such a "basement loner" vibe from it.

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