Working from home = depressing

[Negative Nancy]

I would LOVE to work at home. I am a homebody by nature, pretty much anti-social (who would've thought ), well, at least anti-social with co-workers and clients.

 

I hate having to get up every morning, looking through my clothes deciding what to wear, having the daily routine of being stressed from running to work on time, stressed with the work and dealing with clients and deadlines, etc.

 

I can't imagine anything greater than getting up, sipping coffee and NOT having to rush for work (even though I have flexible time at work, I'd still have to show up at some point so that pressure is still there).

 

Whereas with working at home, you decide your own schedule, your own breaks, and best of all, no annoying people to deal with!

 

This is exactly how I feel too:

 

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 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

 

That is why I got a job on the side working from home, to supplement my income, and to see how it goes. It's not enough to live off of it, but maybe it's a good opportunity to enter the path as a "WAH" worker long term.

 

Anyone who hates working at home is free to swap their jobs with mine!

 

P.S. judging from your original post, ES, I think we're doing the same WAH job

Edited March 23, 2014 by Negative Nancy

[Eternal Sunshine]

My "home" job is tedious as hell NN. Luckily it's not my only job. I do it to help my parents out.

 

It's weird that I am an introvert by nature but hate working from home

The way I see it, the less I am around people, the more I lose social skills and get depreessed and just start looking and eating like s-t. It pulls me into this huge negative spiral. If I am forced to get up at the same time every morning and have some organization and routine to my days, it balances me out. I am naturally very chaotic and can easily lose days or weeks just being in my own world. I kind of have to fight against that.

[Els]

My "home" job is tedious as hell NN. Luckily it's not my only job. I do it to help my parents out.

 

It's weird that I am an introvert by nature but hate working from home

The way I see it, the less I am around people, the more I lose social skills and get depreessed and just start looking and eating like s-t. It pulls me into this huge negative spiral. If I am forced to get up at the same time every morning and have some organization and routine to my days, it balances me out. I am naturally very chaotic and can easily lose days or weeks just being in my own world. I kind of have to fight against that.

 

Yeah, I think imposed structure works better for some people, and less well for others. I'm much more productive on my own time; usually when forced into a schedule I underperform badly because the time doesn't work for me, so I'm sleep-deprived, hungry, cranky, and just wanting to be back home in bed. On the other hand my guy says that if he had to work from home he'd probably end up getting nothing done, even though he's also a night owl by nature. I think the people who benefit the most from 9-5 on-site work are the fairly sociable morning larks who prefer structure. I'm on the other end of the spectrum, and most people are somewhere in the middle.

 

In an ideal world people could choose the option that works best for their productivity.

[Sue765]

There are heaps of ways to work from home - I have heaps of ideas after reading this book Your Working From Home Guide

[1Beautiful]

I have been working from home for a year now for a large corporation. There is so much work to do that the day flies by and is over before I know it. Most aspects I like but I do miss getting dressed up, looking my best and going to the office. I admit it has been a little depressing in the last couple of months. It feels weird to be instant messaging my boss and coworkers all the time instead of face to face interaction.

[Mapper71]

I'm a bit torn on the subject. I worked at a company I liked for 13 years. It was small and casual and I loved what I did. The commute was 10 minutes each way. I then moved out of state and worked from home for a company I did work for at my previous job. They took me on as a freelancer for a job that lasted a year. Pay was great and people at this company were great even though I just talked with them over the phone. That job ended and I happened to get hired on as a 1 year temp hire at a large 1500 person company. I HATED it! The atmosphere was snide and I felt looked down upon. I had more conversation with my cats when I got home than I did with the people at work! The commute was by bus, about 40 minutes each way. I was so glad when that ended and I could go back to freelancing. Freelancing was pretty good, but jobs weren't always prevalent and I did get bored. I am a quiet person so not a huge people person but I did miss interacting with people on a daily basis, but did not miss the commute and loved that I could run errands whenever I felt like it. 2 years later I got a job at my current company which I love just as much as my first company. It's about 100 people but casual and people are very nice and talk to you. It's about a 40 minute commute each way but I don't mind it. I'm doing what I love and like the people.

[preraph]

I mostly work from home. Overall, I love it. My only issue with it is no one is taking taxes out of a paycheck, so the self-employment taxes eat me alive. Otherwise, I love being able to sleep in sometimes and be here for my pets and I work overlooking the back yard and can do laundry or something while working. I feel like I live here, not just sleep here.

 

As for missing dressing up, just because you work at home doesn't prohibit you from dressing up and going someplace. in fact, it gives you the flexibility to do so. I regularly go out to eat, mostly at lunch, and if I feel like it, I dress up for it. You can entertain more because if you wanted to have people over, you're at the house and can start cooking a day ahead or whatever. But if you just really like being around people in a work environment (I don't), then it's not for you, I guess. I just think work relationships are all fake anyway because everyone HAS to act like they like you and then once you're gone, they're gone, plus they'll backstab you if they have to compete with you.

[Ruby Slippers]

I've been working from home for about 10 years, with some stints of contract office work in there. I'm looking for a full-time position or more contract work now, as I can't possibly work any harder and my business can't really grow anymore without capital investment, office space, and a skeleton staff. I'd rather save up the money to do this myself, rather than get an investor or take out a loan I'm not sure I can pay back.

 

I love not wasting time commuting, not having to deal with the harsh winter weather on the bad days, saving money on all the hidden costs of an office job (gas or transit, lunches out, coffees out), being able to do laundry and things around the house during breaks, my big desk and picture window view, being home to get packages, not having to make forced small talk in the office, not having to listen to people's annoying conversations and distracting noise, not having to sit through pointless hour-long meetings that could be done in 5 minutes.

 

But yes, it can be isolating, and as my own boss I often work all the time, with work hours bleeding into the evening and late night, weekends.

 

I really hate how when you're bored and distracted at an office job, you have to just keep sitting there looking busy. At home, I can take a short break to take a walk, have a cup of coffee, or whatever, and then I quickly bounce back and get in my work zone again.

 

The office environment with the fluorescent lighting and blah cubicles has a draining effect on me that my home has never had.

[Smilecharmer]

I'm a freelance political journalist...been around long enough that I get to pick and choose my assignments and write on spec anything I want. However, I do understand what you mean. I would go crazy if I had to be in an office at home without any stimuli. I actually travel a little bit for my work but when I am at home, I work in coffee shops, diners and such because I like being around people.

[Chocolat]

I've been working from home for about 10 years, with some stints of contract office work in there. I'm looking for a full-time position or more contract work now, as I can't possibly work any harder and my business can't really grow anymore without capital investment, office space, and a skeleton staff. I'd rather save up the money to do this myself, rather than get an investor or take out a loan I'm not sure I can pay back.

 

I love not wasting time commuting, not having to deal with the harsh winter weather on the bad days, saving money on all the hidden costs of an office job (gas or transit, lunches out, coffees out), being able to do laundry and things around the house during breaks, my big desk and picture window view, being home to get packages, not having to make forced small talk in the office, not having to listen to people's annoying conversations and distracting noise, not having to sit through pointless hour-long meetings that could be done in 5 minutes.

 

But yes, it can be isolating, and as my own boss I often work all the time, with work hours bleeding into the evening and late night, weekends.

 

I really hate how when you're bored and distracted at an office job, you have to just keep sitting there looking busy. At home, I can take a short break to take a walk, have a cup of coffee, or whatever, and then I quickly bounce back and get in my work zone again.

 

The office environment with the fluorescent lighting and blah cubicles has a draining effect on me that my home has never had.

 

Geez, Ruby, get outta my head!

[Els]

 

I really hate how when you're bored and distracted at an office job, you have to just keep sitting there looking busy. At home, I can take a short break to take a walk, have a cup of coffee, or whatever, and then I quickly bounce back and get in my work zone again.

 

The office environment with the fluorescent lighting and blah cubicles has a draining effect on me that my home has never had.

 

Yes, this!

 

The other folks in my graduate lab ask me how I manage, working from home the majority of the time, when they prefer to work in the lab. But heck, I don't just "manage", I love it! It's just so much more efficient for me to work from home, I can get so much more done when I'm 'in the zone' and free to do whatever I need to keep myself there. Rather than wasting time trying to act busy when I really just need a short nap.

[lynette Lane]

I worked from home for over 4 years and and I must admit it has it's advantages but it can also have it's disadvantages, for example I never seem to get as much done if i am working along side other people and of course it can also get lonely.

[iris219]

I love not wasting time commuting, not having to deal with the harsh winter weather on the bad days, saving money on all the hidden costs of an office job (gas or transit, lunches out, coffees out), being able to do laundry and things around the house during breaks, my big desk and picture window view, being home to get packages, not having to make forced small talk in the office, not having to listen to people's annoying conversations and distracting noise, not having to sit through pointless hour-long meetings that could be done in 5 minutes.

 

But yes, it can be isolating, and as my own boss I often work all the time, with work hours bleeding into the evening and late night, weekends.

 

I really hate how when you're bored and distracted at an office job, you have to just keep sitting there looking busy. At home, I can take a short break to take a walk, have a cup of coffee, or whatever, and then I quickly bounce back and get in my work zone again.

 

The office environment with the fluorescent lighting and blah cubicles has a draining effect on me that my home has never had.

 

My office environment is nothing like this. There are no fluorescent lights (well, there are, but I don't use them. I have about 7 lamps in my office) and it's really private. I have a big comfy chair in the corner with a throw blanket that I can lounge in if I feel like. I can leave anytime I want and get coffee or take a walk. I'm rarely bored or distracted at work. If I don't have meetings or anything and I'm over working, I can leave.

 

If I feel like talking to people I can walk down to the common area, but I typically avoid this.

 

It's really important to have a place that makes you want to work. My home doesn't do this for me, but I love my office at work. If I have lots of work to get done, there are times I'll go in on a Saturday because I know I'll get nothing done at home.

[Ruby Slippers]

Yeah, I've worked at nice places, too. I had this part-time contract position at a university a couple of years ago, and our team worked in this cute old house with wood floors, tons of light, tons of space. Everybody there was really nice and interesting. I got to spend about half of my time wandering the beautiful campus and neighborhood to go to various one-on-one meetings. And I only worked 4 hours a day there. That was pretty awesome!

 

I know that we have many cool companies and organizations here, and I can avoid the bland corporate ones if I want to - which I will!