topic Re: Those who started working from home last year...... in Community Chat

Those who started working from home last year......

San Antonio Gal — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 18:09:37 GMT

Are you still working from home or does your employer have plans for you to go back to the office? Do you work better at home or from the office?

I've been working from home since March 2020. My employer plans on "releasing" us back to the office September 1st. However, it has worked so well that most of us will continue to WFM and go into the office maybe one day a week.

Personally, not having to get ready every morning and drive to downtown Memphis everyday has saved a lot of time (and gas). I've been able to get a lot more work accomplished. It's been a blessing for me.

What are your plans?

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

CelticCrafter — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 18:17:27 GMT

I could never do it, there are too many other things in the house that would be calling my name to distract me.

My son-in-law works from home a few days a week and lets nothing distract him when he's working.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Kachina624 — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 18:24:49 GMT

@San Antonio Gal All this time, I thought you were from San Antonio? Maybe that's where your heart is.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

ThinkingOutLoud — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 18:33:49 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@San Antonio Gal All this time, I thought you were from San Antonio? Maybe that's where your heart is.

I was thinking the same thing!

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

SurferWife — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 18:39:58 GMT

@San Antonio Gal

And all this time I thought you lived in San Antonio...LOL! ❤️❤️ that city!

I was working from home full-time 5 years before the pandemic & will continue even as people start trickling back into the office, which, currently, our organization isn't doing yet. Only those who HAVE to be in the office to do their job, i.e., data center people, are there. It took the pandemic for our company to realize how well WFH works.

Prior to the pandemic I felt like a "red-headed stepchild" working from home. Those in the office wouldn't use technology to collaborate/interact with those of us who WFH. Often times when I called in for a conference call, the ones in the office would stick a cell phone on the table & expect me to hear & participate. I would complain about it all the freaking time to my boss, but she can't really control how others run their meetings, I suppose. The pandemic resulted in beefing up technology even more, so now WFH is a superior experience. Our company is big on surveys so when I responded to the WFH survey I gave them feedback about the before/after pandemic experience. At least when people go back into the office, they will appreciate the need for online collaboration tools. If anyone ever pulls the cellphone on the meeting table with me again, I will happily drop. I won't put up with it anymore; whereas, before if I had an important meeting I would go into the office, which defeated the whole purpose of WFH.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Sooner — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 18:43:29 GMT

I think about the time we are thinking it may be more or less "normal" it will be back to the old grind of the last year or two. It's shaping up that way.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Caaareful Shopper — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 19:04:07 GMT

@San Antonio Gal Five years prior to 2020, I worked from home 2 days a week. Then March 2020 began the 100% WAH schedule. Only a few employees are back in the office because of workload that absolutely requires in-office business process.

Rumor has it that we'll all be called back into the office sometime this September. However, the agenda for our long-standing weekly meetings have a semi-permanent bullet that still states "No Date on Return to the Office Yet."

Our internal reporting has shown that work has actually improved during the 100% telework. If given a choice, I would work telework until I retire [many years from now]. I love it. I'm much more productive. I turned my guest bedroom into my home gym and lost 23 pounds during the pandemic alone (I loathe gyms, so I never went to them). I'm saving money on gas, and the costly monthly garage parking (saving $100/mo. to park so I could work, is nothing to sneeze at).

If/when we do go back, it'll probably feel like starting a new job.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Goodie2shoes — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 19:36:43 GMT

Before I retired in 2016 I worked from home for 4 years as a work comp nurse for an insurance company and loved it ! When it snowed, I could sit in my office working and look out the window at the snow and not worry about having to drive to the office. My daughter works from home now due to the pandemic and she loves it although she has a 5 yo and is home schooling which is a job in itself ! She does not want to return to the office, they are not strick about wearing masks so I don't blame her.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

skatting44 — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 20:05:05 GMT

My daughter was anticipating back in the office, however now with all this talk of possible mask mandates and If the schools will be open , she hopes she can continue to work from home .

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Snowpuppy — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 22:08:57 GMT

We're still on WFH, too.

No plans to bring us back, yet. The cost savings to employees and the employer has so far outweighed any benefit to returning.

A few people have volunteered to go in 1 or 2 days a week by position. Those with school age children are still having a hard time finding day care or after school care. Many who used to provide licensed, in home care no longer do.

I work far better at home, fewer interruptions! A few tech glitches and work arounds slow everyone down but the opportunity has been a blessing.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

bmorechick — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 22:30:59 GMT

Office 2 days a week for client meetings only. Rest of time I am still at home. And yes, I do house chores when I log off when I have finished my paperwork so I hope we never go back to 5 days. Maybe I can finally retire before we do. I am in a health care setting, so we still have the mask protocol in place at all all times and the building is under restricted access.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

liliblu — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 22:46:18 GMT

I have been working from home since March 2020. I love it. No traffic and paying $15 - $20 to park is great. I conduct a lot of online training. I've personally trained over 700 people last year. I'm on track to surpass that this year. It was difficult to book a confernce room when we were in the office. We also worked in open space. That made it nearly impossible to conduct a training from my desk.

I will know next week what our organization has planned after September. Unofficially I will most likely continue to work from home full time. If we have to go into the office it will only be for one day a week or one day a pay period. I will still conduct off site visits to my customers. But, I've been doing that through out the pandemic. We practiced social distancing and were masked. The buildings were usually minimally occupied.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

happycat — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 22:46:35 GMT

Husband has been working from home since March also. Was suppose to go back in Sept, then it was moved up to August. Now, its definitely not August, as Covid is bad here again. He doesn't know when he will go back.

We have saved so much money and time with him staying home. I think if one can work from home and get their work done, they should be able to do it.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

San Antonio Gal — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 00:20:41 GMT

@Kachina624 - I used to live there. I miss it.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Grade1Teach — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 09:59:46 GMT

My husband is a software engineer and he has been very fortunate in the fact that his place of business was able to go fully remote from March of 2020 to June 2020. After that they allowed employees to work from home 3 days a week until right after the 4th of July (2021).

Everything has worked out so well for the company that they are now working from home 2 days a week indefinitely. Since they are all IT people, it seems that most things can be done from home. He loves it and can't imagine going back full time again. He can successfully do his job while staying at home and spending more time with us.

I have been back in the classroom full time since September 2020. We never went remote or hybrid. The fact that my husband has been working from home so many days a week has helped me more than I can say. He has been able to drop off/pick up our girls from school, help with homework before I get home (yay!!), make appointments and be home for things that needed to be done around the house, etc.

My children have had to quarantine several times in the last school year due to Covid in their classrooms. My husband was able to stay home with them most of the time they were quarantining. I didn't have as much flexibility as a teacher. He also gets to spend time with our two dogs.

It has been a blessing for sure.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

cosmic1 — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 12:16:01 GMT

Our company has been good with WFH. Prior to the pandemic, I only went in 2 days a week. We have been full time WFH since last March and starting in June, we were allowed to come back to the office if we wanted to. I have gone in a couple times. Starting in late fall, we’ll be back officially.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Spurt — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 15:22:41 GMT

My company started having employees working from home way before the pandemic....It has its plus and minuses-

It saves the company having to expand and pay for additional office space as our company continues to grow...

A big benefit for employees is NO COMMUTING!!!

-- I can get more done working from home, less interruptions from other employees that didnt pay attention nor take notes at team meetings!!

There are some designated days where we go to the office for meetings and/or special training.............This is better than the Zoom Meetings which seem to go on and on and on...and there seem to be more meetings on Zoom than we ever had with in person meetings when everyone worked in the office....

You do lose a certain connection with your co-workers, Managers working remotely....

I can wear what I want, and although I can wear what I want I still dress comfortably, but still appropriate---mostly jeans and a nice top or blouse (no PJS for me....LOL)

You can get ahead on your household chores by taking care of them during breaks/lunch time....be it laundry, vacuuming etc....

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

Alter Ego — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 17:17:05 GMT

I work with a couple other people in a larger office in which we share space. We’ve been WFH since March 2020 and I had been dropping paperwork off once a week when I picked up mail…but then I wasn’t allowed up. Sigh. I live in a small condo and I’m not happy about how work has taken over! We just started a two day a week tiered opening where half the office comes in different days a week (with Friday open). But, with Delta, the other group who owns the office said that they will no longer enforce that and their employees can work from home again.

I really don’t mind working from home a few days, but I get much more done in the office than I do at home. We will continue going in our two days (and maybe a few Fridays) We are significantly behind in filing - we love our paper! I can’t wait to clear out my house.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

PARedbird — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 17:30:40 GMT

Our company started allowing us to work from home long before the pandemic. I have been working from home for 3 1/2 years and totally love it! I work in the HR field. I'm very productive at home and it's nice not to have to drive to the office, etc.

I also have my daily routine of a shower and then putting on comfy clothes. No PJ's ever for me either. We have video meetings every so often on Microsoft Teams to be in touch.

Our company has no plans for us to ever return to the office. It's working out very well for everyone.

Re: Those who started working from home last year......

icezeus — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 18:04:34 GMT

I have been working from home since March of 2020. Currently, I have a hybrid schedule where I go into the office and work on Monday and Tuesdays, and telecommute for the balance of the week.

My Job still has full coverage for the entire work week, since different people are scheduled on different days of the week to work for two days.

I love this schedule. There are certain things that I prefer to do in the office because it makes my life easier. I have two monitors to utilize, versus my small laptop, printer, and access to certain files that I do not have at home.

Due to the nature of the work that I perform even while everyone was completely out of the office during the early days of the pandemic. I would still go into the office once a week for a few hours.

We have meetings utilizing Microsoft Teams or Zoom, and it has worked so well for us that our department is in the planning phase of submitting a plan to HR to continuing to work hybrid schedules. (Fingers Crossed)

One of my co-workers retired a few weeks back, so I did travel to the office for his retirement lunch. I have to admit, it was great to see all of my co-workers for a few hours.

It's wonderful being home. Like others have mentioned I save on gas, aggravation of commuting to work, and the best thing is that I have been able to get so many tasks done around my home. Last week I had my AC system replaced. Before the pandemic, I would have had to utilize a vacation day. Well, when you are already at home these types of service calls are not a problem.

I understand and recognize that I am truly fortunate and blessed!!