I've been working from home since March 2020. It took a couple of weeks to really get in the groove, but now I love it! Unfortunately, in two weeks we go back in for two days a week.

No commute, no lunches out, no wear and tear on the vehicle, and very few interupptions. Go for it!

I bet you will love it. I am happy for you.

I’m no longer in the work force, but when I left i was working mostly from home. for me, it was important to have a scheduled time to be in the office for a meeting or just a status catch up. YMMV. I work better with that externally-imposed structure.

I tried it years ago when I worked as a travel agent. I had a TV in my office, just muted the sound when I got a call. I also had no pets at the time. It was very, very quiet inbetween calls. I agree with Cooper....you never used the car except once a week to buy groceries. You can work in your pajamas. All the hot beverages you want right at your desk. Your pets will LOVE having YOU at home! ♥

DH has been working from home for a few years now. But at least he used to go visit clients. Now we are all home all the time. His clients say they like working from home now and don't want to go back to the office. I want to tell them to go back so that DH will go visit them!

I think you will love it. I would. But my daughter doesn't. She has an excellent job with the state and they went back to work this week. I think the plan is 3 and 2 and then reversed the next week. She has been in the office every day this week and will mostly always go there. She loves her job and her colleagues and has a great office overlooking the Capitol. Plus she likes to dress up. My daughter-in-law works for one of the biggest companies in the country(think chocolate) and she's been home since March 2020 too and likes working from home. My neighbor works for the state and has loved the last 18 months working at home so she'll certainly stay home on those days. None of these three have big commutes.

I'm in an essential service, but the people I know who have been working from home during our incredibly long lock down periods have all disliked it -- some mildly don't like it, and some hate it. I think a lot depends on your personality, and a lot depends on what kind of work you do.

One friend complains that everything takes longer and is more involved, because she can't easily check with someone about something - now everything takes an email which, because everyone is getting so many emails, can get lost in a crowd. She found the little office interruptions to be invigorating rather that annoying - now she says that she gets lost in a project and gets less efficient rather than more......She started setting a timer to make herself take a quick break every so often (I think she said 90 minutes). Another guy I know says he misses seeing his colleagues, and everything takes longer from home because they would share information and ideas in the office, but now they need a phone call or email.

Different strokes.......

I've also been working from home since March 2020. I like it fine. I do go into the office about one day a month for various reasons and it is a ghost town on the IT floor where my office is. The floor where our Network Operation Center is located is pretty well staffed because they have to be on site.

We are supposed to go back into the office sometime this fall on a hybrid schedule but the delta variant may delay that. I have a 40 mile commute one way so I've been saving a lot of time and money WFH. I hope the hybrid model lasts for a few years until I am able to retire.

For the past twenty years I have been working for a market research company as a descriptive panelist. ( sensory side of the research)

We alway joked sbout doing take home. That became a reality this past year as my company struggled to complete contracts.

To be honest, although it was fine getting products delivered to my door, and doing the meetings on Zoom, the work result is sub par, for many reasons.

For me, I enjoyed going in to work and the comraderie of actually interacting. They are trying to coax people back in and are asking who is okay with coming back. I know a few live quite a distance and probably will opt out when it is mandatory.

My oldest DD has her own business and it is entirely online. She works where ever she is.

Youngest DD was given the option in her Ed Tech company to work from home after bring employed for 6 months. . She was already working from home when it became mandatory. She absolutely loves it.

A friend of mine is very upset that her office is now transitioning back to the office. It became very clear to her that her job could be done completely from home. She was able to take breaks, run errands etc less stress of the commute. She has a few more years until she retires so she will hang in there.

Kath, I seem to remember that you work in a basement and it is always cold down there.

I think you will enjoy all the perks of working from home.

I'm still working from home (also since March 2020). I work for a global company and although my local office was fairly large and full of people, none of my internal customers, nor my boss, are there, so my job definitely allows for being done wherever.

I enjoy it. I have the exact same set up here as in the office -- dedicated office space, dual monitors, headset (we had ditched desk phones just before the pandemic so all calls are done on Teams or Skype or cell anyway), good office chair, etc., so my physical comfort is the same. My husband goes in to work every day (and did throughout the pandemic), so I have the place to myself, which helps a lot since what I do requires a decent amount of concentration.

I only had a 15-20 minute commute before, so not huge, but I do like not having to get up, dressed, made up and drive in before getting started....I can grab a cup of coffee, watch the beginning of the morning news, and get right to it if I want to. The downside, though, is that your work is always with you and, depending on your job and your company, may be harder to shut down. I'm very fortunate that I have a lot of autonomy and no micromanaging so I have only the upside of that issue -- I don't at all feel guilty if I have to skip out to a dr's appt. or something (or check in to the KT) because I can always (and frequently do) put some extra time in early morning, at night or over the weekend if my workload needs it.

My office has since opened back up but there's no real push to go back in -- my dept is just now starting to think about what that will look like going forward. My guess is it will be some hybrid model, maybe 2 or 3 days a week in, but again, because of where I am in relation to the rest of my dept, I'll likely have less structure. I may go in a couple of days just to break up the monotony, although if they end up consolidating space (which, I have to imagine many companies will do if nobody's going in every day) and I lose my dedicated office, I may not.

A couple of tips -- definitely go out and take a walk on breaks. I used to work out in the morning before work, but I have taken to doing it at lunchtime lately (my gym is within walking distance) which is a good way to break up the day and keep moving. I also had to watch my trips to the refrigerator....I definitely gained weight early on and realized that the 'convenience factor' of having everything within reach was not a good thing. Now I eat/drink only what I would if I were at the office, and so I think about what I used to pack for lunch or a snack and limit it to just that. For me, that's been the biggest challenge.

I worked from home from 2008 through 2019, when they gave me the choice of coming back to the office or taking a package. (It was a corporate move, nothing personal.) I took the package.

In my experience the hardest part is balance. At first, and at other points in the decade I felt compelled to show how hard I was working and made myself available at all hours of the day. My job wasn’t important enough to warrant that. I’ve also swung the other way, getting more housework and naps and shopping and gardenweb in than could reasonably be considered an offset to office lunch and coffee breaks.

I see similar struggles with my wife who’s been WFH since last April.

Having dedicated space can also be important. She’ll tell you the people most anxious to get back to the office tend to be the ones working on the kitchen table. Hard to separate work from life that way.

My advice is be cognizant of what others are seeing. Don’t let your IM snooze to ”away” too often and for too long. (Mouse on a phonograph can help with that.) Work hard, be flexible, but don’t let meetings creep too early or too late or work much longer than you normally would, or work will take over your life.

Good points FOAS! I start work around 6:00 am and I block out my schedule in outlook after 3:00 pm so nobody will schedule me for late afternoon meetings. I may continue working later than 3 though.

Now where did I put my old turntable? Actually I have my status set to 'offline' in MS teams all of the time so people don't try to go around our normal IT support workflow by trying to IM me directly. The people I work with know my working hours and ignore the offline status.

I have been working from home since late 2006. I had the luxury of planning the transition and set up a workspace used specifically for work. I think it helps to separate your work space from your life space. closing the door to your office when you've logged off for the day keeps you from checking in. I a!so recognize some people did not have that luxury due to the pandemic.

I learned, like FOAS, to set boundaries around work hours. I work globally, with teammates scattered all over the U.S. and Asia. I sometimes have to start my day early and sometimes my days run together. It's the nature of my job but I am able to schedule accordingly.

I like the flexibility to jump up and do some household tasks or to run an out of the house errand. I am also extremely fortunate to work for people who believe this flexibility is important.

Another one who has been working from home since Covid, and am never going back into an office.

I LOVE IT!!!!

Everyone is different. I work for a large company, so some jobs have essential functions which require a physical presence in an office. I've talked to probably 50 people at my company about their feelings about either working from home and/or working in the office. Responses are all over the map, I think like most things in life there are a million variables which go into one's answer.

FWIW, I've lost weight since working at home. The reason for this is that on breaks I get up and move around far more than I did in the office. I take the dogs for a quick walk, I start laundry, I do the dishes, etc. I am working more hours at home than in the office because I start at the time I would have started my morning commute - and I find myself logged on and still doing things late into the evening. However as I said, I take lots more mini breaks throughout the day too.

I am happier, my dogs sure are happier, I weigh less, and I'm saving gas and wear/tear on the car. My employer is also happy because pre-covid we had a space crunch. Turns out there was an obvious solution - which they never would have implemented if NYS didn't force us to try it out for several months. Turns out there are tons of us who can indeed work just fine from home.

Yes, Eld, I do work in a freezing cold basement. Over half of us wear coats and/or blankets to keep warm. The other ones are too warm if the air is turned down.

There have been some issues between some people also, which has made it very unpleasant to work down there at times. It has gotten better in the last couple of weeks. Apparently not everyone is wanting to work from home and the two with the biggest problem with each other may end up being alone together.

There won't be any issues with work management as we will be on a schedule still. We'll be monitored and if missed calls increase or we aren't on ready status they will know. We get a missed call report everyday and that's not going to change. We also have a messaging system that we can all share at home and will set up our breaks on it so no one is taking a break at the same time. We get a 30 minute lunch break and 2 or 3 fifteen minute breaks depending on the length of that shift.

We had talked about doing this last year after we found out that another Visn in Florida was working from home during the pandemic. We asked to do the same and were told to fill out "paperwork" online and we did. Nothing happened. I guess they have been working on it all this time, trying to make it happen.

I'll have to start working in my bedroom since the other two rooms will be occupied in a couple weeks. After they go home next summer I'll move my "office" into the smallest bedroom. I will have to buy another Ikea desk, though. Mine is full with my laptop and printer.

My work is 30-60 minutes away depending on the traffic and ice on the road. The traffic seems to get worse as the years go on and yesterday there was an accident on the main road between Versailles and Lexington that I take. I think 3 cars were involved. That is a really bad road for accidents, especially near the airport for some reason.

We were wfh for about a month then transitioned into full time back in the office by May 2020. I am a PC tech at an IT helpdesk and our onsite presence was requested by the agency. I loved working from home. I could throw in a load of laundry or load the dishwasher while on a short break. I do have a comfy office at home. The downside is that now that our employers know we can function from home, we won't get any more snow days!

I've worked from home, part-time, for the last 10 years. And both my children have worked from their homes full-time for the past 5 years or so. My daughter the introvert loves it, as do I, while my son the extrovert would like to go into the office a couple of days a week (which he may get the chance to do in the fall, assuming everything isn't shut down again.)

Kath, I have a relative who lives in Versailles. Such beautiful horse country!

I do not work from home, but I do work at home, making pillows that I plan to sell on Etsy at some point.

My brother works from home for Sony, and he can do this whether we are in Los Angeles or Cathedral City, but Sony has current plans for employees to return to their offices in Culver City right after Labor Day, but this might change, due to current revised restrictions for Los Angeles County.

I work at home in both L.A. and Cathedral City, but I find it easier in CC. I have sewing machines and sergers in both locations. In CC, I have my old Viking Huskvarna machine (which I love) and my new Brother serger, and in L.A. I have a new Brother sewing machine and my old New Home serger - both of which are inferior to what I have in CC. The only thing I like better about the new Brother sewing machine is the buttonhole feature, but I do not use that to make pillows. I find it easier to install zippers with my Huskvarna, and it will also handle thicker fabrics that the Brother machine cannot sew.

I've been delaying opening my Etsy store because I've been working on getting our mortgage refinanced, and once that is done, there will be less of a need for me to have a store, although I still plan to open one, especially since I have already made dozens of pillows. I also want to sell some vintage clothing items that I have that are from the 1970s, including a button down shirt that has Woodstock print fabric.

Bookwoman, I sometimes will drive home the scenic way, through downtown Versailles and over the Tyrone bridge that is over the Kentucky River. It's a little slower but a nice drive. Most of the time, though, I don't, and just get on the Bluegrass Parkway, especially on nights that I drive home late at night. Driving over that bridge kinda creeps me out really late at night. The horse farms/country roads are beautiful all over the Bluegrass area.

I’ve worked from a home since 2006. I have clients to see occassionally but over time most all of them have gone electronic so I can do what I need to do without going to them anymore. I guess the isolation could be a problem for some but it isn’t for me at all. I don’t miss the office politics, the drama or the unpredictable moods at all. I save so much money too. I don’t need a large professional wardrobe and I had to put gas in my car yesterday for the first time in months. It‘s a lot less wear and tear on the car too so I save in maintenance costs. I never get sick because I’m not exposed to other peoples colds. I can open the house up for fresh air, go work out on my deck or set the thermostat at a temp that’s comfortable for ME and not everyone else. (Not to sound selfish but I’m sensative to heat so that’s huge for me) I’m home for deliveries, my dog can go out to pee when she needs to (which I’m sure she loves)) and it also allowed me to be here for my husband which was crucial. I can’t really think of any con’s for me personally. The real bonus with my job to is that’s it’s not a typical 8-5’er. As long as I can get my 8 hours in to do the work, it doesn’t matter when I do it. I can split the day up for appointments and repair people and work a schedule that serves my needs. Another thing I don’t think a lot of people consider is less cars on the road means less pollution, traffic and accidents too which is a big plus for our environment.

LukkiIrish, I thought of the pollution thing too. Too bad all these companies that are making their employees come back to the office, don't change their way of thinking, especially if the job still got done from home.

Once everyone started working from home and liked it, my daughter’s work closed their on site office down. A lot of companies are taking advantage of the savings in that regard too. I wish it was more and also don’t understand why a lot of companies don’t. Some places are converting the empty commercial buildings to affordable housing for those on limited or small incomes, which I think is an awesome way to repurpose them.

I did during the pandemic. I loved the lack of commute but I didn't feel like I moved enough. I think going to work is healthier for me in terms of moving/steps.

No. There is no way I could work remotely with the job I do, and I do not think I would be able to concentrate at home in any case.

While I am happy for those that can and enjoy working from home, and am glad that more and more companies are choosing to let their employees stay that way, I cannot help but worry that one day those companies will realize that if all these jobs can be done remotely, then they can be done just as well, and much cheaper, if they choose to hire people overseas to do them, leaving a lot a Americans unemployed. I hope that never happens.

I am thinking about working from home, selling on eBay. And maybe Etsy. I have tons of stuff, plus many, many varieties of waterlilies. I used to trade waterlilies a lot and I also bought them on eBay sometimes. The waterlilies I received from eBay are never the quality that I can mail out. I have a lot more spare time now, since I am alone, and though it is something I considered doing a long time ago, I had too many other obligations to make the time for it.

Lars, as I am sure you know, there is a huge market for vintage clothes on eBay, and probably Etsy. I follow a lot of sellers on YouTube and it isn't unusual for a vintage tee shirt to sell for upwards of $200, like if it is from one of the concerts.

Late to this, but I've been working from home since last summer and only going in to work for limited hours, mostly when there isn't anyone else there. Since I work for a recreation program I have to be there sometimes, but I do like being able to avoid a lot of exposure to others, since just about nobody at work is masking at this point, and the majority of individuals are unvaccinated, since they're mostly young school age kids.

I prepare activities and projects at home and set them up at the rec center for the groups to use on their own, then come back to clean up the messes at the end of the day & on weekends. Work is only 7 minutes away by car and I've been going in 2 days a week to do hands-on activities/projects with kids outside. I keep my mask on always.

I have off and on worked from home since the late 1990's. I had T1 line for years. In the 1990's and early 2000's I got to travel for work when I was working from home. The travel gave me social interaction and perspective.

In 2014, I took a job that was 95% work from home. It was too isolating so in 2018 I moved my office to my husband's business just so I was around other people. I still work 2-3 days each week from home but just knowing I have a place to go to interact with people has made it more enjoyable.

Yeah, I work from home, today I mowed the grass, vacuumed the rugs and mopped the kitchen floor. I fixed the coffee maker that the missus uses (I am strictly decaf) and swept the front porch. Too bad I don't get paid for some of the chores around here!

Amylou321, I never considered that companies would have the option of hiring overseas if their company opted for working from home. That could totally happen and a perfect example to be careful you don't get what you wish for.

jim_1 (Zone 9A) I think we all do that kind of work from home! I consider the satisfaction of having a maintained house to be my payment. :-)

One thing I will say, if it hasn't already been said, if anyone is working from home and is salaried/exempt it is ILLEGAL for your company to monitor how much you work. If you're hourly, it's fair game to keep an eye on your time.

Working from home? I work more than I did before some days. Some days, I work less. I am productive in a different way when I am on campus (yesterday, I found a fax that had been sitting on the machine. An EKG that couldn't be sent electronically (patient information and a different healthcare system), tried every single door to make sure the key on the list matched the door (half did/half didn't), took the lab's picture...) than when I home. I can work on project uninterrupted far easier. Having a dedicated space makes differentiating work/home so so so much easier!

Haha @ jim: I like to think there's a difference between working from home vs. working at home 😄