Yes, I’m Wearing Pants
It depends on who is asking, but half the people who ask me where my office is or whether my commute (to whatever afterwork activity/meeting we’re at) was hectic seem puzzled when I say I work from home.
Them: “Oh, like, today?”
Me: “No, every day.”
Them (while secretly picturing me building wooden toys in my living room or making spammy calls selling timeshares): “Wow, I don’t think I could do that. At least you don’t have to wear pants!”
Me: “Oh, I wear pants and I shower every day.”
The other half of people who have jobs that allow them to occasionally (one day a month) work remotely — which is actually how I refer to my work situation to avoid the convo above — understand that I actually have a “real job”. However, I think even they wonder how I can actually be contributing in a significant way to an employer I am not clocking into physically on the daily. I can’t say that my experience is the exact same as my colleagues who work from one of our employer’s traditional brick and mortar offices (with meals and unlimited snacks), but I still contribute at the same level (and work as long and hard as my peers).
My employer has a roughly 50/50 (traditional/remote) composition globally and do a lot of amazing things to support all of us (so my experience is likely not the same as yours or the other person you know who works from home). For example, in searching through articles with trends/complaints from remote workers, people say that they have to pay for their internet, and my employer covers that for me. We are also set up with virtual offices — so I literally see the faces (and cats) of my co-workers everyday during meetings or random catch-up chats.
A barrage of articles kicked off the New Year (at least in my LinkedIn feed) shouting that the traditional work schedule/environment/layout is torpedoing/stressing/“sucking the life out of” the modern work force. I couldn’t help but feel fortunate to have most of those complaints skip me. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a boss, I don’t always agree with strategic direction, I find myself tethered to my laptop, etc. but I do have a larger amount of control over my time. Here’s a little comparison of my life pre-remote and now:
For me, the comparison strongly leans in the direction of working from home. I thought I would be bad at it, constantly distracted by housework undone, but it’s really not that hard to focus— plus I can throw in a load of laundry when I grab a glass of water while listening to music without headphones! (okay sorry, I’ll stop). Oh, but I also find myself staying healthier (no one comes in sick to my home office)!
The social isolation part can definitely be tough but I try to make an effort to meet up with a friend for coffee, lunch or a cocktail once a week. Overall, I can’t imagine ever going back to a traditional environment and look forward to hearing about more and more people having the opportunity to shift their jobs to their homes (or the beach or wherever you want to work). It’s pretty great.
