I’ve worked from home a few years now, and whilst the upsides are well known I’ve personally found some challenges there too. Have you experienced anything similar? How did you deal with it?


My tale:

When the UK went into lockdown (along with everyone else) in early 2020 I started working from home full-time. For the first year I was with the same team I’d worked with for years whilst in the office, so nothing really changed except my location.

I switched jobs mid-2021 and the new team was much smaller. I work as a software developer, and this team was a grand total of three people including myself. We didn’t have many meetings, only one a week, and except for being assigned new work I never interacted with anyone. It took a big toll on my mental health and I quit after three months.

I took an extended break from software development and started working on a plant nursery, driving tractors and tending plants - it was so much fun, but paid very little and ate into my savings a lot.

Went back to software development last year and thankfully manage things much better. I’m not a very social person, so it was surprising how important socialisation was to my mental wellbeing. I’m now part of quite a large team that speaks regularly, and when I next change jobs I know that this is something I need to look for.

I also have a garden now, so when the call of the wild hits me I go outside and sniff my tomato plants. I do miss driving tractors though.

  • hybrid havoc@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I went full WFH in 2020 then back into the office in 2021. At that point people began clamoring for some kind of long-term WFH policy and we eventually landed on up to 2 days WFH per week.

    In 2020 it was rough. I didn’t adapt very well, and work time versus personal time started to become very fuzzy. There also just wasn’t a whole lot of socializing being done in general at the time, and losing that aspect from work didn’t help.

    Fast forward to today and I’m better adjusted to the current setup. I think I’d be fine with going full WFH again. I’m just glad that they haven’t yet decided to backtrack like so many other businesses have.