Working from Home Vs The Office

While living through the Covid Craze that was 2020 our office attempted to mitigate risk of exposure by following the CDC guidelines. Even though there are only maybe six or seven people in the building and we all have our own offices, one of the strategies that my office used to limit exposure was to allow working from home for one or two days of the week.

In the beginning I was thrilled with the idea. I didn't have to get dressed, I'd save so much money in gas, I could brew my own coffee, but best of all I wouldn't have people popping into my office to ask me for something. At home I idealized being able to complete my tasks efficiently and uninterrupted. I greatly overestimated my own motivation and underestimated how distracting my house really is.

The appeal of working from home soon lost its luster when I came to the realization that I can not do complicated math with three children running around and screaming or fighting. In between my zoom meetings I was feeding the baby or changing diapers, I couldn't seem to separate from my home life because while I am at home I can't just take off my mom hat and put on my corporate hat.

Ultimately for me, I just could not make working from home a permanent thing. Virtually every part of my job suffered, because I was too distracted or lacked the ability to focus on work tasks even while I was doing work tasks (see video below) and I was actually relieved to return to the office. That being said, I know several people who love working from home and have said that there is no way they would accept any position that is not remote. So why couldn't I make it work? I think my failure at a remote position was due to few different reasons.

1. Work Space

All the bedrooms in my house are filled with little people, so we don't have an office or work space to work out of. While trying to get my work done I would have my files spread out on the kitchen table or even my bed. While doing zoom meetings I would go into my bedroom and lock the door. My back ground was typically my head board. While asking some of my friends about how they made it work they all seemed to have a separate room that they used while working out of their home. A place they could sit down and work out of with a phone and desk and even drawers where they kept their work files.

2. Children

Particularly small children. I found it extremely difficult to tell my two year old that he had to be quiet because I was on the phone. It was nearly impossible for me to ignore my baby crying when she woke up from her nap because I was in the middle of a TPS report and the website would time out if I walked away for too long. Not to mention trying to do the mental gymnastics of doing math while listening to screaming over CocoMelon music. I honestly believe that calculating someone's annual deferral for a Eirsa required 401k census with my children in the room, could be used as a form of torture. My babies screams could surly crack the wills of the most hardened war criminals. And again my friends that loved working from home did not have small children or any children at all.

3. Personality Type

To be able to work at home you need to be self motivated. I thought that was me, because while I am focused I can accomplish a ton of work in a short amount of time. But really I am not self motivated at all. I don't like getting up early, I can't stick to my own routines, my organization (or lack there of) cripples my ability to stay on task while in the comfort of my own home. My home is typically where I like to relax and dealing with insurance adjusters and navigating an answering machine maze while trying to stop my boys from tripping over the baby just wasn't feasible.

These three things made my experience working from home very difficult and once I was able to go back to the office I started to understand why I missed it so much. There are good things about working out of the office that I came to appreciate on the days that I was at home. My personal hygiene, for one, suffered simply because being forced to wake up by a certain time and be presentable helped me have a morning routine that I stuck to. I had to wake up by 8 am because I needed time to brush my teeth and take a shower any apply deodorant before I clocked in. I'm sure my husband would alert me If I got too funky, but a daily shower definitely isn't something I would do without having to see others.

I don't think of myself as a social person, but it is nice to interact with other adults on a daily basis. While working from home and answering five million questions a day from my five year old about anything and everything I would start to loose my mind. It was almost like despite the fact that I was with my kids I was completely isolated from adult conversation and that was something that I only came to value once I no longer had it.

But the most important thing for me was my patience for my children. While I am home with them all day and trying to do get things done, I tend to loose my cool. I become this terrible frustrated, yelling mom, and that's not how I wanted to parent. There is nothing better for me than having a hard day at work and then coming home to my husband cooking up something delicious and seeing my kids. After a day at the office playing a round of go fish is fun, but while I'm trying to reconcile my sweep account I just don't feel like playing with my babies.

Over all I think that working from home might be the ideal situation for some, but it is definitely not an option for me. I just can't stay focused and motivated while I'm at home. My home is where I want to return to and relax, and I want to keep it that way.

Baby Nora's first Bite of Banana was way more important than my work schedule.