[scudd]

I've absolutely loathed working from my makeshift bedroom office for over a year. I rent a townhouse with multiple roommates, and there simply isn't communal space to accommodate everyone setting up their own personal office.

My perspective is many of my older (and more financially established) peers have spare bedrooms converted to offices, which I imagine makes long term WFH more digestible.

I wonder if WFH/office skews around age, or other criterion. If so, what are the long term social implications of a dual WFH/Office option.

[LeifCarrotson]

I expect WFH skews around homeownership (itself loosely correlated with age) and has a downturn depending on children in the household.

I'm barely 30 and a homeowner, and loved working from home. I didn't have to waste hours on a stressful commute. I have a comfy gaming chair, expansive multi-monitor setup, wraparound desk, and silent but fast desktop instead of an aging laptop and 3x5' desk, the kitchen is tons nicer than the break roome, I enjoyed quiet walks in the woods or throwing the frisbee for my dog during breaks...it did suck hearing my 3yo through the door beg me to come out and take one of those breaks with him, but at least I got to do so and have lunch with him, and he figured it out pretty quickly. And no inane interruptions from coworkers when I was deep in a technical problem!

I think the main long-term social implications are a move back out of the city towards more rural or maybe suburban living. Quarantine would have been hell in a crowded downtown apartment with roommates you barely like well enough to share a bathroom with, on my acreage and in my old house with a mortgage that's cheaper than downtown rent it was not just digestible but magnificent, I would quarantine again in a heartbeat.

[scudd]

What I'm seeing is a lean (at least in large companies) to offering more associate choice towards WFH/office going forward. If there are natural skews in terms of which populations will gravitate towards each option, what are the social consequences of that?

For example, if we're thinking about age, what does a team look like after a year when only the junior level staff have been coming in to the office? It seems like that could have significant effects on team-building, and leadership relationships.

(I'm admittedly biased towards in office work. I personally feel both more productive, and happier when I have segmented spaces for work and home life.)

[ghaff]

The big issue for me has been lack of travel to events, etc. and almost complete lack of social activities (have had some small outdoors get togethers).

But even though I'm just 30 minutes from an office, I didn't even have a desk there any longer even pre-pandemic. The teams I work on are highly distributed anyway. No reason for me to drive 30 minutes into an office.

[j4yav]

Well, post lockdown you’ll have a lot more options including nice coworking spaces.

[ghaff]

Yeah, I expect for a lot of urban folk in expensive areas, a co-working space may well be a better option than upsizing so that they have a dedicated office--unless they also prefer that additional space for other reasons.

[j4yav]

I think even relatively suburban areas will be able to support a coworking space or two, but it remains to be seen.