[probably_wrong]

> My concern with such a chart is that not everyone has a home office that looks as good as a traditional workplace. In addition, interruptions happen at home too and chatting with coworkers is not a problem per se.

I wish every person arguing for or against home office would open their comment detailing what their home setup looks like. As someone living in an apartment with no backyard and a small desk placed in the intersection of my kitchen and living room (aka "the one room that is not the bedroom"), losing my office has more cons that pros.

At the same time, I am fully aware that the "my office" part of my previous sentence is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Those cursed with an open office plan are probably enjoying now those benefits I've been missing for a year now.

If only there was an accepted "working environment checklist" that we could all use...

[CarelessExpert]

I couldn't agree with you more.

In contrast to a lot of folks, I have a dedicated office with a door on the second floor of my (small) home whose purpose is to be a work space. The noise levels are decent. The ergonomics are better than what I have at the office. I have a window that lets in lots of natural light. In every way it's superior to my office work space.

And while I use it on the weekends for personal stuff, during the week it's work only.

When I'm working, the door is typically shut and folks in the house know not to interrupt, which eliminates distractions.

As a result, the separation between work and home life is easy: I shut everything down and leave the room.

When it comes to avoiding mental fatigue and overwork, for me that's just a matter of discipline: I have hard cutoffs for number of hours works, and there are no exceptions.

Ironically, for some of the complaints in this article, things are actually better for me.

I'm far less sedentary as, without the commute, I have far more time to go for walks, go touring on my bike, etc. In fact, I've never felt more connected to nature and my local community since I'm experiencing so much more of the outdoors and the amenities nearby. My wife and I have even started getting into casual birding together.

I'm also less likely to suffer from distractions since I don't have random people coming by to talk to me.

Really, the only thing I can empathize with is the lack of face time and socializing, but if I went back to the office part time (say, 1-2 days a week), I think that'd fill that need.

So, as always, it really depends. The problem with the pandemic, as so many have pointed out, is that it forced people to start working from home, often in far from ideal circumstances. So it's no great surprise that many people found the experience inferior to their corporate workplace.

[loloquwowndueo]

The main thing I have always had is a mostly dedicated room I can close when I’m working. The room itself has varied between one with a nice big window, a basement room where I was basically staring at a wall, and variations in between. I have an IKEA office chair, an electric standing desk and a Bluetooth headset, the latter two allow me to vary positions and walk around when stuck in endless video calls.

Even if the room is functionally shared (these days the room in question also houses a tv so it doubles as our TV room after hours) we are disciplined and use the room for the proper purpose at the proper time, so the work-life distinction is well-kept and that helps a lot with the “it’s easy to drift back to work” thing.

[lordnacho]

I think one of the main things you need in a WFH setup is a choice about where you sit. Even just being able to sit at the other end of the same table can somehow change my mood. Perhaps it's something about the sunlight or just being in a different place that is refreshing. I can definitely see how people who are crammed into one particular place might find it miserable.

As it happens I have a whole load of choices about where to sit, and I often change it up.

[underseacables]

I live in a modest ranch house with my wife and kids, and my “home work area” is the kitchen table. I was overjoyed to return to the office so I could get my job out of my house. The separation makes all of our lives significantly easier.

[MattGaiser]

I can see a large split based on this. One of the things I don't want about going back to the office is going back to a crappy chair that does not fit me well (I am rather tall). I have gotten used to having a headrest. But if I were using a wooden kitchen chair all this time, that office chair might be quite nice.

[the__alchemist]

Why not bring a chair you like into work?

[Kiro]

I have a fantastic setup at home. Much better than the open plan office I'm used to but I still hate working from home. My home would never qualify as an accepted working environment. I don't even care about colleagues. I just want the separation between work and home.