[alexfoo]

For the sake of balance I'd just like to say that I agree with the GP on this.

I miss my ~30 minute commute (by bike) from my old job. It provided good delineation between home and work, and 1h of good cardio a day meant I didn't need to do any of that at the gym. I didn't have a need for that time to myself to choose what to do because I liked that choice being taken away for these relatively short periods and me being "forced" into doing a nice chunk of exercise. It also allowed me to ramp up to work thoughts on the way in, and to slowly dump my work thoughts as I went home.

Maybe this is also just me who, now working fully remotely, struggles to regularly schedule in a similar amount of exercise despite having more time available with no commute. Since it's no longer strictly required I'm less likely to do it.

But discussing this with other colleagues and we worked out that, as a generalisation, which side of the fence you are on these types of things comes down to whether or not you have children.

If you have kids then you often crave an activity like a 30 minute commute because it's an genuine excuse to have this time to yourself. If you don't have kids you've no idea why you would crave this time.

[kelnos]

The problem here is that you've decided that because you liked your commute, and that it had benefits for you, everyone else should be forced to do the same, and inevitably it will often be in much less comfortable and useful ways than you've been able to do it.

Allowing remote work increases possibilities, and you've presented a false dichotomy. There's nothing that says an employer can't still maintain a (smaller) office for people who want to come in (either every day, or a smaller part of the week). Employers could also provide a stipend so people like yourself could rent a desk in a co-working space (assuming they still exist post-pandemic). And at the most basic, assuming you really did have to work from home, there's nothing stopping you from taking a break and going on a 30-minute bike ride. You could even "simulate" your commute by taking that ride once in the morning and once at the end of the day.

Requiring people to come to the office reduces possibilities, and requires that everyone conform to the same mold. I totally get that you liked going to an office. But it's selfish to require everyone else do that just because you want to. And you don't need to require that in order to get what you want, too.

> If you have kids then you often crave an activity like a 30 minute commute because it's an genuine excuse to have this time to yourself.

This is completely unrelated. Please don't suggest that everyone else should have to go to an office every day because you somehow can't negotiate a 30-minute break from your kids with your partner. That's your problem to fix, not mine.

[alexfoo]

Wow, you've completely misread/misunderstood my post. Little point in saying any more.

[arcturus17]

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I work remotely, but I walk to an office. I also like to have a separation of work and home.

Also I'm very physically active, I do crossfit 4x a week right next to my house.

I find it easier to commit by not being tied to any other location other than my home.

[alexfoo]

Indeed.

I definitely go through phases where I need a lot more structure in order to make things happen. Having an office just the right distance away to go to was a good target. I could either run or cycle to/from it. A public transport option was easily available (this is London, so public transport is nigh on amazing) but I was able to resist that lazy option.

I guess what I'm saying is that the freedom of working from home is just too much freedom for me. I'm way more productive and my employer gets way more of my time (not that they demand any extra time from me) but I'm lacking the initial impetus to get out of the house to do my own stuff.

Even something as simple as walking my kid to school (they're old enough now to make their own way) meant that I was out of the house and, on days without any early morning meetings, I'd walk on to the local pool to do a ~1h swim, or I'd run a long route home. Now it's just too easy to be holed up indoors and think "ah, I'll go for a swim/run/ride a bit later" and never do.

I know the motivation/planning/execution will come back eventually. I've successfully trained for various endurance events in the past but I guess my brain hasn't caught up with all of the changes that the pandemic has had influence on, including my working setup.

[spacedcowboy]

I work from home, in the shed at the bottom of the garden. If I want/need time alone, I still have that separate space. Mostly though, I just appreciate the extra 20 minutes in bed in the morning, and the extra time in the evening with the family (the kid is at the stage where engineering challenges are still fun for him, so it's fun for me too).

I have already told my manager that despite the official "you must work 2 days in the office per week" policy, if they ever try to apply that to me, I'm out. I'm looking for an excuse for early retirement, but it's just too much of a risk to disturb the status quo at the moment. Perturb the situation at your peril, employer-mine.

I got a seat-assignment earlier in the week (the official line is that they've hired too many people and can't place everyone, so some of us have 'volunteered' to stay at home). I was just about to enquire what was going on in Slack when he got to me first saying it was a group-wide thing and he'd reassign me to a non-desk seat as soon as he could. Which he did; and so I continue to work there...