[vladvasiliu]

This. I'm fortunate to work in a place where working hours are respected and when you're off, you're off. Before COVID hit, I got into the habit of showing up to work and leaving a good hour and a half earlier than everybody else, so I could avoid being compressed in the metro. No one actually cared, and pretty much everyone got the memo that I'm not available after 5 PM, so no one expected any reply from me after that hour.

When COVID hit, and we all switched to WFH, this continued. At one point, we were only working part-time, but were free to work as we liked. Some did a few full days and took the others off, others worked every day, but fewer hours. This worked fine, too, because there was flexibility on both ends. Need to set up a meeting at a time when Jim isn't usually working? See if you can move it earlier / later. Not possible? Jim'll see if he can work later / earlier and adjust some other day.

I think the lesson is that what counts is both sides trying to work together. Of course, if either party tries to abuse the situation, like slacking off day in day out, or always setting up meetings outside regular hours, this falls through because the good will is lost. I work operations, so I sometimes had to drive to a datacenter at five in the morning to replace a switch or whatever. But I also sometimes could clock out at 3 PM to attend to some personal matter because it allowed me to not have to waste time waiting in line or some such, without having to take the afternoon off.