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Home office vs work office. What do you prefer and why?

Khokon M. on June 17, 2022

We had a chance to experience the work-from-home situation due to the pandemic. And currently, some of us are back in the office again, and some are still working from home.

Based on your experience, what do you prefer the most now? And why?

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michaelmangial1 profile image
Michael Mangialardi

Apples and oranges. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and it requires a positive mindset to see and make the most of the advantages in the situation you find yourself in.

Working from home enables me to invest more in my home and land (interior/exterior design and agriculture) as well as seeing my wife and son all day. However, I have to give more intention to building a relationship with coworkers, collaborating effectively to do my job well, and scheduling social interactions outside of my job. I also have totally flexibility to move my family anywhere without thinking about my job.

I have found working in an office is more efficient for getting to know coworkers, making your work seem less abstract, collaborating to solve problems, etc. Remote tools are great, but nothing beats face-to-face.

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khokon profile image
Khokon M.

Well said, Michael.

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eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

I prefer working in the office.

The this is the space in which you do your work is one (small) factor.

Moreso is the hallway conversations. Impromptu ad hoc meetings for brainstorming, or quick code review, or second-pair of eyes to play Spot the Bug (which is a bit like Where's Waldo?).

And the social aspect, with my co-workers. Since humans are social animals. Just not the same over video conferencing.

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Brad

Id say the office IF it didn't come with two key traits.

  1. commute
  2. Noise/distractions

Time and focus are limited commodities during the day, and an office can easily suck up large portions of those.

Yes you can have distractions at home, but that's where milage may vary.

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mistval profile image
Randall

I would prefer working in an office, if I could walk to it. Driving to work and home every day seems so dumb and wasteful to me now. Can't believe I did that for almost 4 years.

What I like about working in an office is:

  1. Better boundaries between work and "life". You leave work and go home. Don't really have that if you work at home.
  2. Healthier communication methods. I find Slack incredibly distracting. I would rather have someone walk over and talk to me if they need something. It distracts me a lot less somehow. It also takes more effort, so people are less likely to bug you about trivial things. Plus talking to people in person builds bonds and empathy much better than Slack or even video calling.
  3. Free food, tea, coffee, etc.
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khokon profile image
Khokon M.

They are some wonderful benefits of working in a office. Thanks for sharing this, Randall.

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Vincent Tsen

Definately home office. Flexible, cost & time saving, can take small break, and tax deduction.

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khokon profile image
Khokon M.

Sounds fair, but what about the focus? I mean, when you're home, your brain is a lot relax than when you're at office. For that reason, you may procrastinate easily, right?

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Vincent Tsen

Actually, procrastinating makes me more effective. At office, I often forget to take a small break, and it hurts my posture without realizing it.

I guess it depends on your job nature. If the job doesn't require physical interaction, there is no point working at the office.

I know some still prefer to work at office due to various reasons (e.g. can't separate work at home, distracted by family members etc.) but those are minority. What about you? Sounds like you prefer working at office?

Bottom line is, I think the employer needs to give flexibility to employee (due to different needs) instead of having one policy to fit all.

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khokon profile image
Khokon M.

I've been doing freelance work for the last two years. And I just started working at an office two months ago. So, I kinda can't go on any side yet :D

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Vincent Jang • Edited

I'm sorry for my bad english first,

I had an experience about working from home.
In a perspective efficiency, I'd better working at office. Because home has a lots of causes to interrupt your work, also If you have not-good-conditions of residence, then working at home will be cause losing your body-conditions.

But, if you think more valuable like comfortness, familiarity, convenience, etc.. , working at home is good choice for you.

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khokon profile image
Khokon M.

That's great hear Thomas. May I know are some benefits you get from work-from-home that you can't get at office?

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Volker Schukai

I have the privilege of having a good workplace at home, therefore home office with a lot of family time.

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Ronaldo

Home office. No doubt.

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Andrew Baisden

Home office because there is no commute, less stress, no micromanagement and so many more pros.

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Richard Guay

Personally, I’ve mostly have worked from home. Therefore, a home office is better for me since I wear many hats(Missionary, freelancer, etc.).

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Somtochukwu Nnaji

Working from home is alot more comfortable but when working in the office if an error arises atleast there'd be someone to work it out with (Although i'm not praying for errors).

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Khokon M.

I think you should practice fixing errors a little day by day. It will pay off in the long run!