r/WFH

I've been working from home since Covid and I have not been able to find a community of WFH buddies to chat about work (the good, the bad, the ugly) and I don't really have those types of connections with my coworkers (they're just coworkers). So, have you guys found online communities somewhere to find chat buddies? 

FWIW, i created a Discord if anyone wants to join - but feel free to point me to some other group somewhere. Or DM me if you want to chat. 

I'm a field service engineer and it's basically 100% independent, unless im calling up a coworker for help. Occasionally there's a meeting to go over software updates but nobody ever has their camera on. I met my manager 4 months ago and that's the only interaction we've ever had. I'm just now realizing that's really weird to never communicate with my boss in any way shape or form.

Earlier this year, I bought two monitors and plugged them into my MacBook, thinking more screen space would make me more productive.

After the first "excitement" phase, I still used them for a while, but noticed I was constantly looking between Slack, email, and whatever I was actually working on. So having everything visible at once made it really easy for me to get distracted.

Recently, I went back to just my MacBook screen and I actually feel more focused.

Has anyone else made the switch back to one screen?

For context without giving myself away, I work in card operations for a bank. I’ve trained numerous coworkers in my almost 5 years here yet I have not been considered for the slightest of extra training or promotion despite me asking repeatedly. What qualities do you look for someone in my position that is deemed worthy of moving up the ladder?

Hoping to hear how others handle a difficult change in team dynamics.

Our team recently got a new head (after years or stellar leaders) whose style leans toward criticism in a negative "call you out" way over constructive feedback.

The shift in tone is starting to tire me out if I'm honest (I understand too this is their first time leading)

This person also has longstanding friendships with a few team members, which creates an uncomfortable environment. (Almost clique like).

Has anyone navigated a change like this before?

How did you handle the situation while keeping stress low?

I've always done well in this position, but I don't think I'd want to stay long term if this was the vibe/tone.

Thanks everyone, I really do appreciate it!

Hi! I’ve been working from home for about 3 years now. I have a very simple headset that I’ve had a lot of luck with but I’m looking to not wear a head set all day. Are there any products or setups that I can do that involve a speaker and microphone instead? Or another product I’m not aware of. I mostly do calls all day so I’m looking forward to not wearing things lol

Hi! I'm new to the city I'm in and am about to start working from home. I've always met friends through work. How do you guys meet friends as an adult working from home?? (I'm sober and don't go to bars/clubs).

I should mention I'll be working from home at a company that's 6hrs away.

I (f24) WFH full time. My job is very boring, slow, and there’s not much to do during the day. I do crafts, exercise and watch Youtube all day to stay sane. It pays very well for my area and I get all my work done in the first 2 hours of the day. Before this I worked in person and enjoyed interacting with my colleagues and clients. Now, I’ve worked here almost 6 months and am very bored and lonely. I can go days without physically speaking to anyone. Just sending emails and texting on Teams. By no means am I an extroverted social butterfly, however I am missing the coworker socializing part of things.

I am planning to apply for school but missed the deadline for August so I have a whole year until I would start school if I were to get in.
Because my job provides tuition reimbursement, pays well, and because it is so easy, i feel like it would be a bad idea to quit all together.

In the meantime, I thought I could look into things to do after work hours. Volunteer stuff typically happens during work hours. My friend told me her favorite low-key bar is looking for someone. I have quite a bit of experience bartending from college so I thought why not apply?
Do any of you do bartending or waitressing on the side? How bad of an idea is this?

What do you use to organize your desk cables? I have so many and under my desk looks like a nightmare lol.

I’ve been thinking of purchasing a BenQ ScreenBar for weeks now, but I’m not too sure how much it would help, especially for that price tag.

There are much cheaper options on Amazon, so I’m curious about the opinions of those who have either the BenQ or an alternative? Is a screenbar that helpful? Did it feel like your overall quality of WFH life improved with a screenbar? Would you suggest to push through buying the BenQ or are the cheaper alternatives just as good? Am I just getting influenced by their marketing?

Hello! So I have been at this wfh position for a little bit now and my wife and I have a vacation coming up!!

So we use the app Connector that reroutes the phone calls to our phones which is fine BUT since I don't want to deal with it during my vacation, is there a way to block those calls specifically WITHOUT sending them to voicemail? Since my boss is more than likely going to take over answering them when I'm gone (we are a small team lol)

I can mute notifications, I know that, but since it reroutes the calls to my actual phone I don't know what to do and I really don't want to be spammed or accidentally answer something while on vacation

Thank you so much!

(I also can't add the app full name since it thinks I'm trying to look for a job 😂 it starts with an L__d connector lol)

I’m new at my job and work from home 3 days a week. My workload is still light since I just started, so some days I genuinely run out of real work. I’m on salary, and required to log 8 hours of tasks per day (no specific time-tracking, just task logs).

Looking for advice on two things:

Logging honestly: how do you fill task logs without it looking like you’re doing nothing, when there just isn’t 8 hours of work yet?

Actually filling the time: if you've been in a similar situation, what do you do to stay occupied/sane? Courses, side projects, personal admin, anything that feels productive but doesn’t blur into “not working”?

Thanks everyone!!

After having success with people working from home, and after reducing office footprints a number of times over the last 6 years, my company just announced that all US and EMEA employees will be working from home and the company is "Remote-first".

Has anyone else gone through this? It was announced that there will be a new set of WFH benefits, which I am happy about as I've been WFH for over 8 years, while stating that the India office will remain hybrid. Should I expect positions to move to India or have corporations in the US gone remote-first and stayed primarily in the US?

I spend a ridiculous amount of my day at my desk since even meetings are just remote. I've been thinking about how little office chairs changed compared with everything else in the workspace.

If you spent $500 - $1500 improving your desk setup, what actually made the biggest difference? Chair? Standing desk? Walking pad? Something else?

Has anybody tried to get those advanced chairs that shift with your posture or something? Worth it?

Hi all! I am permanently wfh with my office being several hours away by car. We have a work whatsapp group chat for when little things happen such as later lunches, equipment going down etc. however, multiple times a week, colleagues will claim a power cut and be out of action for a decent period of time. It can put some direct pressure on my personal workload (incoming calls), but I am starting to wonder if this really happening or if it’s a way of getting away from the screen?
I’ve personally only ever had power cuts that have impacted whole streets, and even then it’s only been about 3 I can remember in my lifetime. Is this something you frequently experience working from home? It can be at least 2 people a week, and it happens multiple times a month, sometimes multiple times a week.
I’d love to know! Is this something I’m just really lucky to not experience?

So, I have a Flexible remote job and I love it. There is no tracker. I manually track hours (40 per week) and then submit it at week end.

However, because the timings are flexible I struggle to consistently work and as a result usually have hours bleeding into the next week and so on. And I'm always anxious because of it.

People in similar roles, do you also struggle with this thing? If so, any tips or advice that would help to me stay focused and consistent and complete my hours on time.

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Also, I have seen many posts of people saying that they only work 15,20, 30 hours etc out of 40. I feel that it's really wrong and dishonest. If you are getting paid for the hour, then atleast do full hours.

I do 40 full productive hours, which I feel makes it even harder. Like I pause for everything and just start the timer only when I working. Which makes me struggle with consistently a lot.

Do most of you work full 40? Or take some short breaks to stretch, small talk with family, washroom breaks etc?

I need some ethical view on this.

I’ve been working from home for a while now, and lately I feel like my sleep quality and overall routine have gotten really bad.

I usually fall asleep around 3:30AM and wake up around 12:30pm even though that’s technically around 9 hours of sleep, I don’t feel well-rested at all.

The worst part is that I feel like my entire day is just sleeping and working

Because I work from home, there’s barely any separation between work and personal life. I spend most of my time in the same room, and once I finish working, I don't really feel like doing anything especially that i live in a very hot country and city where you cant even go out for a walk or to the gym, then I stay up late, sleep at 3 AM, wake up at noon, and the cycle starts again.

and i really miss waking up at 8 or 7am and finish work around 3pm then i would have the rest of the day free, because nowadays im finishing work at around 10 to 11pm

Has anyone else experienced this while working from home? and how did you fix your sleep schedule?

Hi everyone, looking for some honest advice. I’m an independent contractor in a 100% WFH role. The company doesn't require me to log in at all, so I completely set my own schedule (peak volume is usually 8 AM-4 PM).

The issue: I haven’t logged in to work in a long time. Every day I say "tomorrow," but I end up in bed scrolling on my phone all day. Fortunately, my current living expenses are very cheap, but that also means I don't have that immediate financial panic forcing me to work, making it incredibly easy to keep procrastinating.

I used to be highly disciplined when I worked in a traditional call center environment. Being at home is clearly my biggest trigger for avoiding work.

I’m strongly considering renting a cheap, private office space just to force a physical commute and recreate that external work environment.

Has anyone else experienced this level of WFH paralysis? Is paying for a small workspace a smart move to force accountability, or is there another way you broke the cycle?