I am starting to question if I will ever go back to commuting 5 days a week, 250 days a year. In my work I do research, writing and training. I have been doing this for 11.5 years. My commute takes between 45 minutes and 60 minutes each way, say an average of 1.75 hour per day round trip- I have spent something like 5,000 hours commuting since I moved here. The equivalent of 2.5 years of work.
I am finding working at home to be just as productive. The biggest thing that I miss is being able to barge into my bosses office to ask for his wisdom or bounce ideas off of him (most of them bounce.) We are starting to read potential guidelines for returning to the office, and those are stagger telecommutes and in-office schedules so that no more than half of the staff are in on any given day. That takes the wind out of my sails on the remaining reason for me returning to the office. The research and writing part of my work I can do more efficiently from home. The training part is either virtual, that I can do from home, or when travel becomes safe, on the road - days I am not in the office (in good times I travel up to 45 days a year - mostly on training and consulting projects.)
Now I know my work is different. I don't directly interact with the public or customers. There is not a physical product that I create or handle (we print some things, but those are done remotely and shipped by someone else.) Many people have to be there in person to be productive, but for those of us that don't need to be there to be productive, why do we spend hundreds of hours a year going back and forth to work.
Have you rethought commuting this year?
Still no word for me. It's looking like I may not go back this summer at all, but we are usually slow in the department anyhow, hence why I travel like crazy in the summer. But I have a 20 min drive. I won't do any public transportation for a while. Two friends in New York just caught virus. The only thing in common was the subway.
ReplyDeleteThe subway is a huge risk factor, I hope your friends recover with no lasting effects.
DeleteIt sounds like you could attend the office perhaps a couple of days a week for the contact with other staff, but otherwise work from home.
ReplyDeleteI think going in one or two days a week, is the most likely scenario. I have a dear coworker who won't be back in the office for a while as her health is very at risk - though she does drive to work. This is raising a question about the ultra expensive office space we are in, we are committed to a few more years on the lease.
DeleteYes, excess office space is being discussed here.
Deletemy commute is 7 miles by car, takes 10-15 minutes. if I took public transportation, 1 hour commute. I need to physically be in the office as my employer makes scientific instruments. if you can work from home, more power to ya!
ReplyDeleteI had always thought I needed to be in the office, I have been surprised by how disciplined I have been in working at home. 7 miles in this traffic, is more like 40 minutes.
DeleteI spend 20 years driving in NoVA traffic. it sucked ass then, and I guess it still sux ass.
DeleteIf anything it is worse, best to be avoided. Then there is the fresh hell of parking in the District.
DeleteMy longest commute was 90 minutes one way from Springfield, VA to New Carrollton, MD for 10 years. At this point I would volunteer to keep working from home. It would be one less cubicle they would need to consider for social distancing between workers. Besides I have a trifecta of pre-existing conditions (heart, respiratory and diabetic) which would put my continued wellness at a huge risk if I went back to working at the office.
ReplyDeleteWhich Metro stop is pictured above? Sometimes I miss those days.
The station is Huntington, I live 10 minutes from there
DeleteI am retired now, but when I was a teacher in Nebraska, my then husband was a PhD student at UNL, so we needed to live in Lincoln for him. My job was in a tiny, nothing of a town (village) situated between Lincoln and Omaha. Depending where we lived (and later I lived alone) in Lincoln at the time (4 different moves in six years), I was 25-35 miles away from my school. I carpooled occasionally, but because I needed to stay late for play practice (my extracurricular non-paying assignment was to direct school plays and coach the speech team,) I usually drove myself.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I always feel the need to give such convoluted responses?? You questions often spark memories from the past that I had forgotten.
I had several years in Orlando when I drove 40,000 miles, my office / project assignments often changed - I lived where I felt comfortable. I don't miss that much driving. One of the reasons I have owned 16 cars over the years.
DeleteA long commute sucks. I hope they let you continue to work at home.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they will. My employer has massively rethought telecommuting.
DeleteThe last corporate job I had was a position whereby most days I could easily have worked from home. I traveled regularly on business and always worked when I was on the road without missing a beat. Many of us could have very successfully worked flexible office hours. I was already working nights and weekends from home because my clients were in different time zones from mine in Las Vegas. My boss, the sr vp and general manager, was a control freak who was living in the dark ages (as was, sadly, the president of the company). She was against telecommuting ... and also open-toed shoes for women; if one toenail was exposed, you were put on notice. I finally quit. A week later, the Board got rid of her AND the president! Why do I go on an on? In answer to your question: No, I haven't rethought commuting this year because I don't work! Jeez.
ReplyDeleteI'm also finding that the commute back and forth from SF to Berekeley will be done away with. Working form home since March 11th I've found that I can do it all here at the dining room table in my sweats with out the 2 hour a day commute and shaving!! :)
ReplyDelete