Hacker News Reader

Comment by nickm12 | Hacker News Reader

You can't reduce the in-office or remote experience purely to commuting. It's just one aspect about how and where you work and work life balance in general.

But since you asked, yes, I actually enjoy commuting when it is less than 30 minutes each way and especially when it involves physical activities. My best commutes have been walking and biking commutes of around 20-25 minutes each way. They give me exercise, a chance to clear my head, and provide "space" between work and home.

During 2020, I worked from home the entire time and eventually I found it just mentally wasn't good for me to work and live in the same space. I couldn't go into the office, so I started taking hour long walks at the end of every day to reset. It helped a lot.

That said, I've also done commutes of up to an hour each way by crowed train and highway driving and those are...not good.

View on HN

> provide "space" between work and home

I don't get this. This idea that 'work life balance' should mean that the two should be compartmentalised to specific blocks of time seems counterproductive to me. To me it feels like an unnatural way of living. 8 hours in which I should only focus on work, 8 hours I should focus on everything else followed by 8 hours of sleep. I don't think that is how we are supposed to operate. Even the 8 hours of sleep in one block is not natural and a recent invention. Before industrialisation people used to sleep in multiple blocks (wikipedia: polyphasic sleeping)

The idea that you have to be 'on' for 8 hours at a time seems extremely stressful to me. No wonder you need an hour afterwards just to unwind. Interleaving blocks of work and personal time over the day feels much more natural and less stressful to me. WFH makes this possible. If I'm stuck on something, I can do something else for a while, maybe even take a short nap. The ability to focus and do mentally straining work comes in waves for me. Being able to go with my natural flow makes me both happier, more relaxed and more productive.

The key to work/life balance to me is not stricter separation but instead better integration.

> This idea that 'work life balance' should mean that the two should be compartmentalised to specific blocks of time seems counterproductive to me.

Different people are different and can have different preferences.

For me, having different physical spaces helps me focus on work at work and my family at home. When they are the same physical space, both suffer. I'm not saying everyone should feel this way.

Counterpoint: when I "wfh" I end up just sleeping 90% of my work hours and smashing out actual work for the remainder. When I'm in an office I'm productive 70% of my hours and it has nothing to do with accountability, just a proper office environment (and yes I have a work area at home). Regardless of going to office or wfh, I don't have set hours.

The overarching point is everyone is different, ymmv.

> provide "space" between work and home.

This is part of the company culture. If the company respects the boundary between work and personal life, and it's a cultural value, then it shouldn't be a problem for you establishing a space even without going to the office. You just close down your work laptop, put it aside and open it up next time when it's time to work again. Of course, there's stuff like on-call shifts, and there's a temptation to just stay later and finish this one thing, but if the company culture does not expect you to be tethered to work 24x7 then it's doable. If the culture is right, you don't need a physical barrier for this to be doable.

> so I started taking hour long walks at the end of every day to reset. It helped a lot.

A good habit. I dont see why any remote worker couldn't do that.

> it shouldn't be a problem for you establishing a space even without going to the office.

No, this was nothing to do with company culture. This was just my own mental response to just always being at home. Admittedly, the pandemic accentuated this because we weren't going anywhere even on weekends and evenings. But even as things opened up and we resumed our normal socialization, I returned to the office long before most people because I needed the mental and physical distance.

I know I'm atypical. In those early days,I estimated fewer than 5% of people in my office were voluntarily returning and even today when we're at RTO 3 days a week, most people do exactly that and no more.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com