We had some great neighbors in North Idaho. He worked remotely many years at Symantec. Made a Silicon Valley salary and North Idaho house prices and cost of living. He flew to SJC once or twice a month. He was a sales exec and worked remotely LONG before the pandemic hit (as do most sales execs).
He retired a few years back and they packed up and moved to Tennessee to be closer to the kids.
I worked from home 32 hours a week and I got more done than if I was in the office. But, as with many AF bases, all it took was one commander who viewed remote work as a bad idea to screw that up, and they did. I was fortunate to have to retire when I did (due to Covid/Long Covid) but I thoroughly enjoyed remote work.
Mr. FF has worked remotely for many many years, with a couple of different companies. We always had an office in our home for him wherever we lived. In earlier years, he would travel to locations that needed his expertise, but when he was in town, it wasn’t necessary to go into an office. He has always been a self starter.
Fast forward to 2019 when he started his latest job. The company he works for now has commonly had remote workers. They were ahead of the game when the pandemic hit.
After having watched this for the better part of 20+ years, here’s how it works, at least for us.
Have a designated space for work, and set a reasonable schedule that you can live with. Stick to it unless there are very unusual circumstances that cause you to alter that.
My husband sometimes gets caught up in his work. He’s always been this way. He doesn’t like to let his boss down, bit he has learned over the years that it’s not right to cheat his family either.
Now when it’s quitting time, and I don’t hear him shutting down, I use an old recording of The Three Stooges that says, “How ‘bout a beer? … Why soitenly!” Sound of a beer being poured. Hubby hears and gives a quick chuckle. He knows it’s quitting time. It’s just a gentle reminder that tomorrow is another day, and his work will be waiting for him in the morning.
It took us many years of trial and error to get to this congenial method. I don’t bother him during his work day, unless it’s urgent. He takes a break here and there to stretch his legs. When evening comes, we take a walk together to transition from work day to home life. He often tells me about his day, the good, the bad, and the mundane. I let him know what’s going on in my world. We discuss dinner and maybe future activities that are on our calendar.
We have a really great work/home life balance. We feel very blessed.
“”Cupertino to Palo Alto””
We grew up just North of Palo Alto. We remember bicycling through orange groves in San José. Cupertino was a lovely, quiet area. We were so proud when Reagan was our Governor. We did not always have enough money, but we had each other. Trips to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Sometimes, even though we didn’t have money for the Santa Cruz rides, we just played in the water and sand.
Later on, when I was studying archeology, I learned that the Native Americans believed that they lived in Heaven. They believed that they must have done well in a previous life to earn such an existence. Archeologists estimated that each person only had to ‘work’ about 20 hours a week to feed themselves. With all the game to hunt, and the ocean / San Francisco Bay full of food, life was good. The natural air conditioning of the coastal winds and fog blowing into the Peninsula South Bay made it ideal.
I remember when they built Hwy 280. It has long, banked curves, and there were so few cars, some people drove like it was a European autobahn. Later on, every time a house was sold, the developer would scrape the house, and build four houses where one stood before.
In 1976, it was cold enough that it snowed, and the snow remained on the ground for a few days. I have photos of the snow-covered hills above the Stanford Linear Accelerator.
Amazing times.
During COVID I moved from the big city, where big box stores were being burned and looted, to the smallest, more rural Tennessee town that I could find. No regrets at all!
Such an arrangement that restricts or even removes the function of a home--the purpose of it being to provide privacy, rest, pleasurable non-business relationships, and pursuit of both sadness and happiness moments--makes it a place infringing on the liberty of others of the family to freely act out their life choices without the restraints your coexisting business demands of them.
In fact, when you impose this implied behavioeal constraint on self and others, your "home" no longer serves its purpose. It is now dysfunctional, often to a degree that others no longer want to be there.
And this condition can pertain to you yourself even if you live by yourself alone!
in effect, your ill-conceived plan is that of a fool under the illusion that it is "a better environment for personal mental AND physical health."
Believe me, I have seen it and experienced it while residing with another thus oriented family member, a highly placed executive. Temporarily, it may be necessary, but in the long term, destructive.
Even a farmer doesn't bring the pigs into the house.