I have no idea what your own situation is, but I'd be pretty curious to see what the overlap would be between people who'd genuinely rather go in to the office most of the time instead of working at home, and people with kids and/or a stay-at-home spouse.
Because there's definitely people at my office who were happy to volunteer to be part of the skeleton crew still going in to the office every day because they get far more peace and quiet at the office than they would if they were at home.
Whereas I and the dog have the house to ourselves, and I'm loving the work-from-home experience.
Heh. I will try to unpack this piece by piece.
So my work from home situation is as follows - I share my rather cozy two-bedroom apartment with my spouse, our dog, and our cat. Both my partner and I are lawyers, although we work in totally different fields. We have converted our dining room table into our shared desk, with each of us getting half. We each have a monitor set up in addition to our lap tops, remaining surface space covered in documents. I'll be honest, there are times where working across from my wife is really annoying. Most of the time it's a non issue. I do like getting to see and interact with other people.
The dog basically sleeps all day and is a non factor. I take her most mornings and then she sleeps until late afternoon when she starts rousing and demanding attention. Wife takes the afternoon walk while I work later than her.
The cat is a fucker like all cats, but is generally harmless. As I type this he was up on the counter scrounging for scraps. Occasionally he'll jump up on my lap for cuddles.
So that is my set up, more or less. Reasons why I would rather be in the office:
a) work space
b) access to colleagues
c) social interaction
d) I like the separation of personal and professional. I find I am working way longer hours now and doing so less efficiently
e) for whatever reason, I'm way more efficient at the office
This all comes with the caveat that I am fairly new at this firm and in this position, so there is still quite a learning curve, which I find easier to tackle from the office. In a couple years when I am able to handle more things independently, I may very well change my tune. And having a home office set-up comparable to my work set-up (two monitors plus lap top, double or triple the desk space, adjustable desk, espresso machine) would also likely change things.
The big kicker is my commute. In covid traffic, I'm like 14-16 mins each way. Even in normal traffic, it's usually about 20 mins in the morn and then 15 coming home. So it's a pretty pleasant drive, and not too onerous, and convenient because I literally drive right past my guy's house and a grocery store. If I was still doing my Toronto commute, different ball game.
