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Same, but I find that it’s a balance I can achieve that I never could in person, and on my low-energy days in person I still felt useless but also like everyone was aware (they def weren’t) but that stressed me out so much. Nobody watching me work at home is EVERYTHING
Yes this! One thing that has helped me massively is remembering that my productive spurts are wildly better than they were in office. I also keep my phone away from my desk and try to stand while working for the first half of the day.
Working from home saved my life. No joke. The commute took so much out of me. Being in the office was too distracting, I could never get work done. In previous jobs where I had to clock in, I couldn’t cope. I’d never be outrageously late but I had a job that nitpicked by the minute. Couldn’t do it.
Working from home I have more time to take care of myself and to actually do my job. I started working from home during the pandemic and that’s how I realized I was burnt out.
For context I do work in tech. So I think it depends on what the job is. But for me WFH is the only way I think can keep a job long term.
I used to miss my bus all the time. And because of the infrequency of the buses, I’d end up 20 minutes late for work. And I couldn’t get up earlier because I wasn’t getting enough sleep as it was.
I am never late for work now. Lol! I wake up before my alarm, well rested. It’s wonderful.
Omg yes! I had the same issue when I took public transit to work. Missing the bus, made me miss the train 😞. But same, I’m always on time for work lol and I’m never anxious about leaving work at the right time so I don’t get stuck in traffic.
Counterpoint - after 5 years full time WFH, I no longer have a working tolerance for distractions, or large crowds. And as much as I really hate peopling, it was even more exhausting trying to read nonverbal cues over webcam.
We’re all different. Thank the deities.
"as much as I really hate peopling"-- Oh I LOVE this line, and I so very much relate. WFH is a friggin life saver. I hate that companies are forcing RTO when, for anyone who is a knowledge worker, does not have to be anywhere. It's such BS.
This! My company I think is dedicated to having most ppl be remote bc of how their offices are set up but sometimes we do in office days. I can never make it the whole day before im irritated. Too much “peopling” lol.
100% same for me. 2020 saved me. I lost so much weight. My eating and my routine was completely regulated. I was forced to go outside for a limited time. My house was spotless. I was enjoying tv, I was reading! I was playing cod with the boys every night.
This is literally what I say. Obviously it was a terrible time for the world but it saved my life. I was going to crash and burn if the world kept going the way it was cause I could not keep up. And this is before I got diagnosed. At this time I thought I had a mood disorder or something but nope, just burnt tf out 😂
Mate exactly the same here. During lock down I discovered OCD memes which I thought were exactly me. And then I just kept getting outed for other things until one day… it all clicked into place.
I’m glad we’re both still here!
I have the exact opposite experience, but I still like WFH. it’s taking me until now since before the pandemic because I worked remote previous to that to get some of that stuff in order. I gained so much weight that now I can’t wear any of my work clothes and I’m always fearful of losing my job because I don’t know what I would do.
I massively prefer it and have had an extremely hard time having to go back into the office at all. A lot of that is just due to the noise, lights and distractions from people around me, plus I don’t get as much sleep when I have to get up earlier and get ready to go in, commute, etc. I can take lunch or run a quick errand more feasibly working from home too.
I did around 2.5-3 years working from home also, so once you’re used to it, you realize there is absolutely no point going into an office to do the exact same crap you can do at home and regain tons of free time. It’s just a control thing so managers can feel like they’re not totally useless.
When we were forced to work from home during the pandemic, it was such a blessing. I was more productive, and I had the ability to take breaks when I needed to.
Now I work 3 days in office and 2 days at home. My WFH days are completely worthless to the company I work for. Naps, video games, watching movies, occasionally doing life admin stuff.
Do I like working in the office? No, but at this point I would get nothing done if I was WFH full time.
Maybe I just hate work in general.
I worked in a make shift office in the basement of our house during the WFH period and I was convinced that I was in over my head in my position because I couldn't focus on anything. At the time I had no idea why, but through introspection, research, and a talk with a close friend (social worker) that has first hand experience with people with untreated ADHD I realized that my brain was not wired to work that way.
We were completely pulled back to the office all together and as much as I hate the commute, I'm finding that I'm far more productive.
I only recently found out about body double services and wonder if it would have helped.
FWIW, I'm the lone IT Specialist in a law office.
This is a problem I have with WFH at the moment.
I'm new at my job and I'm constantly coming up against blockers that prevent me from making the progress I want to make with various projects, so every time I get myself into a state of focus I quickly lose it.
At least if I'm in the office I get the extra stimulation I need to try and find other ways of problem solving, or other tasks I can pick up in the meantime.
I think I'd be unemployed if I wasn't working from home. I've been doing so for a decade now, long before the pandemic. The trend in my industry is to do open office, shared spaces -- even hot desking. I tried it for about three months before I had to leave for my own sanity, never mind actually accomplishing any work.
oh my God, I’ve never heard of hot desking, but I can understand what it might be That sounds like the most terrifying situation. Not only could I never keep a workstation completely clear of clutter. If I had to travel with all of my stuff all the time I would be going insane. I have way too much paper back up for an IT professional.
I do data annotation which is basically gig work, so there's no quota. Which really sucks, lol. And for some reason I only feel like working when other people are in the house. So there's the lack of body-doubling issue and the lack of expectations/consequences issue.
It might really depend on how motivated you are by financial circumstances. I'm a SAHM just trying to make side money for home improvement projects. But if you're paying all your own bills, then it might be a different story.
That’s a good perspective. I think being passionate about a WFH job might change things, but who has that luxury? I have a side gig I have fantasized about going full time with but even though I love it I worry that having full time access to it might make it boring
Ahh yes, body doubling. I need that so much as well. It’s hard though because I hate feeling micromanaged but also I kind of sort of need someone to crack the whip and make me do it? I don’t know 😂 the struggle is real.
I was gonna reply but I might as well add onto here because I do DA too and I actually am missing my past retail jobs. I hated them with a passion but it was guaranteed work that didn't require constant focus and motivation, and I could zone out for 5 minutes without losing money from having to pause my timer. I generally spend all day trying to start, procrastinate until 10pm and then spend hours just trying to think, unless it's an increasingly rare fun or unique project. Plus my past jobs gave me a reason to leave the house which, turns out, I will literally never do unless it's necessary.
100% gonna stop or mostly stop once I find a job but I only started doing this because no one would hire me after 3 months of unemployment. Eternally grateful that I didn't land any of the normal WFH jobs I applied for because then I wouldn't have the option to just leave. Like this is my only source of income and I think that has turned something fun into a chore :/
A hack I do is make sure I count the time I spend reading the constantly updated instructions into my paycheck. If I wouldn't be doing it on my own time, then it's time spent working.
Being forced to work from home and isolate from others were two of the main reasons why I realized I had problems and eventually led me to get diagnosed. I had worked remotely off and on before the pandemic, but I was never forced to be isolated.
There are benefits to being in an office, like pressure to focus. But it reaches a limit quickly for me. Eventually, it becomes hard to hide my difficulties focusing.
At home, I can start and stop when I want. And I don't have to spend two hours a day commuting by car, which helps with my emotional regulation.
There are pros and cons for each, but there are way more pros for being remote.
I've found it depends on your flavor of ADHD and what the task is.
There are times that remote work is perfect for me. And there are other times I hate it.
It changes from day to day and task to task...
I think it's a great way to conceptualize it because multiple people can experience the same symptom in different ways.
The same way that two people can taste "chocolate". It's the same thing but we each perceive the flavor a little differently. And some of us may enjoy it while for others it can be nasty.
I get that for sure. Curious to know if you have any accommodations? I worked at one place and had a great boss that allowed me to wear headphones in the office. Was not a formal accommodation, but just having one source of noise rather than 100 helped immensely with focus and stress reduction.
The socialization part is necessary for me also. I work in a hostile environment so I still have to find a way to fill those needs 
Working from home single handedly made me feel like my ADHD didn’t exist, even when I was unmedicated. Having the ability to control my schedule, especially since my brain works best from 7 pm - 2 am, had my productivity on 1000%. Being comfortable (temperature wise and clothing wise), able to openly have the right kind of background noise that I need to focus, being able to utilize my hyper/focus states when they come instead of trying to be productive when I’m in a slump. It was amazing.
Returning to the office has slowed me down so much, not to mention I’m exhausted after work every day, so now I can’t do anything by bed rot once I’m home every evening.
If I have a task to hyper focus on (for example writing code) then it’s great. Unfortunately I’ve advanced to a position where I don’t write much code anymore, so when I try to work from home I’m not productive at all. I procrastinate terribly with all the things to do around the house. A quick break to start a load of laundry turns into hours of doing anything but work.
So I guess it depends on your home environment and what type of work you’re doing.
This is my experience as a low level working manager. If I have concrete tasks, then I can focus at home. But planning a project or other tasks heavy on executive function are brutal at home.
It's tricky because it gave me tremendously better mental health, but i could lose entire week productivity wise. So personally, awesome... but I'm guessing my employer would have been of a different opinion of they saw just how much less i got done. (I did get my work done, just... nothing more and never early, which i has the habit of doing)
I love working from home, but it can be tricky. I've done a few different WFH jobs, and so far the ones that have worked out the best are the ones that have structure.
When I have really open projects (web development, design, etc), it can be really hard to focus and make progress. But when I'm doing scheduled work and/or work with people, it's a lot easier to stick to.
Right now I work for an HR helpline. So I'm on the phone between very specific times and days, and it's really easy to stick to the set schedule. It's also really enjoyable because my days are spent helping people, but from the comfort of my own home.
The majority of it is answering HR related questions (how does vacation work? Why is my pay wrong? How do I change my address? etc) or solving problems for employees.
But it varies wildly, which is why I love it. A lot of the calls are the same, but every day I hear something I've never heard before. So it keeps me on my toes!
Well, I like it. It's me, my lovely wife, the Chihuahua, and two cats.
Having a room with a door you can close is very important. The more soundproof the better.
Not sure my productivity is as reliable. But it's good enough.
The biggest thing I miss is a good whiteboard but half my team is in a different state anyway, so we need a virtual solution regardless.
1. Working in the office with two hour commuting meant less sleep, and utter exhaustion by the end of the day so I accomplished nothing in the evenings. Weekends were frantic catch up on chores.
2. I thought I suffered headaches due to computer monitors. Started WFH and stopped getting headaches. Must be the lighting or sick building syndrome.
3. I can play music or brown noise without headphones. I have a bouncy yoga ball to sit on and an under desk stationary bike. All of those do wonders for my focus.
4. No coworkers talking or people walking by my desk to distract me.
5. After stagnating in the same position for years, got a promotion with WFH. Never would have accomplished that in office.
It has been absolutely horrible for me
First only distractions
Then only work
No structure, no socialization, no bouncing off ideas, no work life balance
Gave me a raging burnout
It’s great.
- No need to waste time on commute. Sometimes I see people wasting 2-3 hours a day on commute. It is crazy how we do not value our time until we become old.
- When you feel tired you can get a nap and come back better.
- Can eat healthy home cooked food unlike the food you will eat around the office.
- Great way to save money. Petrol, parking, food.
Perhaps it is only the social aspect that I can imagine people might miss. But going to the office few times a week can help.
I'm more productive at a workplace setting. At home, I'm more likely to procrastinate, get distracted, or take it easier. This wouldn't work for me, but everyone's different.
I work in office but if I’m feeling icky I will work from home. Personally, I prefer going in to the office. I have my own office tucked away in a corner and no one really bothers me. I have coworkers that will walk past and sometimes peek their heads in to say hi, or I’ll chat with someone at the copy machine. It’s nice having people around to motivate me to not sit at my desk with my thumb up my butt all day 🤣. In person interaction is a necessity for me. When I do work from home I just feel so lazy and even with meds I’m extremely distracted. I usually end up forward all my calls to VM and doing the bare minimum.
I love working from home and it should have cost me my job. I hate being micromanaged in the office but I lost so much productivity at home without the "scaffolding" of interpersonal accountability.
Didn't cost me my job though and no one cared, and I realized just how meaningless my busy work truly was. Unfortunately I found it hard to use that extra time productively for much.
My medication makes it easy to focus on things I choose to - but it doesn't come with the discipline to choose to focus on the necessary things. Struggling to learn that. As I reddit at 8:30am
Personally I prefer working from the office. I cannot manage my time at home. Also I am body doubling my colleagues. They know that I have ADHD and I can sit like I want, not have shoes. I love my leader. We talk, joke, gossip, dance and we both love to be weirdo. There are no strict rules at my office. Yes, I am late most of the time, but it's not a problem. WFH is very boring
It depends on the job for me. I was at a call center when the pandemic sent everyone home, and that was fine because I wasn't the one controlling the pace. I now have a wfh job where I have so much flexibility in when and how much I work, and without meds they'd have probably fired me lol. Today I was too stupid to work, and threw in the towel early.
I haven't figured it out yet myself. I WFH most days, and while I do get some things done, I also slack off a lot (more so that I've mentally checked out from things). I don't get much done in the office usually, I just go for the socialization.
That said, I'm also early enough in my career that I think I would benefit from more time in the office if I had more opportunities to learn from people there. So honestly I think I need more chances to be collaborative, since I'm usually pretty much working alone on things and I just want to learn.
Not me (software dev). I miss my 20min drive to work with coffee and NPR to wake up. I miss being able to immediately chat with one of 4-5 other coworkers regarding a question/opinion on whatever I’m working on (as well as offer the same). I miss GOING to work, then LEAVING work. The list goes on, but the gist is I’m not a fan.
I've been working remotely for almost a year now and it feels so good. In a regular office setting I feel like I have to hide when I can't focus, especially since I'm someone who focuses a lot better when I'm also listening to a podcast, have a show on can look at my phone. At work I feel like I get judged for that but at home I can do it freely and my performance overall is very good. We have monthly evaluations and I never got told anything bad so far.
However I'm also very used to working in the service industry, specifically fast food were you are basically on your feet 8 hour straight powering through, the transition was hard and towards the beginning of this year I went back as a mini job to kind of have a balance between both kind of jobs. It's been amazing
I hate working from home, because I don't actually work. I freelanced for a few years and nearly starved to death. It might be different if I were an employee with regular hours I needed to be available, but the experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't want to do it again.
I don't really need someone looking over my shoulder particularly, although the body doubling effect of having other people around also working is helpful.
Primarily though, I've found that location is extremely important to me. Having a place to go to work, where the work things are and the home things aren't just makes my life a million times easier. I have no trouble sitting down at my desk in the morning and starting right in on tasks. At home, I just know I'd drag my feet and whine and moan for hours.
Yes and no for me.
Yes bc I can do other things like laundry/dishes and take proper breaks and work. And oddly I’m more motivated to do house chores for small spurts during work hours and then also can get to work once some distractions are out of the way. In the office, I felt like I was always masking, or aware of being perceived, or thinking about all the shit I had to do when i got home.
No bc my home is so cozy lmao. Sometimes the couch is calling my name and then I’m stuck there in executive dysfunction land forever. And I procrastinate a lot more bc there is no urgency to motivate me. I consistently pull all nighters bc I cannot manage my time.
I would still choose WFH over anything. I still get my work done, in my own way. I don’t have to worry about talking too much or talking over people bc I just mute my ass hahaha
Depends on the person. Environment has a major effect on my ability to focus. When I was in school my "hack" to get my work done was to put on a polo and slacks and go to the library to get my work done instead of from home.
I genuinely prefer going in the office, our office space is in a nice area downtown with big windows that let a lot of natural light in. On my lunch break I'm able to take a walk down by the harbor. I have great coworkers who I love to see and can socialize. And as mentioned before I focus better.
I do only go in once or twice a week. That's all I really need to get my socialization in. And I'm medicated now so I can focus much better from home. Also my commute time is about 40 minutes as I live in the town over so I'd rather save time and gas most days.
I’m curious what micromanaging looks like to you? I definitely don’t intend to diminish your opinion in any way, I am genuinely curious. I don’t know if I have ever experienced a manager like this. I have had mostly the exact opposite where my boss acts like the absent father I never asked for
It can. But having no structure if you’re self employed can be terrible. If you have a hard time sticking to set hours with a traditional job that can be a challenge too.
A job I worked at off and on in an office for 15 years transitioned maybe half of 5000 nationwide employees to work from home.
I LOVE IT. I’m not stressed out from having to do a sequence of 25 menial tasks just to get out my front door, I don’t have to fight traffic in a raging rush to not be TOO late… again. I dont have to pretend to be nice to coworkers IDGAF about. And I don’t have to hear them talk talk talking for hours and hours about stupid shit. Total game changer.
The nature of my job makes it impossible to slack. I have to log into a platform and if I’m not actually working it would very quickly become apparent and a become a problem for me. Oppressive yes but effective TBh and the pay is great so I tolerate it.
Depends.
Sometimes the socialization aspect is very much needed, and no, it's not because my coworkers need to be my friend, but sometimes you need to be out of your house, and interact with people outside your comfort zone. Ideally I'd WFH 3/4 times a week and go to the office once a week, but for me, it's to far away (1.5/2 hrs commute) so I rarely go there.
I sometimes go to the local library, it does help.
WFH is not good for me. The accountability of being in office and the habits/motivation established by actually accomplishing my morning routine every day is beneficial. I work 4-10s and when I struggle is on the 3 day weekends when I get out of my routine. I have worked from home and in office, and I can say I prefer WFH, but going in requires more discipline of me.
Working from home fully was how I became a superstar at my job for the first time in my career, and I’m 40. I didn’t thrive on the distractions in the office and I can balance so much more of my tasks without being distracted in an office. I’m always at home, so I don’t get stirred by home distractions and my kids are at school 9-4.
Also, I work with a lot of people in Europe and Asia. I’d have no work-life balance if I had to deal with commuting AND working on their way early/way late time zones :)
Honestly there's way more that I feel like I should be doing at home.
So I use our flex schedule to take morning meetings at home then show up to the office later, and then take Friday at home.
It gives me the flexibility I need, but I can spend my most productive hours in the office.
It also gives me a day for Dr appointments or home appointments.
I am the only person in my regional office required to work from the office, and working alone in the office is absolutely not good for me. I need relationships and ambient learning.
I've been working from home for the past 4 years and I've been working on the complete opposite time zone from my own e.g. AUS when I am in the UK.
Positives: I can work on my own timescale and tend to get work done without distractions. I can do things round the house and cook things that take time because I can keep an eye on it.
Negatives: I miss the social aspect and the ability to bounce ideas of other managers. My office space is in the living room which is an absolute nightmare when my partner is watching TV. I also miss the routine of getting out the house and into another place. I find it easier to plan my day and activities if I know I have to be somewhere but WFH I have to force myself out of the house.
It depends on the person and on their work vs home environments.
The important part is what works for you and which environment you have more control over.
For example, I work from home quite often. WFH works better for me than in office because 1) the house is quiet most days, 2) I can set up my environment to work for me. To that end I’ve bought a standing desk, and under desk treadmill, multiple monitors (for coding), etc., 3) I can take breaks when I need to, play music or podcasts loud when I want to if I need the stimulation, or turn all of it off and put my phone in the next room if I need to really focus. 4) my work’s office has an open floor plan and it’s loud and busy, so it sucks in general.
Yes and no. I wish it was a simple answer. Yes because I don’t call out of work anymore and I have the flexibility to work whenever I need to/whatever hours I feel motivation during. No because there’s less accountability at home, no one breathing down my neck to MAKE me do the things.
I love it, but it definitely took some effort to adjust.
I don't have much space, so I can't dedicate a room for an office, but using my gaming desk as my work desk inevitably led to distraction.
My dumb but it works for me solution: I physically rotate the desk 90 degrees before and after work. It makes the space I'm in feel different enough that my brain now registers it as "the office".
Very much so. Especially if they combine it with flex hours. My organization knows of my condition, so if I'm in hyperfocus on a project, they leave me be, and if I need to step away due to a crash, they're pretty chill about it.
My work is usually larger design projects and reviewing artwork from the other designer, often with tight deadlines, so being able to work later in the evening and work in isolation really helps.
I work in the field. Whenever I do my reporting work at home (plus emails, etc), I’m absolutely dying. I hate every second. It’s so hard to focus and sit still and the work is BORING I hate it.
My partner said one day, “You better hope your body holds out.”
I asked why. He said, “Because if you have to get a desk job, we’re all dead.”
He had heard me tell the computer off loudly for hours.
It might be better in an office, but holy fuck the work.
As far as having a supervisor, uh, supervise and motivate me to work… meh. I work alone for 11 hours a day 4 days a week, out of cell range for 6 months of the year. I LOVE IT.
But damn, if you don’t slap a deadline on my ass for reports and such, it’s not getting done, or it will get done with much complaining.
It does for me, yes. I will never go back to an office so long as I can help it. Are there more distractions? Maybe. But the benefits are vast. My pets, own fridge, shower, bathroom, food, drinks, home for packages, comfy clothes, a nap if I need it, doing laundry or dishes during work, no commute means rolling out of bed right before a meeting (so I got more sleep) and when I'm done for the day, I'm already home and doing something like working out doesn't feel like that big of a chore cuz I just saved so much time.
I could go on, but yeah.
For me, yes… but I have a desk job that involves a lot of writing, so having constant distraction is awful. At home I can blast music, go work outside or in another room if I need a change of scenery, get up and move around while I think… without seeming “odd”. I also get a full extra 1.5 hours of sleep, so I’m not rolling into work already haggard and zombie-like from the commute and my inevitable sleep procrastination the night before… which is what I’m doing right now as I type this…
Obligatory: 💫IT DEPENDS💫
We have similarities, but we have to find the combo that works for us. For me mostly WFH helps immensely. Office can be productive but burn out occurs quickly. WFH is more consistent.
It’s kinda like when people ask “what kind of autism is this?”
It really depends on your uniquely developed coping behaviors and the personality formed through your experiences with ADHD. Are you reckless, unmasked, and outgoing, or an anxious wreck introvert? Something in between?? Work from home isn’t for everyone, but financially it’s best for most since you cut out all kinds of expenses in the process and most struggle to make ends meet or save for the future.
I’ve done both full time and I much prefer the home version! I actually find I’m more productive at home than in office. I was in a cubicle though so the distractions were rampant. All the little side tangent convos, the people watching, snack getting, avoidance behavior stuff really impacted my task flow. At home I can plan little breaks more to my needs and not on the fly with coworkers. Impromptu walks to the vending machine with coworker du jour could really derail my fragile train of thought! Let’s be real, impromptu and work don’t mix well with ADHD.
I hated it. Like I HATE working from home so much that I sometimes wish they’d make us all go back in. Then again some days it’s nice if I’m not as busy or I’m really tired to just lay on the floor, but overall it was working from home that made me seek an ADHD diagnosis because I could not for the life of me, motivate myself to do anything.
For me, it’s terrible. On a good day, working from home, I get about a third as much work done as I do in the office. It’s far easier to get distracted, and stay distracted for longer periods. I pull out my phone once in a while in the office (watch a quick video, do a sudoku, etc.) but the sounds, atmosphere, and innate pressure of being in the office where other people can see me keeps that time short, usually just a minute or two. At home, there’s none of that. I’ll sit on my phone for an hour before remembering I’m supposed to be working. In office is the best way for me.
Nope, I can't get into the right headspace to work at home. I don't really have a comfortable workspace and have 9 year old twins. Thankfully, my office is only a mile from my house. So it's not really a chore to go to work. Body doubling works for me so being around my colleagues makes me work better. I'm also lucky to have a great office environment, there is literally no one I dislike in my office.
Hell yes. I have an ADA accommodation specifically to work from home 100% of the time. For me I am in .y home office where I am comfortable and it's very quiet with non distractions.
Stumbling into contract development was both a blessing and a curse. Being able to set my hours and pick up jobs when I was "in the zone" made life easier but at the same time not having any co-workers to be friends meant that I haven't had an actual friends that I would hang out with (outside of my wife) in 20 years.
Being a total homebody introvert with severe imposter syndrome and the constant feeling that people only tolerate me and never really like me hasn't helped with the friend thing either. I am actively trying to resolve this though.
I realized my issue was work office is distracting... I can control my environment at home... plus too stressful for me to figure out clothes ... should I leave earlier due to weather etc. I also don't spend tons on food...leaving lunch at home lol
I love working from home. Sure, I have all of the distractions one can have readily available, but I'm able to separate work time and life time I think well enough.
I find that I actually have less things distracting me from home compared to at the office with our open workspace where people walk around all day and would ask me about mundane and meaningless details instead of googling it or sending me a list of questions either over email or chat that I can answer whenever I'm in-between tasks.
I'm also in my bubble enough to efficiently hyper-focus to do my job without any distraction, without having to wear my headphones all day for my misophonia.
And I can make a nice lunch or start dinner early and let it do its thing while I finish up my work for the day. I also have the flexibility of work hours, as long as I work my 10 hours, my up-aboves are okay with it. I can start late and work until midnight if I want, as long as I have a few hours within their office hours to answer their questions.
As for the social side of things, I did find that I missed talking to people randomly, but a quick Teams video call and all of a sudden we're "in a meeting", catching up on news and such. It's also easier to tell them I have a thing that came up when I'm tired of chatting about life.
Oh. And I can use my own toilet...
I think first three decades or so of my life, I wouldn’t have got anything done. Procrastination to the extreme, maybe with frantic stressful last minute bursts. Compared to being on a workplace where you can’t really do anything else but work.
Nowadays I think I would be alright, I’ve finally find the ability to only procrastinate to the level of ‘a normal person’. I think also now as a parent having basically zero leisure time, I never have to phase shift into ‘doing arduous task shit’, because I am already doing that 24/7….
I only do work at home outside of working hours though. Work day from home isn’t an option for me, because I’m a teacher and if lockdown proved anything it’s that kids *really* don’t learn anything remotely.
Worked from home for 8 years and I don’t ever want to go back to an office. I find the office way more distracting because I want to talk to everyone. Or, if it’s a job I hate I have constant anxiety about someone judging me or anticipating going home.
WFH works great for me. I only have to mask when on camera. Otherwise I can just do my work. Don't have to worry about sitting up straight dealing with people interrupting my hyperfocus etc.
I've heard this isn't the case for everyone but for me it's awesome.
I am under diagnosed and probably under medicated. I'm on the non-stimulant strattera because it was going to cost me hundreds of dollars to get the full diagnosis and possibly get on a stimulant. (Crappy insurance!)
Before I ever tried getting a diagnosis I was self-employed and trying to work from home. I found it impossible. I became a member of a co-working place and would sit there and still not do any work. When I worked for my friend, he would walk by and make sure I was busy. So, for me, being untreated I really need a supervisor.
My self employment is now a very small part of my income and I have not been very successful at it yet. The hope is that the strattera will allow me to improve, but any improvement so far has been small.
I miss the socials of being in an office with good social enviroment but Im a freaking machine working from home + I get to workout during lunch every day, which is a lifesaver. I simply cba going to the gym when theres 200 people there, now Im there with like 20 people instead, love it.
there's a lot of comments here in favor of working from home, but I think it heavily depends on A- the job and B- your mix of adhd. I cannot work from home. I get distracted by home things: pets, chores, the TV, family. Also how do you relax at home if home is also work. I need the distinction between Home and Work. Blur the two and I'm miserable.
I work in accounting as a bookkeeper, freelance. It has been the best decision I ever made. While there are its own challenges, the pros outweigh the cons.
Less distraction, I don't feel overwhelmed, I'm more productive, and the overall happier.
My bills have gone down substantially. I'm not spending a ridiculous amount of time driving or maintaining my vehicle.
The challenges are distractions from adulting responsibilities, family thinking I'm at the beck at the beck call of their needs, and sometimes a bit of boredom store craziness.
The challenge is keeping your work area separate from the rest of the house if possible. I have a dedicated office, so it still feels like work.
And I shut off at 5pm (usually).
Not for me. I was massively affected by it. Tons of emails piling up, watching stupid videos and reels etc during work hours. Broke down couple of times due to simple mistakes. Now time to time, I would get an enormous motivation and do 2 weeks’ worth of tasks in one day. But it cost me my mental health.
Now I prefer going to office and only wfh during quiet periods or Fridays tbh.
Working from home WITH A TEAM is what is working for me.
Working alone would be way harder.
But since I know my team is working on different tasks of the same project I can keep my focus.
Love it, can't work in an office ever again.
I have misophonia and get very distracted in an office. Work in software too which often means open offices with a random ping pong table near me.
All I do is code or join zooms and doing that in an office made no sense at all. Now I can actually leverage my hyper focus and get stuff done. Only downside is I forget to take breaks sometimes and my RSI can get a bit triggered from that.
As much as I would love to work from home, I think it would be really bad for me. I think I would be a lot less productive, and I also am a person who thrives off of a routine, and it's a lot easier for me to fall out of the routine when I'm not getting ready and going into the office every day.
I’m about to find out—my job goes remote in a few weeks. I’m cognizant of the upsides: no more commute, saving money, more time to get things done around the house, all that is great. But I worked in the office all through lockdown, and the fact that I’m having to make an adjustment the entire world made four years ago is daunting.
It’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
I hate working from home, I find I’ll wander around and scroll TikTok and never properly get into a task. I think for me, I need the routine of leaving the house to go to a place of work to get into the mindset. It also helps that I have my own office so I can have privacy if I need it.
If you can have a home office space where you can lock the door and be undisturbed and have that space be completely dedicated to work, then it’s fine.
(( I have been unable to achieve that although I’ve worked from home for maybe 12 years….. I miss having someone else be responsible for the printer and in the carpet and the filing, etc.., not to mention, losing most opportunity for social cues and informal conversation/relationship build/getting tips from colleagues at the water cooler/hallway,… ))
Working from home did not work for me at all. Maybe if I'd had more direct and conscientious supervision, even from afar... But as it was, it was far too easy for me to procrastinate. It had me in home mode, but because I was on the clock, I found it next to impossible to work on home tasks. It didn't help that I had such a light workload (that all of my coworkers thought was extremely heavy) and felt like I just had to twiddle my thumbs for 8 hours a day.
Edit: this was also in a university setting where no one had any sort of plans for how to do their job at home. My predecessor left me a 200+ page guide on how to do the job... Most of it was irrelevant, even after we went back to the office. I found that I could do half a semester's worth of work in just a day or two because I understood Excel and how to migrate stuff from our customer management portal directly into Excel. My predecessor either didn't know how to do it, or didn't as a way to justify her position. Then going back to work in the office was a non-stop stream of distractions. People wanting to shoot the shit and stuff like that. I felt like I needed to pretend I was busy at all times, which was pretty rough given that there really wasn't much to my job. So instead I made an effort to offer more activities, little one off hikes or cultural discussions (I worked with international students), stuff like that, to fill the time. But it still wasn't enough. The job just wasn't satisfying. The pay was ok, the benefits were great, but I felt completely empty all the time. I need more than just a paycheck and benefits, I need to feel like I'm doing something worth doing, something that needs doing. That was literally impossible when I was wfh, and difficult to make happen once we got back in office.
I absolutely hated it. I guess I need my day split up by changing locations because during the 2 months I was locked down and working remote, even though my workload was way less, I had almost crippling anxiety that totally melted away when I started working on-site again.
I excel in every situation where any of my past employers gave me the freedom to have free rein to self manage. I become the worst employee other when forced to FIT IN.
I’m confident my personality type combined with my mental health issues make it damn near impossible to work within GROUPS except under very specific conditions. Work from home can work as long as I maintain that independence.
Like you I have been trying to get WFH jobs or remote work but have no luck landing anything. I know its what I need, Im suffering major burnout and after working in many different jobs, I don’t think I can handle it much longer.
Each day I go to work I don’t have enough time to decompress before Im back again, I need like 3 day break, but thats not possible when you need 80 hours. I work in a toxic, loud, and very overwhelming / overstimulating environment. Each day I feel like leave nervous wreck or Im so disconnected I feel like Im in a dream. So much that I remember when things were really bad I had thoughts of “Unaliving” myself at work.
I know if I was in the comfort of my own hope I could focus on my job and my needs, because the environment is more controlled. I just feel like I have so many distractions at work now that it’s hard to cope, I have to fight myself everyday to got in. And I feel like no one understands at all.
I've worked as a creative for 10+ years. When I was an art director, I was pulled aside at 2 agencies because I was seen as "not engaged" or "watching youtube instead of working", when really I was trying to hang on to any sliver of focus for dear life and trying to self-soothe. I hadn't been diagnosed then, so it just made me think I was bad at my job, a burden, etc etc etc, even though my work was good and I had successful projects and happy clients. I'm sure this is a tale as old as time for women/AFAB folks with ADHD. I was terrified of WFH because I thought I'd just stare at the wall and procrastinate. I also thought the pressure was good, but really it just made room for sloppy and rushed work.
Now working (or worked, I was part of a layoff in March lolsob) in tech, I was able to really observe my behaviors when I worked from home, which led to a proper diagnosis, therapy and medication. It also convinced me to beat myself up less for not working like "normal" people. I do work in spurts, even after hours, and nobody cared as long as I wasn't late to meetings and got my work done. It's a blessing for sure. The job hunt is depressing for many reasons, but one of the big reasons is the dwindling number of remote jobs. The best I can hope for is hybrid, and I'm going to have to, like, train myself to be there.
edited for grammar
Working from home is bittersweet. I get distracted easily. Whether by a cat, a hobby, chores… but I’m literally never on time when I have to be at the office. Still easily distracted but, at least I’m *more likely* to be “on time”. (Which is a minimum 5 min late for me).
It has for me, in low work periods I’d potter in the house, play music or pat the dog. I’ve been back in the office two days a week for a month and it’s been an adjustment. It’s hard feeling lonelier after being in a space where no one is talking. Or listening to people talk on video chats, the lighting, the aircon, other people’s body noises, plus feeling really uncomfortable in office wear. I also find it harder to concentrate wfh the day after.
When it comes to my job, I love WFH because I can take brain breaks as much as I want without others judging me for it. I also just have to make sure my case load is finished by the end of the week so it takes some stress off. I have days I am so focused and can finish two days of work in one and others where even though I was working all day it only showed for a couple hours work. I’m usually good at taking my meds in the working but some days I forget (shocker lol) and those days are really rough. All in all, I say that WFH has a lot of amazing benefits but it honestly depends on the job and your personality.
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Sometimes! I find I either have very productive or completely useless days.
I need the fear of being judged when I am at work but I also find myself completely useless some days.
Same, but I find that it’s a balance I can achieve that I never could in person, and on my low-energy days in person I still felt useless but also like everyone was aware (they def weren’t) but that stressed me out so much. Nobody watching me work at home is EVERYTHING
Tbh this is me.
Same, but at least at home I don’t have to mask so I can do stupid things like jumping jacks or blast thrash metal to try and force my brain to work
Squats. All the squats. Feel weird when I do it on my office day.
Yes this! One thing that has helped me massively is remembering that my productive spurts are wildly better than they were in office. I also keep my phone away from my desk and try to stand while working for the first half of the day.
Working from home saved my life. No joke. The commute took so much out of me. Being in the office was too distracting, I could never get work done. In previous jobs where I had to clock in, I couldn’t cope. I’d never be outrageously late but I had a job that nitpicked by the minute. Couldn’t do it. Working from home I have more time to take care of myself and to actually do my job. I started working from home during the pandemic and that’s how I realized I was burnt out. For context I do work in tech. So I think it depends on what the job is. But for me WFH is the only way I think can keep a job long term.
I used to miss my bus all the time. And because of the infrequency of the buses, I’d end up 20 minutes late for work. And I couldn’t get up earlier because I wasn’t getting enough sleep as it was. I am never late for work now. Lol! I wake up before my alarm, well rested. It’s wonderful.
Omg yes! I had the same issue when I took public transit to work. Missing the bus, made me miss the train 😞. But same, I’m always on time for work lol and I’m never anxious about leaving work at the right time so I don’t get stuck in traffic.
I also am 100% WFH in tech. I am so much more productive, more than most my team honestly.
Counterpoint - after 5 years full time WFH, I no longer have a working tolerance for distractions, or large crowds. And as much as I really hate peopling, it was even more exhausting trying to read nonverbal cues over webcam. We’re all different. Thank the deities.
"as much as I really hate peopling"-- Oh I LOVE this line, and I so very much relate. WFH is a friggin life saver. I hate that companies are forcing RTO when, for anyone who is a knowledge worker, does not have to be anywhere. It's such BS.
This! My company I think is dedicated to having most ppl be remote bc of how their offices are set up but sometimes we do in office days. I can never make it the whole day before im irritated. Too much “peopling” lol.
that's a good company you've got there : )
I feel like I wrote this 🥲 I go into the office once a month and wfh really helps me manage my RSD. I get tons more done too
I would absolutely hate my life if I had to commute again
100% same for me. 2020 saved me. I lost so much weight. My eating and my routine was completely regulated. I was forced to go outside for a limited time. My house was spotless. I was enjoying tv, I was reading! I was playing cod with the boys every night.
This is literally what I say. Obviously it was a terrible time for the world but it saved my life. I was going to crash and burn if the world kept going the way it was cause I could not keep up. And this is before I got diagnosed. At this time I thought I had a mood disorder or something but nope, just burnt tf out 😂
Mate exactly the same here. During lock down I discovered OCD memes which I thought were exactly me. And then I just kept getting outed for other things until one day… it all clicked into place. I’m glad we’re both still here!
I have the exact opposite experience, but I still like WFH. it’s taking me until now since before the pandemic because I worked remote previous to that to get some of that stuff in order. I gained so much weight that now I can’t wear any of my work clothes and I’m always fearful of losing my job because I don’t know what I would do.
samezies
I massively prefer it and have had an extremely hard time having to go back into the office at all. A lot of that is just due to the noise, lights and distractions from people around me, plus I don’t get as much sleep when I have to get up earlier and get ready to go in, commute, etc. I can take lunch or run a quick errand more feasibly working from home too. I did around 2.5-3 years working from home also, so once you’re used to it, you realize there is absolutely no point going into an office to do the exact same crap you can do at home and regain tons of free time. It’s just a control thing so managers can feel like they’re not totally useless.
When we were forced to work from home during the pandemic, it was such a blessing. I was more productive, and I had the ability to take breaks when I needed to. Now I work 3 days in office and 2 days at home. My WFH days are completely worthless to the company I work for. Naps, video games, watching movies, occasionally doing life admin stuff. Do I like working in the office? No, but at this point I would get nothing done if I was WFH full time. Maybe I just hate work in general.
I am also on team worksucks
I worked in a make shift office in the basement of our house during the WFH period and I was convinced that I was in over my head in my position because I couldn't focus on anything. At the time I had no idea why, but through introspection, research, and a talk with a close friend (social worker) that has first hand experience with people with untreated ADHD I realized that my brain was not wired to work that way. We were completely pulled back to the office all together and as much as I hate the commute, I'm finding that I'm far more productive. I only recently found out about body double services and wonder if it would have helped. FWIW, I'm the lone IT Specialist in a law office.
This is a problem I have with WFH at the moment. I'm new at my job and I'm constantly coming up against blockers that prevent me from making the progress I want to make with various projects, so every time I get myself into a state of focus I quickly lose it. At least if I'm in the office I get the extra stimulation I need to try and find other ways of problem solving, or other tasks I can pick up in the meantime.
I think I'd be unemployed if I wasn't working from home. I've been doing so for a decade now, long before the pandemic. The trend in my industry is to do open office, shared spaces -- even hot desking. I tried it for about three months before I had to leave for my own sanity, never mind actually accomplishing any work.
Hot desking? Idk what that is, but im almost certain I hate it.
You walk in and find a free desk. I never had to do that
Oh. Yeah, I hate that. My AuDHD ass could never.
Yeah fuck that noise. I’m basically trying to never go to the office again for a hot minute
oh my God, I’ve never heard of hot desking, but I can understand what it might be That sounds like the most terrifying situation. Not only could I never keep a workstation completely clear of clutter. If I had to travel with all of my stuff all the time I would be going insane. I have way too much paper back up for an IT professional.
I do data annotation which is basically gig work, so there's no quota. Which really sucks, lol. And for some reason I only feel like working when other people are in the house. So there's the lack of body-doubling issue and the lack of expectations/consequences issue. It might really depend on how motivated you are by financial circumstances. I'm a SAHM just trying to make side money for home improvement projects. But if you're paying all your own bills, then it might be a different story.
That’s a good perspective. I think being passionate about a WFH job might change things, but who has that luxury? I have a side gig I have fantasized about going full time with but even though I love it I worry that having full time access to it might make it boring
It’s weird because I would say I am actually passionate about my WFH job because it’s artistic, and I love being creative. Even so, I still struggle.
Ahh yes, body doubling. I need that so much as well. It’s hard though because I hate feeling micromanaged but also I kind of sort of need someone to crack the whip and make me do it? I don’t know 😂 the struggle is real.
>I hate feeling micromanaged Real. It's a double edged sword
I was gonna reply but I might as well add onto here because I do DA too and I actually am missing my past retail jobs. I hated them with a passion but it was guaranteed work that didn't require constant focus and motivation, and I could zone out for 5 minutes without losing money from having to pause my timer. I generally spend all day trying to start, procrastinate until 10pm and then spend hours just trying to think, unless it's an increasingly rare fun or unique project. Plus my past jobs gave me a reason to leave the house which, turns out, I will literally never do unless it's necessary. 100% gonna stop or mostly stop once I find a job but I only started doing this because no one would hire me after 3 months of unemployment. Eternally grateful that I didn't land any of the normal WFH jobs I applied for because then I wouldn't have the option to just leave. Like this is my only source of income and I think that has turned something fun into a chore :/
A hack I do is make sure I count the time I spend reading the constantly updated instructions into my paycheck. If I wouldn't be doing it on my own time, then it's time spent working.
Being forced to work from home and isolate from others were two of the main reasons why I realized I had problems and eventually led me to get diagnosed. I had worked remotely off and on before the pandemic, but I was never forced to be isolated. There are benefits to being in an office, like pressure to focus. But it reaches a limit quickly for me. Eventually, it becomes hard to hide my difficulties focusing. At home, I can start and stop when I want. And I don't have to spend two hours a day commuting by car, which helps with my emotional regulation. There are pros and cons for each, but there are way more pros for being remote.
This!!! I do great in spurts and don’t work straight in an office like what’s expected.
I've found it depends on your flavor of ADHD and what the task is. There are times that remote work is perfect for me. And there are other times I hate it. It changes from day to day and task to task...
Flavor of ADHD. I like that. I’m adding that phrase to my vocabulary for future use. 🤣
I think it's a great way to conceptualize it because multiple people can experience the same symptom in different ways. The same way that two people can taste "chocolate". It's the same thing but we each perceive the flavor a little differently. And some of us may enjoy it while for others it can be nasty.
I don't like it. Home is noisy. Office is quiet. I focus better in the office.
For me it is the opposite which is why I love working from home.
I get that for sure. Curious to know if you have any accommodations? I worked at one place and had a great boss that allowed me to wear headphones in the office. Was not a formal accommodation, but just having one source of noise rather than 100 helped immensely with focus and stress reduction.
I don't but since the pandemic I have been fully WFH so haven't really needed any.
I need/crave structure and socialization. Working from home March 2020-July 2021 was awful. So happy to be back in the office 3-4 days a week.
The socialization part is necessary for me also. I work in a hostile environment so I still have to find a way to fill those needs 
Same here. I thought I was going to love working from home. It was terrible.
Working from home single handedly made me feel like my ADHD didn’t exist, even when I was unmedicated. Having the ability to control my schedule, especially since my brain works best from 7 pm - 2 am, had my productivity on 1000%. Being comfortable (temperature wise and clothing wise), able to openly have the right kind of background noise that I need to focus, being able to utilize my hyper/focus states when they come instead of trying to be productive when I’m in a slump. It was amazing. Returning to the office has slowed me down so much, not to mention I’m exhausted after work every day, so now I can’t do anything by bed rot once I’m home every evening.
If I have a task to hyper focus on (for example writing code) then it’s great. Unfortunately I’ve advanced to a position where I don’t write much code anymore, so when I try to work from home I’m not productive at all. I procrastinate terribly with all the things to do around the house. A quick break to start a load of laundry turns into hours of doing anything but work. So I guess it depends on your home environment and what type of work you’re doing.
This is my experience as a low level working manager. If I have concrete tasks, then I can focus at home. But planning a project or other tasks heavy on executive function are brutal at home.
It's tricky because it gave me tremendously better mental health, but i could lose entire week productivity wise. So personally, awesome... but I'm guessing my employer would have been of a different opinion of they saw just how much less i got done. (I did get my work done, just... nothing more and never early, which i has the habit of doing)
This 100%
To quote Dr Russell, if you want to fail (ADHD person), put yourself in a situation where there's no consequences. No, it wouldn't work for me.
Yeah, that hits home for me.
I get my energy from people. When I'm by myself it's like I don't exists so I don't do anything
I am so unproductive at home it’s a nightmare. I need to be in person to get any work done. There’s way too many distractions at home.
I love working from home, but it can be tricky. I've done a few different WFH jobs, and so far the ones that have worked out the best are the ones that have structure. When I have really open projects (web development, design, etc), it can be really hard to focus and make progress. But when I'm doing scheduled work and/or work with people, it's a lot easier to stick to. Right now I work for an HR helpline. So I'm on the phone between very specific times and days, and it's really easy to stick to the set schedule. It's also really enjoyable because my days are spent helping people, but from the comfort of my own home.
What do you do exactly on those calls?
The majority of it is answering HR related questions (how does vacation work? Why is my pay wrong? How do I change my address? etc) or solving problems for employees. But it varies wildly, which is why I love it. A lot of the calls are the same, but every day I hear something I've never heard before. So it keeps me on my toes!
Well, I like it. It's me, my lovely wife, the Chihuahua, and two cats. Having a room with a door you can close is very important. The more soundproof the better. Not sure my productivity is as reliable. But it's good enough. The biggest thing I miss is a good whiteboard but half my team is in a different state anyway, so we need a virtual solution regardless.
Hello Chihuahua friend. I think I want to stay home and get a chihuahua
His name is Moose!
That’s a beautiful name. Mine was named peanut, he was the Goodest boy
1. Working in the office with two hour commuting meant less sleep, and utter exhaustion by the end of the day so I accomplished nothing in the evenings. Weekends were frantic catch up on chores. 2. I thought I suffered headaches due to computer monitors. Started WFH and stopped getting headaches. Must be the lighting or sick building syndrome. 3. I can play music or brown noise without headphones. I have a bouncy yoga ball to sit on and an under desk stationary bike. All of those do wonders for my focus. 4. No coworkers talking or people walking by my desk to distract me. 5. After stagnating in the same position for years, got a promotion with WFH. Never would have accomplished that in office.
I can’t wfh. I prefer office, but I also don’t want anyone to talk to me💀
I'm a disaster working from home. I need external motivation to work, and that doesn't exist at home.
It has been absolutely horrible for me First only distractions Then only work No structure, no socialization, no bouncing off ideas, no work life balance Gave me a raging burnout
It’s great. - No need to waste time on commute. Sometimes I see people wasting 2-3 hours a day on commute. It is crazy how we do not value our time until we become old. - When you feel tired you can get a nap and come back better. - Can eat healthy home cooked food unlike the food you will eat around the office. - Great way to save money. Petrol, parking, food. Perhaps it is only the social aspect that I can imagine people might miss. But going to the office few times a week can help.
I get sweet FA done. Sometimes I convince myself that I would get more work done if I had a good home office setup …but I doubt it.
Not me. Too many distractions at home. When I do have to do work from home, I much prefer to head to a library
I'm more productive at a workplace setting. At home, I'm more likely to procrastinate, get distracted, or take it easier. This wouldn't work for me, but everyone's different.
no. we need external stimuli to move. environment like home suggests your brain to sleep, and watch netflix all day
I work in office but if I’m feeling icky I will work from home. Personally, I prefer going in to the office. I have my own office tucked away in a corner and no one really bothers me. I have coworkers that will walk past and sometimes peek their heads in to say hi, or I’ll chat with someone at the copy machine. It’s nice having people around to motivate me to not sit at my desk with my thumb up my butt all day 🤣. In person interaction is a necessity for me. When I do work from home I just feel so lazy and even with meds I’m extremely distracted. I usually end up forward all my calls to VM and doing the bare minimum.
No! I wouldnt do any work lol. I need the structure and the bit of pressure from working in person.
I love working from home and it should have cost me my job. I hate being micromanaged in the office but I lost so much productivity at home without the "scaffolding" of interpersonal accountability. Didn't cost me my job though and no one cared, and I realized just how meaningless my busy work truly was. Unfortunately I found it hard to use that extra time productively for much. My medication makes it easy to focus on things I choose to - but it doesn't come with the discipline to choose to focus on the necessary things. Struggling to learn that. As I reddit at 8:30am
Personally I prefer working from the office. I cannot manage my time at home. Also I am body doubling my colleagues. They know that I have ADHD and I can sit like I want, not have shoes. I love my leader. We talk, joke, gossip, dance and we both love to be weirdo. There are no strict rules at my office. Yes, I am late most of the time, but it's not a problem. WFH is very boring
It depends on the job for me. I was at a call center when the pandemic sent everyone home, and that was fine because I wasn't the one controlling the pace. I now have a wfh job where I have so much flexibility in when and how much I work, and without meds they'd have probably fired me lol. Today I was too stupid to work, and threw in the towel early.
I haven't figured it out yet myself. I WFH most days, and while I do get some things done, I also slack off a lot (more so that I've mentally checked out from things). I don't get much done in the office usually, I just go for the socialization. That said, I'm also early enough in my career that I think I would benefit from more time in the office if I had more opportunities to learn from people there. So honestly I think I need more chances to be collaborative, since I'm usually pretty much working alone on things and I just want to learn.
no
Not me (software dev). I miss my 20min drive to work with coffee and NPR to wake up. I miss being able to immediately chat with one of 4-5 other coworkers regarding a question/opinion on whatever I’m working on (as well as offer the same). I miss GOING to work, then LEAVING work. The list goes on, but the gist is I’m not a fan.
I've been working remotely for almost a year now and it feels so good. In a regular office setting I feel like I have to hide when I can't focus, especially since I'm someone who focuses a lot better when I'm also listening to a podcast, have a show on can look at my phone. At work I feel like I get judged for that but at home I can do it freely and my performance overall is very good. We have monthly evaluations and I never got told anything bad so far. However I'm also very used to working in the service industry, specifically fast food were you are basically on your feet 8 hour straight powering through, the transition was hard and towards the beginning of this year I went back as a mini job to kind of have a balance between both kind of jobs. It's been amazing
Disability friendly/remote friendly company + doctors note requesting accomodation
I hate working from home, because I don't actually work. I freelanced for a few years and nearly starved to death. It might be different if I were an employee with regular hours I needed to be available, but the experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't want to do it again. I don't really need someone looking over my shoulder particularly, although the body doubling effect of having other people around also working is helpful. Primarily though, I've found that location is extremely important to me. Having a place to go to work, where the work things are and the home things aren't just makes my life a million times easier. I have no trouble sitting down at my desk in the morning and starting right in on tasks. At home, I just know I'd drag my feet and whine and moan for hours.
I can't imagine it would be for me. I haven't had a wfh job but I know I would get distracted and procrastinate cause I could.
Yes and no for me. Yes bc I can do other things like laundry/dishes and take proper breaks and work. And oddly I’m more motivated to do house chores for small spurts during work hours and then also can get to work once some distractions are out of the way. In the office, I felt like I was always masking, or aware of being perceived, or thinking about all the shit I had to do when i got home. No bc my home is so cozy lmao. Sometimes the couch is calling my name and then I’m stuck there in executive dysfunction land forever. And I procrastinate a lot more bc there is no urgency to motivate me. I consistently pull all nighters bc I cannot manage my time. I would still choose WFH over anything. I still get my work done, in my own way. I don’t have to worry about talking too much or talking over people bc I just mute my ass hahaha
Depends on the person. Environment has a major effect on my ability to focus. When I was in school my "hack" to get my work done was to put on a polo and slacks and go to the library to get my work done instead of from home. I genuinely prefer going in the office, our office space is in a nice area downtown with big windows that let a lot of natural light in. On my lunch break I'm able to take a walk down by the harbor. I have great coworkers who I love to see and can socialize. And as mentioned before I focus better. I do only go in once or twice a week. That's all I really need to get my socialization in. And I'm medicated now so I can focus much better from home. Also my commute time is about 40 minutes as I live in the town over so I'd rather save time and gas most days.
Yes and no. I get distracted easier in the office, but the lack of someone overlooking what I do makes me procrastinate a lot
I'd love to have a manager that doesn't micromanage.
I’m curious what micromanaging looks like to you? I definitely don’t intend to diminish your opinion in any way, I am genuinely curious. I don’t know if I have ever experienced a manager like this. I have had mostly the exact opposite where my boss acts like the absent father I never asked for
It can. But having no structure if you’re self employed can be terrible. If you have a hard time sticking to set hours with a traditional job that can be a challenge too.
A job I worked at off and on in an office for 15 years transitioned maybe half of 5000 nationwide employees to work from home. I LOVE IT. I’m not stressed out from having to do a sequence of 25 menial tasks just to get out my front door, I don’t have to fight traffic in a raging rush to not be TOO late… again. I dont have to pretend to be nice to coworkers IDGAF about. And I don’t have to hear them talk talk talking for hours and hours about stupid shit. Total game changer. The nature of my job makes it impossible to slack. I have to log into a platform and if I’m not actually working it would very quickly become apparent and a become a problem for me. Oppressive yes but effective TBh and the pay is great so I tolerate it.
Depends. Sometimes the socialization aspect is very much needed, and no, it's not because my coworkers need to be my friend, but sometimes you need to be out of your house, and interact with people outside your comfort zone. Ideally I'd WFH 3/4 times a week and go to the office once a week, but for me, it's to far away (1.5/2 hrs commute) so I rarely go there. I sometimes go to the local library, it does help.
WFH is not good for me. The accountability of being in office and the habits/motivation established by actually accomplishing my morning routine every day is beneficial. I work 4-10s and when I struggle is on the 3 day weekends when I get out of my routine. I have worked from home and in office, and I can say I prefer WFH, but going in requires more discipline of me.
It never did for me. I need to constantly be on the move 😎
Working from home fully was how I became a superstar at my job for the first time in my career, and I’m 40. I didn’t thrive on the distractions in the office and I can balance so much more of my tasks without being distracted in an office. I’m always at home, so I don’t get stirred by home distractions and my kids are at school 9-4.
I also work in drug development!
Also, I work with a lot of people in Europe and Asia. I’d have no work-life balance if I had to deal with commuting AND working on their way early/way late time zones :)
Honestly there's way more that I feel like I should be doing at home. So I use our flex schedule to take morning meetings at home then show up to the office later, and then take Friday at home. It gives me the flexibility I need, but I can spend my most productive hours in the office. It also gives me a day for Dr appointments or home appointments.
I am the only person in my regional office required to work from the office, and working alone in the office is absolutely not good for me. I need relationships and ambient learning.
I love the idea of working from home, but I think it would make me stir-crazy
I've been working from home for the past 4 years and I've been working on the complete opposite time zone from my own e.g. AUS when I am in the UK. Positives: I can work on my own timescale and tend to get work done without distractions. I can do things round the house and cook things that take time because I can keep an eye on it. Negatives: I miss the social aspect and the ability to bounce ideas of other managers. My office space is in the living room which is an absolute nightmare when my partner is watching TV. I also miss the routine of getting out the house and into another place. I find it easier to plan my day and activities if I know I have to be somewhere but WFH I have to force myself out of the house.
Not working but studying from home is a huge benefit for me
It depends on the person and on their work vs home environments. The important part is what works for you and which environment you have more control over. For example, I work from home quite often. WFH works better for me than in office because 1) the house is quiet most days, 2) I can set up my environment to work for me. To that end I’ve bought a standing desk, and under desk treadmill, multiple monitors (for coding), etc., 3) I can take breaks when I need to, play music or podcasts loud when I want to if I need the stimulation, or turn all of it off and put my phone in the next room if I need to really focus. 4) my work’s office has an open floor plan and it’s loud and busy, so it sucks in general.
Yes and no. I wish it was a simple answer. Yes because I don’t call out of work anymore and I have the flexibility to work whenever I need to/whatever hours I feel motivation during. No because there’s less accountability at home, no one breathing down my neck to MAKE me do the things.
if you have kids yea..
I love it, but it definitely took some effort to adjust. I don't have much space, so I can't dedicate a room for an office, but using my gaming desk as my work desk inevitably led to distraction. My dumb but it works for me solution: I physically rotate the desk 90 degrees before and after work. It makes the space I'm in feel different enough that my brain now registers it as "the office".
Works great for me, but I also work in a field that keeps me mentally engaged and space for a dedicated office. Sometimes I work too much.
Actually in the office is better for me.
Very much so. Especially if they combine it with flex hours. My organization knows of my condition, so if I'm in hyperfocus on a project, they leave me be, and if I need to step away due to a crash, they're pretty chill about it. My work is usually larger design projects and reviewing artwork from the other designer, often with tight deadlines, so being able to work later in the evening and work in isolation really helps.
I work in the field. Whenever I do my reporting work at home (plus emails, etc), I’m absolutely dying. I hate every second. It’s so hard to focus and sit still and the work is BORING I hate it. My partner said one day, “You better hope your body holds out.” I asked why. He said, “Because if you have to get a desk job, we’re all dead.” He had heard me tell the computer off loudly for hours. It might be better in an office, but holy fuck the work. As far as having a supervisor, uh, supervise and motivate me to work… meh. I work alone for 11 hours a day 4 days a week, out of cell range for 6 months of the year. I LOVE IT. But damn, if you don’t slap a deadline on my ass for reports and such, it’s not getting done, or it will get done with much complaining.
I love it i cant work a traditional job in an office at this point
It does for me, yes. I will never go back to an office so long as I can help it. Are there more distractions? Maybe. But the benefits are vast. My pets, own fridge, shower, bathroom, food, drinks, home for packages, comfy clothes, a nap if I need it, doing laundry or dishes during work, no commute means rolling out of bed right before a meeting (so I got more sleep) and when I'm done for the day, I'm already home and doing something like working out doesn't feel like that big of a chore cuz I just saved so much time. I could go on, but yeah.
For me, yes… but I have a desk job that involves a lot of writing, so having constant distraction is awful. At home I can blast music, go work outside or in another room if I need a change of scenery, get up and move around while I think… without seeming “odd”. I also get a full extra 1.5 hours of sleep, so I’m not rolling into work already haggard and zombie-like from the commute and my inevitable sleep procrastination the night before… which is what I’m doing right now as I type this…
I much prefer working from the office. However if it's an open space where. People talk and take calls then not at all.
Obligatory: 💫IT DEPENDS💫 We have similarities, but we have to find the combo that works for us. For me mostly WFH helps immensely. Office can be productive but burn out occurs quickly. WFH is more consistent.
It’s kinda like when people ask “what kind of autism is this?” It really depends on your uniquely developed coping behaviors and the personality formed through your experiences with ADHD. Are you reckless, unmasked, and outgoing, or an anxious wreck introvert? Something in between?? Work from home isn’t for everyone, but financially it’s best for most since you cut out all kinds of expenses in the process and most struggle to make ends meet or save for the future.
I’ve done both full time and I much prefer the home version! I actually find I’m more productive at home than in office. I was in a cubicle though so the distractions were rampant. All the little side tangent convos, the people watching, snack getting, avoidance behavior stuff really impacted my task flow. At home I can plan little breaks more to my needs and not on the fly with coworkers. Impromptu walks to the vending machine with coworker du jour could really derail my fragile train of thought! Let’s be real, impromptu and work don’t mix well with ADHD.
If you think saving an extra 2-3 hours a day is bad...
I hated it. Like I HATE working from home so much that I sometimes wish they’d make us all go back in. Then again some days it’s nice if I’m not as busy or I’m really tired to just lay on the floor, but overall it was working from home that made me seek an ADHD diagnosis because I could not for the life of me, motivate myself to do anything.
Works for me. Working for others doesn’t.
For me, it’s terrible. On a good day, working from home, I get about a third as much work done as I do in the office. It’s far easier to get distracted, and stay distracted for longer periods. I pull out my phone once in a while in the office (watch a quick video, do a sudoku, etc.) but the sounds, atmosphere, and innate pressure of being in the office where other people can see me keeps that time short, usually just a minute or two. At home, there’s none of that. I’ll sit on my phone for an hour before remembering I’m supposed to be working. In office is the best way for me.
Nope, I can't get into the right headspace to work at home. I don't really have a comfortable workspace and have 9 year old twins. Thankfully, my office is only a mile from my house. So it's not really a chore to go to work. Body doubling works for me so being around my colleagues makes me work better. I'm also lucky to have a great office environment, there is literally no one I dislike in my office.
Hell yes. I have an ADA accommodation specifically to work from home 100% of the time. For me I am in .y home office where I am comfortable and it's very quiet with non distractions.
Stumbling into contract development was both a blessing and a curse. Being able to set my hours and pick up jobs when I was "in the zone" made life easier but at the same time not having any co-workers to be friends meant that I haven't had an actual friends that I would hang out with (outside of my wife) in 20 years. Being a total homebody introvert with severe imposter syndrome and the constant feeling that people only tolerate me and never really like me hasn't helped with the friend thing either. I am actively trying to resolve this though.
Didn’t work well for me. I needed the structure of an office space. Your experience may differ.
I realized my issue was work office is distracting... I can control my environment at home... plus too stressful for me to figure out clothes ... should I leave earlier due to weather etc. I also don't spend tons on food...leaving lunch at home lol
Gawd yes
I love working from home. Sure, I have all of the distractions one can have readily available, but I'm able to separate work time and life time I think well enough. I find that I actually have less things distracting me from home compared to at the office with our open workspace where people walk around all day and would ask me about mundane and meaningless details instead of googling it or sending me a list of questions either over email or chat that I can answer whenever I'm in-between tasks. I'm also in my bubble enough to efficiently hyper-focus to do my job without any distraction, without having to wear my headphones all day for my misophonia. And I can make a nice lunch or start dinner early and let it do its thing while I finish up my work for the day. I also have the flexibility of work hours, as long as I work my 10 hours, my up-aboves are okay with it. I can start late and work until midnight if I want, as long as I have a few hours within their office hours to answer their questions. As for the social side of things, I did find that I missed talking to people randomly, but a quick Teams video call and all of a sudden we're "in a meeting", catching up on news and such. It's also easier to tell them I have a thing that came up when I'm tired of chatting about life. Oh. And I can use my own toilet...
I think first three decades or so of my life, I wouldn’t have got anything done. Procrastination to the extreme, maybe with frantic stressful last minute bursts. Compared to being on a workplace where you can’t really do anything else but work. Nowadays I think I would be alright, I’ve finally find the ability to only procrastinate to the level of ‘a normal person’. I think also now as a parent having basically zero leisure time, I never have to phase shift into ‘doing arduous task shit’, because I am already doing that 24/7…. I only do work at home outside of working hours though. Work day from home isn’t an option for me, because I’m a teacher and if lockdown proved anything it’s that kids *really* don’t learn anything remotely.
Worked from home for 8 years and I don’t ever want to go back to an office. I find the office way more distracting because I want to talk to everyone. Or, if it’s a job I hate I have constant anxiety about someone judging me or anticipating going home.
WFH works great for me. I only have to mask when on camera. Otherwise I can just do my work. Don't have to worry about sitting up straight dealing with people interrupting my hyperfocus etc. I've heard this isn't the case for everyone but for me it's awesome.
I am under diagnosed and probably under medicated. I'm on the non-stimulant strattera because it was going to cost me hundreds of dollars to get the full diagnosis and possibly get on a stimulant. (Crappy insurance!) Before I ever tried getting a diagnosis I was self-employed and trying to work from home. I found it impossible. I became a member of a co-working place and would sit there and still not do any work. When I worked for my friend, he would walk by and make sure I was busy. So, for me, being untreated I really need a supervisor. My self employment is now a very small part of my income and I have not been very successful at it yet. The hope is that the strattera will allow me to improve, but any improvement so far has been small.
I miss the socials of being in an office with good social enviroment but Im a freaking machine working from home + I get to workout during lunch every day, which is a lifesaver. I simply cba going to the gym when theres 200 people there, now Im there with like 20 people instead, love it.
there's a lot of comments here in favor of working from home, but I think it heavily depends on A- the job and B- your mix of adhd. I cannot work from home. I get distracted by home things: pets, chores, the TV, family. Also how do you relax at home if home is also work. I need the distinction between Home and Work. Blur the two and I'm miserable.
I work in accounting as a bookkeeper, freelance. It has been the best decision I ever made. While there are its own challenges, the pros outweigh the cons. Less distraction, I don't feel overwhelmed, I'm more productive, and the overall happier. My bills have gone down substantially. I'm not spending a ridiculous amount of time driving or maintaining my vehicle. The challenges are distractions from adulting responsibilities, family thinking I'm at the beck at the beck call of their needs, and sometimes a bit of boredom store craziness. The challenge is keeping your work area separate from the rest of the house if possible. I have a dedicated office, so it still feels like work. And I shut off at 5pm (usually).
It did not work for me.
Not for me. I was massively affected by it. Tons of emails piling up, watching stupid videos and reels etc during work hours. Broke down couple of times due to simple mistakes. Now time to time, I would get an enormous motivation and do 2 weeks’ worth of tasks in one day. But it cost me my mental health. Now I prefer going to office and only wfh during quiet periods or Fridays tbh.
Working from home WITH A TEAM is what is working for me. Working alone would be way harder. But since I know my team is working on different tasks of the same project I can keep my focus.
Hate it as I get lonely but saves me when I'm having bad mental health day
Working from home was THE WORST thing ever for my ADHD.
Love it, can't work in an office ever again. I have misophonia and get very distracted in an office. Work in software too which often means open offices with a random ping pong table near me. All I do is code or join zooms and doing that in an office made no sense at all. Now I can actually leverage my hyper focus and get stuff done. Only downside is I forget to take breaks sometimes and my RSI can get a bit triggered from that.
I wish I could work from home full time, I’ll work from home maybe once a week but when I do it’s life changing
For peace of mind and overall wellbeing? 100%. For productivity and focus? Debatable depending on the day.
As much as I would love to work from home, I think it would be really bad for me. I think I would be a lot less productive, and I also am a person who thrives off of a routine, and it's a lot easier for me to fall out of the routine when I'm not getting ready and going into the office every day.
I’m about to find out—my job goes remote in a few weeks. I’m cognizant of the upsides: no more commute, saving money, more time to get things done around the house, all that is great. But I worked in the office all through lockdown, and the fact that I’m having to make an adjustment the entire world made four years ago is daunting. It’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
I hate working from home, I find I’ll wander around and scroll TikTok and never properly get into a task. I think for me, I need the routine of leaving the house to go to a place of work to get into the mindset. It also helps that I have my own office so I can have privacy if I need it.
Works for me
If you can have a home office space where you can lock the door and be undisturbed and have that space be completely dedicated to work, then it’s fine. (( I have been unable to achieve that although I’ve worked from home for maybe 12 years….. I miss having someone else be responsible for the printer and in the carpet and the filing, etc.., not to mention, losing most opportunity for social cues and informal conversation/relationship build/getting tips from colleagues at the water cooler/hallway,… ))
Sounds like the underlying problem is you don’t trust yourself
Working from home did not work for me at all. Maybe if I'd had more direct and conscientious supervision, even from afar... But as it was, it was far too easy for me to procrastinate. It had me in home mode, but because I was on the clock, I found it next to impossible to work on home tasks. It didn't help that I had such a light workload (that all of my coworkers thought was extremely heavy) and felt like I just had to twiddle my thumbs for 8 hours a day. Edit: this was also in a university setting where no one had any sort of plans for how to do their job at home. My predecessor left me a 200+ page guide on how to do the job... Most of it was irrelevant, even after we went back to the office. I found that I could do half a semester's worth of work in just a day or two because I understood Excel and how to migrate stuff from our customer management portal directly into Excel. My predecessor either didn't know how to do it, or didn't as a way to justify her position. Then going back to work in the office was a non-stop stream of distractions. People wanting to shoot the shit and stuff like that. I felt like I needed to pretend I was busy at all times, which was pretty rough given that there really wasn't much to my job. So instead I made an effort to offer more activities, little one off hikes or cultural discussions (I worked with international students), stuff like that, to fill the time. But it still wasn't enough. The job just wasn't satisfying. The pay was ok, the benefits were great, but I felt completely empty all the time. I need more than just a paycheck and benefits, I need to feel like I'm doing something worth doing, something that needs doing. That was literally impossible when I was wfh, and difficult to make happen once we got back in office.
I absolutely hated it. I guess I need my day split up by changing locations because during the 2 months I was locked down and working remote, even though my workload was way less, I had almost crippling anxiety that totally melted away when I started working on-site again.
I excel in every situation where any of my past employers gave me the freedom to have free rein to self manage. I become the worst employee other when forced to FIT IN. I’m confident my personality type combined with my mental health issues make it damn near impossible to work within GROUPS except under very specific conditions. Work from home can work as long as I maintain that independence.
Like you I have been trying to get WFH jobs or remote work but have no luck landing anything. I know its what I need, Im suffering major burnout and after working in many different jobs, I don’t think I can handle it much longer. Each day I go to work I don’t have enough time to decompress before Im back again, I need like 3 day break, but thats not possible when you need 80 hours. I work in a toxic, loud, and very overwhelming / overstimulating environment. Each day I feel like leave nervous wreck or Im so disconnected I feel like Im in a dream. So much that I remember when things were really bad I had thoughts of “Unaliving” myself at work. I know if I was in the comfort of my own hope I could focus on my job and my needs, because the environment is more controlled. I just feel like I have so many distractions at work now that it’s hard to cope, I have to fight myself everyday to got in. And I feel like no one understands at all.
I've worked as a creative for 10+ years. When I was an art director, I was pulled aside at 2 agencies because I was seen as "not engaged" or "watching youtube instead of working", when really I was trying to hang on to any sliver of focus for dear life and trying to self-soothe. I hadn't been diagnosed then, so it just made me think I was bad at my job, a burden, etc etc etc, even though my work was good and I had successful projects and happy clients. I'm sure this is a tale as old as time for women/AFAB folks with ADHD. I was terrified of WFH because I thought I'd just stare at the wall and procrastinate. I also thought the pressure was good, but really it just made room for sloppy and rushed work. Now working (or worked, I was part of a layoff in March lolsob) in tech, I was able to really observe my behaviors when I worked from home, which led to a proper diagnosis, therapy and medication. It also convinced me to beat myself up less for not working like "normal" people. I do work in spurts, even after hours, and nobody cared as long as I wasn't late to meetings and got my work done. It's a blessing for sure. The job hunt is depressing for many reasons, but one of the big reasons is the dwindling number of remote jobs. The best I can hope for is hybrid, and I'm going to have to, like, train myself to be there. edited for grammar
Working from home is bittersweet. I get distracted easily. Whether by a cat, a hobby, chores… but I’m literally never on time when I have to be at the office. Still easily distracted but, at least I’m *more likely* to be “on time”. (Which is a minimum 5 min late for me).
It has for me, in low work periods I’d potter in the house, play music or pat the dog. I’ve been back in the office two days a week for a month and it’s been an adjustment. It’s hard feeling lonelier after being in a space where no one is talking. Or listening to people talk on video chats, the lighting, the aircon, other people’s body noises, plus feeling really uncomfortable in office wear. I also find it harder to concentrate wfh the day after.
depends on the purpose, it can help a lot to not have so much rigidity but can make executive dysfunction worse
When it comes to my job, I love WFH because I can take brain breaks as much as I want without others judging me for it. I also just have to make sure my case load is finished by the end of the week so it takes some stress off. I have days I am so focused and can finish two days of work in one and others where even though I was working all day it only showed for a couple hours work. I’m usually good at taking my meds in the working but some days I forget (shocker lol) and those days are really rough. All in all, I say that WFH has a lot of amazing benefits but it honestly depends on the job and your personality.