15 thoughts on “Question of the Day — Work Space”

  1. I prefer to work at home.
    I don’t know if I would want to work at home five days a week though. Right now, I’ve got a good combo. I go to campus three days a week to teach and use my office there, and I work at home the other two. I like the balance.

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  2. I’ll shirk the question and say I’d rather work at home, but in an office–one of my own.
    We are fortunate enough to have a funny extra room behind the kitchen that we use as an office, but I share it with my husband, and the kids are always back here knocking over my piles of books and etc.
    So, my answer is: I’d rather be at home, but I’d also rather have room to myself so that I can actually get work done without constant interruptions.

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  3. I probably get more work done in the office, but only when I suspend my open door policy and/or students aren’t around. Nothing against students, I just can’t focus enough to do research in 5-10 minute increments. I can grade papers and write exams with distractions, but I just can’t do research that way.

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  4. When I was pregnant the first time, I looked around my department and noticed that the only people who spent all week in their offices where the moms with young kids. So the idea of working at home is really appealing (and it worked great for me before I was a parent), but the reality is that working in the office is far more productive–both of good work and of good parenting. At this point, I have no work-related books at home; when I leave the office, I leave my job.

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  5. All day work is in the office. I don’t work between 5 and 8:30 pm most days. After 8:30, the office is my sofa, where I grade or work on prepping.
    I can’t really work at home. Case in point: right now. I’m waiting for a repairperson.

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  6. Last semester I had a very hard time figuring out what I could do most effectively in my office. There are days when nobody comes by and I have 3 hours to work, but other days students are in and out during that block which makes it hard to budget my time. Once I’m home I don’t have time to work again until after 9, by which point I’m exhausted. I’m hoping this semester will be better for a variety of reasons, mainly that it won’t be my first semester here! I have a study at home (essentially a large closet under the eaves, but we designed it as an office so it has a skylight, a wall of shelves and it’s wired up), but I get most of my work done at the dining room table. I get a lot done when nobody is around; I’m less efficient, but still able to work when the kids are bopping around as long as I’m not also trying to do something else (like make dinner or supervise violin practice). I’m also a big fan of coffee shops when I have a lot grading I need to push through.

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  7. When I started grad school, someone told me that 90% of couples where one person starts grad school and the other doesn’t break up before the PhD is awarded. I had worked in an office before that anyway, so I decided to only ever work at school, never at home.
    That’s still the way it is. I may not be home till late, and I may leave early, but when I’m home, I’m really there, cooking, hanging out, talking with my unindicted co-conspirator.
    Our faculty house promotes this, insofar as it’s way too small for us and three blocks from the department. I don’t have so much as a pad of paper at home; I have to ask him to find me one in the walk-in closet that serves as his office.

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  8. i prefer to work in an office, because as a new parent i struggle with the problem of too much isolation as it is. right now i am working part-time, 4 days/week, approximately 25-30 hours. it is perfect, i love going in to my office & having other adults to interact with, plus being downtown and able to go out for lunch, do shopping, &c.
    assuming my baby would be in daycare either way, it’s probably close to a wash whether i get more done at home or in the office, but i think the office would win because of the need to interact with my colleagues. it’s easier to just talk to each other than have to call on the phone or email all day long with every little question or issue.

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  9. When my children were younger – not undergrads
    or beyond – I loved working at home.
    Now that we’re mostly (holidays excepted)
    empty nesters, I enjoy working at the office.
    It can get very lonely working at home, unless
    spouse or children will arrive to break up the
    monotony.

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  10. I work in the office, mostly. Some days I can do some work at home, but really only when no one else is there. We have (some) space at home, and we keep trying to set it up in a productive way, but so far that’s really not worked. I’ll be on sabbatical next year, though, and coming in to the office during a sabbatical is the kiss of death, so we’ll have to work it out. The kids are in school all day, and the spouse will be working (fingers crossed) so I should at least have 9-3:30 to myself, most days.

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  11. Definitely a mix. I get more done at home (obviously, I have no children), but if I don’t get into the office a few days a week, I start getting squirelly. Also, I begin to forget what my legs look like without plaid pajamas. That’s just not good.

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  12. I work for the government, and most of my work is with business confidential information which companies are required to submit to us. So I’m not allowed to take work home. As a parent of young children, this is wonderful! When I’m home, I’m really there, unlike my wife who is tethered to her Blackberry and can get called any time.

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  13. I like both. I have an office at work but my team is all over the world so flexibility is the key. That’s part of my job but not everyone needs to be tethered to the office and people shouldn’t feel pressured to do this if their job doesn;t require it. Managers that feel that they need to always get in touch with their team have time management issues and issues with scheduling their project work. Their team needs to let their bosses know if they are being unrealistic. If the boss is unreceptive, take a skip level meeting to your boss’s boss. If they still are unrecptive, find a new job so there is no need to deal.

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  14. I’ve been a telecommuter & it can be very isolating. However, it was great to be able to nip out to my daughter’s school for a half-hour without having to travel very far (or justify where I was going). I have the ability to work at home once or twice a week now, but I don’t always take it.

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