Working from home vs in the office

[sizzlinkola]

I work for a tech startup in NYC and I'm considering working from home as it's an option for me. My boss is completely fine with it and encourages me to work from home if I'm more productive. I've worked from home before and I'm equally productive as I am in the office, probably more since people can't distract me.

There's free food every day, which I eat breakfast, lunch and snack before leaving. So all I have to worry about is dinner every weekday and meals on the weekend. Thus, I reduce my expenses for groceries.

If I work from home, I would save an hour daily of getting ready + commute time, including 30-45 min of extra sleep.

Since I'm pursuing early retirement, I greatly value the free food as I can save more money. The tradeoff is time.

What would you do?

[MrsPennyPincher]

Work from home, commute once or twice a week if you feel like it!

[mistymoney]

Yeah - does it have to be all or nothing??

[BikeFanatic]

Can compromise  work from home monday and Friday. Is the  food realy worth the commute?

[Linea_Norway]

Calculate what your commute really costs, (fuel, tol roads, parking, car wear on your car, extra mileage on your car insurance and whether you need to own a car at all).

Fill your saved commuting time with doing something that generates money, like working extra paid hours for your boss or for a side-gig. Then compare the earned costs (saved on commute + extra hours salary) with the real commuting cost. Isn't that worth a lot more than free breakfast, lunch and snacks?

[NorCal]

I work from home full time.  Here's my thoughts on it, in no particular order.

1. Having no commute is amazing.  You may inadvertently lock yourself into this job for a long time, as you'll immediately rule out any new job that has a commute.
2. You really need a dedicated work space that has no distractions or interruptions.  I have a separate work desk that is 3ft from my desk with my personal computer.  That separation of work vs. personal is critical.
3. Don't skimp on the office setup.  Create a space that feels professional and is easy to be productive in.  I'm very glad I spent the extra money to buy a quality desk with all the ergonomic items, monitor arms, charging accessories, speakerphone, etc.
4. You need to find some time to get out of the house and socialize.  Maybe it's going into the office once a week, or finding some group of friends to hang out with.  This is the hardest one.  I'm still working on it and need to improve.
5. How much money will you save on the commute vs. groceries?  My transportation spending went down several hundred dollars a month while working from home.  There were times I would go a full week without getting into my car.

[YttriumNitrate]

Work from home, commute once or twice a week if you feel like it!

This is basically what I'm doing. Working from home is great, but working from home 100% of the time you miss out on the interactions with the other people. Going into the office Tuesday and Thursday is a great compromise, and with cloud storage its super easy to sync your office and home computers.

[affordablehousing]

with the free food I'd be 100% for the office. Wait to work from home until you're older, lazier, married with kids, and don't care about making friends anymore;) I bet in the future offices will just be a distant memory anyway.

[nkt0]

I prefer the social connection and slight work efficiency gain of in-person, in-office work. It's not easy to quantify, but i think it is real (at least in software development). I find it very alienating and isolating to work remotely full-time. Occasionally, though, it's not a problem. The free food is a great frugality bonus, too!

[mm1970]

I would do both.  I love working from home 1/2 to 2 days per week when I can - no distractions, I can concentrate!

But I need people, even the weirdos I work with.

[WSUCoug1994]

I feel like sometimes we all over index on the money.  I have the option to work from home full time but I commute to my office every Monday and Wednesday for a variety of reasons.  I like engaging with my team in person - it is important for all of us.  I like being in the office - especially spending time with the people - particularly during social hours (lunch/after work).  I went crazy when I worked at home every day - I tried it for a year and I didn't enjoy it.  When I work at home my wife likes to invite me to participate in non-work activities (not the good kind) like unloading the car, changing diapers, taking out the garbage as she is convinced I have nothing to do all day.  I don't mind the commuting costs (car, gas, time, food, etc.) because being in the office gives me a social currency that I crave.