Tips for a couple in which both work from home?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done this? What has worked well?

I have had a Telework job for 2 years. Now my DH is talking about interviewing for a Telework position. I'm nervous that he's going to make it hard for me to be productive. He's garrulous and chatty and he's not task focused the way I am. I'm feeling anxious he's going to torpedo my arrangement (which I love) and be a big loud presence.

[Anonymous]

No advice but my husband and I would kill each other in this arrangement. How far apart can you get your home offices?

[Anonymous]

Definitely make sure that you have completely separate working spaces. Preferably as far apart as possible, whatever that means for you. And establish "work hours," i.e. times when you guys should be completely not talking to each other and working.

[Anonymous]

Separate offices are a must! And neither should be your own bedroom or a common space in the house (i.e. working on your laptop in the dining room, etc).
Z)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Separate offices are a must! And neither should be your own bedroom or a common space in the house (i.e. working on your laptop in the dining room, etc).
Z)

Absolutely this!! I telecommute 100% of the time, and on the rare occasion DH telecommutes for whatever reason he sets up office in out of the kitchen or dining room area. There are times when I only have 5 or 10 minutes to grab lunch between calls, and if he's on a meeting I can't make noise in the background to get food. If he has some free time or needs a break, he treated like an office setting comes down to chat. I barely have time during the day to do anything but work ( basically I work with people in different time zones so there's always something that has to get done at any given point in time...why I get to telecommute) and I cannot get it through his head that it's complete pita to have him just drop by willy nilly.

The moral of the story??? DEFINITELY separate offices with doors that can be closed and actual rules put in place about when and when you cannot just "chat".

[Anonymous]

Separate offices with a door open / closed policy - if it's open he can talk to you. If your workday can accommodate it though, scheduling lunch together would be nice and could "head off" some of the chatting.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are both working from home now. Our home is 1100 square feet, no office space. He takes the family room, I take the dining room. We basically ignore each other during the day and save chatting for when we got to lunch together (which I recommend). When we start to annoy each other, the annoyed party goes to the library to work.

[Anonymous]

She has an office on the main level and I telework in the basement. We have visits during the day to say hi. We use common sense to avoid interrupting if the other person is on a call (either listening for a talking or a soft knock on a closed door).

[Anonymous]

Not quite the same, but I telework and DH is job searching right now. He’s been home with me for 2 weeks straight and even with applying for jobs, a list of home projects, and trips to the gym, I’m ready to tear my hair out. I actually volunteered for a 3 day trip next week and am working at the coffee shop/library today and tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not quite the same, but I telework and DH is job searching right now. He’s been home with me for 2 weeks straight and even with applying for jobs, a list of home projects, and trips to the gym, I’m ready to tear my hair out. I actually volunteered for a 3 day trip next week and am working at the coffee shop/library today and tomorrow.

What is he doing that is so bad?

[Anonymous]

DH & I both telework 80%.

Separate offices (2 of our 4 bedrooms, so not shared space with living / sleeping).

Set schedules.

We’re both pretty quiet and task-oriented, so it works for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I are both working from home now. Our home is 1100 square feet, no office space. He takes the family room, I take the dining room. We basically ignore each other during the day and save chatting for when we got to lunch together (which I recommend). When we start to annoy each other, the annoyed party goes to the library to work.

We do this, basically, except our 1100 sq ft house is too small to have a dining room or family room. So we have a desk in our bedroom, a desk in the living room, and a table in the kitchen. We rotate where we work. I would kill to have my own office space so I could shut the door. I have to wear earplugs sometimes. He can work anywhere, with any distractions, but I struggle. We have a firm understanding that he needs to leave me alone during the day, unless I approach him to chat.

[Anonymous]

Separate offices or working spaces.

My office is downstairs in the basement at home and his is on the main level.

We sometimes eat lunch together, but most days we do that separate as our schedules don't always align.

I think it's also helpful, if it's possible for one of you, to work from a different location from time to time. I can't do this as I have very strict conditions under which I can telework, but his is very flexible so he'll go to different coffee shops and food places.

[Anonymous]

Depending on where you live, you could get one flex office space nearby and share it between you. We Work and others are making this more accessible.

[Anonymous]

I'm the 12:26 poster and I will say, working from home has been great for both of us to increase our healthy habits, which makes us happier people overall. He'll take the dog on a long walk and do a conference call. I'll do a conference call that I mainly just need to listen to on the treadmill. We both now only eat out for lunch maybe once/week.