I feel the exact opposite- I didn't have the discipline to keep working when I work from home- my productivity plummeted during COVID and skyrocketed when RTO was mandated again. At home I'm too easily distracted by errands, hobby projects in the garage, picking up a book to read "just a chapter" on a coffee break and realizing 2-3 hours have passed, and the like. In office I feel obligated to actually be productive from the combined shame of being seen as a slacker and less physical opportunities to goof off.

> In office I feel obligated to actually be productive from the combined shame of being seen as a slacker and less physical opportunities to goof off.

If anything, an office makes for more unproductivity than working remotely. No random people showing up at your desk with "can you help out real quick (LOL) here and there", no "hey we gotta wait for colleague XYZ before we head for lunch break", no coffee room talk...

No no and no.

Stop thinking all people are the same.

Some people are just unproductive at home, some are more. That's life.

I know plenty of people that are absolutely unproductive at home, they just get distracted easily as the previous user.

And there's many people that just can't work without carrot and stick provided by people/bosses around them judging their daily routine.

Seriously stop thinking that every person works as you.

We are all different and reality is that WFH is tough for many people from many points of view, it's not for everyone.

That's true. I suppose if you are a person who has an iron will and good discipline the potential for productivity is much higher at home where you can lock in and just grind for a few hours with no interruptions. I am not that person and suspect many others aren't either, so there's that conflict between potential and real world outcomes where some people are just more productive in office even with all the distractions you mentioned than in an environment where you can actually focus in a flow state but have no surrounding social pressure to do so. I suspect management figures the same which is probably part of why RTO is being pushed so hard.

In my eyes the individual differences here could mean that it would be better to leave the decisions about WFH or office work to the teams. The team manager should know who can perform well from where and they can react if an arrangement does not work out as expected.

Wait you need discipline to... stop working?!

I can relate.

I work (or at least spend the time at the PC even if I don't) around two hours more per day from home, while the office made me quit much sooner.

I personally resorted to logging time I spend working in a spreadsheet to keep weekly hours under control. Otherwise I often spend evenings reading work-related papers then the next day I feel guilty of taking a longer lunch. No more, the spreadsheet averages it all out.

Sadly, yes. I lose track of time and allow work to consume all my waking hours. Having to travel a little helps. I still fall into it if I need to work in the evening after I get home.

Separate your work location from the house life. Best thing i did was putting a desk in the guestroom and turn it into a home office. If im there im working, if im in any other part of the house im not