I am an advocate of work from home when the situation requires it. When I got sick, I had to get treatments and had issues driving. This was due to medication, along with other things that made it difficult, if not damn near impossible for me to make it the 50 mile drive to my office. I started working from home at that point and continued to until my medical retirement.
At first it was great, even though I was sick, I was still a work-aholic, which makes WFH a disaster if your that type of person. It did not help me get better. I even worked on my sickest of days, I even worked from my laptop from the hospital getting my IVIG infusions once they gave me the access. This did not give me the time to properly rest and heal myself and I eventually think it led to me getting even sicker.
It was a cycle!
I also resembled much of what you covered in your post. Because I was also struggling with my physical health, and then started struggling with my mental health, my relationships at work suffered. This was because they could not be nurtured with that personal contact and relationship building you get from person to person interaction. We didn't even have Teams at the time until towards my retirement time.
My organization did what they could to give me the equipment and resources I needed to work, but I couldn't get everything, like certain network resources could only be accessed onsite and not through VPN. This limited my functionality and I had to depend on others for some functions I used to be able to do myself.
I think WFH is fine if one balances work and life. They should have a seperate space in the home to work from. Don;t try to work from home sick and do other "home" tasks while working from home. They should stop work when work is done. Shut the computer and leave it off. No sneaking into the home office for late night work sessions. Balance WFH and going into the office as much as possible. Make a schedule to show your face in the office and make a point to show your face to your comrades so they know you are alive and remain relevant.
Just the thoughts from my experience.
Yes, but it is a slippery slope, isn't it? It is kind of like violence - it is okay when the situation requires it, but the hurdle is lowering. I think it is the same for various mental and health disorders, everyone ends up having an excuse as to why they should be exempted or included, but they never want to pay the costs of getting their way.
And then, as you mentioned, it also had other impacts on you that were negative. Sure, you could work from home, but at what costs? It is hard to factor it all in, but I think individuals need to consider it from a more holistic viewpoint.
Balance is a difficult thing to accomplish for most of us. Like a balanced diet, most fail and end up eating more of what they like to eat, even though it isn't good for them.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Yes, I think WFH requires very careful and watchful leadership. I don't necessarily mean that from a the perspective of watching for the employee knocking off while they should be working. That seems to be where management always goes. A good leader wil also be monitoring for employees who are over throttled while WFH. They will be looking for things like the employee who is sending emails after hours etc.
I notice that the working culture in the US is generally more unhealthy than that of Europe.
Yes it most likely is.