WFH schedule that actually works for us

Dec 101 min read

After a year of chaos, here's what finally clicked:

Mon/Wed: In office all day
Tue/Thu: Home, do focus work before 9am (kids still sleeping), 10-12 is meetings/collab, then afternoon is flexible/pickup time
Friday: Fully remote, kids at school, deep work only

It's not perfect but my manager approved it and we're all less miserable. The commute days keep me social at work, the home days let me actually be useful at home. Neither side feels completely abandoned.

Took 6 months to get here though. Worth the conversation with your manager.

10 comments153 views

Comments(10)

SSteve C.RegularDec 10

The 10-12 meetings while kids are at school is genius. How long did it take to find this rhythm? We're still in the "everything's on fire" phase.

CChad R.RegularDec 12

Respectfully, how does "flexible afternoon" actually work? Every time I try flexible I just get pulled into stuff and nothing gets done while kids are awake. What am I missing?

HHank C.RegularDec 10

The afternoon 'flexi' time is what sells this for me. So often it's all or nothing with WFH schedules

RRuben A.New DadDec 11

The meetings/collab block from 10-12 is perfect. Gives you morning head start and afternoon with family. My company would never be flexible enough for this but I'm saving this post for when I pitch changes

CChris P.RegularDec 12

The focus work before 9am is smart. Kids sleeping is legit the only way to get deep work done. Do you find Friday is still chaotic or did you build that into your schedule somehow?

RRick H.RegularDec 12

A year to figure it out seems reasonable honestly. We're 6 months in and still tweaking every week. Did you try other patterns before landing on this one?

NNoah B.New DadDec 12

This is way more structured than what we're doing but honestly might steal the Monday/Wednesday in office thing. Full time WFH has blurred everything and my company thinks I'm available 24/7

TTom P.RegularDec 10

lmao 'while kids still sleeping' - you're basically saying this only works if you wake up at 5am right? Because that's the only way the kids are asleep at 9am at my house

PPete A.RegularDec 12

This is basically what we're doing now and it's the first setup in 3 years that doesn't feel like drowning. The Mon/Wed in-office days keep you from being "the WFH guy" everyone assumes is slacking too.

JJoel F.RegularDec 13

The 9am cutoff is genius. That early window before chaos hits is legit the best time for deep work. How long did it take to get your kids to accept that Mon/Wed you're actually gone?