With millions of Americans still working from home since the pandemic started — and with companies like Google allowing its employees to make the change permanent — Roborock wanted to look into how we’re getting along.
There’s good news and bad news. One in five remote workers in Roborock’s non-scientific survey of 2,400 people say they’ve considered breaking up or divorcing their partner over their work-at-home habits.
That said, 70% of couples say working from home has strengthened their relationship, with 35% saying they even have sex during work hours.
However, that doesn’t mean we’re not getting on each other’s nerves. Forty-three percent say their partner distracts them at work, and 43% say their significant other infringes on their personal workspace.
Forty percent of the remote-working respondents work at home with a spouse or a significant other, and more than half of them argue over home cleanliness during the day.
Sixty-one percent of couples argue about the cleanliness of each other’s at-home work spaces, so it might not be a surprise that 73% of remote workers cop to cleaning their homes while they’re on the clock, spending an average of 2.5 hours a week doing so. Eighty-three percent say the cleanliness of their workspace affects their productivity, stress levels and motivation.
Also, thanks to Zoom calls, we’re able to peer into the homes of co-workers, and the survey shows we’re judgy about it: 70% say they’ve judged a co-worker based on their home environment, and 38% say they’re embarrassed by the lack of cleanliness of their own office workspace on camera.
Lastly, 28% or respondents admit they’ve left embarrassing personal items in camera view while working from home — including one employee who left a pair of underwear hanging on their office chair.