Working from Home Struggles for Housesharers - And How to Overcome Them

Sharing a house has a lot of perks. For a start, your bills are generally cheaper, everyone chips in with the rent, and unless your housemates are lazy, you all take it in turns to do the house chores. There are few better feelings in life than knowing it’s not your turn to take the bins out.  However, living with other people can also have its drawbacks, especially when you’re working from home. We look at some of the common struggles you might encounter when you, or your housemates, work from the house you all share, and offer some practical tips on how to overcome them.

The problem: Everyone using the WiFi slows it down

If a lot of you are working from home, having a house-full of people streaming, joining video calls and downloading files at the same time can leave you buffering, stuttering and juddering your way through the working day. There’s nothing worse than having to do the whole “Oh – can you hear me? Hello? Can you see my screen?” dance like it’s still 2020.

The solution: Share your schedule

If a few of you are working from home at the same time, it can be a good idea to share your work calendars. That way you can see if other people have meetings at the same time as you, giving you time to find alternative spaces to work from if necessary, or even move meetings around to avoid clashes with housemates’ if you’re that important (get you!).  If you do head out to do your meeting elsewhere, many coffee shops have coworking deals where you only need to buy one drink to use their WiFi all day. If you’re all staying in, it can also help to temporarily turn WiFi off for other devices you won’t be using during the meeting, like your phone or tablets, to reduce drain on your network. Of course, maximising WiFi performance by having the best possible broadband package in the first place is a great start. Split the Bills customers enjoy speeds of up to 1,000Mbps (subject to network availability), perfect for bigger households with lots of devices.

The problem: The queue for the kettle

How do people who don’t like tea or coffee make it through the working day? Answers on a postcard, please. For the rest of us, a brew can be the difference between a bad meeting and an acceptable meeting, and the idea of taking on any work without one is unthinkable. The problems come when everyone else has the same plan, and suddenly there’s a queue in the kitchen, there aren’t enough mugs to go around, and someone’s used the last of the milk, and your meeting starts in T-minus 1 minute. What’s worse than a meeting without a cuppa? A meeting when you should have had one, but now can’t.

The solution: Plan a drinks round

If you were working in an office, chances are you wouldn’t just make a drink for yourself. In fact, if you tried you’d get so much peer pressure from those around you that you’d end up making three or four instead. So why not do this at home? Arrange a drinks round with your housemates, drop a message in the group chat when you’re thirsty, and ensure everyone gets a drink at the same time. And if you do use the last of the milk, be sure to nip out and get a new bottle.

The problem: There aren’t enough plugs

The idea of working from home probably looks like a cosy desk set-up, with a reclining chair, a cat or dog on your lap, and all the desk toys you could ever imagine. The reality of it for many of us is fighting over the best spot in the house, with the right amount of natural light, a solid work surface and, most importantly, enough plugs, especially if you need a second screen. If you can’t find a plug near a table, you could end up working from your bed or sofa and doing your back no favours at all. It can be a race first thing in the morning, and if you lose, your comfort and concentration could soon go out the window.

The solution: Extension cables

Extension cables can be game changers. Plug one of them in and sit around a dining table, and suddenly you’ve turned your home into a hotdesking haven. If you need to make a call, you could even nominate a room in your house to be the meeting room – just make sure you’ve stuck it on the schedule so there’s not a race for that too.

The problem: It’s too loud

Working in an office can be loud, but at least there everyone is talking about the same sort of job, and you can often reserve quiet spaces if you need to focus. Working from home can be quiet, until all your housemates decide to do it on the same day, and all want to play their music, and all have meetings at the same time.

The solution: Noise cancelling headphones

While these might be a bit of an upfront investment, the amount of headaches they’ll save you later on could be well worth it. Not only do they give you the chance to play whatever music you like, they also drown out everybody else, ideal if one of your housemates is really into Nordic thrash metal and doesn’t have an ‘indoor voice’ when they’re on calls.

The problem: There’s tension over bills

If one of your housemates works from home, while the rest of you have to commute to the office every day, it can be hard to swallow the higher electricity and heating bills that have, in some-part, been caused by their usage throughout the week. That can cause tension, lead to arguments, and make your living situation a lot more stressful than it needs to be.

The solution: Split the Bills

When you use Split the Bills, you and your housemates each pay their share of the bills automatically. Our uncapped gas and electricity plan means you can use as much as you need without worrying about your housemates’ usage – avoiding arguments if some of you are WFH and others are out all day. There’s no need to sit down and do the maths at the end of every month – we do all that for you, ensuring everyone pays a fair amount and keeps things harmonious at home.  See how it works today and get your house signed up. We can help make working from home work better for you.

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