Seniors WFH

March 2026

By Richard Fleming

Photo courtesy of Natalia Blauth

Once a week, I try to do a Facetime call with two of my grand-nephews who live in New York City. During the call I read a book to them – currently we’re ambling through The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown – though we also chat about their life in the big city. I’ll also sometimes check in with their parents.

With the recent heavy snowfall on the East Coast, I was worried about how my niece and nephew would get to work, so I sent them a message of concern. My nephew responded with an assurance they would be fine because they were “WFH during the blizzard” (working from home). He then asked how my wife and I were doing in California. I looked outside at our 56-degree weather, and felt a twinge of guilt. As I was getting ready to respond with “fine” or something similar, my wife quickly said, “Just tell him we are WFH also.”

I paused briefly, then told myself, “WTH, we really do WFH every day.” We may not have typical jobs with set schedules, biweekly paychecks, commutes, and days off. But aging is a full-time job and we work hard at it, day after day, week after week. And the same is true of most old folks I know. Growing old is hard work. And much of it is WFH.

So I messaged my nephew back and told him we were WFH also. He responded, “Is there a blizzard there?” My reply, “No, but you know we’re in our 70s, so we WFH.”

*    *    *

Many younger and middle-aged folks appear to think the silver-haired generation has an easy, slow-paced life. In case any of them are reading this post, let me offer a brief picture. From sunrise to sunset, we seniors are busy beavers. We have to get out of bed, which can be a challenge. We have to complete our morning hygiene activities, and they become more strenuous and complicated as we age. We then need to figure out how to make a reasonably nutritious breakfast.

After our morning meal, our days are consumed with countless activities, including laundry. Cleaning the house. Fixing broken appliances. Trying to prevent houseplants from dying. Keeping up with current events. Discarding clutter. Trying to stimulate our brains by learning new languages or doing word puzzles. Reading books, especially fiction and poetry. Doing some exercise (hopefully). Yard maintenance. Babysitting grandchildren. Grocery shopping. Preparing lunch and dinner. Remembering to take all our medications, the number of which expands year by year. Keeping track of our increasing number of medical appointments, dental appointments, lab work requirements, and vaccinations. Volunteer work. Paying bills while making sure we don’t run out of money. And many more responsibilities and chores. I haven’t even mentioned the work of scheduling in activities we actually enjoy, like spending time with family and friends.

I hope my abbreviated description of our daily activities makes it clear that old folks set the gold standard for productivity while WFH.

And we do all this work despite having less get-up-and-go than when we were young and vigorous in our 50s and 60s. Our mitochondria, vital little structures inside our cells, are fading, which means we have less energy to draw on. It is not unusual for our medications to contribute to fatigue. Seniors often sleep less soundly than younger folks. And then there is the fatigue induced by the chronic illnesses and conditions we must deal with.

Seniors have to do a lot of work with less energy and stamina than other generations. We do not get days off. Three-day weekends are a distant memory. We are not paid overtime. The well-known saying “There is no rest for the wicked” needs revision. Let’s rephrase it: “There is no rest for the wicked and the old.”

*    *    *

I want to clarify I am not complaining about WFH. While it is true I frequently feel busier now than when I had a real job, I am grateful I have the opportunity to WFH as I grow old. More and more frequently, I learn of the death of a friend, or an acquaintance, or a distant family member. And often they are my age or younger. This is scary indeed. I will gladly WFH for as long as I can.

So when the clock reaches 4:00 p.m. and I start feeling run down, knowing I still have a lot to do before bedtime, I just tell myself, “WTF, you’re so lucky to be WFH. No commute. No parking hassles. You can rearrange your schedule any time you want. You can pace yourself. You can take frequent breaks. If you fail to complete your day’s assignments, you are not called in to the supervisor’s office for a discussion. WFH is great!”

Seniors don’t need a blizzard to WFH. We work from home no matter the weather. Growing old is the quintessential WFH job.

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