WFH or WTF? Hot takes from 1993

Anna McMartin

17 Feb 2026 • 5 min read

We all need a bit of light relief right now. I found some today, and I'm going to share it with you.

This morning, I drove from Upper Hutt to Lower Hutt for an appointment. Most of the destruction from Sunday night's storm, which has since moved its misery south, had been cleared away, although much debris remained. Who could have predicted this? I asked myself, reflecting on climate change - before answering myself, Frickin everybody who knew anything about the topic at all.

It was a bleak thought, and I needed to shake it off. On my way back home, I popped into the Earthlink recycling store in Taitā. Earthlink is a brilliant place that stops stuff going to landfill, gives work opportunities to people who face employment barriers, and offers a bargain. To this day, one of my Earthlink highlights is the following sign, spotted on a chest of drawers.

Image description: This sign says, 'Has been treated for borer. PLEASE DO NOT LICK'. And I didn't.

You never quite know what you'll find in a place like Earthlink. I was about to leave when a book caught my eye: Working from home in New Zealand. Published in 1993, it's a helpful guide for a changing world. As someone who works from home at times, I was intrigued. Had this book stood the test of time?

Honestly, Working from home in New Zealand has some great content: regulations, tax obligations, legal structures and more. Kudos to the authors - but ultimately, that's not why we're here. I promised you light relief, and I take that promise seriously. Aspects of this book haven't aged well.

Let's start with the obvious, from the cover.

Image description: This is a partially clothed man taking a phone call on his deck. I'm uncomfortable, you're uncomfortable.

I think 2026 can offer 1993 some sound advice here.

Bro, put a shirt on. I realise you don't understand what's coming, but know this: the era of Zoom will not be kind to men like you, no matter how artfully you drape your tie between your nipples.

While you're at it, change into more relaxed-fitting shorts. What is out of range of your webcam God still judges.

Moving further down the book cover only offers more bewilderment. We think of flexible working as a recent thing, but 2026 has nothing on 1993.

Image description: If you must count the cash take in a yoga pose, like this cartoon woman, I suppose cobra is better than downward dog.

OK, that's the cover - but we all know you can't judge a book by its cover. Luckily, Working from home in New Zealand offers plenty more to judge.

I'm not being negative, I promise. Much of this book brings me joy, like the section on software piracy titled Ahoy, matey! and the technology section called The fax of the matter. But gender roles are where 1993 really needed to lift its game.

Working from home in New Zealand offers a particular caution to women:

When a mother begins to do paid work at home, the impact on her family can be enormous. Expectations of family, friends, the community and herself can turn things upside down - temporarily at least.

But it's not all doom and gloom, ladies:

Everyone has a different guilt threshold. Accept yours, or spend the rest of your career trying to make up for things. Unless you become a selfish workaholic with hungry and neglected children, you should be able to strike a happy compromise.

Noted, 1993. That uplifting thought is illustrated with the following picture.

Image description: A woman feeds a baby, irons and types - so busy she has to use her foot. I'm glad I don't have to iron much in 2026. It frees up my feet for cooking.

Further advice, this time on a different theme, comes from an interview with a man called Alan, who cautions against wearing track pants if you work from home, in case the neighbours think you're unemployed. (You wonder what Alan would have thought of lockdown, when the wearing of any sort of pants marked a person out as some kind of career high-flier.)

We've covered gender roles and dress code - but there's plenty more to working from home in 1993. The book also lists work you can and can't do lawfully from your house. Hairdressing in, fish processing out. Accountancy in, a funeral parlour or other business involving a dead person out.

OK, 1993. I'll give you that one.

That said, there was still room for innovation.

Image description: We're never going to know how Bill combined home zookeeping with butchery, and maybe that's for the best.

And in 1993, just as in 2026, your business could only be as good as your marketing.

Image description: God knows what cheese has to do with the imminent fall of the Soviet Union. Good things take time, I guess.

I drove the rest of the way home, from Taitā to Upper Hutt, smiling despite myself, even as I passed fallen branches and road cones and traces of surface flooding. I finished high school in 1993, the year that Working from home in New Zealand was published. I couldn't have imagined how much the world would change - and in some ways, like gender roles, for the better.

It goes to show the future could still be different if we put our minds to it.

Stay warm and dry, friends, in what is a challenging time - and I hope this has been a little light relief.