Is working from home just a big doss really?

MallyGirl

nicegirl wrote: »

Can I be nosy and ask what jobs all you home workers do please?

I would LOVE to work from home.

Another one in IT here - but I gained my experience in office and client based environments. I wouldn't have been able to start from scratch as a home worker in this field.
I have fibre optic broadband and actually find the network slower when I am in the office than when I am at home. I have a large office where I can splat my current projects all over the walls without having the worry about clean desk policies
One of the offices I spend occasional days at is a bit 'trendy' and has music playing out loud - sometimes from more than one part of the office. Not my cup of tea - it makes me feel very old

Gloomendoom

onlyroz wrote: »

If companies embraced home working they could save bucket loads of money. They wouldn't have to maintain huge office blocks for a start - all they'd need would be a few banks of hot desks. I quite like the idea of different teams rotating the home-working days, so we all do 3 days at home and 2 in the office, using the hot-desks for the office days and only ever booking meetings on those days.

Not to mention the environmental benefits. Fewer people commuting means shorter trains, fewer cars and buses on the roads. Lower harmful emissions. Faster journeys on the existing network with no need for new road and railway building schemes.

Tropez

Well yeah and no.

With my job, there are days where I have very little to do, and days where I have huge amounts to do.

I just do the work as it comes in. That does mean that during working hours I can be sitting in front of the TV but with smartphones and tablets it's impossible to miss work-related communications, and when I get said communications I attend to them immediately.

My employer requires us to login when we start doing work and logout when we finish. They can tell what we've been doing, how long we've taken to do it and how quickly we attended to something and they use that information to assess any extra days off we're owed. It would be pretty difficult to just piddle around instead of working.

But they also appreciate that the nature of my job means I will have slow days, and see no benefit to me being in an office with nothing to do. In fact, they are of the opinion that people with nothing to do harm overall productivity because they're more likely to engage in water-cooler or kitchen conversations with people who do actually have work to be getting on with so basically they just want us out of the office so we can't pester other people.

Probably also worth mentioning that I am basically always 'on call' and we do have the odd emergency which requires my attention at stupid o'clock in the morning, so there's a bit of give and take.

DSmiffy

zarf2007 wrote: »

ok first to admit it, as I have a job which allows me to work two days a week from home (Monday and Friday), sometimes (and I'm thinking Friday after lunch) I can find it difficult to motivate myself! I also find myself casually watching boxsets on my other computer screen while 'working'.....(yes bad I know).....

I justify this by the fact that I always get through the work I'm allocated so does it matter that I sometimes spend time doing this?

I must admit, as it saves on the 2 hour per day commute it does generally make me start work earlier......

We have had senior management comment recently that the office looks like a ghost town on certain days and to threaten to curb home working (though there are some idiots who abuse it by working every day at home when they shouldn't)

Just wanted to know everyones thoughts, are people working home home having an easy life at the expense of their employers?

The answer is... Yes.... it is just a big doss really.... but that's only because I'm jealous that I can't do it
Good luck to you, as long as you are getting through the same amount of work which is expected of you - which you probably are doing because there are no interruptions - then what's the problem? Once you've finished, your time is your own.
Coupled with no commute and no fares to work etc, all the washing is in and the dinner will probably be on time too. Result!! .... you lucky, lucky thing!! :beer:

Mr_Toad

I worked from home for 21 years and loved it.

I was a Unix software engineer and database developer/DBA.

In the 80s I was making more than double my, not insignificant, salary in call outs during the evening and weekends. We were paid nearly £1000 a month retainer for being on call plus a minimum 4 hour call out plus traveling time plus time off in leiu. in my case a 50 mile round trip to the office even if it was a 10 minute fix. I can't tell you how many times I was nearly home when the pager went off again and I had to go back. Some weekends I just slept under my desk.

As soon as the dial up/ADSL/Internet was fast enough we had PCs installed at home then laptops. Working from home was the next logical step and the company started trials in 91 and I was one of first 100 trialists due to my distance from the office.

I never went back, you could do my job from anywhere in the world with a mobile, laptop and a network connection. I think the savings in on call payments alone saved them a fortune.

I got something resembling a life back. I saved a fortune on commuting and was at home when the children went to and returned from school.

I used to sit in the garden in the summer and I'd put my mobile on mute and cut the lawns during some of the longer conference calls. I also did the washing and ironing while on calls and believe me there's nothing like being paid to do the laundry to motivate you.

As for the company they got a good deal as if I had nothing pressing doing I'd often do a bit in the evening, emails etc. and would be at my desk just after 7 with my first coffee of the day. If I fancied going out for a couple of hours I'd catch up later.

It doesn't suit everyone though. One of my colleagues started to feel isolated and opted to return to office working and was much happier.

Snakey

I don't subscribe to the idea that if you aren't dressed smartly it's harder to make yourself work. I've sat every professional exam in jeans, and some of my best work has been done while at home in my pants.

nicegirl wrote: »

Can I be nosy and ask what jobs all you home workers do please?

I would LOVE to work from home.

Tax consultancy. I have a full-time job and also some freelance at weekends.

snit_girl

Working from home can absolutely be a skive. We are generally allowed to work from home one day a week but never when we have a meeting or a critical process to run. But ... I usually log on 8 - 6 instead of 9-5 and don't really have a lunch break, just catch up with tivo in the background. I just use days at home for docs, dentists, garage appointments, etc

I couldn't do more than a day a week at home though. I can skive much more in the office as there's always someone to chat to or another project to get involved in, and I get to go for lunch or to the shops with friends at lunchtim. Much better

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Depends. When I clamber over the OH to go to work at silly oclock and know he's likely to still be there when I get back, it feels like a huge doss.

But when I wake up at silly o'clock and the bed is empty, because hea been working all night and is wibbling from tiredness because he's just worked for eighteen hours solid, or come in to find him pacing the floor because the Internet went down and hasn't come back on - and his latest invoice hasn't been paid, so he can't even take the laptop to a coffee shop - or he's wearing half the wardrobe because the heating has thrown a fit - then I tend to appreciate having a workplace to go to.

elsien

My contract says I work from home. But large parts of my job involve driving around and meeting clients. I try to book one day a week and the odd afternoon with no meetings so that I can spend a day doing catch up on the paperwork.

The original idea was that no office would be needed. However the company has now realised we still need a base and somewhere to have team meetings, training, etc so have had to set up an office as well which we call into as and when needed. So newer staff are now being recruited as office based rather than working from home.
We have to book everything we do (down to the last phonecall) onto a system, and this is expected to show 85% of our time.
It suits me because of the flexibility - I can start earlier and finish earlier if I want to. I get more done at home than in the office because there's no-one to talk to and I don't doss because my workload will get silly if I do.
For me, the main advantage is that as I am contracted as a home worker, my hours and travel expenses include my commute. So my 9/5 is a 9/5 - if I was office based I'd be doing the 9/5 plus an hours travel either side. And I can claim mileage to and from the office so my petrol bill isn't silly money. Worth it both financially and as work life balance - I'm so glad I got in before the company changed its mind.

SailorSam

Those that work from home, do you think like MallyGirl a place at home that you can call work makes it easier. When you're there you know you're working. I had a small junk room which i've almost finished now making it into an office.