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Working From Home
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Ghis


Posts: 321
Joined: Jan 2007
Post: #1
05-02-2008 07:39 PM

Today I was working from home using remote access into the office. It got me thinking as I know a few people on here work from home. If you don't mind me asking, what types of job do you do (even described in vague terms) that allows you to work from home? What are the advantages, disadvantages apart from the obvious (not long commute but less social interaction etc...).

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billham


Posts: 115
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #2
08-02-2008 01:15 PM

I work from home a fair percentage of the time. I work in IT development and support which is probably an optimal job for it as I can easily access systems anywhere in the world from my armchair.

The advantages I would see are:

1. No commute. This is definitely the biggest plus particularly on cold winter mornings. Before they shut it, the last office my company had in the UK was in Guildford which is a really handy commute from Forest Hill...three hours return journey at anything approaching a busy time!!

2. No dress code...jeans and a t shirt every day or just stay in your jammies if you feel especially lazy.

3. Always at home for parcels, meter reading etc.

4. Reasonable flexibility with time...no-one clocking you in and out and seeing that you are in the se23 forum.

5. Cheap - no travel cost and make your own lunch. Going to the office probably cost me close to ?20 a day albeit I didn't go in every day whereas staying at home even with the extra heating etc is probably less than a fiver.


Downsides are:

1. Limited interaction with colleagues. It is very easy to become stir crazy unless you are careful. Voice conferences aren't quite the same as seeing the whites of the eyes.

2. Difficult to separate work and personal time - the living over the shop syndrome. In my experience the company benefits from this and gets more hours than they are due though many companies/fellow employees assume that 'working from home' is a colloquialism for having an easy day.

3. Not a problem for me as a single person, but I imagine it could be difficult if you had a very active household with kids coming in and out.

4. You aren't really allowed to be sick unless you are dead or in a coma....


Back to the grind...... Smile

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Ghis


Posts: 321
Joined: Jan 2007
Post: #3
08-02-2008 01:52 PM

Thanks. That's more or less what I would imagine Smile

Re the off sick thing, it is pretty much the same thing for me at the moment, when I take a day off sick I actually end up just working from home and loging into the office remotely anyway.

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robwinton


Posts: 335
Joined: Jun 2006
Post: #4
08-02-2008 02:13 PM

I'm another working from home exclusively. I represent wineries from Rioja in the UK market - doing tastings, marketing, communications, press trips, etc.

I can agree with billham, I do not have any hours, so I am likely to be responding to email at 11pm which justifies me logging on to SE23.com at 11am

I miss being able to talk to colleagues about non work stuff (plenty of opportunities to talk about work if you want it), so this site, plus blogging and facebook are my equivalent of the catch-up in the kitchen or conversation in the corridor.

I enjoy being master of my own little destiny and it works largely because my daughter goes off during the day. When the new little 'un arrives and my wife is home with the baby for 6 months things may well change, but even then I benefit from being able to help and to see them more.

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Ghis


Posts: 321
Joined: Jan 2007
Post: #5
08-02-2008 02:21 PM

Thanks guys. It does give a good idea of what it would be like.

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kingkong


Posts: 61
Joined: Oct 2006
Post: #6
08-02-2008 02:42 PM

i work from home about once a week or so - I work in Broadcast Technology on the sales and marketing side. If i need to concentrate on a particular proposal i'm putting together or a presentation i'm writing, then i'll stay at home to do it.

other times i just can't be a***d going in because it is freezing cold or raining hard - its nice to have the option either way.

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