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......