To think nowadays, working from home should be allowed as much as possible

[welliesandleaves]

I do a job that could just as easily be done at home most days as in the office. My senior colleague feels exactly the same as I do. Our job involves working on our own most of the time, has absolute deadlines, has a very definite outcome that can't be fudged in any way, and can be done best in peace and quiet.
Yet our boss, who actually has very little to do with our work but is just someone we officially report to, is very unwilling to allow working from home.
I know other people who are in a similar boat.

Surely, nowadays, with remote access, smartphones, email etc. working from home should be the norm in a lot of jobs, not an exception or a favour. It would cut down on rush hour traffic, allow for a better work/life balance and also bring a bit of life back into a lot of communities which are like ghost towns during the day.

AIBU to feel like this?

I normally work from home one day a week. At the minute it's every day as I've got a health problem that means I'm ok to work, but not travel. I'd love to work from home permanently.

I usually do more work at home as I don't keep getting disturbed by people asking me questions or trying to chat - and I find I work better if I can listen to music which we can't at work. But I do find I take fewer breaks.....

I reckon my productivity is one of the reasons work have agreed to extended WFH for me.

There's actually more of an incentive to work as efficiently as possible from home because you know that when you have that day's work satisfactorily completed and sent off, you're free to do other things.

In a nine to five type set up, it doesn't matter how quickly or efficiently you work, you still have to sit there until clocking off time. I'm someone who does my best work in the morning and starts to slow down in the afternoon. It makes far more sense for me to sit down at my PC with a cup of coffee as soon as I get up, get a couple of hours work done, and then have breakfast and shower etc., than to waste those couple of hours getting dressed and commuting and then have to make up that time in the late afternoon when my brain isn't working as well.

I work from home usual one day a week, occasionally two, and I support most staff requests I get to do the same.

On my WAH days, at a minimum I work between 7.30am and 10.30am and then from 11.15am to about 2pm and again from 3.30pm up to 5.30pm. That takes me a bit over my contracted hours and still gives me time to nip out to pick up a coffee and, invariably, a natter with friends who're also out and about as well as lunch with my mum / a nail or hair appointment / collecting parcels / quick local errands and top-up grocery shops.

I still check emails in the evenings and over the weekend and talk to US based colleagues out of (my) hours when needed. It's a win-win.

However, I do find that more than two days a week out of the office can start to impact on relationships / meetings, especially as a manager.

I am also on the fence about this.

Where I work now I can work from home but do so only very occasionally if there is something I need to stay in for. Others in the office do the same and it is fine.

In my previous job there was someone on our team who worked from home and did part time hours. Now she did a good job and I know she put in the hours but it did put more pressure on the rest of the team for a number of reasons:

• If any random emergency came up then it would always be the people in the office who had to sort it out.

• She would be given the neat, self-contained parcels of work that could be managed remotely. Anything more complex or open-ended would be done in office.

• There were certain jobs that had to be handled by people who were present so she was always spared those

• Any questions that arose, even if it was connected with her work, would usually have to be handled by those in the office.

All in all it felt like she was getting an easier ride really.

I agree 5foot5 that in that situation it wasn't fair. But a lot of people, like me, have jobs that are quite self contained. Most days in work I really only deal with people on the phone or by email for work related matters. Any face to face stuff is usually just chit chatting etc.

Nowadays with traffic being so heavy and people living such long distances from their workplaces it just seems ridiculous to be forcing people into offices 9-5 adding to traffic chaos, when a large percentage of them could probably work from home at least a day or two a week.

It really should be offered more and I think will be as time goes on.
Everyone has the technology to do it now, it's mainly just for face to face meetings and being part of a 'team' people go into office

Imagine how much better in London it would be if people who could worked from home 2 days a week? That would free up the tube and buses hugely as people in 3 different days.

You also save money commuting either in public transport fees or petrol. And can save childcare costs as don't need as early or late ( if commuting many need to pay an extra 2 hrs a day), so could drop at nursery at 9am and collect 5pm instead of 8am-6pm.

Also better if working across time zones as people more willing to work say 4am-lunchtime instead of standard 9-5 as can just start that early from home, meaning they are free to collect children later in day as started so early

I think a balance is probably best. It can be quite isolating if you never see your colleagues. That said, I work from home quite a bit, and am FAR more productive at home. As other say, I think I feel incredibly lucky to be able to work from home and make 100% sure that nobody can accuse me of taking the mick.
However there are an awful lot of people who do think home working is an excuse to take things easy, or to not get childcare - you only have to read threads on here, where people think they can save on childcare by working from home . the issue with any blanket policy is it's difficult to know who will get the work done and who won't.

I think, where work isn't automatically measurable, people need to be set clear targets on the strict understanding that if those targets are missed without very very good reason, the WFH arrangement ceases.

There are definitely some people who can't be relied on to produce the goods without close supervision. But they shouldn't be allowed ruin it for everyone else.

Re the childminding, where I used to work you had to demonstrate that you had childminding arrangements in place before you could be considered for tele working.

Back - you can save childcare though by working from home. I own my own company and worked from home with x2 little ones with no childcare the first 3 years. I knew I needed approx 7hrs work time a day. I could easily fit that in whilst they napped, early in morning or late in evening. Had I had to work 9am-4pm I would have spent a fortune in double nursery fees. Instead I worked say 5am-8am ( when they were in bed still), 2-4pm ( naps), 8-10pm ( once dh was home). I could often get an hr or so done when they were awake if I set them up with toys or an activity they could do alone whilst I tackled emails.

Even if you work for a company you can still save childcare fees if you work from home with older children ie a 9/10 year old could walk home alone from school and entertain themselves a few hrs with you in the house working but too young to be left 2-3 hrs with nobody around in case they needed help. Or many with school age could finish at 3pm instead of 5pm, do school collection etc and get another 2hrs done in the evening when other parent home/ kids asleep

I work from home most Mondays - it's good for me as I have a long commute and a short day on Monday - I can also work evenings and none working days to free up hours

so yesterday I did 2 hours work so I would get a lie in as I was out last night (not on the lash!) Just finished 5 mins ago

I mostly work from home. Mobile working us very promotes in my org because we have a desk deficit.

When I started it took me a long time tk focus and not dick about with the washing machine etc. Now I find it more productive not gassing to colleagues. Or wasting time commuting. I write legal reports and now I hate sitting in the office I can't concentrate - I need to be at home with all my stuff spread out on the dining table in total silence except my dog snoring! It's great. Plus working flexi is a lot easier.
The next door local authority won't permit it under any circumstances - they don't trust their staff which is sad i think or maybe I am spoilt!

I work from home about 7 weeks out of every 8, and have done for the best part of 20 years (same employer). My employer was very anti teleworking until I left the country leaving them with a hole that would have been expensive and difficult to fill. So they kept me on and teleworking has gradually become more acceptable.

There are advantages and disadvantages for both employee and employer tbh. I'm more productive when under pressure - for eg I wrote over 10k words of a highly technical report last week, there is no way anyone else in our team is even half that productive. I would be much less productive in an office environment. At home I can and do work very long days with no interruptions.

OTOH there are times of year when I'm less effective - if there are no impending deadlines it's a lot easier to fart around at home than in an office. I tend to procrastinate more than I would if I had to fill 8 hours a day at the office. And it's also lonelier, and if you are no longer privy to casual conversations at the coffee machine or in the cantine, you quickly get out of the loop on company issues that don't concern you directly.

I work from home on the odd occasion, but I have a nursery aged child who gets home at 1130 and no room for an office. I don't feel very productive at all.

I get masses more done when doing paperwork at home compared to doing it in an office. In my office people chat to you, ask you questions etc, plus there is travelling time which is such a waste.

Also instead of a lunch hour you can have an hour (or half an hour) ' s sleep, which makes me massively more productive.

You save money in transport and also on lunch, if too disorganised to make lunch to take to office.

That said I am self employed, so my incentive to be productive doesn't depend on anyone looking over my shoulder, but getting the work done in order to be paid.

I go into the office and work 8-5 then take work home that sti nerds doing. Have flrx rtime at work but am constantly at my Max for flrx time.

I wld love t work for hme ne day per month, as the I oldnt have I terriptions an coud get twice as much work done

We are allowed to work 20% of our working week from home. However, another team which does the same job has a different manager, and they have an increased %...

No rhyme or reason, just down to individual management.

For a lot of office based jobs it's certainly possible but there are lots of jobs where it's not because you need to be in a certain place to do your job (doctors, teachers, most people working in factories / shops / restaurants, scientists, builders, etc etc).

Even for office based jobs there are the following issues:
a) security (commercial confidentiality etc)
b) safety (DSE assessments, do people have the correct desk setup to not cause injury)
before you even get to whether or not people take the piss.

DH works in software engineering, he works from home a reasonable amount. His last job he would log in remotely, his current job he has a work laptop. Neither company seemed to worry about a DSE assessment for our home office.

I work from home occasionally, it's pretty unusual as a regular thing at work because the nature of the work requires us to be present on site. Our company is very concerned about security (large multinational) and we've just had to change how we access work email when out of the office to improve security so that's another deterrent.

TBH I'd rather be at work and able to talk face to face with someone. I manage multiple projects and it's quicker to go into an office and have a 5 minute conversation than to try and ensure you've covered all points in an email. I'd also really miss the social aspects of work if I was at home all the time. I think for most people a mix of going into work and working from home is the best option.

I work for a local Council which is very well geared up for working from home. I can log in remotely and have access to all my files etc. I am categorically less distracted than I would be in the office.

It's exceptionally useful for inset days and days when a child is unexpectedly off sick. My kids are old enough to know that they need to let me work and I can get on with work as soon as I'm up, put in a decent morning, spend some time with them in the afternoon, and then finish off in the evening. As long as I'm contactable, and the work gets done, my boss is perfectly happy with this.

So in other words, no YANBU and there are much more enlightened employers out there who you could try and persuade your boss to talk to!!!

I worked from home for about 3 years. Looking back, I really took that time for granted. I'd usually get a day's worth of work done in 4 hours or so, and could potter round with my mobile on in case any rewrites or corrections need to be done. I could also start late and work into the evening, which was great when I was going through horrible insomnia or had been up with a colicky baby.

I'm now back to working shifts in an office. I feel like I'm so much less productive. I've also been getting way more colds because of sharing close quarters, and have to spend money on travel and office clothes again. If I had the chance to work from home in future I'd jump at the chance.

I think where IT leads other industries will follow (apart from the very hands on ones like midwifery :)). The way things have worked out in the last few years with the recession, globalisation etc etc, most IT and project teams in big companies now have members in different multiple locations. Ive worked in teams where I was in London, a colleague was in Glasgow, couple in Singapore, one in Manilla and a few in India. What difference does it make if I am in an office in London, my office at home or even in Starbucks.

i think the shirkers get very quickly found out and have largely been weeded out now. I agree that self employed people and contractors are probably most motivated to show results when wfh of course, but in IT that's very much the way its going as well.

We are moving to a certain amount of compulsory WFH for most grades. Which is fine if it is what people want to do to facilitate their onw work life balance but I don't like it being imposed on people.

It transfers costs to the employee - it assumes that you have the technology (laptop/desktop) to work off, you heat your house, provide the electricity, broadband etc and pay enhanced house insurance. Plus it assumes that you have a dedicated quiet space you can use with a suitable chair and desk/table. Which isn't necessarily the case if say you live in a small flatshare or have children at home and nowhere to lock yourself away.

The boss of Yahoo (a woman, if that has any relevance) banned working from home after finding it was unproductive and did not foster a company culture.

Another company with sensitive government contracts discovered that a bloke who was wfh had managed to outsource his work to someone in China. He was paying the Chinese man a small salary to do all his stuff whilst he did nothing. I suppose if you're sufficiently tech savvy you could do this.

The most ludicrous wfh request I heard was from a primary school teacher who had gone to the governing body. There was simply no answer to be given, just the mental picture hung in the air of the teacher working from home whilst the kids ran amok in the classroom. Actually her idea was that she set all the lessons and a jobshare (schmuck) worked at the coalface.

YANBU