To think there are no real, enjoyable ‘work from home’ jobs?

[AnneTwackie]

I’d like to reduce my hours and do something different working from home. Everything I see looks like a scam.
Tell me your happy/horror stories.

I’ve been working from home as a freelance copywriter for more than 10 years. There’s generally an abundance of work and my income pays the mortgage/bills on my own. I do also have a craft business but writing has been so busy for the last 18 mo the I’ve barely done any crafting.

Like @chocolateteapot20 said though - it is very famine or feast. Usually I’m stressed over too many deadlines and being bombarded by clients but the following week I’ll be worrying as I have nothing.

The lack of security can be difficult but my job allowed me to care for my dad in his final years and now means I can work around my children, both of whom have additional needs. I love what I do and would never want to go back.

A professional Consultancy work that is home based and virtual. The job was advertised as home based and pays well but it is a degree based job that also requires specific experience. I just looked for my job description home based on indeed and in the meantime taught English to foreign students and did some online consultancy work for a previous employer as I had a commute breakdown. I just could not do the London commute anymore.

I'm a full time senior solicitor and work from home 50%of the time. I only do school hours in the office a few days a week. Everything else I do from home at a time that suits me.

I have an office in a shared centre with a lot of people who ‘could’ work from home and save cash but choose not to. I chose not too as H also works from home(same business) and I found it too much both being at home. However if he didn’t work at home then I’m fine with it. It doesn’t suit everyone though and certainly not if you place a lot of emphasis on colleagues/socialising

I had to work my way up to having a level of expertise that meant I could make a good case for working this way though.

Ours is creative industries -

@Wincher Ha ha, you'd think that technology would have removed that need, wouldn't you, what with Alexa and Siri and all. But I've found that dictation software like Dragon can actually make things worse, especially where you have more than one voice. And since most of the transcripts I've done have been medical or pharmaceutical in terms of subject area, you can imagine the havoc it causes....(I've tried around for of the dratted things in the last year, for my own work and for transcriptions, and they're just not worth it. You still have to go through the whole file and put the English right. And most of them aren't good at non-US accents or even at strong US accents....)

That's before the incredibly faffy formatting some companies want which can take up to an hour. The pay hasn't gone up much since you did it though, unless you work for yourself and not through a company (I do know of one ex-colleague who charges around £1 an audio minute for legal).

I'm not a fan of Dragon and its chums for audio transcription for one person either; both of us in this household write, and we've found it dreadful (though I've got a faint Northern accent and t'other one has a South Africa accent, so. you know, we start at a disadvantage when it comes to Dragon..)

I used to paint glass and my friend painted cottages. Relaxing but we were both glad when we gave it up. I did about 5 years and she did about 20!

I know people who do craft stuff and sell it from home, and some who buy and renovate antiques/curios and sell those.

Before children I had a 'proper' full time career working for a large corporation in HR, and was lucky enough to be able to work from home whenever I didn't have team meetings or client meetings - the flip side was I also did a lot of travelling and overnights hence why I stopped when I had a family. But it was the best combination ever - lots of flexibility, treated like an adult/professional, lovely colleagues in a bustling office when I was in there - and a great remuneration package!

When my DCs were small I realised I'd go mad without some sort of outside work (apart from doing my self-employed DHs books....) and took a post as a clerk to the governors in the local secondary school. It's perfect for parents as I do three evening meetings a term and the rest is flexible working from home. I organise meetings, type the minutes, and do a million and one other admin/HR/legal/marketing /comms/recruitment/etc type stuff which keeps the brain alive and gives me the chance to wear office clothes and speak to grown ups occasionally! I learned a huge amount about public sector working (and funding!), education and schools, local community stuff and so on, and it's perfect for parents of school-age DCs. I do around 9 hours a week, mostly in term time only. The downside is that the pay is barely above minimum wage, there's no company car and no bonus scheme.....

But yes - there are jobs out there, I loved my old job and am pretty happy with my current one (done 10 years now). Good luck finding something.

I’m a senior level social worker. Aside from visits and court hearings, I work from home reading paperwork, making phone calls, Skype interviews and writing reports. I love it.

Employers offer wfh opportunities because it’s beneficial for them. If their staff don’t need to be in the office, and many people don’t, then it’s cheaper to give them a phone and a laptop than to dedicate a workstation for them.

Many organisations now only plan workspace for 70-80% of the workforce. Staff are required to WFH or agilely for at least 2-3 days per week.

I work 2.5 days as a receptionist in a holiday home company but I also manage the social media for it and for its sister company, as well as accessing emails etc on my 2 full week days at home. I log my hours and my boss trusts me to be honest so it works really well.

One of the conditions of me taking the job was that my office hours were flexible, too, as DP can work away over the winter occasionally and DS goes to school in our village while I work half an hour away, so wanted to be able to do the school run.

It’s not my dream job, but I was a teacher before and the longer I’ve got a flexible job and can work from home half the time, the less I want to go back!! DS will start reception this year though, so I’m considering my options as I don’t want to work during the school holiday after September.

There are plenty of interesting jobs that you can do on a self-employed basis, working from home, but they normally require plenty of experience/qualifications/contacts.

I have a professional, decent-paying and very exciting wfh job. I used to work from the office but demonstrated I was an asset and when I needed to move to another country I was able to transition. I put in over 40 hours a week and I work hard, travel and put myself out there to make sure my team succeeds.

As with anything, if you're after a decent, fulfilling and interesting job you need to have the skills and put in the time.

I’m a freelance editor and I work from home (or from a co-working space when I need human interaction!)
Agree with previous posters that most wfh jobs require prior experience before they can transfer to remote or freelance working; for example, I worked in-house at publishing companies for a decade before I went freelance.

DP makes jewellery, also crafts, and works from home. I'm a creative and work from home mostly, there are times I'm booked to go out and deliver a workshop but that's twice a week tops and it's not a full day. I love working from home. I don't thrive in an office environment. I've been in creative field for many years so had a lot of contacts. Same with DP. So the home working naturally developed from that, which I think is often the way whatever field you're in.

I could say I WFH but the truth of the matter is that I buy things to resell on Ebay and do well from it. I will put money on there being at least one cagey PP who does exactly the same as I do.

Freelance writer here and love it. I started just making a bit of extra money when I was made unemployed but my DH job and my lack of NI contributions meant no benefits. It was a blessing in disguise as within a year, it was a part-time business and 10years on I make more than my husband.

I love it. I know some wouldn't but I've found a niche and clients that I enjoy working in and with.

I don't work from home now, but I worked from home in a senior editorial position for 7+ years in my last role. It was an entirely remote organisation, so no one worked in an office.

My job is very real, and I love doing it.

I work from home full time - I'm an accountant and tax advisor

I work 2 days from home, 3 in different offices. works well! its a professional, very well paid role

I work from home for the last 12+ years and love it. I'm not self employed and as long as there is an internet connection I can work from anywhere.

I haven't been into the office for a few months, but enjoy it when I do, as it's an 800 mile round trip and stay in a nice hotel when I'm there. I usually end up going to one of about 4 different offices which are all nice.

Depending on the project, I'll also go to client offices too, so get to see people quite often.

I enjoy the travel, but enjoy working at home. No Monday feeling at all.

The people I know who WFH 3 are professional self employed. 1 works remotely for a national company.

I had a friend who worked for a small business was WFH when a combination of factors meant they closed the office and all worked remotely in home offices.

I used to wfh as a freelance book editor and proofreader. But, as others have said, I was able to do that as I had worked for a decade as an in-house editor with several different publishers, so had solide experience, knew what publishers expected from freelancers and had a lot of contacts who were able to give me regular work.

My dc both went to nursery from the age of 1 as I could not wfh with them present and wasn't willing to work evenings and weekends after looking after them all day!

After about 5 years I got sick of wfh and freelancing in general, as I've always loved the comaradery of an office and being a permanent part of a team, so I went back to an employed job in a related field that let me wfh 2 days a week and 1 day in the office. I now work 4 days a week in an office-based role. The only thing I miss about wfh is the fact it makes school holidays and looking after sick children slightly easier to manage.