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.

[SillyLittleBiscuit]

I’m a VA for a huge company. They recruit two or three times a year. I go to the office twice a month.

[stripeypillowcase]

'normal' office job.
work 2 days from home 3 in the office.
it works for us as dc have short days once a week (on different days ) and need someone at home tto nag them to do their homework
tbh I wouldn't want to wfh more than that, it's very isolating.

[Joloh]

It's quite normal to work from home in IT: weworkremotely.com/
powertofly.com/jobs/?location=Remote

[greenfieldsofrance]

I wfh 4/5 days a week. Before this i was at the same company and 100% office based but times change and loads of companies started to view the value of offering this as a benefit. In the place I work most can wfh but it's dependent on your department and the head of department's view on it.

It works for me because the teams i manage are not in the UK plus my manager isn't either. I'd find it very hard to go back to office based now but i miss interaction with colleagues. Gossiping about last night's TV, stupid stories being told, going for lunch and while it is my role at work to support the business in effective remote management of global teams, there is absolutely no substitute in my opinion for being sat in the same place as someone, thrashing out ideas, quick unplanned catch ups and just absorbing the office chat around you, finding out about a project no one told you about just because you heard someone mention something as they walked past you etc. We make it work and i think it's a great tool for staff retention but wfh comes with its downsides.

[grosseconnasse]

I'm a freelance translator and WFH full-time. I absolutely love my job.

[ChristmasSweet]

My last job in IT I got to work from home a lot at one point because they were stupid enough to make me the only one that could do the work so I just didn't bother going in some days. Didn't need to the job could be done from home. They were a very shit company.

[MerryDeath]

by and large i think they are. at the end of the day you need to be providing a skill/usp of some description. you need to be experienced, qualified and or talented to be of use to anyone for more than minimum wage. if you aren't these things why would there be a reasonable market in a capitalist economy?

[Ylvamoon]

I had a real job working from hom - with 1-2 days/week in office, depending on many things. I negotiated during the interview/ hiring stage. But than it was very specialised job.
I enjoyed some aspects of the job especially the flexibility around young DC. But felt a bit lonely after 3 years...

[Hoolihan]

One of my jobs is entirely wfh and fluctuates between 0.5 - 2 days a week, around a quarterly meeting cycle. I have another more traditional job which is three days a week, one of which is wfh. I am a grants manager i.e. I work for grant giving bodies assessing applications/processing payments etc. Some of the very large grant giving bodies (Children in Need, Lloyds Fdn, Lottery) employ sessional/cyclical assessors who all wfh - you need some experience though.

I think I would actually prefer to work in an office environment as I find wfh lonely and the time management a challenge. However it's so helpful to have the flexibility to work around the kids so I'm grateful to have been offered the chance.

[Nottsangel2015]

My job allows us the flexibility to work from home within reason for instance I work from from home every Friday so I can do school runs once a week but I do enjoy going out to work and being involved in the work environment. Some people tho are working from home multiple times a week which is great, we have flexible working hours too so as long as your in the office during the core times you can start and leave at times for example I do 8-4 but my colleague does 10-6 some do basic 9-5 it's nice to be able to flex hours etc

[VeryLittleOwl]

Another audio transcriber here - I have a lovely bunch of journalist clients and get to do quite a lot of celeb interviews, which I love. I charge £50 per hour of audio.

Tech is getting better, but it's still nowhere near good enough. Otter.ai is probably the best of the bunch at the moment and if I've got a really bad-quality recording I'll sometimes run it through that to see if it can pick up anything I can't, but for clear audio it's quicker for me just type it than for me to correct and format Otter's output.

[TeachesOfPeaches]

I work for a large global corporate and WFH one or two days per week is standard. We are moving office to start hotdesking soon so imagine there will be much more WFH. It's cheaper for the company and I was offered this on my first day. We even have some roles that are 100% WFH.

[Saracen]

I had specialised software skills and shifted to working from home after my first child was born. It was great. However, it built from the contacts I had made while working in an office.

The people I know who are doing well working from home are mostly ones who had expertise and contacts developed elsewhere.

I do know a few entrepreneurs who've started home businesses in niche markets based on voluntary work in a hobby, and who now make good money. They too relied on contacts previously made. Word of mouth then helped them get further established.

[WeshMaGueule]

I wfh as a translator.

[ODFOkaren]

I have spent years trying to find a WFH role.

I’ve only found the scam ones where you get less and less hours each week cold calling people to give money for charity. The less people you manage to talk in to it, the less hours you get the next week and the bigger bollocking you get.

But I have no skills or talent, so I guess that’s what’s holding me back.

I want to get out of care work and 12 hour nightshifts desperately.

[shinny]

Id love to do some copywriting or editing or writing. I have a languages degree but couldn't do translation unless quite easy stuff.

I dont live in UK so perhaps that could be an advantage given the time difference? Can anyone suggest a way to offer my services? Just interested to keep my brain ticking over as haven't working in a decade (marketing background)…...

[TamingToddler]

DP is a digital engineer and can work from home. He tends to go in though but has Crohn's disease so if he needs the comfort of his own home (and toilet) he can stay home. As long as he does 8 hours work between the hours of 8-8 he can start and finish when he wants. He's an apprentice too.

[Betelgeuse3]

I work for a company where all of the workforce work from home as they are based all around the UK and in other countries. Its a software development company but they have lots of other non tech roles working at home too, HR etc. I only apply for remote jobs due to where I live, no offices near me as in the sticks!

[Yabadee]

My job was advertised as an office based job. Got to the interview and it was a portacabin at the side of the runway at the airport. It was only when I was successful at interview and started the role that I realised how laid back they are as a company. I’m only in the portacabin one day a week, rest of the time I work from home.

So my thinking is a lot of jobs might not be advertised as wfh possible, maybe trying not to attract skivers or whatever. It’s only when they know they want you for the role that they offer it.

Absolutely love my job

[Yabadee]

Oh it’s admin support for aircraft engineers

[notanoccultexpert]

I'm another who works from home, self employed. I run a website offering free ebooks (public domain), that I create myself. I love it. I used to have huge anxiety at my last job, so deciding to do this full time has been a God send.

[TheOrigRightsofwomen]

I work from home full time as an editor for a scientific journal. There's some staff in the main office (overseas) but most of us work remotely and are all over the world.

I love it.

[Member869894]

I'm a solicitor for a county council. As long as I'm logged in to the system and contactable in office hours I can do what I like. I love not having the commute and being able to run the hoover around/do the washing/have dinner ready /be there for when my teemagers come hom/walk the dog etc. It can be isolating (and I'm getting fatter by the minute as I work in the kitchen next to the fridge) and sometimes it's hard to switch off because your office is with you but it's a huge perk for me. I do make sure I am immediately contactable though in a way that I probably wouldn't if I was in the office as I worry that if not I'll have to go in every day. I definitely do more hours working from home than I would do in the office so it's a win/win.

[Member869894]

Yes agree with Yabadee. There was no mention of working from home when I was interviewed.

[PineappleDanish]

Of course there are proper work from home jobs. I have been working from home for about 15 years. But in my experience they fall into three main categories.

Self Employed - this probably accounts for the majority and covers everything from freelance writing which I do, to people doing book keeping, web design, crafting, cake baking and everything in between. Can be lucrative but is never guaranteed in terms of income and hours, often a "feast or famine" situation.

Low level - yes lots of call centres outsource work but this won't offer the flexibility which many people want. On one hand the hours are usually guaranteed but on the flip side you have to be logged in when they tell you. You need a dedicated office space. You can't duck out for the school run. You most definitely can't have kids around.

Previously office based - lots of companies are cottoning on to the benefits of home working and allow staff to work a day at home or entirely at home. But usually it's an arangement offered to existing staff who have requested that and obviously it will depend on the role. And again, you can't often do childcare while working on a regular basis.

Finally there are also the scams, the MLMs. Which aren't even "jobs" in any way so aren't worthy of discussion.