To ask what job you do if you wfh?

[jammaker11]

I know there's going to be a wide variety of different jobs but what do you do?

Also third sector management. I kind of wish I did something better paid as at the end of the day 37.5 hours a week at a PC is 37.5 hours a week at a PC. Obviously some meetings and occasional out and about.

You can negotiate term time only part time in some charities, we have people in the finance team who work like that.

An actuary, however I choose to go into the office instead, as do about 65% of our work force.

Notice how many local government and civil servants on here posting about WFH?

They’re just taking advantage of the system as it is. But it potentially explains why nothing gets done in the public sector, you can never get hold of anyone at your local council, why public sector productivity is even worse than national productivity. And the list goes on. The public sector is truly wasting money like it’s going out of fashion

I work for a small local charity, freelance.

NHS payroll, do part WFH and part office. I love the balance.

I'm a civil servant and wfh 2 days a week. I'm much more productive when I'm working from home.
Higher productivity as less disruptions and distractions. Same for the rest of my team. My department have evidence back this up.

Used to illustrate children’s books, now paint and sell my pictures. Have always worked from home, love it.

Marketing manager 3 days a week. I only come in for team days once a month or for conferences, external meetings or if I want to do content onsite as my organisation has different sites.

I am an out of hours Corporate travel Consultant. Work a rotation so plenty of off time but a concentrated 14 day period of work every 4 weeks.

Inhouse solicitor doing regulatory compliance. The job can be done 100% remotely but the office requires me to go in, hybrid week, which suits me fine.

It is better to go into to train juniors, build a more cohesive team, show face for compliance culture and have lunch with friends.

Project management in HE. I wfh usually 2 days a week, lots of people in my dept do more days at home but my project is an estates one so I need to be on site more. Also do a lot of student engagement. The people on IT projects might only come in once a week.

May I ask how you got into this? I would love a proofreading job.

How did you get into doing it remotely!
I have a PA background and would love to do the same. Did you advertise or did they?

@Deedee248 - have a look at the CIEP's website: www.ciep.uk

All the info you need about training, etc.

Thanks for this. 😊

Lawyer

I have multiple 'hats'..

Dog behaviour - I used to do home visits but stopped those due to my failing mobility. So then moved to remote (video, live chat) work supporting more long term cases/clients.

Writing/Illustration - done this for a while, dog related, often working for doggy charities as well as private clients, magazines and even non-dog related stuff sometimes.

App - I have been on board with a dog related app since start up, I am one of a bank of trainers who answer app user questions, but as its a small team we also contribute to app content and other bits and bobs. This role is mainly shift work and some dipping in and out of SM here and there.

Art - im a multimedia artist, I have done commissioned work in the past but i reallllllly hate it, so I tend to produce whatever amuses me at the time and see if it sells. Some things sell in seconds, some things sit on my shelf for years and some things would sell but I can't part with them!

I also have some passive income streams from a book and products on drop ship sites, and some SM stuff.

Suits me, would be way to hairy and precarious for many! I don't make a fortune by any means but I have the benefit of no mortgage or rent to pay!

I'm a children's book Illustrator.

At the moment I'm working 12-14 hour days 6 days a week (sometimes 7) and have been since Christmas, trying to squeeze the rest of my life in around the edges. Hours vary according to how much work there is at the time - I've had times when work has been thin on the ground, but then at the other end of the scale I've worked 105 hours a week every week for 3 months without a single day off. The ratio between hours worked and money paid is very poor indeed. I love my job but worry about money constantly, also about my health - the hours worked leave little time for exercise or fresh air, sitting in front of a screen that many hours a day has affected my eyesight and some days my drawing hand feels like a mishapen claw after hours and hours of working. I wouldn't choose this path if I could do my life over again. I feel like a battery hen most of the time. The uncertainty around what you might earn from one year to the next is horrible - it can literally drop by £20k from one year to the next, that has actually happened to me. People think it's an easy job, like a hobby - it isn't AT ALL. It's bloody hard work, and I wonder sometimes how I managed to find the job with the longest hours and the lowest wages, what an idiot. But I don't know what else to do, it's all I know.

Most of the design teams at the Publishing houses I work with are very nice to work with though. Also it has been a Godsend being able to do the school run and be around for dd. And I feel proud when the finished book arrives in the post from the Publisher.

@ManchesterLu I'm also curious about how you got into proof reading
I see courses advertised but am wary as so many online courses are a scam.

Freelance arts / theatre consultant

I am dismayed that someone like you with such a rare and creative skill like illustration has to work so hard and precariously compared to some of the people in my office working part time doing admin flexibly around their dcs and earning 35K for doing the bare minimum with hardly any skill.

Wow! I wfh for the LA. All my clients can get hold of me either by phone or email. I'm at my desk at 7.30am and I'm there until 5. We work very hard.
Admin and call centre staff are monitored for output and you can bet we get random check ins on Teams from management.
Councils are facing bankruptcy. Offices are closing or being mothballed around the UK to either sell off or reduce running costs. The majority of my team work in the office 2 days a week. If we were all in we wouldn't have a seat.
I don't doubt that there are CS or LA staff that take the piss but it's no one I know.
Oh, and presenteeism is becoming the norm. Thanks to the pesky Bradford Index monitoring sickness absence we can avoid taking time off.
Sometimes you are too unwell to commute, but well enough to at least have some output, quite literally from your sick bed.

Freelancing in publishing is definitely not going to make anyone their fortune. I've had that sort of swing in income too. Like Magic, I can't really do anything else, though. And people are generally nice.
It's a precarious living though and those sort of boring but cosy office jobs you describe do sometimes appeal!

Do you mind me asking how did you qualify to be a proofreader? Any advice for a person that would consider going that route?