There are so many intelligent women all over the country...

[HunKeRMunKeR]

..who could work from home...why don't more employers realise this and make it easier?

That's a bloody good point HM

Yup - I am very clever and would be an asset to someone but can't go out to work!

Um, let's see, gender discrimation. Age discrimination.

My goal in life is to set up a legal practice where the employees are part-timers and people who find it hard to get employment (although why I don't know) - retirees, working parents, mature students welcome!

It's mental, isn't it?

Most jobs working from home are shitty "pin money" type things.

Think how many degrees and other qualifications, how much experience, how many ideas - all that untapped potential!

fantastic expat. if i were in trouble i'd rather go to a law practice where the employees knew what trouble was IYSWIM.

hear hear (says miaou as she hands over her ds and goes out to work in her p-t low paid job - grrr)

though personally I can't stand working at home, I lasted 6 months while pregnant and thought it was hellish, i like a nice office myself

I see a lot of VERY qualified people who are made redundant at 40+ who find it incredibly hard to get good work after that.

What a shame!

And a waste.

I think in the future laws will need to be put in place to minimise age discrimination, especially as people will have to work longer as life expectancies increase.

I would LOVE to also have a practice geared towards 'non-traditional' hours. Let's face it, people pay a lot for solicitors. Why not at least be available to clients after work hours, weekends, etc.?

article in Eve on this very subject this month

one woman left her art degree off her cv so she would be considered for jobs she was over qualified for

one was a financial director for the NHS, now does admin work

will try and link but I don't think they do online articles

I completely agree about the age thing EIS. When are people going to realise that we all need to work until a lot farther than 40? DH has just been made redundant and even though he's only 36 he's already finding that places are looking for 'young' people.
I would LOVE to work from home but can't find anything that pays enough to make it worthwhile. But now that both of us have been made redundant within a year, we have to find something short term before we move. It's impossible!

having worked part time and at home (at home at present) i think it isolates you and gives you far less opportunities for career development. I think we should be concentrating long-term on more flexible hours etc and a change in the office culture rather than working from home - in my experience home-working means an isolation and non-involvement in the wider networks and 'bigger picture' of both an organisation and the working world in general and is a career dead-end as a result.

homeworking hides intelligent women

I imagine that only a limited sphere of work can inherently be done from home. Frontline service jobs can't to the extent you have to be at the customer face. Jobs which require you have to access to sophisticated office data and systems, particularly if confidentiality is involved. Jobs which require a significant amount of day-to-day interaction with your colleagues - and I don't mean coffee machine chats. Jobs that require visibility and leadership eg senior management roles.

That leaves only a limited sphere of work that can sensibly be done from home, erm backroom type things that allow you to work independently with a few simple office tools (eg PC with broadband) or relying on the post.

But I am not very imaginative - so would be very interested to learn of ideas of how it is possible to make more jobs do-able from home.

expat, I am sure that with a bit of sassy co-ordination, it is possible to employ part-timers in a law firm. But do you think it is possible for them to work entirely from home? A few days a weeks is feasible, depending on the type of work, but at some point, they will still need to leave the house, if only to meet the client. Then there is the need for training/supervision of junior colleagues, access to files. Exclusive homeworking will depend on virtual filing secure IT systems that can be accessed remotely.

oh I agree about flexible working too
I could never have gone back to my IT job after maternity leave because there was NO flexibility at all and I'd have lasted about 10 minutes

There are also a lot of intelligent, experienced and qualified women working outside the home in poorly paid, drudgy jobs because employers think that the only job you can do well when you want to work reduced hours / have family responsibilities is a drudgy one.

Why is it OK for a secretary to work part time, but her boss couldn't possibly?

OO - I read that article in Eve - so depressing as my ds2 starts cshool in Sept and I would love to get a decent job which was flexible.

no, i wouldn't think it could be run fully from home. but plenty of work can be done from home. also, some people would rather be in an office setting. what i'd like is a place that offers scope for non-traditional hours, part-time work, etc.

i think there's a promising future in employing and targetting services to mature adults - people who fancy a career change, retirees looking for a bit of work or part-time, people made redundant and find themsevles being discriminated against b/c of their age, etc.

on the whole, mature adults have VERY low rates of absenteeism and excellent work habits.

they're a valuable part of the economy, especially as more services will be needed to accommodate the ageing population.

I have to say that I have done a variety of part-time jobs since I had dd1 five years ago and apart from one, they have all been challenging and I'm really glad I didn't stay with my previous career. I did make a career change, and have tended to go for short-term contracts so I gained a lot of experience and didn't get bogged down after a period of time.

but it has meant being flexible and taking on things which were a bit scary now and again

Friends who have tried to stay with their previous careers and ambitions on a part-time basis have been disappointed; but I have just tried to make sure that I am challenged and having fun and I don't have a particular agenda or plan

I wouldn't go back to a traditional environment if I had the choice; I find it really stagnant and tedious.