Have any adminstrators ever been allowed to work from home?

[Meglet]

Are admin staff ever able to work from home? Our management team don't have to use annual leave when they're feeling ill or can't get to the office when it's snowy as they work from home. If admin are stuck at home we have to use annual leave.

I have admin I could do at home but wouldn't dream of asking as I'm a wimp as I don't know how to go about it. My job doesn't involve answering phones or e-mails and I don't have to speak to my collegues for a lot of my tasks.

For instance we have piles of data entry paperwork that needs info to be bashed out onto spreadsheets. I could take a pile of it home and crack on with it then e-mail it in - and obviously my workload could be monitored as I'd have a huge spreadsheet to show at the end of it.

Any success stories or suggestions to get my boss to consider admin having the odd day working from home (in extreme weather, minor illness) would be great. TIA.

I have allowed members of my admin team to work from home before - but only those who I trust!

Our open-plan admin office can be quite noisy at times, and so allowing people to work from home can be particularly useful when someone needs some peace and quiet to focus on a particular task. Also good for days when people are stuck because of snow etc.

If people are sick, surely they should be taking sick leave rather than annual leave? Regardless of whether or not people are working at home while they're off?

Thank you . I was thinking of those days when you have a wretched cold / cough, when staying in and not spreading your germs is a better idea than infecting half the office - or driving them up the wall with spluttering all day.

It's the possibility of snow chaos that has got me thinking about suggesting it at work. If it looks like bad weather is due it would make sense to take a box of work home in case it's not practical / safe to get to work the next day.

I've also allowed Admin staff to work from home - particularly when there is a lot of databasing,typing etc to do - and they need peace and quiet to do it. I find that working at home (for myself and others) can be really productive.

On 'snow' days, we allow everyone to work from home. When snow is forecast, we ask everyone to prepare some work that they can take home each evening, in case of getting snowed off.

PS: if you have a wretched cold/cough, you should be off sick, not working from home!!!

You don't get sick leave?

I am admin and I have worked from home for years. But everything is computer based - I very rarely see the team I work for. I love it. I never take time off sick, unless it is something physical that prevents me getting to my desk, and snow and ice are never a problem, plus I can work hours to suit myself. Have I made you jealous yet?

Go for it - they can only say no.

The only thing that I can think of would be if there were any confidentiality issues raised by the data in the paperwork you'd be taking home.

Otherwise, seems fair enough to me.

If you present it as a proposal like in hairytriangle's example for snow forecast, that should show you as having good initiative, and may be a way of broaching the working at home thing longer term.

If you're staying at home to avoid infecting the whole office with the lurgy, that should be a sick day, by the way.

If you have tasks which you can do completely at home, then I don't see any problem in you proposing that to your manager. I would probably suggest it as a backup plan for snowy weather the first time round - "There's a possibility of me getting snowed in at some stage in the next few days. How about I take this boxload home and if I'm stuck then I'll do a full day processing it and email you the spreadsheet"

If that goes well, and he/she can see how productive it is, they might well be fine with you suggesting it as an occasional thing for other reasons.

But I do agree with others there shouldn't be any confusion between work/sick/leave - if you're not well enough to come to the office, you should be signed off sick. I tell my staff to go home and keep their germs to themselves if they come in coughing all over the place!

back again. Thanks for all the answers .

Yes we get sick leave, but I tend to get bugs quite often as the dc's (4yo and 2yo) are ill all winter then I catch it. If I took sick days every time I was ill I'd be in trouble!

I'll put a case together and have a word with my boss before the weather gets bad!

I've worked with home workers before and the issues which have arisen are:
Broadband problems/Computer problems - software licenses have to be pro versions, non-compatible versions used, virus possibilities
Storage of data - big no-no, all must be deleted
Workers not actually being available when you need to ask them something
Lack of reporting - can't see what they've actually done, what they've worked etc.

Some companies are prepared to be trusting over all the issues, others just can't be however much they want to.