Do any other home workers...

[AngliaWanglia]

(have namechanged for this) miss out on what I consider to be standard stuff at work?

For example, I don't have any one-to-ones, nor appraisals, nor even a fortnightly catch up by phone. I've completed the probationary period (I assume) as I've now had all the company pension details through (which they only send after completion of the probationary period).

I have no feedback at all on what I am doing. I send a monthly report, but get no comments/questions or feedback. The company is cutting back on expenses, so I am no longer encouraged to travel to the office for monthly team meetings (approx 180 mile round trip). They did say they would arrange for a webcam but its not materialised.

I knew I would be missing out on the more social elements at work, those "watercooler" moments and I was ok with that and I know I am very lucky to have a job. But I'm finding the lack of support more stressful than being in an office and being watched, assessed and appraised regularly!

Have you raised this with your manager?

If not, I would mention it and take the bull by the horns and book them in their diary.

I'm predominantly a homeworker and my situation is fine, but I do know of others who aren't. Some managers are just lazy and as you are out of sight then they think they can get away with it

Yes, I know exactly what you mean... It's a bit out of sight, out of mind really, and it's really frustrating.

DH works from home and he has a weekly phone call from his manager - which may only be a 5 minutes "how are you?" or a longer call depending on what is going on. He also has 6 monthly appraisals (over the phone).

Approx every 3 months he goes into a company office and has a team meeting.

I'd expect some more interaction with your manager/wider team, than you seem to get!

I assumed at first that you would be working for yourself (no idea why) and was going to say, "No, don't miss the people/gossip/commute at all!".

But if you're working from home for a company, I agree with others that it sounds like your line manager should really be more in touch with you and you should still be receiving feedback, appraisals and so on.

When I worked from home I would have meetings with my manager at least once a week - at the time it could be on the phone, by email, or in person (he lived in the same town so it was easy to arrange). I would expect that you could at least exchange emails. Webcams are cheap and you can Skype for free, so I find it odd that they haven't seem to have arranged or discussed your home office (sorry if this assumption is wrong) - did they provide anything? I had a trip to Staples - which apart from being exciting in my own sad way, it was the company's way of ensuring I had a suitable home office environment. It didn't cost much, I just got some in/out trays, plenty of paper and ink for printing, and a desk tidy. They also gave me an electronic organiser as I had lots of different deadlines and meetings at random times. I wouldn't say this is all necessary, but I think a basic version of this is more than reasonable. I got regular feedback and appraisals - my manager wanted to be even more sure as to how I was getting on as he wasn't seeing me every day.

Like others have said - book yourself in the diary, could be a telephone appointment if you can't travel there. Write up a list of what it is that you want to discuss, how you think it could be improved, and your case to them (eg how it could improve your performance, productivity). Have clear what you want to get out of the meeting - eg a weekly set appointment by phone, a 3 monthly appraisal, a webcam! - and set out to do that. Polite but firm.