Working from home - anyone offer a heads up ?

[babbi]

Hi,
I have been office based my whole career (25 years ) but some travel from time to time so a change of scenery which breaks up the monotony.
I have been offered a new role in a different company , more money , company car and working from home .
Role would involve visiting clients so out of the home sometimes and at least 2 days away per month.
Current commute 30 mins ..
I am a single parent to a teenager ( just giving background for context and anyone’s relevant thoughts )
I have an active social life so would not be home day and evening with no company.

Can anyone please advise any thoughts on how it works for them ?
Pros and cons of working from home ??

It sounds to me ideal ... can put a wash on and hang it out between emails etc ..kept on top of domestic tasks better
Be flexible at home if my DD is ill etc ...

Just looking to check there’s not a pitfall I haven’t thought of ....

TIA

I do similarly, though a bit more travel. If you have a good social life, it will be great - you stick a wash on while waiting for the kettle, lob something in the oven for dinner etc, and are there if sick teen and when they get home.

I've worked from home for 12 years now, and really the only downside is this time of year when I don't get out for a run at lunchtime and can get a bit grumpy when I haven't seen an adult face to face for the whole day when dh is working away

The upside is the flexibility.
The downside is loneliness. No one to discuss small work issues with, no one to brianstorm or problem solve or just to have a giggle with. No sense of team spirit or camaraderie.
For years I loved working from home - the peace, the abilty to work to my own best rythm, early in the morning and in the evening but less duringt he day, leaving time free for long walks, gym classes etc. But I got increasingly lonely and stir crazy. So watch out for that and check whether there'd be an opportunity to be office-based if working from home didn't suit you.

You can miss having colleagues for quick bits of professional advice or just seeing how they deal with typical issues. You can get out of the loop on the unwritten parts of the company culture. If you are not self discipline d it can be a struggle. It is still a wonderful opportunity - go for it!

Thanks all ... appreciate it .
It’s a sociable job in terms of on the phone a lot and visiting clients .
Drinks industry which means lots of evenings and dinners out .. approx 1 per month so with that and my own social life .. I think that will negate the loss of office banter ..
I also have lots of friends in my neighbourhood from my toddler group dates who don’t work so dropping in for a cuppa for half an hour is also possible..

I’ll go for it !

Thanks again

One downside for me would be lack of exercise if your normal commute involves a walk - but easily got round by starting the habit of eg a walk round the block at lunchtime. I also found myself more likely to eat biscuits etc if no one else to see me. So lack of exercise plus more food equalled putting on weight!

I do three days a week at home, two in the office. Perfect compromise for me. I don't think I'd like five at home though, I need some visibility and contact with my team,

I currently do 2 days a week from home and would be very happy with more, but can see that it's hard to build relationships with people you never see in the flesh. In fact part of my job is managing contracts for people who work offshore and it's considered key that they spend SOME time in the mothership.

Watch out for those people dropping in. Set really clear boundaries from day 1.

Make sure your colleagues don’t forget about you. It’s easy to fall off the radar if you don’t see people.

I go to exercises classes every evening so that part is covered and actually being home I’m hoping I can do a Pilates class a couple of days a week at my lunch time as the gymn is across the road.
Also excellent point re visitors ... I had thought of that in relation to my parents who would camp out all day if I let them 😂
Need to go to the mothership 2 days a month and would have 3 colleagues in the same position fairly locally .
We are a team of 4 in the region .
Glad you agree with the boundary setting rule !

I think I’ll go for it if final terms are good .

As your job involves speaking to people I think you'll be fine.

I mostly worked from home in my last job and it got very, very lonely over time as I didn't need to interact with anyone to do my job and my manager/team weren't bothered about keeping in touch. I'd see my manager once a month if that and he would often not bother replying to emails or returning phone calls (lazy skiver!) I still feel the after effects now on my two wfh days a week, I get lonely if I haven't heard from anyone.

Definitely make sure you keep in touch with colleagues from the off, set that as an expectation.

I found it quite isolating even if i am on calls or video conference - its not quite the same. I also tend to reserve non urgent work for doing at home, and im not as motivated. There isnt that much chores to do in the house as i imagine when im in the office, and i keep eating. I do go for a walk at lunch but not the same without colleagues... and it sucks in winter.
End up going to pick up DCs early from afterschool club cos its too damn quiet.
but then you are client facing. I need people "on my side" to rant about any unreasonable clients. What sort of industry are you in, out of nosiness?

Go for it! Sounds ideal!

Can I be nosy and ask what you all do to be able to work from home?

@strawberry72 I work from home 2 days a week usually, I do contract management. I think any office based job (ie not customer facing) can be done at home - if all you do in the office is email, writing reports, logging things on it systems, answer phones etc then there’s no reason that you wouldn’t be able to work from home.
I could do all of my job from home but I find it boring, so I work in the office or visiting different sites 3 days a week

I start a new job on Monday. It's a promotion but my role has always been lab based (scientific) so couldn't work from home. However, this role is 60% management/40% lab based so I would be able to work some of it from home - which I am hoping for as it is 200 miles away from home! I have to stay over at least 2 nights a week and I have condensed hours so that I can have a Friday off (due to staying away from home) but I am hoping to persuade them to let me do the paperwork side of the job from home, on a Thursday.
If things don't work out I will quit my career as my children will come first (although both older now so don't need me as much) and I would probably move into another sector (so very interested in WFH). Mortgage free in Spring 2020 so pressure to earn as much is decreasing.

The job I am soon to leave is working from home and for me, it's not ideal but due to my health, I'll be looking for the same in any new job.

Pros - it's great for keeping a tidy house most days. I never do more housework than I could fit in an office just chatting over tea/coffee though. So, I wash dishes, put the washing on, clean the loo.
It's great if you don't like noisy offices. I love how quiet it is and the lack of interruptions.
It's great for fitting in hair appointments etc if your office allows this.
My teen loves it, I'm home most times he leaves and comes home and we love that.

Cons - lack of team cohesion, you have to work on this, however, that irritating chatterbox across the office is a distant memory.
Taking a break from work can be hard to do, don't underestimate how useful the commute is for creating a mental break from work.

@Blurryeyesoul. .. sorry been working like mad .
I’m in the alcoholic drinks industry...
It is a very sociable industry as you can imagine .
Lots of product launches and tastings and corporate events ...
I think that and the client facing opportunities will help with the lack of colleagues all day .

My DD is very keen for me to be at home more ( while she sits on her iPhone 🙄🤷‍♀️)

I love it.
I think there is a big difference between 'working at home and not having people to speak to' and
'working from home when you have reports to write and e-mails to do, but still going out to meet clients and go to other meetings', which is what it sounds like you will be doing.

I also have lots of friends in my neighbourhood from my toddler group dates who don’t work so dropping in for a cuppa for half an hour is also possible.
Be very wary of this though.
The hanging out a load of washing is okay, but 'having coffee with a neighbour' will become a lot more time consuming than you think it will. I would caution about even telling people you are working from home in the first instance.

@BackforGood. ... yes I agree ... good plan to not tell people I’m home much ..

I won’t have anyone round during the day at all ( not easy to kick them out !! )but may drop in on people the odd time but will set a timer on my phone !!

I work in IT, and it's great to have the flexibility to work from home, but when I wrote my car off a few years ago and was stuck WFH for 3 weeks, I found it really isolating and bad for my mental health - I live alone, so I just didn't see anyone. Weekends are fine, because I can pop into town and round to friends and so on, but you can't do that when you're meant to be working. It's weird, because I can sit next to my colleagues in the office and we don’t necessarily speak much, but somehow, it makes a difference. If you're going to be meeting clients, it should be fine, though.

Having a dedicated work area, especially if you can shut the door on it, can be helpful, especially in getting the message over to others that you are working, not socialising, but also it means you can be away from it when you're not working.

I am home based (and sessional) rather than office based but am out most days at meetings. The hardest part for me is switching off. It's very tempting if OH and/or children are watching something on TV that I'm not interested in to slope off to my desk and do some more work. I often find myself working at weekends too. I rarely have a 'day off'.

If I'm at home all day with no meetings it's lovely to have a no make up/slouchy dress day (I tend to wear very smart for meetings).

I do miss being able to bounce ideas round with others though. We have a team meeting every few weeks though and communicate by email effectively.

Working from home definitely has lots of benefits. I can fit in nail/hair/beauty appointments during the day too. I also do voluntary work which I can fit in. I enjoy the peace and quiet.

I definitely prefer home based to office based.