What's it like working from home?

[greegr]

I work part time with 1 day from home but I've now been offered another job working from home all the time. I will be on the phone and email all day and out to do school run but I wonder if i will miss people

Any experiences?

It can be quite lonely. I work on a consultancy basis, and just get assignments emailed to me. Rarely actually speak to anyone. I do miss the social buzz of an office, but it was great when the DCs were small.

I don't have much of a social life anyway, so can feel very cut off from reality at times.

I found it quite isolating and felt a bit lonely at times. If you're quite a social person and always got stuff going on then you might not notice it.

Depending on how your DCs are you may still need childcare, you can't work full time if they aren't an age when you can leave them to it for hours at a time.

It's great when DCs were at primary school though. I could drop them off and always had time for assemblies, meetings, and whatever else.

As pp, it can be lonely and isolating.
You need self-discipline - limiting SM and so on to breaktimes, etc.
Friends and family need to know that you are not available during working hours.

You can arrange to work flexibly - school runs etc.

No commuting.

I tried it for a bit and didn’t like it at all. I missed interacting with people and it was very hard to stay motivated to get work done. I am generally crap with the motivation thing though; I’d sit down for a quick sandwich and still be sitting there two hours later

I work from home, self employed. I don’t find it isolating, but DH also works from home which might be one reason, also my job involves quite interesting talks on the phone with people. Also I have complete flexibility because I’m self employed so if I want to go up the town or to the gym I can - as long as I make up the time later. I don’t miss people at all - but I am quite introverted and like lot of alone time, even when in an office I used to try to have lunch by myself with a book, if possible.

I absolutely love it and still pinch myself at how lucky I am to do what I do! No commute, no need for smart office clothes, don't need to do hair or make small talk.

BUT I'm very happy on my own and love being at home. I don't need or want much social interaction. I can see how for many people this set-up could feel isolating.

I don't find self-discipline a problem, as I do have set hours and time-specific tasks. I'm naturally very conscientious and wouldn't dream of doing non-work things in work hours (I'm on my break right now!)

I feel lucky too and love the flexibility. Yes it can be lonely, however I plan things for the week, coffee with friend, walk/drive out etc. I could never concentrate at my last job with peoples constant chatter so now I can get on and be more time effective

I've worked from home most of my career, there are pros and cons and obviously it depends on your character and whether you have (or can acquire) social activities outside of work. I do miss the coffee room chat - tbh I think I use MN as something of a substitute.

I love it too. It helps if you go into the office regularly.

It helps if you go into the office regularly.

Unless the office is in California and you're in the U.K.
Skype helps a lot - though always looking at each other's screens not people, which suits me fine (I've disabled my laptop camera)

I love working from home, and don't feel lonely, I do have the radio on very quietly in the background. A lot of time on the phone as well to clients and colleagues. Would struggle to go back to "normal" office working now.

I wouldn't mind going to California but not every week.

What sort of jobs do you all do? I fancy a change and need the flexibility of working from home.

I work from home and have done for 3 years. I have to have a on site meeting once a month which happens to be in the evening as I work with people who volunteer and the evening is the only time they can do, so don’t need any child care as partner is home by then. I love the flexibility of it and tbh I’m not the greatest of people person on a daily basis it suits me. I have 2 children and one on the way, with my second I never took maternity leave and won’t be with the 3rd due to how flexible work is (infact my partner is making the most of it and taking The 6 weeks off I should be having). I do find though that winters are hard because the kids don’t want to be stuck indoors but I have to be for work reasons, not everyone is so understanding as to why I seem to ‘nag’ my partner about housework etc, they seem to forget that just because I’m at home doesn’t mean its all my responsibility (my mum and mil drive me mad!) also I’m sure I could be in all day get no calls pop out on school run come back to 3 messages!! There are many pros and cons it really depends on the arrangements but it suits me and my family.

I love it, but my job is very phone/email based so I do have social interaction. Also I am on the road 2-3 days a week in meetings so I get some social interaction then.

I love not commuting, and being able to get up at 8.30, and especially in winter not having to leave the house in the dark/cold. I went back into an office environment last year and couldn't hack it -felt like a caged bird.

It can be a bit socially isolating, I'm not sure I could do it every day particulary if it was not a job involving dealing a lot with other people .

I will be on the phone so I will be interacting with people. I am quite conscientious so I think I would be ok motivation wise as I am pretty good on the days I work from home at the moment

I won't miss the office politics and I don't really like the people I currently work with!

I work from home but try and go into the office once every six weeks or so, see a few people in person. You have to be motivated and it helps if I'm very busy. I work with some great people though so although we see each other very sporadically, we talk a lot, and keep each other going. It's also important to not become isolated by having regular calls with your team, and making the time for that interaction.

I definitely miss the feeling of working in a team but from the POV of flexibility around the children, you can't beat it really!

I’ve worked from home for 10 years, the first few were great but I’ve noticed it’s had a negative impact for example when we have social gatherings, I now feel awkward, I’m not part of the office, but I am, often get forgotten, but I have an amazing boss who does make sure she includes me when she can and I speak to her everyday. I’m a single mum so it really helped with that.

So its good but I’d say make sure you try not to get too isolated.

Also try and have a separate work space, I sometimes feel as if I’m at work 24 hours a day, if it wasn’t for my dog I could go weeks without leaving the house, I also have home food delivery.

Depends whether you mind being on your own a lot.

I like the solitude. I do bits of housework (5 min break to put wash out, 5 min chop veg for dinner etc) which makes a big difference and keeps you active.

You do go months without travelling more than a kilometre from home though!

I like it. I got a dog to get me out of the house a couple of times a day

I work at home 2 days a week and one day at home which is a nice balance.

*one day in the office

I did for 3 years. Pros- less stressful, more productive. Cons- work more hours, feel guilty about stopping(!), lonely. Have a proper routine, separate space, face to face meetings etc.

I was home based for 5.5 years. Generally I loved it because no commute, no office politics, can get the dinner on and washing in during a lunch break. BUT you have to be disciplined, your family need to realise it's a full time job and you're not just lying around watching day time TV and it really helps to use Skype video calling and to be able to plan meetings etc face to face for at least one day a week.