Remote working, where to look?

[Daisy1988]

I'm pretty fed up in my current (office) job, which is made worse by the commute which adds a lot of additional costs, (not to mention school clubs 5 days a week) unfortunately my employer is very resistant to home working and insists we must be office based, so I've been looking around for a remote position.
With all the talk of companies moving more towards remote working I'm hopeful I can find something, but struggling at the moment. Can anyone suggest a good legitimate company that offers home working? Any suggestions to help find a remote position? Thanks

Civil service, although they're not always advertised as remote, it might be something you can change on flexible working or (more likely) it'll be a hybrid model. My department asks for 2 days a week in the office officially but in reality they don't bat an eye lid at 1 day. My last body has changed to just 2 office days a month. I risked it, applied, got a couple of job offers with different departments and each were basically happy to have me as unofficially remote. But I understand they can compel me to the office if required so I still looked for departments with offices within about an hour of me.

Came here to also say civil service. Same as pp I also got a post that was unofficially remote and they were quite happy with this. I also negotiated an office closer to home in my contract just in case they change their mind in future but I don’t think it will happen as the office isn’t where the rest of the team would be based.

We have just gone through the recruitment process for a few positions.

While they weren't advertised as remote, and no candidates asked, our companies standard flexible remote working policy starts at 60%/40% WFH/office. But it is dependant on your role, some roles need to be in the office others don't so it can be less/more flexible. I haven't been in the office for over 2 years now, that is because not only covid but I have regular meetings with different time zones so it suits us both.

It is also in the policy that you must have the ability to come into the office for meetings/workshops etc if needed, so you must have childcare/be able to commute.

I don't think you will find many companies will advertise their remote working policies on job adverts, you might have to do a few interviews to find out.

My DS has a permanent remote job with the council in the south east, he lives in Somerset.
Apparently councils all over the UK are really badly short staffed and they are bringing in remote working for certain posts.
Worth investigating.

Thanks so much for these suggestions, I'm finding few jobs are advertised as remote so having an idea of companies willing to negotiate this is really useful. I don't mind going to the office, it's just the commute costs and childcare that I'm hoping to cut down on, I'm fully expecting they'll want me in some of the time so focusing locally. Thanks

Hi OP

I've just started working for the Civil Service in a role that was advertised as a wfh role. The hours are very flexible too, which is great for childcare.

Keep looking of the CS website as there are likely to be more and more wfh jobs available in the near future.

Our current working arrangement is 1 day a week in the office and whilst that might continue indefinitely, it might not and so posts are not advertised as remote or hybrid working and when someone asks that's the only response we can give them and if they want guaranteed remote or hybrid we can't do that.

What sort of job are you looking for?

Local authorities for sure.

third sector has a lot of home based jobs.

I am home based with occasional travel.

I hope you are not intending to work with your children in the house unless you either have someone else to keep an eye on them or they are old enough to entertain themselves. Remember remote working is still work!

I recently had a call with someone trying to sell me a service who had their toddler screaming in the background, then said to me "I'll be back in a minute", but left me waiting 10 minutes, before proceeding with the call with toddler still screaming. I did try to be patient and understanding and said several times "we can rearrange" but she insisted on plodding on with child still sobbing. I do wonder how she manages to get any work done or any sales.

@amazeandastonish

third sector has a lot of home based jobs.

I am home based with occasional travel.

I hope you are not intending to work with your children in the house unless you either have someone else to keep an eye on them or they are old enough to entertain themselves. Remember remote working is still work!

I recently had a call with someone trying to sell me a service who had their toddler screaming in the background, then said to me "I'll be back in a minute", but left me waiting 10 minutes, before proceeding with the call with toddler still screaming. I did try to be patient and understanding and said several times "we can rearrange" but she insisted on plodding on with child still sobbing. I do wonder how she manages to get any work done or any sales.

Not at all, I'm no stranger to remote working, my daughter is in school/clubs during working hours.

Agreeing with previous poster, the third sector has lots of remote jobs.

The biggest website for third sector jobs is charityjob.co.uk - you can filter by 'remote working'. if you've done office work then you would have a good chance of finding roles that you'd have transferable skills for.

Most banks and building societies have come out and said people can wfh for ever more.