Working From Home

[Mrs B]

So, I'm after more intellectual information from the all-knowing Fugees.

 

I kind of have the impression that some of you are "home based" workers.

 

I can guess at some of the distractions that can occur if you work from home .......................... however, if you were going to an interview for a home based job, and they asked for your views on what you consider to be any problems/benefits of working from home, what would you say?

[cycas]

There are lots of benefits that would be better not to mention to an employer, I reckon.

 

Reasonable to say that you will enjoy being there for your pets / family and look forward to having more time due to no commute.

 

Otherwise, I would stick to 'not being able to switch off' as a potential disadvantage (then talk about how you will be organised and divide up your time).

 

I say this as someone who is not sitting in her office chair working, but is slumped with laptop in front of the fire in the living room, where I was working till 2am this morning. Maybe I'm not the right person to ask.

[Jacobean]

I've worked from before and am hoping to again. Although I suppose I do for Oldies

 

You tend to find yourself making lots of cups of tea and putting the washing on etc. End up not knowing how many hours you have actually worked. Unless you make yourself sit at a desk 9-5 with a lunch. It won't happen.

 

You then can end up putting in extra hours later, either in the evening/at weekends or when you have a deadline on something and need to catch up.

 

On the flip side you can find it preying on your mind every waking hour. So that you can be sat watching tv but still be thinking of work as it's hard to get away from it. You can end up putting extra hours in to get things done.

 

You need to be disciplined for it to work out well.

 

Bear in mind that your salary needs to take into account that you are using your own phone, computer, heating, lighting. Especially over the winter months.

 

Am now wondering what you're doing.

[Peachy]

I'd echo what the other two have said. I've worked from home on and off for a few years now. I'm working from home today and I'm sat on the sofa, feet up, with the laptop resting nicely on a cushion, listening to the iPod on shuffle

 

I've just changed jobs and, at the moment, they're sending me out to all the offices to meet people. None of them are within an hour of home, which is annoying. Bear that in mind - you might need to travel for training or meetings. Also if you have others in the house when you're working, they need to understand that you're working. My OH is here today and, although he's on tea making duty, he's distracting me a bit.

 

My old job was 10 minutes from home so was perfect for having to pop to the office when needed however it meant I had no excuse for not going in!

 

The huge benefits are that you can be left to get on with things without being caught up in office chatter, stupid people asking daft questions, the annoying boss watching every move you make. The prospective employer doesn't need to know about other distractions, such as the Refuge You can concentrate on the job in hand and be much more productive for them. You can also work even when you don't feel 100% and might not normally go into the office.

[murtle]

Benefits to you :

no commuting,

flexibility on work times if allowed,

not having to wear office clothes to complete the work,

enjoy your home and local ammenities, i.e. the shops if required or going to the Doctors regardless of appointment time

 

 

Benefit to the company :

don't have to pay for teabags

[smirnoff]

I worked from home and I loved it. My wonderful employers stopped it without warning last year after a completely unrelated security incident and I haven't coped with going back to office based work at all - the doctor's signed me off for a couple of weeks to see if I can get my head back to a good place (but that's another story).

 

On the plus side there's flexibility of working hours, no commuting time, the chance to work without interruption (which is a biggy for me). It can be cheaper for them if they don't have to provide you with office space (depends on what they do have to provide you with because they still have to do all the health and safety risk assessments etc which can cost).

 

On the down side there's increased heating and lighting bills, possibly increased phone bills and the potential for social isolation from your colleagues.

 

The ability to concentrate is the biggest advantage for me (as far as my employer is concerned) which is how I managed to swing the homeworking in the first place years ago.

 

Good luck with whatever it is. Home working doesn't suit everyone but as far as I'm concerned it's a wonderful way to work and really helps the work/life balance.

Diane

[depurple1]

Benefits for your employer:

Less space needed for office based workers, therefore can rent a smaller building, which saves costs.

Workers may accept a lower salary because of no commuting costs.

Happier employees who like working from home are less likely to leave, therefore less recruitment and training costs for new employees

May be able to attract better calibre employees by offering flexible working

Employees may be able to be more flexible in overtime, etc, for example could pick kid up from school then continue working if needs be, rather than being unable to because there is no childminder

 

Disadvantages for employer:

Cannot see everything employee is doing (unless on webcam)

Will have to invest in technology for remote meetings, etc

More expenses - broadband costs for many homes rather than one office, etc.

 

Environmental benefits:

No daily commute, therefore lower carbon footprint

With today's technology - email, videoconferencing, netmeetings, etc - you can do some jobs from practically anywhere

 

Employee advantages:

Can do chores, etc during lunch hour instead of going into town and spending most of salary on shoes

Happier and healthier due to better work life balance as less time spent commuting

Save money as can make own lunch rather than having to buy from shop

 

Employee disadvantages:

May be taken advantage of with regards to "working all hours"

More difficult to separate work and home life

Can get lonely by yourself

No nice shiny coffee machine

[nouggatti]

I'd echo what the other two have said. I've worked from home on and off for a few years now. I'm working from home today and I'm sat on the sofa, feet up, with the laptop resting nicely on a cushion, listening to the iPod on shuffle

 

The huge benefits are that you can be left to get on with things without being caught up in office chatter, stupid people asking daft questions, the annoying boss watching every move you make. The prospective employer doesn't need to know about other distractions, such as the Refuge You can concentrate on the job in hand and be much more productive for them. You can also work even when you don't feel 100% and might not normally go into the office.

When I worked as a consultant in HP I was a "mobile" worker, and worked from everything like my bed, to hotel rooms, trains, cars etc.

 

Working from home, the benefits to the employer are imo increased productivity, and reduced facilities costs, (i.e. less space needed permanently, despite paying for broadband).

 

Downsides are potential lack of visiblity of what staff are doing.

 

I'm about to introduce a working from home policy for my staff at the moment, in my current job I cannot work from home due to the highly visible nature of the job.

 

Personally for me I hated it, yes it was great for those 9am conference calls and then I'd toddle into the office, but it was very anti social and I missed the office interaction.

 

I do now work from home, evenings and weekends, I would regularly spend a couple of hours working from home each weekday and most weekends, but for me it's an added bonus, but not something I would do 9-5 in my current role, and not something I would ever do permanently, it's the social side that I miss.

[Mrs B]

Thanks for all the replies folks. You touched on things I had thought of and brought up a few that hadn't crossed my mind.

 

I've just been scribbling down the main points in my notebook as a reminder for me to look through tomorrow as I head off for interview.

 

Assuming the question comes up - but it does seem an obvious one to me!

[Ian]

As others have hinted there's the truthful answer & the ones you want to answer

 

For the advantages I'd stick to for the employer unless pressed / queried on that

 

No / less expensive offices to pay for

No time wasted on office chatter

As a dedicated employee when working from home you are often working at all hours not just 9 - 5

 

For the disadvantages (to you)

Could be a little unsocial in terms of human interaction & impinging on your private time

Extra costs incurred in electricity, heat etc that probably wont be paid for even if the phone probably will

 

 

I think it can be harder to motivate yourself when working from home - especially if unhappy with the way the job is going for any reason - than being forced to go to the office at say 9 oclock - but no need to be putting doubts about your motivation in their minds at interview