Who works from home?

[Baron Von Crowder]

I may have that ability coming up soon, what are the up and downsides?

[Strychnine]

I've done it, and honestly I didn't like it. Less social interaction, less visibility, more shit to distract you, longer delays in getting what you need from other people, etc. For fast paced work it sucks. Right now I pick one day a week to work from home, but it's more of a "leave me alone, I'm catching up on stuff" day.

i think outside sales is about the only role it makes sense for long term

[BradM]

I do, I love it. Nobody bothers you, work in my underwear, crack a beer at 3 if you want. Fucking great!

[Baron Von Crowder]

I've been offset from my sales team (and management) for almost a decade. I work in an office with sales/support for another area and my area is 200+ miles away. Aside from the people sitting around me, I dont have any interaction other than phone/email.

I may be moving into operations, and it would be completely phone/email based, and offsite. It would have to be worked from home. I'm weighing my options now, and wanted to make sure I cover all bases before I give the nod.

[BradM]

My main rule when I started was not to turn on the TV until I was clocked out. That is my easiest distraction. If a TV is on I will watch it, even if it's women's basketball.

[ceyko]

I do it fairly often, but not always.

Pros:
-Cheaper lunches
-Gas savings / no tolls
-Time savings - my commutes to customers/or office is no less than 2 hours round trip. As much as 4 to 5 if bad traffic day
-Work efficiency if stay focused
-Tend to be able to manage personal tasks a little better - so say you have a personal commitment at 2 to 8 at night - do that (Monitor phone/emails) and come back home and work to get work done for day. (Flexibility) Do chores during breaks. Mow lawn in the morning when cool and work a little later...etc.
-If have kids, can help there easier
-Less interruptions
-If do workouts, easier to accomplish this task
-If dead at work (holidays...whatever) - you're at home, not in an office at work.


Cons:
-When slammed can work too much. May wake at 6 with coffee and not realize time passed until 6 in the evening when starving and tired.
-Tends to require more phone calls since not face to face in office to work through items.
-Reduction of social interaction / getting out of house requires management of attitude/personality issues sometimes
-If have a retarded supervisor/manager who does not trust you - work production can be questioned until trust is established or you bolt
-#1 thing is being accessible (leashes) during expected work times. IM, email, phone, teams...etc. So even if slow at work you're still accessible which means not out and about for long periods of time. This may not seem like much, but some people think you can just do whatever you want when not slammed and that's how you end up with trust issues. Have to be accessible and able to respond to a problem/request/task in a timely manner (15 minutes is my absolute max)
-If people relying on you being home (kids, appointment periods for contractors...etc)...you may have to bolt out door for work unexpectedly (may not apply for your job)
-Laziness - extra steps walking to car, to office, around office, to lunch, back from lunch and other things depending on job adds up a little. Plopped in a chair 8-16 hours a day is no bueno for anyone
-Privacy for business - even with kids managed, my own office and such - I have to make it known when doing calls and such. Normal life - vacuums, kids laughing, dogs barking...all have to be managed. It's unprofessional with those sorts of background noises. Younger folks seem to not care as much, but on the verge of being an old timer I think a professional call should not have those noises.
-Status reports - when I first started working from home I noticed clients (not my boss/manager) doubted effort. So in my case I do daily or so status reports showing progress, work to be done next day, hold ups (90% of the time it's the client, not me holding things up) and major issues. Depending on job/client/PM this is not necessarily somethings that is required when dong on-site day-to-day work since they "see" you there.
-No idea what's going on with things outside of your swim lane. Office talk, details managers divulge casually in office...etc. Typically this is all noise, but sometimes it is important stuff.


That's what I got off the top of my head. I personally like my gig where I may have to go on site for a year and then work home for a year or any mix in between. I'd dislike 100% either way, but if I had to choose I would choose 100% work from home with options for face to face meetings and such.

I'm an IT consultant for reference. So installs, configurations....break/fix stuff all can be remote. Face to face is nice to build trust though and I'll often go on-site when not needed just for meetings and to show effort.

[Chili]

Pros and Cons have been covered well, but ultimately it's more about the individual. If I had a choice I would do 3-4 days a week at home and 1-2 days a week in the office.

The main challenge I have, of course, is keeping from getting distracted.. For example, I may go into the kitchen to grab a drink, and decide to quickly clean the couple of items in the sink.. Then start a load of laundry.. It can snowball.

For me though, the clutch is having a dedicated office space in the house that is now work. When I'm there I'm working.. Working in the living room doesn't work well for me, unless I'm just 'monitoring' and not really 'working'.

[TX_92_Notch]

I've been working from home since 09/2012 after having worked M-F in an office since 1995.

The one thing I miss the most is the camaraderie of the office environment.

I have young children at home and finally ended up building an office in my back yard. It's a 14x16 building with power, internet, phone, AC/heat, etc. Not only did we gain a much needed bedroom in the house, I now have a completely quiet space to work and not be disturbed. I'm less prone to get up and walk to the living room as well.

My job doesn't require a lot of interaction but there are definitely times I wish I had more face-to-face time with my employees/contractors. Most of my team are 1099 contractors working from home, only 2 actual W-2 employees. One works from home in San Antonio and one starts soon and will be working in my office with me 40 hours/week. I may give them the option of working from home one day per week if the person proves to be trustworthy.

[Cannon88]

I worked from home for a few years while in the oilfield, and I loved it

[Ruffdaddy]

Everyone I've seen do this has lost social skills. Some have the self awareness to recognize this and limit the impact...but others go off the deep end and end up in a bubble listening to their favorite talk radio all day. It sucks to see a social person completely lose their ability to see other people's point of view or even have an open conversation because they have been isolated in their bubble so long.

[Baron Von Crowder]

Good stuff, thanks guys. I'm sure the social interaction will be tough to not have, though some of the folks in my office are nails on the chalkboard, and I wont miss that at all.

I've been thinking about what I would do for an office at the house. The wife suggested I put a desk in a corner of the master bedroom, but I feel like I would need more of a disconnect than that. I know how I am, and if there's something I need to get done, i'll be extremely tempted to work on it instead of sleeping. Not that I couldnt walk into the other room to do it, but it wouldnt be RIGHT THERE.

I have thought about building a room in my shop/porch area also, so I can "leave the office" when I am done.

[Ruffdaddy]

I work about 4 nights a week from home and out office is next to the master bedroom...even that can make it hard for my wife to sleep at times.

I would recommend no putting the desk in the master. Convert a big closet if you have to. A dedicated room may also help with write offs.

[Baron Von Crowder]

Everyone I've seen do this has lost social skills. Some have the self awareness to recognize this and limit the impact...but others go off the deep end and end up in a bubble listening to their favorite talk radio all day. It sucks to see a social person completely lose their ability to see other people's point of view or even have an open conversation because they have been isolated in their bubble so long.

some do that even working with people daily, but I can see the type that would rather hermit would be drawn to less face to face contact with people.

[Ruffdaddy]

some do that even working with people daily, but I can see the type that would rather hermit would be drawn to less face to face contact with people.

The problem is you wont notice it. Your friends and family will and you just hope they help. Its not limited to 1 type of person...I've seen it happen to people that were very social already.

The exceptions seem to be people in sales heavy roles that have to constantly interface and socialize for their job. Being face to face is pretty critical for that.

[Baron Von Crowder]

The problem is you wont notice it. Your friends and family will and you just hope they help. Its not limited to 1 type of person...I've seen it happen to people that were very social already.

The exceptions seem to be people in sales heavy roles that have to constantly interface and socialize for their job. Being face to face is pretty critical for that.

Maybe you could CNC me a social life?