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Working from home


Beast Boy

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michael_bolton

Depends. As much as I dislike a lot of the people I work with and wouldn't miss them, I think spending time out the house is generally a good thing.

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A Boy Named Crow

I've never liked working from home. I like there to be a distinction between being at work and not being at work. Leaving the office and going home is a good way of doing that.

 

Nor am I a fan of other people who "work from home". They tend to be the ones who do very little when they are in, and even less when they are at home!

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I've never liked working from home. I like there to be a distinction between being at work and not being at work. Leaving the office and going home is a good way of doing that.

 

Nor am I a fan of other people who "work from home". They tend to be the ones who do very little when they are in, and even less when they are at home!

Interesting. I normally get twice as much done at home. Challenge for me is actually putting the work to one side when it gets to 7/8 at night.

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First time I did it, I missed the office 'banter'. Then I had another 10 years of office 'banter' and realised I could live without it, especially the daily commute. Now I don't think I could work full time in an office again.

 

On the flip side, I travel a lot, and think I would get cabin fever without the regular trips away.

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It makes sense where your work is a fair commute, but if you can get to work in reasonable time then I think you should be in the office.

 

The fear for me is that if you aren't in the office you are "out of sight, out of mind" meaning that because people don't see you often they think you do sod all.  If redundancies come then your name could be top of the list.

 

My brother does 3 days commute to Stirling and works two from home, and there is someone I work with in our office that does the same from Glenrothes to Leith.

 

I could work from home with no problems as a software developer as often its a case of get your head down and get something finished, but I'd imagine that had I a young family it might be too distracting.

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I've been in a job for the last year which has resulted in working from home for the majority of the time. I usually spend at least one, if not two days per week in a office, but it's not really a commutable distance to work there all the time.

 

It was difficult to get use to at the start. However, it has become easier to switch off from any home distractions, watching TV, nipping out to the shops etc. However, I do still miss that office environment at times. I don't miss the noise of an office, more the interactive/social aspect and being able to talk over worries, stresses, annoying colleagues, with someone else.

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The_razors_edge

My dad works from home. He's basically become a social recluse as a result.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I work from home at least 1-2 days a week, quite enjoy it and find I usually get more actual work done minus all the interruptions!

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I am permitted to work from home but rarely do. I too struggle with the idea of it. I prefer to 'work at work' if that makes sense.

 

Having the option is very handy though if the kids were to be ill, or expecting deliveries or stuff like that.

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I liked the idea of working from home and asked to do it for months as I can do my job from anywhere, apart from the odd internal and external meeting.

 

I broke my ankle last year so working from home was the only option for 3 months.

 

It was great at first, Up at 7 like I used to do when I was going to the office, shower & breakfast, no distractions in the house. no tv. no radio. And I found I was finishing the morning workload a lot quicker. By 11.30 I was ready for a break and a bit of lunch. Back to work at 12.45 until 4pm ish. So already quite a shortened day because there were no distractions.

 

When I realised how short my day was I started lying in bed for longer. And so the day ended up starting closer to 10 than 8.Sometime I rattled through everything without a break and was done by 3. Sometimes I was still sat there at 7-8pm. I started to watch the TV news, then afternoon TV, then a movie and ended up doing nothing all afternoon and catching up at night.

 

Don't get me wrong, everything I was supposed to do in a work day was done, but just not in a disciplined way. And when you don't have day to day contact with colleagues and your boss and your team it gets harder and harder to keep an organised work flow going.

 

If your not a strictly self disciplined person, working from home full time is bloody hard in so many ways. Its hard to keep to a schedule when you don't have to. Its hard to avoid the temptations of watching tv for an hour longer than you should and its REALLY hard to keep to 'office hours' at home, again especially if you don't have to.

 

I work from home very occasionally. I'm not a fan of doing it any more than once a week and even then it has to be for a specific project, not just daily work routine stuff.

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Interesting. I normally get twice as much done at home. Challenge for me is actually putting the work to one side when it gets to 7/8 at night.

 

Exactly the same for me.

 

My work think I'm at it when I need to work from home but I tend to find myself sat at the dining room table until 10 or so.

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...a bit disco

Does that mean I've 'made it'?

 

Nope.

 

It just means that you're a social pariah and all your workmates hate you.

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I've worked from home, self employed, for nearly 5 years. Don't miss working in an office with people at all and I have plenty of meetings through the week to get me out the house. I don't think I could ever return to an employment role again.

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been working from home for almost 5 years only in the last two do i class it as being good because the first couple years you dont know if its sustainable or what the growth is going to be like

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Neilson's Shank

Kudos to anyone who can do it and be productive - I struggle with that, far too many distractions at home.

Totally agree, additionally there is too much nice stuff to scran in the cupboards/fridge.

 

maybe my lack of willpower, but still a factor.

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I work from home. I work for a global corporation and manage a team spread throughout Europe. It works for me as I work odd hours and in my role, manage my own priorities and workload. I have great technology with integrated VOIP and video streamed to by desktop so I can see people, host meetings, share presentations etc with a couple of clicks. I drifted in to it as I used to spend 3 weeks a month on long haul travel and needed to spend my time at home, well.....at home instead of an office. It is a hard thing to do successfully. You need to have the right temperament, attitude and tools. You need to have the right facilities. you need to have a job that is conducive with WFH. And most important, you need to have a family who do not encroach and understand that when you are working, you are working! Not someone who is at home to answer the door and take everyone's deliveries, or pick up prescriptions etc etc.

 

As a previous poster pointed out, you have to be really disciplined about when you are "on and off duty". It can be very easy to sit answering emails at 11:30pm especially if your job has an international dimension. It can really work for some people, but for others, beware what you ask for! And for those who use it as a skive - and let's face it you can do this if you want - you WILL get caught out eventually and you WILL be first out the door when hard times come.

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Fruitmachine76

I am permitted to work from home but rarely do. I too struggle with the idea of it. I prefer to 'work at work' if that makes sense.

 

Having the option is very handy though if the kids were to be ill, or expecting deliveries or stuff like that.

Pretty much this. I worked for 2 years pretty much full time from home. Missed the banter and social aspect of work.

 

Also I just prefer my home to be my home where I don't work, nice having the distinction and split between the two.

 

With all that said, it does come in handy where I have a delivery, work being carried out on the house or issues with childcare.

 

Preference though is very much to head into the office

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Love it.

 

My work / life balance is far better as a result.

 

Easily condensed my FT hours in to 4 days as a result of the no travelling time. 3 day weekend now. Bliss.

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I work from home and it is a double edged sword in my opinion, if you are disciplined and work like you would in an office then you are fine if not then debatable lol.

 

At the end of the day no matter the job everyone will be expected to deliver something either monthly, quarterly etc if you are able to do this then you are fine if yo get distracted and don't deliver then will not be long before questions asked.

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I set up as a consultant a year ago and as a result I work remotely, so I am either at home or at a clients office. I will never (unless the perfect job comes along) change this, I make enough money (more money than I did working for a company), work on my terms and stress levels have gone from ultra to non-existent.

 

The future of work will rely on contingent and mobile workers. Flexibility is key and the office will become a 'trophy' premises visited for collaborative work only.     

 

Plus I can enjoy an early afternoon bevy! 

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Exactly the same for me.

 

My work think I'm at it when I need to work from home but I tend to find myself sat at the dining room table until 10 or so.

Aye. As for distractions at home, I find there are more distractions in the office.

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I used to work in an Oil Company where home working was becoming increasingly prevalent.    A study was done on login times, phone calls, email frequencies etc and it was found on average home workers were doing about 80% of the productivity of office workers, and in addition were missing out on team meetings, F2F discussions and coffee chats so were becoming alienated from the rest. and losing sight of Corporate visions and objectives.

 

A solution was found - in one case a whole department of around 20 people were made redundant.     

 

Home working is fine if there are absolute clear goals and expectations set and very strong Leadership, otherwise its a skive.

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Governor Tarkin

Love it.

 

My work / life balance is far better as a result.

 

Easily condensed my FT hours in to 4 days as a result of the no travelling time. 3 day weekend now. Bliss.

Nice one.

 

Do you have your own 'office' at home though so you can shut youself away and get on with it, or don't you need one for your kind of work?

 

I'd still need some kind of work/home demarcation. I could never successfully study at home when I was a student.

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Great thread [emoji2]

 

Since hiring a management team for my company, ive pretty much worked from home. I was running the team myself for years with little break.

 

Pros are -

 

Starting whenever your up and ready to.

 

Getting pissed and having meldowns on KB and waking up not having to leave for work, hungover on a freezing cold morning in the pissing rain.

 

Get to spend more time with your family.

 

You can work in your boxer shorts and a t-shirt.

 

You can watch TV/porn in the background while you work.

 

Save money on travel expenses, even if tax deductable.

 

Ultimately, the flexibility.

 

Cons -

 

It takes a phenomenal amount of self-discipline to start work when you know you don't have to be at the office by 8a.m.

 

Working longer than you should. Its different if your self employed though where working longer hours if it benefits your company in the future. Working for a boss, he wont see and appreciate the longer hours your doing.

 

Getting to see some of my [emoji14]inilla: staff as often.

 

Im sure i have more personal cons i could think of but its 1pm, got to get up for an hours work and then to the game.

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Nice one.

 

Do you have your own 'office' at home though so you can shut youself away and get on with it, or don't you need one for your kind of work?

 

I'd still need some kind of work/home demarcation. I could never successfully study at home when I was a student.

I work in our spare bedroom. Desk, laptop, second screen.

 

I would hate to do back to the office now. When I do on rare occasion I find the background noise really loud and massively distracting. I'm so used to the peace now. I get more work done.

 

I'd have to get up an hour earlier in the morning if went back to the office. Plus pay for travel. Dress smartly etc. Give me the longer lie, no travel expense and working in jogging bottoms please. :lol:

 

Also like being able to cook my meals throughout the day. There's also household chores I'd have to do at night that can be done on my lunch, further freeing up my evening time on top of the time saving the no commuting brings. I don't work Friday any longer as can do the 36 hours over Mon to Thurs. My work / life balance has been massively transformed.

 

I go to the gym after work 4 of the 5 weekdays. So I'm still getting out the house every day, speaking to other humans. So there's never the recluse / alienated issue for me.

 

If I was offered ?5000 extra a year for a different office based job, I wouldn't take it. Love home working.

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Not a chance I could do this :lol:, not that my job will ever go that way, I'd be in my bed all day, and pissing about on the PS4.

 

Fair plying you can get motivated to do it.

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