Working from home: A few thoughts
To commute or not to commute? What you need to know before making the decision to work from home.
Photo: ImagineGolf/iStockphoto - Telecommuting: How to save the world in your pajamas
- How to green your commute through public transportation, biking, and more
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Comments
Yes I like working from home, able to choose my own working hours, not a bad idea.
I owned my home based corporate catering catering company for ten years, and loved having the ability to be at home and work on my own terms. We had to make an investment in adding a licensed commercial kitchen to our home, but it was worth every penny. I consider it an investment in having the lifestyle we wanted for our family
Ran across your site while using Stumble Upon. I began my work at home career at LiveOps and although I was encouraged to work from home because I had children. I just cannot imagine going back into an office! I will likely be working from home until I retire!
My husband works from home. It has saved us literally thousands of dollars in commuting expenses. Because he can work for anywhere there is a reliable internet connection, we were able to stay with my mother after the death of my stepfather without my husband needing to take vacation time.
I stumbled on this post this evening. I left the corporate insurance agency world to start my own insurance agency over 6 years ago and have never regretted it. From a business point of view it can be harder to be the owner than being an employee, but since my industry has no automatic retirement age for licenses, I can enter retirement knowing that I will be okay whether or not Social Security Retirement kicks in for me in 15 years.
What impact does working from home have on such things as worker's comp insurance? Does the company supply the computer, or do you use your own? Are you compensated for utilities (electricity)? These are things I never see addressed in telecommute work stories.
Hi Don,
These details vary so greatly it's hard to address them. Most at-home workers that I know supply their own computer, phone, printer, etc... Same with internet and other utility charges. If you are a full-fledged employee rather than a self-employed contractor, you probably would have a computer and other expenses taken care of by the company.
It's the Small Business Administration, not association. It's a part of the federal government, not a membership organization.
That being said, they offer great resources and work with many locally-based nonprofits to help small businesses start off on the right foot. Highly recommend partnering with them to get support.
I worked from home 2 to 3 days a week for about 6 yrs and then switched contracts (stayed with the same Fortune 500 company,. just switched clients) and now the client offices and datacenters are 700miles away..so I have had NO office to go to for 4 yrs now. The pluses are I save a ton of money on gas, lunches, clothes etc,I can write off a "home office" at tax time and I can get to my kids schools and other events with little issues at all. Minuses are I do miss poking my head int he next.... More
I have a great situation - I work from home 32 hours a week and go to the office for 2 half days. This is perfect for me. I get to interact with my coworkers on site and still have the quiet time I need to get work done at home. My productivity increased and I miss out on a lot of the office politics. Many of the people I work with are located in other cities/states so my working from home is transparent to most of them. IM is a great communication tool, but we also don't hesitate to.... More
In November of 2010 my company allowed me to go to France and work from there at a friend's house. A great experience. Since I do a lot of testing, I had test results written up by the time my East Coast colleagues were waking up. I leave for France again on 3/24 to do the same thing.
I have the greatest of worlds. I am also much more productive in a shorter period of time. My office has never been closed for snow!!
However, you need to get out and visit main office on a regular basis. I go every 10 days or so. I do miss the first thing in the morning "Monday Game" talk, but hey not that much!!
I try to work from home once a week to avoid the commute (90 miles round trip). However, I need social interaction. My network is scattered and coming to the office also helps me hook up with colleagues after work. I don't think I'd want to do it more than two days a week, but that has at least as much to do with my personality as it does with promotion concerns. It is important to be seen at major meetings, though, so I make sure I'm here on the days when those occur.
There is no other way but to work from a home office. I get scared thinking that I might have to go back to an office to work. I do agree a home office is best for some and a regular office with other workers might be best for others.
I have been working at home for about a year and find myself drifting over to my online TV service at the TVDevo website. It's easy to do since I can watch anything on TV right on my laptop. How do I kick this habit??
Consider having a family member or close friend monitor the sites you've been on during the day. You'd probably be told off for watching soaps when you should be working, so that may help you kick the habit.
I've been self-employed on either side of a long office career, and although I prefer the work at home atmosphere, it has its downsides. My day effectively ends when the kids get off the bus at 3:20; contracts are unpredictable; I am my own office manager as well as performing my paid roles; cash flows are sometimes negative; and keeping in touch with my professional network - which is critical for more work - is harder when I'm not out in the field. These aren't complaints, just things to.... More
I spent the last 2yrs of driving an hour one way (100mi round trip) asking if I could work from home part time. The persistent answer was No, for security reasons. So I reduced to part time and still the cost of going to work matched my income, so no profit. I "retired". A month later, another department offered me a work from home position doing the same task at higher salary and they provide the computer. The only catch is that I have to drive to Sacramento (330 mi round trip) one day a month.... More
Working at home is the only way for me. Being self employed I can do as little or as much as I want. I therefore don't miss out on promotions as if I want to earn more I simply take on more work, or increase rates. Ten steps from bed to computer is definately my future.
I've been working from home for over 10 years. When I go to the kitchen to fix lunch, I toss in a load of laundry or dishes as long as I'm there. When I get up for my mid-afternoon coffee break, I pop dinner in the oven. If there's something good on TV, I can take a break to watch it. I can do a few minutes of mopping when I need some physical activity to work off some frustration.
BONUS: Being home during flu season reduces the opportunities to pick up the flu.
