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Working from Home

sparksjr

sparksjr

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I might have a chance to work from home soon. I'm considering the pros and cons so I am curious how many of you work from home and how the transition was for you. Do you like it more or less than going to the office? What tips can you give me during this possible transition?

I have always thought it would be nice to work from home but I'm curious how easy/difficult it is to stay focused. I have an office area so I can get closed off from the rest of the house if needed so I'm not terribly worried about it but I am open to any tips more experienced folks are willing to give.
 
We were talking about this at lunch today. With my current house, I would have a very difficult time doing so because I don't have anywhere I can shut myself off from (like an office or basement). The few days a year I try to work from home are never productive. I think I would have to have a dedicated space away from the kids to stand much of a chance.
 
The distractions and temptations can hurt the productivity. Definitely need an office or den that you can go in and lock the door, especially if you have kids.
 
When at my previous job, I was allowed to work from home quite often.. My biggest tip is to prepare just like a normal day at work. wake up take a shower, change out of the PJs and then sit at an area dedicated to work and free from distractions.

The first few times I tried to work from home by just rolling out of bed and sitting on the couch with my laptop, I got absolutely nothing done. I had to create a real work environment at home.
 
I would set up an "office" area where I could seclude myself to focus on my job.
Pros would be no commute, able to make your own schedule better
 
TexasHacker34 said:
When at my previous job, I was allowed to work from home quite often.. My biggest tip is to prepare just like a normal day at work. wake up take a shower, change out of the PJs and then sit at an area dedicated to work and free from distractions.

The first few times I tried to work from home by just rolling out of bed and sitting on the couch with my laptop, I got absolutely nothing done. I had to create a real work environment at home.
Click to expand...

This is vital - you MUST act like you are going to work because you are!

I've had people who work for me that can work at home because their roles and functions aren't contingent on office time. It's easy to judge whether or not they are getting their jobs done. If they can get the job done, right, with no errors, in 30 hours I could care less about the 10 extra hours I'm paying them for. However if they are less productive from working at home then that isn't going to end well.
 
The secluded area was my first thought and luckily I have that. The kids will be at school mostly and my wife knows I would need to focus. I like the tip about getting up as if going to work (shower,change, etc). My job requires my desktop and two monitors so I couldn't sit on the couch even if I wanted. I suspect that will be a big help as well. My schedule wouldnt really change as we would be logged in our normal hours but already being home at the end of the day seems pretty sweet. Also seems like lunch hour just got better as well, lol.

I think we are starting a week on and week off rotation to begin with so I hope to learn a lot during that time and make any necessary adjustments. I am worried about communication with the rest of the team. We require a lot so hopefully that wine be affected too much.
 
I wake up every morning and dress as if I have meetings. I'm at my computer by 9 and done at 5. I have a great deal of meeting outside the house but when I'm home all day, I dress for success.
 
it depends on a lot of things, but I would say the 3 most important ones are your discipline, your environment and the type of work you do.

discipline is very important because there are a lot of things to do at home and nobody that looks at you to keep you accountable, make sure you can focus on work.

the environment is important, you home set up has to be at least as good as your work environment, or else you won't be able to be productive.

the type of work is also very important, if you need to comunicate with your coworquers frequently, if you need their help or if they need you to be readily available, you need to make sure they know how to reach you.


I personally love the day I work from home, I can do so much more without all the people around making noise and chatting about everything and nothing, I find it is my most productive day of the week.
 
Some great advice so far. My biggest piece of advice would be to set your hours and stick to them. I tend to work all hours of the day and night. At one point I couldn't even sit down to watch TV without having my laptop open doing work. I felt lazy if I was relaxing. Now I try to set my times and turn off the computer and cell phone so I can relax and enjoy myself. A lot of us confuse being busy for being productive. not true at all. I am more productive when I set my hours and allow time to relax i.e. GOLF ;)
 
I second pretty much everything above.

EXCEPT for pants - you don't need to wear pants! :)

You'll find that the communication gets sorted out pretty quickly.

For my folks we have an internal messaging system (cisco's jabber) and it is used frequently with public chat rooms set aside for the two groups I oversee. The nice thing here is that it allows for screen sharing.

We also all have access to conference bridges (both audio and video).
 
I can work from home. It has some benefits, but overall I see it as a negative. Personal interactions drive everything, and that's simply too hard to do with only digital communication.
 
I work remote a lot. I like it, but I have a dedicated office space, and I have a dedicated work phone. Internal communication is 90% through IM, which works well, and we use conference bridges when needed. I have set hours I work, and when they're over, they're over. If something is needed outside my work hours I have my cell phone, and I'll answer that 24/7, but that's part of my job duties. Otherwise remote is pretty much like being in the office. I tend to get more "done" at home, because I focus on work, whereas in the office I'll often walk over to someone's cube to chat face to face and then I stop multitasking. I go into the office on a regular basis though, because I find that I get, for lack of a better word, lonely at home. I need the face to face interaction, but not having a commute makes up for it.
 
I have been doing it full time since 2009. The pluses are obvious, but the downsides are still there. First and foremost, you should reasonably expect to be held to a higher standard of quality than your in-office teammates. Especially if your senior management isn't sold on the concept of teleworking. During the day, you need to be honest with yourself in how much you do or don't get done during core hours, and accept that there will be nights (possibly many) that you have to go back to your office to get the day done. Bottom line is you have a privilege that many people who don't have will be jealous of, so be beyond reproach as much as possible.

One minor downside I have from time to time is the lack of a commute home removes any transition time from "worker" to "dad/husband". Especially on the days that you get dropped into the fire of a hectic evening in progress. Not that I would trade what I have for the 2+ hour commutes I used to have, but it is something that occasionally creeps in.
 
I've done it 3 days a week for 5+ years.

1. definitely need dedicated private home office (huge 24"+ monitor, comfortable chair, office equipment)
2. dedicated LAND line (VOIP or whatever.........I don't want to hear people garbled on cell phones on important conference calls)
2. high quality polycom type speakerphone/headset for conference calls
3. high speed internet/bridge/router/wifi/etc
4. always be connected/available from 7am-6pm

pros:

1. you can take a proper lunch "hour" and make a home depot run/go shopping etc
2. you can always bang out some work early from 6am-7am then go workout or run errands till 9am when most commuters in your office check in
3. you will get way more done by 10 am then you would have especially if you have some hellish 1.5hr+ sf bay area commute (like I used to always have for many years)
4. you can kick ass all the time and occasionally get to "sneak out" at 4pm for some golf action (answer every single email sent to you while you were out when you get back)

drawbacks:

1. some folks you work for/with will hold it against you and you will hear snide comments from them and they will devalue your work
2. networking/brown nosing opportunities and interpersonal communications/water cooler chat drop significantly
3. it's harder to get promoted
4. it's easier to dump you (if you are a consultant type)
5. you work more hours (although with #1 you don't get credit for it)
 
Thanks for the responses thus far. Hardware and set up wise I am good to go. I'll have all the needed equipment and ability to "shut out" the other distractions at home. I'm looking forward losing the distractions that come with working in an office of 1200 people. Its cool you had a good weekend but its 10am now and I have heard the story 15 times already. How bout you do some work now?

The week on/week off schedule to start should be a good way to get into it. I do like the collaborative aspect of the office as we do alot of problem solving where the 5 of us work out a problem or new scenario together and that makes sure the solution is communicated to all of us. I am afraid not having us all in the office will make that harder and our company is new at this work from home stuff so we dont really have a standard of practice for this. I personally would like to see a day every week or two where we are all in the office but we are doing this to save space and desk share so thats not really possible it seems.

I'm looking forward to giving it a shot thats for sure.
 
I returned to a full-time regular job (with commute, etc) last fall after spending three three years with a consulting company where I worked from home most of the time and occasionally was sent to spend a week or so at a time onsite with customers.

I had decent internet access from my home so that was not a problem. Buy a decent headset so you can have both hands free while you're talking. Speakerphones aren't good enough IMO.

Pros: My commute was about 10 feet. Saved tons of $$ on gas by not commuting. Dress code was... whatever. Got to sleep in my own bed and see my family every day. Wife thought it was awesome. I could get a lot done if conditions were right. Having a good online communication system made staying in touch with co-workers pretty easy. I was able to go out at lunch and hit balls at the range. Able to flex my working hours easily if necessary.

Cons: Having others around while working from home really limited my ability to get things done due to interruptions. This includes pets like dogs that need to be let out, etc. My "get things done" window was basically from when the kids left for school until they got home and after that the interruptions were too distracting to do anything serious. Spending long stretches of time working from home made me feel isolated from co-workers. Not being able to get together in the same room with key people made getting decisions made difficult in some cases.

I also have to +1 KeyserSose's point about having a good chair. I got an Aeron and never regretted it for a moment. Cheap chairs are cheap for a reason.

Hope this helps.
 
I've been working from home for roughly 3 years. Pros is flexibility to take a quick break and do some laundry or make a snack/lunch. no need to pick out clothes unless you do some sort of in person teleconferencing. productivity is usually better.

some cons would be lack of personal interaction even if it's not with people on your team. I work harder some days from home than any day in the office. Some companies/managers expect quick response after hours to a request compared to if you left the office
 
TexasHacker34 said:
My biggest tip is to prepare just like a normal day at work. wake up take a shower, change out of the PJs and then sit at an area dedicated to work and free from distractions.

The first few times I tried to work from home by just rolling out of bed and sitting on the couch with my laptop, I got absolutely nothing done. I had to create a real work environment at home.
Click to expand...
I couldn't say it any better than Taylor has here.

I have the ability to work from home once a week (I only work four days a week), but actually choose not to because it always seems to be 5:00 pm before I'm sitting on the couch and I realize I haven't gotten anything done.
 
It can work with the right situation, but be prepared to lose a little professionally bc you aren't "in" the office.

My biggest struggle was missing out on small conversations daily that potentially build professional relationships


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My wife does and loves it. Make sure you stick to a schedule somewhat though


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I am lucky to be able to work from home on Monday and Friday every week. I echo most of the comments above, although I do not get dressed up. I have an office in the basement with dual monitors (I am a software analyst for a local hospital for the EMR system). So I do a lot of build work in the software system. I do some occasional phone calls and things like that, but most is just doing some build work. You just have to manage yourself and your expectations.

My boss is very cool and knows I like to golf. She is totally fine with me getting up and playing 18 holes on my WFH day. As long as I get my hours in and get my work done, she doesn't care at all. Just never take advantage of your situation. It is very easy to get distracted.

Some pros to WFH is the ability to run some errands, golf (for me), not having to get up so early and beat the traffic, not having to dress.

Some cons is that I feel I am always "on" when working from home. Constantly checking email and things like that even after my work day is done. Easily distracted at times. Focus!!
 
I can work from home, but Im more productive in the office and theres no way I could do it every day
 
Great replies and advice so far.

I have worked from home and suitcase for so many years now, I would lose my mind in an office. Like most have said, set yourself a solid schedule, have a dedicated workspace where you can be focused, and don't fall into the trap of taking time in the middle of the day to goof off since "hey I work from home, I can just stay up late to catch up".
 
I have done it in the past for a previous job and like others have said, there are pros and cons to it

You definitely need to be a bit more disciplined when working from home - how easy is it to have a quick look at something on a website and then find that an hour has passed before you know it.....cough......THP.....cough

The biggest benefit for me was the fact that I could concentrate on what I needed to do without being disturbed by people in the office, or other people coming to the office to ask questions about things. I did live on my own at the time so I had no other distractions at home to worry about

As long as you are honest with yourself and can avoid being distracted, it can be very productive with regards to completing work, but you can miss out on the ability to ask a colleague to quickly look at something if you need advice or help
 
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