DTMark Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 I work from home one Friday a fortnight. The other Fridays I don't work at all. So max 4 days in the office a week is great. I wouldn't want to work from home permanently, I like the distinction between the office (=work) and home (=my home). Also depending on what you're doing - if you need speedy broadband, working from home might not be an option for some. If all I could get was ADSL (not cabled) then I couldn't do it because it doesn't have any upstream speed to speak of and downstream is poor too, so would have me tearing my proverbial hair out. We have a 4G connection which is nice and speedy. One compromise would be to rent a room in a local serviced office that has decent broadband, so you still keep home and work separate, and get out and about each day and meet people. Might even pick up some business that way too. A room in a serviced office might be circa £200/mo all bills included. If you went for the "hot-desking" option (e.g. you just use a desk in a shared space) this might only be about £50 a month, tea and coffee included and so on. That would work best if you prefer the "noise" of an office environment though the absence of same is one of the attractions of not being in a shared environment for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reck B Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Procrasterbating is a big problem for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 You go nuts. You actually work harder and put in more hours. None of that water cooler talk or nipping off for meetings and wasting time. Those in the office begin to hate you, are convinced that you are a slacker and at least one person will start to undermine you without you knowing it. A classic technique is when you have the occasional doctor or dentist appointment or are taking the car to leave at a garage for a service. You will tell people that you won't be available for that hour and, guess what, someone will call you or arrange a meeting at that time just to try and portray you as someone not actually working. You will then be called at all hours - first thing in morning, late into the evening. This affects your relaxation period as you begin to never switch off. Your brain is always waiting for that phone to ring, or that text or that email. This leads to serious health problems brought on by stress. Companies save tens of thousands per desk in most cities so they win win and you lose lose by working from home. Go on. Tell us what you really think. Water cooler? Used to be coffee machine when I worked in an office. Nowadays I have the virtual version: an IRC window on the desktop keeps me in constant contact with colleagues 7around the world. It's a much better atmosphere and working environment than any physical office. Light relief provided by things like HPC. Will you thrive or go nuts? Depends on your personality and motivation. If you enjoy the work you can be much happier and much more productive. If not, and if you can't just stick your head down and get on with it, going nuts could become a real issue. I've been 15 years working from home (some of that as self-employed), and never had the "someone undermining me" trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Procrasterbating is a big problem for some. Yes, but how is that any different to the regular office? Check deeplurker's avatar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starla Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Also depending on what you're doing - if you need speedy broadband, working from home might not be an option for some. If all I could get was ADSL (not cabled) then I couldn't do it because it doesn't have any upstream speed to speak of and downstream is poor too, so would have me tearing my proverbial hair out. We have a 4G connection which is nice and speedy. Yes, I'm in London 4G mode, and it wasn't until I visited friends in a Suffolk village recently, that it hit home how bad some internet conenctions are. My bloke friend was trying to work from home and all I could hear him say was "F'ing internet connection has gone again! Hopeless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashedOutAndBurned Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Is it all its cracked up to be? The bonus is a 3 second commute, but do you go nuts after a while? Did it successfully over two years self employed. Would maybe be out and about with clients once or twice a week, the rest at home. It works and it doesn't work. Not wasting time and energy commuting is a great thing. I think external factors were more problematic - other members of the family would see me as available and disturb me. In the end I rented a small cheap office so I could remove myself for blocks of peaceful work time as I was always working late as it was the only interruption free time. Working more productively means the office is more than paid for most months but even when it's just an extra overhead it pays for itself in stress-reducution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 By not working from home, I avoid Jehovah's Witnesses, and vacuum cleaner sales people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 Did it for a lengthy period once, it was all of the downsides of work with few of the upsides; I wouldn't do that again. Working from home one or two days a week is fine however, as well as a lie-in I get to do the really complicated stuff that I need peace and quiet for, so would otherwise need to stay really late to get done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renewed Investor Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 I'm self employed running two businesses from home. One is an engraving business and the other is Day trading. The pros are the fact there is no commute which saves time and quite a lot of money (In my experience anyway), no bosses to muck you about and you can do things your way. The down side is that it does get lonely, there are days when I would like someone, anyone to talk to. Forums and coatrooms help a bit but it's not the same. Another con (if you live with others) is that personal life does get mixed into work life. The number of times I've had to stop what I'm doing to go pick someone up or go drop off a package etc. Some people assume that since you work from home you can just put things off without consequence and that you can do favors or other tasks whilst they are out at work. People coming in at 5pm kicking off at you for not doing the dishes after you have just lost £200 trading the FTSE100 can drive one mad at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Liebenstein Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 I've worked from home pretty much most of the last 13 years - as I am in sales it not a big issue, I can do all the admin etc from my home office and then travel to customers meetings and come into the office when I need to. That said, in the last 3 years I've moved into Sales Management and had kids, so I need to be in the office more and it is pretty hard to work at home when with a 3 year old and 15 month old who can open all the doors unaided. If you want to work from home field sales is a good job if you can do it. Yes you do need to hit targets, but if you have a good contact book you can almost do the job in 30 hours most weeks, with occasional manic bursts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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