Working from home, good/bad?

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Seeds said:
Everyone is supposed to work efficiently though. Thats a requirement of your job.
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People who work too efficiently in government jobs end up being “managed” out on the fear of showing up their work colleagues
 
Seeds said:
What industry do you work in? I find office time adds to stress not removes it. Have to attend more pointless meetings and people are always asking you to help them out taking away from your time. On top of that when working from home you have an extra 1-2 hours a day to work/relax cos you dont have to get dressed, shave and drive in and out to work. On top of that studies find that driving during peak hour is one of the most stressful things people can do. Plus at home you can work more your hours then standard hours. Can get up early and start at 7 and then have one or two big breaks during the day. Great help for stress.
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I'm in sales/BD in the technology sector. We're owned by a larger entity but there's essentially only two of us in Australia and we report to India. So i'm pretty isolated and thus like to work at the office of the larger entity for a bit of interaction, we do some business together but not much. I do stuff like leave early to miss traffic or go in later, work out of cafes if I can't be bothered going back to the office after an arvo meeting etc. The flexibility is pretty handy.

One thing about working from home is that you can start at 7am, once I get the kid to child care I'm away, cause I do business in NZ as well that can be a big advantage.
 
Love working from home, we moved to open plan offices with 100% hotdesks a year ago and it got me to after a while and now I only go in once a week.
I visit a lot of clients and sites so am on the road a couple days a week anyway, which I think helps because variety is great.

I can get a full days "office" work done in half the time at home by not being distracted by dumb questions and conversation.
 
Working from home is a double edged sword. You can end up working longer hours because you don't have travel time, you get less face time with co workers, harder for new people to build relationships etc, but you can work in shorts and chuck the washing on, make your lunch at lunch time instead of before work etc

Most of the time I prefer to work at home and get more done than when I go into the office, because the office becomes more of a social catch up with co workers
 
I do it one day a week.

What i have found is that it is really beneficial to start the day with a couple of video conferences. It really hammers into the psyche that you are working and bats away the lingering temptation to do other stuff.

- I find it is good to give me time to focus on some documents, writing etc.
- Saves time and money commuting
- I eat lunch on the couch and watch a 30m show on Netflix. This gives me boundaries.
- I bang out a few good emails every time
- it really breaks up the week, I am always saying "Wow, Friday already??"

I wouldn't want to do it too much - you need to eyeball people and cultivate your relationships. Don't forget that for most of what we do, no one gives a damn if it is any good as long as you maintain good relationships. Not being there does not help relationships.
 

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Bigjobss said:
I can get a full days "office" work done in half the time at home by not being distracted by dumb questions and conversation.
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No s**t. I hate having my time wasted by dumb campaigners. I've found the best way is to just be a campaigner. Best way to keep the flogs at bay.
 
Working from home is great. Take out the commute to and from work which means I start a bit earlier than normal (8:30 instead of 9), then without all the distractions by about 3pm (and went to the gym for an hour) I've done everything I'd normally have done in a day in the office from 9-5. The commute in already puts you on the backfoot and I find I'm more efficient waking up having a coffee and just going straight into work on the laptop
 
If I have a s**t ton of work to do, or if I have bugger all to do, working from home rules - with less distractions it's easier to get more done, and with less distractions it's also much more fun to do nothing. I'm lucky that I can get away with it at least one day most weeks.

The problem is that my job is one of those where you can go from having nothing to do to having a ridiculous amount to do in the space of a 30-minute meeting (hence I'm doing some work from home this weekend for nothing more than time in lieu, cos I had one of those meetings on Friday :( ). Which has resulted in me working from home, dialing into a meeting at 10.30, then finding myself having to go into the office anyway. That really, really blows.
 
jd2010 said:
Working from home is great. Take out the commute to and from work which means I start a bit earlier than normal (8:30 instead of 9), then without all the distractions by about 3pm (and went to the gym for an hour) I've done everything I'd normally have done in a day in the office from 9-5. The commute in already puts you on the backfoot and I find I'm more efficient waking up having a coffee and just going straight into work on the laptop
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I generally wake by 5am and have all my emails done by 6.

A few phone calls with the US, Canada, Peru and the eastern states whilst walking to the dog park.

A coffee shop meeting or two and I’m generally done for the day by 11am, other than a few calls to the UK when I’m back at the dog park.



No ravel time, no office distractions, no wasted lunch breaks or waiting for stuff.

Who in their right mind would wait for public transport? The arrive at a destination that isn’t in fact the final destination. You could lose 2-3 hours a day with lunch breaks, transport, waiting and preparation......that’s 40 to 60 hours a month......or a whole month each year! Madness
 
Power Raid said:
I generally wake by 5am and have all my emails done by 6.

A few phone calls with the US, Canada, Peru and the eastern states whilst walking to the dog park.

A coffee shop meeting or two and I’m generally done for the day by 11am, other than a few calls to the UK when I’m back at the dog park.



No ravel time, no office distractions, no wasted lunch breaks or waiting for stuff.

Who in their right mind would wait for public transport? The arrive at a destination that isn’t in fact the final destination. You could lose 2-3 hours a day with lunch breaks, transport, waiting and preparation......that’s 40 to 60 hours a month......or a whole month each year! Madness
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I find the whole 40hrs a week in an office a complete waste of time but unfortunately that's the norm. Makes me want to branch off and do my own thing so often and eventually will but until then it's largely a 40hr week in the office + 10hrs a week commute into the office. Realistically it's only 25-30hrs of actual work being done in the office.

So the way I see it removing the 10hr commute and the perceived pressure of being at a desk for a period of time and just wasting I'd be able to have a much greater output working remotely. Could do what I do now in 25-30hrs at home or output could rise an extra 25-50% because of all the time saved from commute and needing to be seen.
 
Working from home is great for me when I do it. It allows me to star early if I want or late whatever suits me as my dealings with other people can be minimal at times. Plus I can work as hard or as cruisey as I want (at certain times of the month)

Being in finance though I basically have a month to make sure everything is done and then it repeats itself.
 
jd2010 said:
I find the whole 40hrs a week in an office a complete waste of time but unfortunately that's the norm. Makes me want to branch off and do my own thing so often and eventually will but until then it's largely a 40hr week in the office + 10hrs a week commute into the office. Realistically it's only 25-30hrs of actual work being done in the office.

So the way I see it removing the 10hr commute and the perceived pressure of being at a desk for a period of time and just wasting I'd be able to have a much greater output working remotely. Could do what I do now in 25-30hrs at home or output could rise an extra 25-50% because of all the time saved from commute and needing to be seen.
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Is fear stopping you? Not knowing how to get started/pressure of starting your own business etc? Complacency?
 
Power Raid said:
I generally wake by 5am and have all my emails done by 6.

A few phone calls with the US, Canada, Peru and the eastern states whilst walking to the dog park.

A coffee shop meeting or two and I’m generally done for the day by 11am, other than a few calls to the UK when I’m back at the dog park.



No ravel time, no office distractions, no wasted lunch breaks or waiting for stuff.

Who in their right mind would wait for public transport? The arrive at a destination that isn’t in fact the final destination. You could lose 2-3 hours a day with lunch breaks, transport, waiting and preparation......that’s 40 to 60 hours a month......or a whole month each year! Madness
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Exactly.

Power Raid:cool:
Winner:cool:
 
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