Remote work, who's done it?

[hargi]

Looking for some advice.

I have been programming and developing for a good few years now, and have run my own business in the past for 4 years, before moving into the private sector.

The problem I have is, I moved languages to work in my current role and there are not many jobs in the area that use it. However, there seem to be lots of remote jobs with some quite nice salaries.
Currently, I do one day a week from home with the rest in the office and find it ok.

I do have a room at home that I use as an office and would not have any distractions during the day. But just wondered how it is doing it full-time or 4 days a week.

Pros and Cons

Thanks

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Not a coder, but I spent a couple of weeks reading through and summarising responses to RFQs/RFIs from home a while back.

Even if you’re alone in the house, there will be distractions. Post deliveries, cold callers, even older neighbours that know you’re home and need a hand moving furniture etc.

If you have a partner or child in the house, unless your office is locked and soundproofed, you will have constant distractions.

It can be quite isolating not being able to just turn to a colleague when you have questions, but I found that setting up a team live chat worked well for keeping everyone synced up on collaborative tasks.

Be sure to take coffee/fresh air breaks when you need them and have a defined lunchtime.

 

[Ayahuasca]

It's different for everyone, if it's just you at home during the day and you're already pretty disciplined working to a schedule then it should be a fairly easy transition.

If you bounce off other peoples energy or think you can spend downtime popping on the console for a few minutes, then it can be a bit more challenging to adapt. It took a friend of mine months to be anywhere near as productive as he was in the office.

As above make sure to take coffee breaks and what not but try and keep it simple, not 15 minutes making the perfectly pulled espresso because no one is watching. When you're at home and have access to all your own fancy tech/gadgets it's very easy to be distracted by them.

Will you have to work between set hours or is it just a case of as long as the work comes in on time?

 

[pepp77]

I enjoy the odd day here or there working from home, either when I have nothing concrete on or when I have something on I want to do without distractions, however this week I have been forced towork from home as my train line has been closed due to a landslide and because I also live on my own it has left me feeling very isolated. Yes I can use teams or my softphone for calls (and have had two remote go lives this week) it is starting to get to me a little bit.

The main positive is I can stay in bed longer as the commute is much shorter

 

[hargi]

Yeah, It will just be me at home during the day. So no real distractions other than post etc.

I do like being able to talk to colleagues but we use slack here anyways even thought were all in the same office. I think I would miss the ' hey do you mind just having a look at this bit of code' or the pair programming bug fixing

 

[B1scu1T]

I've largely been "working from home" for the last 5 or 6 years, 5 of those being for a LTD company and the last one as a contractor (my own LTD company). I do have to travel to customer sites for a lot of my work though (on one as we speak).

The Pros
Shortest possible commute
You can work in your underwear (or whatever attire is most comfortable)
You can work to your own hours
When you take a screen break, you can do some quick household tasks (e.g. chuck some washing in, empty the dishwasher), therefore keeping the evening completely for proper relaxation
If you have nothing to do, then you don't have to actually do anything, instead of pretending to keep busy like you would in an office environment
As soon as you step outside your front door for business reasons, you're on expenses (or at least that's how it worked for me)
Once you get used to zoning out the distractions and managing time, you can get a LOT of work done compared to being in an office.

The Cons
It can be quite lonely, I really struggled with this at first. When living by myself I sometimes didn't see another friendly face for days on end.
It takes a while to get used to it and keep yourself focused when you need to work. It probably took me 3 months or so before I really got into a solid routine(and manged my caffeine intake appropriately). Actually recording what you're doing and how long you're doing it for is good for getting into this routine.
Energy bills can go up, but it's worth checking if you can get some tax relief or claim back some of those expenses
It's sometimes difficult to "switch off" at the end of the day, as you're still in the same premises as you've been working in all day... computer games always helped me zone out with this.
Sick days are no longer sick days... they're just work a bit more slowly days
You have to remember that distractions in the office also exist, so at home you may get distracted by something for ~15mins or so, but that could equally happen in an office by a colleague coming to talk to you about what he watched on the TV last night. I sometimes felt quite guilty for wasting a bit of time through the day and ended up working way more time than I needed to, to make up for it. It was my boss at the time (really good boss, still close friends) who told me I needed to go easy on myself.

Probably more things I can add to this as I think about it...

 

[the_r_sole]

Always reminds me of Mitchell and Webb...

Spoiler: maybe not that safe for work, can't listen to it fully here!

What you need to do is set up a specific workspace that you can close the door of and minimise distractions, similarly, at night you want to be physically separate from work other wise you end up picking away at bits of work and never switching off

 

[peterwalkley]

I've been working from home for over 15 years now, with very occasional trips to the office. @B1scu1T put it all very well above. I would just echo what for me are the key points:

- You MUST have a dedicated room for it. Having the mindset of "office" stops you from pretending to work whilst watching TV and other assorted crap.
- Don't work in your underwear Again, its a mindset thing. Being dressed as if for being in an office of people helps stop you going into do nothing slob mode.
- Regular communication with people you are working with. Picking up the phone or skype so there is a direct interaction helps deal with the isolation. Don't do everything via email.

I never bothered with the expenses part as I reckon what I've saved over the years on fuel/fares more than outweighs the extra gas and electric bills. Travel to the office is claimed though as that's well over 200 quid (Chester --> London at peak time trains !)

 

[Semple]

- Regular communication with people you are working with. Picking up the phone or skype so there is a direct interaction helps deal with the isolation. Don't do everything via email.

I've been WFH for nearly 2 years FT now and the above point i think is quite key. Friends/Family/Randomers etc always say things like do you not feel lonely not working amongst your colleagues. Of a 37.5 hour week, i typically have 12-15 hours of conference calls, and then ad-hoc calls/discussions on top of that. Most of the people i work with day-to-day are not actually based in my registered office, so it makes no odds where in the world i do work. So with a lot of Skype calls, i don't feel lonely at all. I guess i do miss a bit of the office banter, and catching up with colleagues personal lives etc, so if you don't have such a long commute to an office it might be nice to do a day a week or something along those lines.

There's quite a lot of benefits, not having to bear a morning/evening commute is an absolute blessing! I used to commute at least an hour each way, so having 2 hours free time back is great. I never have any issues transitioning between finishing work to doing whatever in your own free time, in fact i think it's great that you can instantly switch over without having to travel an hour back home before your own personal time really starts.

 

[Randomface74]

When I started working from home I gained weight and never stopped, possibly the worst thing I ever did.
If you're going to do it, keep on top of your health.

 

[B1scu1T]

- Don't work in your underwear Again, its a mindset thing. Being dressed as if for being in an office of people helps stop you going into do nothing slob mode.

I genuinely get way more work done when I'm wearing my sweats compared to something smart/casual. When I'm comfortable I just get into the zone, and if im not as comfortable I spend all my time shuffling around.

I guess everyone finds their own way to make it work.

 

[malachi]

When I started working from home I gained weight and never stopped, possibly the worst thing I ever did.
If you're going to do it, keep on top of your health.

This.

I don't work from home but my cousin does and has been for about 10 years. 2 years ago he got really ill because he lacked vitamin D, very little sunlight due to being in doors most of the time.

Now he gets out and about and takes his laptop.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Totally agree with B1scu1T's post.. I try and work from home at least once a week. It took some time to get used to but actually I find it more productive. The key thing I have found is to get ready and treat it as a normal work day, so I tend to start early (7am) and finish mid afternoon (2:30ish) then go for a run or pop into town then come back about 5 as there are some EOD processes that need to be run..

A lot of people think it's a skive but in all honesty, I actually get more done. I tend to leave the admin stuff for home, like documentation, mandatory on-line training, approvals etc.. I write a list of what i need to do just as a guide because as said, you can get distracted.

I think as more and more people start commuting, then this is a good option to relief some of the transport congestion. The only flip side is that it doesn't save me any money on the train. I'd have to work 3 days a week from home to see any monetary benefits.. but still, not travelling 3 hours for one day is a great feeling.

 

[Martynt74]

My wife is solely home based. When i work from home i seem to have the same attitude as when i used to revise which is to do anything but (even though i enjoy work). This results in my usually working longer hours than if i'm at the office.

A big factor to that is i just sit at the breakfast bar as don't have a home office/desk.

 

[Azza]

I work form home 3 days a week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) sometimes 4. It's great.

I don't have to deal with sitting in traffic on the way home not knowing if I'll be home in 25 minutes or 50 minutes. Don't have to listen to the sounds and noises that can be very distracting in an open plan office. Sure it's always nice to have someone to have a social chat to or bounce ideas or discuss things with a colleague. We use MS Teams and generally it's alright for IM, audio and screen sharing. I'm always talking to people in the team on that through the day or involved in group chats about the project. Meetings and what not mean there isn't a lack of socialisation so there's no being isolated all day.

I'd say I'm more productive when I'm at home. It's a lot easier to just stick some music on and get involved in something. Because of the nature of the office someone is always walking around looking for a manager and asking if you know where they are. So it's easy to get interrupted. Plus the office has horrible aircon, and it's never on during the summer. This summer but gone when I was in I was actually taking my laptop outside as there's a table and chairs at the front of the building.

That is something I do a lot when I'm at home, when the weather is nice. Sit in the back garden in the sunshine, get some fresh air, listen to the birds, put some music on, have a cold (non alcoholic) drink and just get on with it. It's wonderful.

The flexibility to get stuff done during the day rather than in the evening after getting back home makes life easier too.

 

[Skillmister]

When I started working from home I gained weight and never stopped, possibly the worst thing I ever did.
If you're going to do it, keep on top of your health.

I'm seeing it as the 1-1.5 hours a day I'll be saving in commuting are going to be my dedicated daily activity time as a minimum if I'm not already planning to go out for a walk/bike/run/gym that day.

 

[Mason-]

I dislike it. I focus much better in the office.

We have the option to WFH. I do it once a week but that's because I have a 50 mile 70-90 minute each way journey. I'm in the process of buying a flat that will half my commute time. After that I will go into the office 5 days a week, and only WFH when I have the gasman or some big delivery or something like that.

 

[dowie]

I like it as an occasionally thing, it can be a super productive way of getting things done if you have no distractions, though if there is a wife, kids etc.. involved you might want to get shed/home office at the bottom of the garden or something.

You could always rent a desk or office near to where you live too if the higher salary/low cost of living locally justifies it. I know of one guy at my old firm that does this and indeed a mate who is in business providing this stuff - plenty of freelancers etc.. who could ostensibly work from a desk at home choose to have some separation between home and work and will pay for a desk somewhere.

 

[Nazbit]

I've done it every day for about four years. Redundancy is now forcing me to find a new job and the office will be a big change.

As long as you're motivated it's great. Some thoughts:

• No commute is priceless
• Conference calls are a ***** even when you know everyone's voices
• Being invisible has held my career back in terms.of promotion and progression
• I'm more productive at home than in the office.in the office you are clock watching and ready to run out of the door at home time. But when WFH you suddenly think oh is that the time, well I've started this piece so I'll finish.
• Less distractions than the office in terms of people - as long as you're not someone to.be distracted by all the home.goodies.
• There was a stigma at my place "oh he's at home, bet he's got his feet up watching TV". That caused me to work twice as hard and try to be as visible as possible and worry about people knowing I was working for the first few months until my managers assured me that they knew I was working hard despite not being able to see me.

The only regret I have is that it did hold my career back as the rest of my team was office based and I was the inviaible man. On balance though I'm glad I did it.

 

[dowie]

Well the thing to do, if you have some sort of office communicator type app, is to make sure that it is always showing as "green" and turn the sound on + volume up unless you're going to be away from the desk for an extended period of time in which case you update your status to say "[time of message] Out for dental appointment, should be back by [estimated time]" etc..