Working From Home All the Time

[Superflyer]

I got a really good job offer from a big company but the only catch for me is that they work from home 99% of the time. I have worked from home a few days here and a few days there but never at this length.

Is there anyone out there that works predominantly from home? If so how do you handle not being around your co-workers? There are skype meetings and such to interact with my team members but I will really never see them face to face as we would be spread across Canada.

I know for some people this would be a dream but my worry is that the isolation would eventually get to me.

[Ozy_Flame]

I do, and it's great at times, but it's also nice to be able to go into the office when I want - mostly for being around people (and not just web conferencing).

The biggest downside is that your home no longer becomes your refuge, so it's up to you to determine your relationship with your home life. Personally I find myself going for more walks, coffees, and going to the gym more when I work at home.

Also, get yourself a good desk setup and and ergonomic chair - perhaps your company can help pitch for this?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I do, and it's great at times, but it's also nice to be able to go into the office when I want - mostly for being around people (and not just web conferencing).

The biggest downside is that your home no longer becomes your refuge, so it's up to you to determine your relationship with your home life. Personally I find myself going for more walks, coffees, and going to the gym more when I work at home.

Also, get yourself a good desk setup and and ergonomic chair - perhaps your company can help pitch for this?

Do you dedicate a room in your house as an office? To sort of try and keep the refuge of the rest of your home?

My wife is thinking about doing this for a few months while we house train a puppy.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

I got a really good job offer from a big company but the only catch for me is that they work from home 99% of the time. I have worked from home a few days here and a few days there but never at this length.

Is there anyone out there that works predominantly from home? If so how do you handle not being around your co-workers? There are skype meetings and such to interact with my team members but I will really never see them face to face as we would be spread across Canada.

I know for some people this would be a dream but my worry is that the isolation would eventually get to me.

I've been doing it for 8 or 9 years. The number 1 thing is make sure you get yourself a real dedicated office in your house that has as much separation from your house as possible. Transitioning from working a few days here and there to full time work at home is when I set up a real office with a door instead of working on the table or couch or whatever, and it makes a big difference in productivity, and also separation of home/work.

I go for a run or to the gym every day at lunch to get out of the house, and that helps break up the isolation feelings/etc.

Everyone who works for me or I work with is in a different city anyway. So even when I went to the office, it wasn't much of a difference in interaction. Some groups I work with do skype video calls and stuff, and say it helps. I've always felt that video conferencing is a bit awkward or distracting or whatever and don't really do it. Make sure you get a real phone with a good headset if your company offers it. We have CVOs with desk phones attached that act like in office phones, and that is so much better than trying to use a cell phone for daily work.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Do you dedicate a room in your house as an office? To sort of try and keep the refuge of the rest of your home?

My wife is thinking about doing this for a few months while we house train a puppy.

I do have a dedicated office, but I live in a smaller place, so it doesn't really help much in terms of separating refuge. I find myself going in and out and now I associated my room as just a work room. It's manageable though, really not that big of a problem. Just have to move/do things away from the office and its generally fine. I suppose if my office was on another floor (which I don't have) it might be different.

I really highly recommend getting a stand-up desk or at least a stand extender so you can also stand and work; one more way to break up the monotony and a way to keep the posture (much like in an office).

Natural light really helps too, with good air flow.

[OMG!WTF!]

I recommend food courts for lunch and human contact. I hang out with the single moms all the time. It's like a little social circle. We rotate on a weekly basis...Chinook, South Center, sometimes Sunridge. But never Market Mall. They got uppity when the Joey's turned into a Joey's Urban and thought they were all that.



Appointments. Man, I love appointments. I don't really have too many but they're great. It's like you have the world beat.


Gym for sure. But they judge you if you stay longer than an hour. Don't shower there either. Why bother? You're just going home anyway.

[puckedoff]

If I was working at home I would just post on CP all day every day so that it would feel like I was still working at the office.

[dobbles]

I worked at home for 3 or 4 years before getting laid off last year. I loved it. I did have an advantage that I had worked in the office for a year or two before going remote, so I had plenty of people I was close with if I wanted to meet for lunch or head in for a meeting. But for the most part I enjoyed the solitude. But I also have 2 young boys (I started working from home when the first was born) so my house is a zoo when they are home so the quiet was nice for me.

In terms of staying connected, we had it pretty easy using Lync (skype for windows now). If I wanted to ask someone, I would just IM. If it was complicated or we wanted to have a longer conversation, we could just add voice. If we needed to show each other something, we could just hit the share screen. If we needed another coworker to help, just invite them to the call. It was super efficient for our team. And while we didn't see each other face to face every day, we all had inside jokes and felt like a team.

As others have mentioned make sure you try and define your work-space and work hours as much as possible. That can go a long way to making the experience tolerable/enjoyable.

[bc-chris]

i've worked from home since i started my business 18 years ago

when my wife an i got married (17 years ago) we bought our first place - it was a small half-duplex. what sold us on it was that it had a 12'x20' shop in the back yard. i converted that into my office (poured a concrete floor, added insulation and drywall, added baseboard heat and a wall a/c unit. it was perfect. at the end of the day i could lock the door and 'leave' work. over the years the business grew which meant i needed more space. we found a lot and had a custom designed house built. the entire area that i use for my business can be 'blocked off' from the house with locking solid-core doors and i have a separate work entrance which is used for deliveries, customers and my employee.

my office is basically a second master bedroom (it's almost identical to our master bedroom).
i like our current setup, but i do miss my old shop and being able 'lock the door' at the end of the day. when we eventually build again i will be going back to a separate building for work.

i don't mind the 'isolation' - my work mentality (even years ago before i had my own biz) has always been "i'm here to work - not to socialize". don't get me wrong... i love talking to people and goofing around, but work time is work time.
most of my interaction with my customers is thru email as we like having a paper trail when it comes to instructions for what they want done.

i do find it very important to have social stuff away from work - so i run a hockey team, play in a band, workout (which can be tough when work is crazy busy like at this time of year). you need to have that interaction time with others.

[rotten42]

I've worked at home both full time and now part time. I agree with others that you need to have a dedicated space that is treated as such by your family members. I think the type of job you have goes a long way to how hard it is to stay connected. When I had my 3D rendering business I felt very isolated. The good part in that was that once I set a render to calculate I have about 6 hours to kill so I would go out to the driving range or things like that. Now that I do remote work part-time (1/2 of each month) I split things up. Sometime I work on our home office, sometimes by the pool and then sometimes at Starbucks. I don't miss the contact with people because I set all my meetings for when I'm in Calgary and do most of the drawing/specification work when I am down south.

[Scroopy Noopers]

I work with a team but I’m remote. Kind of hurts my development to be honest. It’s isolating, but has its perks. Not sure I’d recommend it. Depends on what drives you.

Key thing: have an office space at home. Close the door when you aren’t working. Don’t cruise the web or have your home computer in there. Use it for work hours only, or else you never stop working. Which is where I’m at (have the space but am in it longer than I should be).. and need to fix it.

[photon]

I've worked from home for a significant portion of my professional career, and I think the parts that will be difficult vary depending on the kind of person you are. Some people struggle with the lack of social interaction while others find it great (or fill that need with their off-work activities). Some find the blurred line between work and home difficult to deal with and end up working more than they should, while others have no problem with that.

I think though if you make an effort to pay attention and think about these kinds of things you'll be able to figure out what areas are more difficult and come up with strategies to compensate.

There was a time when I was having difficulty in keeping things separate and I looked into renting an office in a shared office space once, I didn't end up renting it but it's an option that a few people I talked to really liked.

[Ozy_Flame]

Co-working spaces are a great bridge between home and office life, assuming you can freely get the equipment you need and the price isn't too much. They're springing up all over Calgary and Edmonton.

[cam_wmh]

I have a home office, but for collaboration I prefer to be in the office. Fortunately, I only live 5-10 minutes from downtown, so easy commute.

I couldn't do either 100% of the time.

[KTrain]

I work from home as well. I have a dedicated office space and it's pretty great. I don't have an issue with focus, though when the weather is nice I'm fine working later into the evening if I can take off on my bike for a couple hours.

I'd echo looking into co-working spaces for a bit of a mental break and some socialization. I'm actually working out of The Commons today and it's a nice break. Getting a part-time or walk-in membership at a place like this is good for getting out once a week and being invited to the events they hold. Friday beers or lunch-and-learn events are great for balancing home work with social interaction.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Been working F/T since 2002, been in a home office for ~95% of my career.

Its the best - I dont get lonely as I am in sales so I meet people all the time.

When I get together with co-workers from around the continent we party hard as its the only time we actually hang out. I use SfB to regularly communicate with people otherwise.

I have my own office area, and the only downside is that it is hard to "leave" work. Even during the day I work through lunch, as I feel guilty being "away" for that lunch time. I do turn everything off however when it's family time and my wife and kid are home.

[Matata]

I used to work 1-2 days at the office a week and now it's up to 4 and I hate it. Saving that 1 hour+ of commuting time (plus grooming and all those other office prep items) was awesome. I used to revel in the days where I wouldn't talk to anyone or change out of my pajamas.

[CaptainCrunch]

I just started a work at home position last monday. In fact about 90% of the people in this company are home based.


I've enjoyed the experience so far, and I seem to be way more effective without people wandering into my office to chat.


I think its important that when you work from home, work hours are work hours.


Get up and walk around go outside for a few minutes when the walls are closing in.


No TV in the background.


Big one, regiment your eating like you do in a normal office. Don't get into the habit of grabbing snacks.

[WhiteTiger]

Hunh, just reading through this thread there are way more people working from home than I'd have expected. I wonder if that has anything to do with the 25% vacancy rate downtown?

[Matata]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

....

No TV in the background.

....

I probably re-watched 30 Rock like 5 times while getting used to working at home. I actually think listening to Jack's frequent business and success rants had a positive impact on me.