Questions for those who work from home

[Planogirl]

First of all, what do you do? I know that many people are creative but some not so much (like me ) and yet they still somehow find a way to work at home.

Second, how did you get into this lifestyle? I always thought that more businesses would explore this option since it would be a moneysaver but the market seems flat. I would love any stories as to how you got into this.

Lastly, what about health insurance? I would prefer to keep DH from using his company's insurance for several reasons. Does anyone here who has a home-based job also purchase insurance?

I admit to being a bit envious of people who manage to do this. Why not dream a little and see if there's a way...

 

[MushyMushy]

I do, but I'm very unhappy with it at the moment! Somehow I think I'd prefer to have an actual part time job in an office, which is also something that's hard to come by. The only part time jobs I've seen are retail and/or waiting tables.

Anyway, I work for a mental health clinic providing wrap around services for children. There are a few different job descriptions depending on your educational level. Mine is mobile therapist and behavioral specialist consultant. Both pay the same, but mobile therapy is more hands on and one on one with the kids and the other does more paperwork and phone calls, etc. Another job like this is therapeutic staff support, and they also work directly with the children in their homes, schools or out in the community.

Aside from the few hours I put in going into homes to work with kids, I do everything else from home.

 

[m&m's mom]

I "work from home" now after working in a traditional office environment for a very large international company for 15 years.
A few "key" employees were allowed to telecommute. I still have my corporate job w/ all benefits/responsibilities etc- just do it from the comfort of my own home.
Even though I feel like I have a near perfect job situation, it is not one someone could easily replicate.
I started with this company basically right out of grad school so by the time my kids started school I was home and I can pick them up every day and are home w/ them.

 

[Sandy V.]

I work a 40-hour week from home and I love it. I am attorney by training, but I work as a legal editor for a publishing company. Have been at home now for 6 1/2 years, and I worked in the office doing the same job for 12 1/2 years until they decided it was more efficient to send us home. I read and analyze new decisions issued by courts all over the nation, and it's job that lends itself well to being done anywhere where you can concentrate on the task on your computer.

I have full health benefits for my family as well as a 401K, pension benefits, life insurance, etc. You can't beat a 30-second commute and working in sweats. I am always here to sign for packages, to give the dogs a bit of attention during the day, and my car gets far less daily wear and tear.

If there is a downside, it's that there are no "snow days" because you can ALWAYS get to work. But that's a small trade off. I work the same hours many in the business world do - Monday through Friday, 8-4:30.

 

[Planogirl]

These are the jobs I'm talking about! And I suppose it's even possible to be unhappy with this type of job, I'll grant that.

How nice to be able to work without office politics and people breathing down your neck and so on. Our company is spending a fortune to remodel their offices so that people can answer phones and do computer work, all easily done from any location. I suppose that micro-managing is hard otherwise though...

These sound great! Anyone else?

 

[PatsMom]

I am a financial planner and I work two to three days a week at home. The others are in the office. I have a great administrator who tries to keep all client meetings on the days I am scheduled to be at the office. Sometimes it just doesn't work out but most of the time she groups the meetings very well.

I had been doing my job for 10 years when I relocated and a five day a week commute became impossible (I live over 100 miles from the office). So the company owners decided to give telecommuting a try. It works out great for me. When clients call, they are forwarded to my home phone and have no idea that I am working in my pajamas! I so love not have to dress up a few days a week.

I do find that I need to have a separate office and not just set up the computer on the dining room table. I have to go to an isolated room so I won't be distracted by things like the laundry that is piling up! Or the kitchen that needs cleaning. I have to have work time/space and home time/space well separated. I could not do this if I had a young child so it isn't something that I could do to save money on day care. When I am working, I need to concentrate on work, not child care. My daughter was in high school when I started and other than a brief "how was your day" when she got home, she knew that I was working and had to be left alone. Hard for a young child to understand that.

 

[brerrabbit]

I don't work from home but work for a company that has a lot of people that do. Additionally I have a lot of friends that work from home. Of the probably 15 or so situations I am familiar with all of them are like most of the ones listed above. The person worked for a company for some time and at some point because of the job or the type of work it made sense for them to go virtual. They continue with the same pay, benifits and seniority, they just now do their job from home. One good friend is in the IT/systems department of a large bank. Both his kids are out of the house so he converted a bedroom to his office. Most of the people I know do this because the thought is when your working you go in a close the door to seperate yourself from distractions. On the other hand when they are not working they leave the room and close the door to seperate their personal life from work.

I am not sure but I almost feel that most of the really good virtual jobs are much the same. Work in the office for a while, establish a track record and then as companies cut costs, they move these workers "home".

I really wonder if anyone has started a new job that is truely a career type job straight from home and never spent any time in the office setting.

 

[m&m's mom]

I think you are correct brerabbit. I am usually hesitant to post on the work-from-home threads on the Budget Board because they usually are not looking for careers that could eventually lead to working from home. Usually just looking for legit WFH jobs to bring in a little $.
I do mainframe computer programming and support.

 

[janey99]

I "work from home" now after working in a traditional office environment for a very large international company for 15 years.
A few "key" employees were allowed to telecommute. I still have my corporate job w/ all benefits/responsibilities etc- just do it from the comfort of my own home.
Even though I feel like I have a near perfect job situation, it is not one someone could easily replicate.
I started with this company basically right out of grad school so by the time my kids started school I was home and I can pick them up every day and are home w/ them.

This is my exact situation too. Very few employees in my company are chosen as work from home candidates when they ask. There is a twofold analysis - first, can the job be effectively performed from home (including an analysis of required accommodations and cost) and two, does the particular employee's personality indicate that they are self-starting and able to work effectively with little direct supervision.

I would add, in respect of childcare, that I have a fulltime nanny in my home with me all day (I have a 2 yo and an 11 yo). I have several friends who work from home at corporate jobs, and fulltime child care is usually a requirement for the gig (ie - it's not a moneysaver! The value for me is the ability to switch seamlessly from worker to mommy without a two-hour-each-way commute that wastes time for both me and my employer).

Good luck -

Jane

 

[Micca]

I have a full-time web job that I do from home. I couldn't be happier with it.
I was looking for work after I left my previous job when DW got relocated. I just kind of happened upon this job and it turns out I was rather uniquely qualified for it. I was very lucky.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

So interesting. What kind of web job do you do at home if I may ask?

 

[Kennywife]

I work as a travel writer. I write for various online sites about travel related topics. I also do online test grading for education companies.

I my job and couldn't dream of ever working outside the home again.

I got into it because of a bad accident due to a fall. I have metal plates in my lower right leg and it has rendered me incapabable of standing or walking too long. I also have seizures which act up when I am under stress. Therefore, working at home makes sense for me.

I have insurance under hubby's job. It's pretty good. We have BCBS. Our prescription ins is top notch.

Anna

 

[Squirlz]

I married into it! It must have been fate. I lost my Engineering job the week after our relationship started. She invented a line of animal care products and sells them though her website. She's the CEO and I'm the Production Manager and we work in our jammies!

 

[clarabelle]

I just started a work from home job.
I do electronic filing for a group of physicians. It is part time.
I log on to a server and move scanned documents into the correct patient chart.

No benefits and it is drudge work -but I can listen to my I-pod while I do it

 

[siouxi31]

I've been with the same company for 16 years. The past 3 1/2 have been spent working from home.

When I was promoted to Business Application Manager, my boss was out of state and said that he didn't mind if I worked from home--he knew that this was my preference. At that time, I was looking forward to getting away from bad attitudes and cattiness in the office so I jumped at the chance.

My children are both in their mid to late teens and they've been used to me working from home minimally before. In my previous job I would work from home on occassion (5 times per year) and would frequently have evening conference calls. Because of this they were fairly used to knowing that they needed to be quiet when I was working.The hardest part was working from home in the summer when everyone was home, both kids and my husband.

Just this year, I learned to be more flexible with my schedule. For example, I will now hit the gym in the morning even if it does bleed into my so called scheduled starting time. I forgive myself for this because I can and do sometimes work later than expected. I also used to feel guilty if I ran errands. Well, when you're in an office and use your lunch hour to run errands, you don't feel guilty. But working from home was a bit of an adjustment to this.

The funny thing now, I actually enjoy being in the office when I do go there. Even though I have an office at home, being in the business office feels more functional to me and I enjoy hearing the business chatter around me. Working from home is a little more isolating. You need to work harder at relationships to get the lifeline into the office.

Oh, and last July I went from Business Application Manager to a new position of Transition Manager. I'm moving customer support from our offices in the USA that are closing or downsizing to new offices in Phoenix and Costa Rica. My travel was at 80% from July through December last year, and this year has so far been a very manageable 30%. I guess I bring this up because I'm not always entirely from home. Even prior to last July I was at about 40% travel. However, I love travel as much as I love being home. The best part of the travel is wracking up those miles and rewards for free flights to WDW.

What do I love about it? Sleeping in until the last minute if needed, no special clothes are needed, wear on car/gas is less, I spend less on lunch because I'm making my food (I rarely go out for lunch now), I can pick-up my daughter from school if I have no calls at the time that she gets out, laundry loads can easily be fit in between job tasks/calls, and if I forget to dethaw something for dinner, it's no biggie because I just run downstairs to take it out.
What is so-so about it? I've been a well disciplined worker but there are times--especially in the last 6 months or so--when I want to take a cat nap at 2PM. Most often I don't give into this but sometimes I'm tempted and do. Being isolated from the office chatter (the good kind of chatter).

Good luck to you

 

[Planogirl]

Interesting and I thank all of you for the details. I can see the pros and cons but I do think that working at home is still more appealing. I get tired of the office pettiness and distractions. I want to work and only work!

 

[erin1715]

I just started a work from home job.
I do electronic filing for a group of physicians. It is part time.
I log on to a server and move scanned documents into the correct patient chart.

No benefits and it is drudge work -but I can listen to my I-pod while I do it

Can I ask how you found out about this job? I would love to do something like this part-time!

 

[clarabelle]

To be honest -I have an in. My husband is a physician in the group.

It couldn't hurt to ask around. More and more doctors are moving towards electronic medical records and may need some help. The office staff was doing this at work -and stayed behind on it. So they started hiring someone to do it especially.

 

[PixieTopaz]

My friend works at home doing the same job she used to have at the Hospital-transcribing Doctors oral remarks into patients charts. The only bad thing is she has to work the hours and days they schedule her-so she works every other weekend.


My DH works from home. We have a seperate office for him with fax, computer etc. He's a salesman/maager for a maufacturing company and is in his car , on the road, every day.He has all benefits.

 

[OK!]

I work for a major bank and do research on their ATM network and document whatever ills may befall any of the machines. My whole department works remotely; apparently, according to the PTB, it's much cheaper for the company to have people working from home than in the office. Before I was hired full-time (I joined the company as a contractor), I had to commute to the downtown office every day and pay $120 a month for parking (in a lot which has, since I left, apparently become a haven for "smash & grab"-style thieves), so when you combine that and the crazy amount of gas I was going through, it's basically like I got a raise and got to work in my ideal environment at the same time!

I absolutely love my job. Well, some of the day-to-day minutiae, not so much (why people think it's a good idea to stuff gum or suckers or playing cards or false eyelashes into our ATMs is beyond me), but I love the fact that I can get up 5 minutes before I'm supposed to log on and can work in my pajamas all day if I want. I also watch TV or, like now, listen to ballgames while working (though they also let us watch/listen to iPods while in the office, too). I just have to get my work done; they don't care where or how that happens. I'm actually going to be driving down to WDW in mid-April to stay at my parents' condo and will work from there for about a month before heading home; I can't wait!

We all keep in touch via IM or phone or email, and I have a bunch of conference calls per week. We only very occasionally are asked to go into the office; it's usually only when VIPs happen to be visiting or something. I haven't been down there since the beginning of Dec., and I'm thrilled about that. I guess I could see how it might get lonely if you're used to being able to socialize face to face with people at work, but I much prefer this.