'Working' from home

How do people manage working from home when it is the school holidays, even if one parent is there to supervise the children?

Coco my DD is in the same position as you, a part time Home based job, she constantly has to work extra hours and is trying renegotiate as they are reluctant to pay her for any overtime, if she was in the office, which is 6 hours away, I’m sure she would be able to finish on time, or claim the money due to her.
Plus the clients wouldn’t be able to call her during the evening with ‘just one thing they forgot to mention’.

Advertising?

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Recently I started to have a globally online business to work from home. I am happy as I can take care of my kids and elderly parent, and at the sametime I can work at home.

Riverwalk - I felt like it!

DH has worked successfully from home for many years, and we have a home office in the garden so there's a clear distinction between home and work. Dd2 also works from home 3 days pw. You do have to be disciplined to make it work.

Telly I don't why you need to 'rant' - are you personally paying for those who work at home?

I work from home. I'm fortunate enough to have an office and I find I can really concentrate much better than in a 'normal' workspace. I ensure I have a short break away from the PC every so often and use that to put some washing on or vac a room

DH spent some months in Japan working in the office of a Japanese company. He said the idea that everyone stayed late because they were all working so hard was b****it. He said it was pure presenteism, nobody left till the boss left and what he was doing in his private office was anybodies guess. DH firmly worked 9 - 5 and everybody was amazed how hard he worked!

There are plenty of people swinging the lead in actual workplaces.
It's up to the employer to have a system of assessing whether work has been completed in an acceptable time, whether the employee is at home or not.

I worked from home due to health reasons, but I ended up overworked, doing hours and hours of legitimate overtime and my boss wouldn't allow time off in lieu as all my office based colleagues were having.

Agrees with lillie. Our eldest son is a software developer and he works from home as well as going in the office. It's called remote working now.

He has to log in when he works from home on his computer so they know the hours have been put in.

Our eldest and his wife have just had a baby so when she returns to work 2 days a week he will work from home.

As long as his hours are in which they can see ftom the login screen there isn't a problem. It will save them on childcare fees and so on. As they are over the family working tax credit threshold they won't get help with childcare so they need to save where thet cam as they still have bills etc to pay and are not rolling in it

Both my daughters work from home 2 days a week. They are both conscientious and have work they must get through during those days. They sometimes have Skype meetings arranged and the companies they work for are national companies where it is part of their working regime. I am sure there are one or two who take advantage of the situation but I feel, in general, most people think of it as just another day at the office, without the travelling.

I worked from home for decades. I was a mum, full on it was 365 days a year and 24/7 at times.

I couldn't believe how restful an outside workplace was. coffee breaks, lunch hours, a Secret Santa thing that began in September and went on until Christmas eve........

I have also done outside work from home.

It is hard in some jobs, such as mine, youth worker then mental health worker to decide where work and home divide, if I get a brain wave for a youth event when I'm washing up at home, how does that get counted?

I used to make christmas crackers for a posh dept store, they collected them once a month for the 3 months up until Dec. I made them while watching telly, sometimes breasfeeding and then, when they were stacked in the spare room, I had to hoover around them, and move them everytime I wanted something from airing cupboard.

Some jobs just weave themselves into the fabric of your life. Most farmers nip in and out during the day, there are many jobs that have always incorported working fron home.

Nothing new under the sun so they say.

My husband works at home sometimes as he finds he gets far more done than in the office where he gets constant interruptions.
I get far less done when he is at home because of the constant interruptions!
Pleas for coffee, lunch etc & complaining that the hoover or radio is too loud. I try to go out when he is working from home. I dread his retirement!!

I found that people who were productive with quality work in the office were also the same if not more so when working at home. Some people opted not to work at home as they felt it didn't suit them. Others took advantage. However that soon became obvious in the quantity and quality of work completed and was a normal management issue to resolve.

Working from home is about achieving objectives not about how many hours you spend sitting at the desk. Many people spend hours in offices not getting anywhere due to the many distractions and noise. It sounds as though you have a particular beef though 8telly8 is this about someone you know who isn't pulling their weight?

I worked at a university. We were allowed to work from home but our phone calls could be put through and we had to be available to answer them at all times, just as in the office. You get much more done at home - my office was open Plan and never quiet.

DS works from home for a Spanish company. He is a web developer/programmer and very strict with his working hours. As it is online they know what he is doing. They pay towards heating and upgraded wifi/phone and have supplied a desk and chair and the hardware. They have a daily Skype team meeting and he has to go to the office every 2 months. He has occasionally felt a bit left out but there is annual team building - last year Madrid, this year to be in Brighton. The company is good to work for and he is well thought of. They have a home worker in Barcelona, Tenerife and New York.

And just because you are physically at work in your office sat at your desk doesn't mean you are actually working or being productive does it?

I work from home a couple of days a week and find that I get through much more detailed work because I have fewer interruptions. I tend to start work earlier, and finish later too. And Lillie is right, my employer would soon know if I wasn't pulling my weight.

If you work from home and log onto your work's computer, I assume the employer can see how many hours you have done and how productive you have been?

My DS works a few days a week at home. He says he is far more productive then. At his place of work there are constant interruptions.

Everyone at my dd's former workplace worked two days at home a week. They were able to cut down on the amount of office space needed and heating and lighting etc.

My Dd loved it as she could fit in twice the amount of work at home because there were no disruptions from phones and so on. In her new place, it's not so flexible but she is often at work by 7am because again, she can work free from interruption.

Some people found it isolating, though, so they were not allowed to have two consecutive working from home days.