Working from home

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Its not "nill chance", even for "from day 1" and it doesn't need to be "you've really proven yourself in the past". Though it probably does need to be "very lucky".

I got only my 3rd contract as a 100% work from home role, from day 1. I even managed to push their initial rate offer up Went in for an interview obviously but then didn't see the client for another 3 months.

Startups would be the key I think. They don't have much money to spend on things so just want pure code out of you.
This client I worked for wanted to save money on not renting offices, not providing machines, not providing anything actually! I was in fact taking over from a eastern european based coder so hiring me in the UK was already a bump up in expenditure! Very small company 1 business owner, 1 coder, 1 dba, all remote working via phone/skype. I believe its call tele-commuting.

Worked out great, initial 3 month contract extend out to 8 months in the end. Word of warning tho, working at home might sound great (3 second commute from bed to computer is nice) but it gets pretty BORING not talking to anyone all day. Sometimes it'd get to Thursday and I'd realise I hadn't left the house since the weekend!

True say with 100% work from home but it is nice to work a couple of days at home in a row as it makes you actually look forwards to going into the office and not dreading a daily commute!

[VirtualMonkey]

Absolutely.
I've just been offered a contract which is 3 weeks in the office then 2 days a week work from home.
Best of both worlds as I get the face time with the client but also get to see my kids for full days at a time and can still do the long weekend even though the client is 4 hours away from home.

Only trouble is it's on a system that's being designed from the bottom up...but that's another story.

[PAH]

Only time I've managed to go 100% working from home was after spending 2 years on site, so mentioned approaching the renewal that due to the 24 month rule on expenses I could no longer work on site at the same rate.

They preferred to keep me on but working from home rather than increase the rate. In a way I did get a rate increase as I saved shedloads on not working away from home.

With the technology around these days there's very little need to be on site. Usually trust issues dictate company policy, yet they could save loads by closing the big expensive offices if they let their workers be home based.

[SueEllen]

With the technology around these days there's very little need to be on site. Usually trust issues dictate company policy, yet they could save loads by closing the big expensive offices if they let their workers be home based.

It's not always trust issues that depict if you can work at home for 100% of the time.

When I've been mostly home based I still had to spend at least a day a week in the office, as even if you use virtual means of communication some things can only be done with people in the same room i.e. pin people down to get answers out of them, show them stuff. As it's easy to ignore people who are home-based but harder if they are in your face.

I also know others who who work from home. Again they have the same issues - if they cannot do everything from home when they have to interact with people.

[PAH]

they cannot do everything from home when they have to interact with people.

Yeah depends on the role and how often it involves meetings and other collaboration that up to now may still be preferable in the flesh.

I can see it changing as virtual meeting technology matures to include lifelike meeting rooms, with the difference one can be sat at home as casually dressed as you like while appearing in a suit in the virtual meeting.

[jmo21]

My opinion of wfh is that it has it's place, but it doesn't replace what working in an office can give you.

For teams working together, fostering a team spirit is very important, and working face to face in the same location cannot be replaced.

Even simple things like going for a coffee or lunch with teammates, or a drink after work on a friday are essential.

[nomadd]

My opinion of wfh is that it has it's place, but it doesn't replace what working in an office can give you.
For teams working together, fostering a team spirit is very important, and working face to face in the same location cannot be replaced.

Agree 100%. But then with all the work being outsourced these days...

Example: my current 'team' is me, a load of guys in Singapore, and the rest in India.

As you can imagine, team spirit and working together face-to-face in the same location is great. As is communication.

[jmo21]

Agree 100%. But then with all the work being outsourced these days...

Example: my current 'team' is me, a load of guys in Singapore, and the rest in India.

As you can imagine, team spirit and working together face-to-face in the same location is great. As is communication.

So long as it is all in one place, it doesn't matter where that place is.

For me having a team in 1 place works a lot better than having them spread over multiple locations, especially when the other locations may be multiple time zones away.

[SueEllen]

So long as it is all in one place, it doesn't matter where that place is.

For me having a team in 1 place works a lot better than having them spread over multiple locations, especially when the other locations may be multiple time zones away.

A few people I know have companies that only employ others to work at home if they are in the right time zones to the rest of the team. So if you are in NZ or US and you want a job with that team forget it.

[IanM]

When you work from home do you find yourself doing more hours? This could be because you are saving commuting time, or because the home environment is nicer you are happy to work for an extra 30 minutes to get something finished off. I'd be interested in peoples thoughts.

Ian