Challenges you face working from home full time?

chickenlicken09

Hey! For anyone that works from home full time I wondered what sort of challenges you face (if any) or is it all rosy in the garden?  Interested to see.

Ertaz

Communication.  Office Politics.  

chickenlicken09

communication for sure, office politics zero for me.

scaredoftests

communications. cabin fever sometimes.

NetworkingStudent

I did it for 3-4 months.  I think my boss really trusted, because only three to four people on the project were allowed to work from home 

My challenges:
I got paranoid, because I thought people on my team couldn’t see me working. I wondered if they thought I was being lazy since I worked from. 

less human reaction. Could be a plus or minus

My car’s brakes had a bit of rust, because I hardly drove the car. 

Being too relaxed. I though I would wear a polo t shirt and khakis everyday. Yeah, that idea lasted a day.  I became really realer, and I started wearing my pajamas.  I would blast music from my laptop. I didn’t swear at people, but I just sorta let lose, and I cared less about what I said. 

Would i I do it again? YES
i wouldn’t a 100 % remote job, but a job that would let you work remotely when you wanted to would be great!!

UnixGuy

None for me in this position, but in the past I had a colleague who used to make snarky comments about working from home being a rest day for me (he never worked from home).

JDMurray

To be trusted to work from home your job must be very task-based with goals and milestones so your performance can be measured on a weekly--if not daily--basis. Most in-office jobs don't have this level of performance monitoring and instead rely on the workers being motivated to work from the fear of being caught slacking-off by management-walking-around or from being ratted-out by their co-workers.

I hope that doesn't come across as being too cynical

chickenlicken09

Nah it doesn't, I get comments the odd time too but mostly what I find is jealously from people. You can see it in the questions they ask lol.

EANx

Setting boundaries with the people you live with.

SweenMachine

EANx said:

Setting boundaries with the people you live with.

I live 5 hours from my corporate office, and I telecommute about 14 of the 20 "work" days a month (like IT work is only 20 days...) As a manager who manages staff in office who do not telecommute, there have been some lessons that I felt are important:

• Do your job. Someone is giving you money to perform a task. Do your job. Don't shoot hoops in the driveway while on the clock.
• Define ahead of time if your working hours will be 40 hours a week, whenever you feel motivated and creative (ie, you like working at 11pm at night) or if you are required to work during "business" hours. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Some jobs can be done literally any time of the day. Others cannot. Define it ahead of time.
• Dedicated office space with a door that shuts, and feels like a working office, helps immensely. I have an office setup that looks like a work office, not a multimedia play room.
• Make sure you have the right equipment to do your job (ie if you need 3 monitors, have 3 monitors)
• Define boundaries with your children/spouse/sig other/family - no matter how many times you tell them, they still try to get you to do personal things during working time frames. 
• Define boundaries with your co-workers. I live in eastern timezone but work in central timezone. Just because you are an hour ahead doesn't mean they can call you at 630am CDT to get an "opinion" on something because they "knew you would be up since you are an hour ahead"
• Still take real breaks. Like, leave your house/office. 
• Use webcams. I use my webcam ALL THE TIME - it keeps the personal connection on the calls much better than just a speaker phone call.
• Make sure your company invests (if possible) in a collab tool like Teams or Slack. I spend a lot of times on Teams, from client calls to staff evaluations.
• Invest in a great headset so your communication tools work well.
• Invest in the best internet you can actually afford (or work lets you expense)
• Personal preference, but I still dress like a human. If I am going to be on cam a lot that day, button shirt or polo and jeans. Never shorts, never just boxers, etc. I personally want to feel like I am working and not relaxing.

Those are my list. Some people may disagree and that is fair! These are just things that have helped me, and I have been telecommuting at least 50% of the time since 2009 essentially. Now more than ever.

-scott

chickenlicken09

Agree with all for sure

bigdogz

It was office politics for me as well. I would get phone calls on updates after the fact. 

I agree with @SweenMachine

I worked for a company that ended up being 100% remote. This was my list:

- 3 S's and breakfast before work. It is just a good practice in the case I had to travel.
- Make sure all of your equipment works. I had to redesign my office to allow for my personal computers and my 'work computers / environment'. Keeping things separated made my workflow processes easier.
  Sometimes I would use my home PC to test outside connectivity.
- Everyone had to pay for their own internet. I kept what I had and did not ask for more bandwidth. I have gigabit soo... not a problem.
- I had to talk to my family about me being at home is not a convenience ALL of the time. I can help out during lunch or before/after work.
- I had to make sure that when my in-laws would come over they knew to be a little quite while I would close my door when I was on conference calls or talking to a supervisor, peer, or customer. 
- Do my job... as if my boss was in the room next to me. If I had morning tasks, I would get them done ASAP. Focus on the tasks unless a customer was down. I would get done as much as I could and leave the
  rest for the next day.
- I would have various chat sessions open with peers and supervisors. Often I showed myself as busy... because I was VERRY busy, but I was always reachable via phone, text, or chat, even after hours. It
  helped my co-workers all of the time.
- I would sometimes come up with those bright ideas at 2 or 3 in the morning on projects. I would work for 5 or 6 hours, take a 3 hour break and go back to it to get my 8 hrs in that day. In most cases my
  supervisor would then tell me to take the next day off.
- I worked 50+ hrs/week. I would go out to get lunch to avoid getting cabin fever. I also made sure that my blinds / shades were open in the house. I am not a bat that has to rest upside down!

TechGromit

While I don't work for home per say, since many of the systems I'm responsible for are air gapped, no way to remotely management them. I do have the option to work from home occasionally. Like if I'm waiting for the plumber to show up to fix a pipe or an important delivery. I can attend meetings, and preform some tasks remotely, so long as I plan out my work. I find unless I carefully plan out what I want to get accomplished when at home remotely, there are too many distractions that makes my day less unprotective, than say being at work. I know some people love it and are very productive employees, but I tend not to be as productive at home then at work. It's just not for me.   

bigdogz

@TechGromit
yeah, it's not for everyone. I sometimes found myself working more hours since I was working from home.

shochan

I think if I could work from home all the time, then I would feel more productive.  It seems that the office always has "a ruckus", drama, wild animals, talkers e.g. "what did you do this wkend" questions, and even micro mgrs.  Having all of these distractions really does put a dent in my performance...Of course trying to convince my bosses to let me do it, well, is unheard of.  They are dinosaurs and never would think outside the box to listen to their staff.  I have attempted to ask to work four 10hr shifts a week & have 3 days off, they were like, wtfever.  Maybe i should fwd this to them:  https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-says-4-day-workweek-boosted-workers-productivity-by-40  

chickenlicken09

Interesting article

LonerVamp

JDMurray said:

To be trusted to work from home your job must be very task-based with goals and milestones so your performance can be measured on a weekly--if not daily--basis. Most in-office jobs don't have this level of performance monitoring...

I have not worked from home regularly, but when I do or when I've considered it, this is my most important thing.

I think this is also the primary challenge for managers who don't have a good handle on what sort of work their people are doing. They show up and do things when asked, and that's largely their management style. Managers who have defined tasks, expectations, and can map out performance against measurables are the ones who can be open to remote workers.

Chevel

Not being able to....its so hard to concentrate on my work with the open offices.  

bigdogz

Chevel said:

Not being able to....its so hard to concentrate on my work with the open offices.  

Squirrel !!!  LOL

chickenlicken09

Do you guys find it hard to get noticed when working from home? As in, in order to try work up the ladder?

Chevel

chickenlicken09 said:

Do you guys find it hard to get noticed when working from home? As in, in order to try work up the ladder?

I find it hard regardless unless I do special favors like my co-workers.

chickenlicken09

I think it might be too hard to get ahead in a full time wfh role. I could be wrong but I feel like one gets overlooked for anything, out of sight out of mind mentality. Things don't help when your manager is untrustworthy and a bad communicator.

bigdogz

chickenlicken09 said:

I think it might be too hard to get ahead in a full time wfh role. I could be wrong but I feel like one gets overlooked for anything, out of sight out of mind mentality. Things don't help when your manager is untrustworthy and a bad communicator.

If you really bust your *** you can get ahead.
Working remotely is largely dependent on the culture.

chickenlicken09

I want to but work seems very slow and its hard to get answers from people. Have had alot of people who ignore you as its just easier to do so when not face to face.