25 comments Add a comment
It is proving difficult to find work from home. And if I want to work part time too that is even more difficult. I use a couple of job search web sites to hunt for work.
These have "work from home" or "home based" jobs. There are also IT jobs for which I have the required skills and experience, but so far not both. I apply for several jobs for which I am qualified per week using jobsite, stating that I wish to work from home but could spend 1 day a week on site. I rarely get any feedback. This may also be the case for applicants who do not wish to work from home.
When I speak to an agency and say that I want to work from home (but that I could do 1 day per weak on site) they sound pretty unhopeful. If I add that Id like to work part time (e.g. 28 hours per week), it becomes even less likely that they can find work for me.
I accept that some jobs just can't be done from home e.g. if they require regular use of paper documents, telephone answering etc (although there are call centres which use home workers or tele-workers with calls routed to the employee's home somehow).
For people working from home, there is the temptation to keep on working, especially if deadlines have to be met. That is OK if there are also times of less work which even themselves out. Apparently reports suggest that home workers are more productive and more committed to the employer than office based staff. It can be useful for the employer to have someone who can work out of hours and it can be argued that they save on accommodation although this could be insignificant if only a small number of employees work from home regularly.
Employer - issue of trust
There is the issue of trust i.e. the employer has to trust the employee to get on with work. This can make it easier to work from home for an employer who already knows you.
It is lovely to avoid commuting every day. I think different people like different aspects of home working e.g. working in jeans and t shirt. Some of the possible disadvantages for employees include the lack of social contact, being overlooked for promotion or training because of being out of sight.
A particular job search web site currently has 31,621 IT jobs within the last 7 days. A search for "work from home" returns 75. A search for "home based" returns 119.
Some of the "work from home" and "home based" jobs require attendance on site for more than 1 day per week.
Oh well... I guess I?ll keep searching.
Leave a comment
Biggest load of tosh ever working from home, get up early and get yourself into work
Aaron