Working from home

The home schooling topic has made me think about this a bit more..I have been wanting to find a job that lets me do some work from home and with fleible hours, but the kinda stuff I do...well I reckon it could easily be done from home but the industry doesn't seem to go in for it......

One job I worked at in England (council job) was really good flexi hours and as long as I was at work during core hours of 10-12 and 2-4 I think it was, I could work whatever hours I wanted to make my 35 hours a week...I could also work extra and each month have a 'flexiday' off. It was really good.

So anyway, I was thinking that NZ so doesn't seem to be anywhere as good as this, and doesn't encourage people to work from home. Not in my area of work anyway!

Now kiwis are reknowned for their good work ethic in england so obviously we must be hard workers really and not likely to slack off if we are at home so why don't work places get into this more to help mums/dads stay at home with kids?

I don't really want to change the kind of work I do as I am pretty good at what I do and spent ages studying to get where I am...so....my question is this....
those who work from home on occasion or on a regular basis, how did you manage it...how did you bring it up with your employers, how did you find it worked in reality, I mean really, it is hard to be as productive?? (I am guessing at times harder)

I used to do it, I'm not sure that I ever really asked. It was more "I need to be home for the vet (or whatever) today, so I'll just work from home". So it started out like that when I had reason to be home, but eventually I would just stay home cos I felt like it and had to reason to need to be in the office. But I have a great boss, and a great work ethic. So long as I was getting stuff done, and showing up for meetings etc when I need to, they don't mind where I'm working.

Since I've had DD (and as you know, she's no easy baby), I generally don't work from home anymore unless DH or someone is around to care for her. She's just so disruptive and needs so much attention to keep her busy and out of trouble (and even now, when she's asleep, I'm in sitting by the cot to keep her that way). So if I'm to get stuff done, she needs to be in daycare, and daycare is next to my office, so I drop her off and go to work.

We do have a couple of people at work who are "working" from home with young babies and to be honest, their productivity is crap compared to the rest of us. It's just too hard with full-on babies and toddlers I think. Might be different with cruisy kids though, I don't know?!

I had a part time job where I worked from home 3 days a week, 8am - 1pm. DS was at preschool those days.

But I have to admit, I got my work done, but I slacked off quite a bit. I found it really hard to get motivated to do much. I would often drop DS off, come home log on to work, then sneak off and have a shower.

I couldn't do it at all if I had kids at home with me. Would be way to difficult.

I work Mon-Wed 8:30-2:30 at the office and then work from home on Thursdays and Fridays. I thought I could manage it really easy, but it's harder than it sounds. Especially the age that DD is at, she's climbing up on me non-stop and always wants to play with the laptop even when she's got a gazillion toys in the lounge

How I brought it up with the boss? She told me to name my hours, so told her I would work 3 days and then work from home the rest of the week.    I'm quite organised, so I make sure I get as much done at the office as possible. The odd occasion I've actually worked at night because it's easier and more productive.

I think since I went back to work about 3 months ago, I've never achieved more than 2 hours work a day while at home. But then DD only sleeps 3/4 hr to an hour at a time. I think you have to be quite diligent to be able to work from home. DH works from home too and he gets distracted very easily while we are home.

Good luck though, it does work for some people!

I too would like a job that I could work from home but have yet to find one unless I do PORSE and I am not too keen on that as our car is not big enough for an extra child.

I'd love to work from home but know I probably wouldn't be able to because I get distracted too easily (like going on OB when I should be cleaning the house seeing as DD is having a nap in her room for a change!). A few years ago when I was working full time, I had an operation and was meant to have two weeks leave, then two weeks working from home. But after the first week working at home I decided to come back to the office (and hobble around seeing both feet were still in plaster lol) and definitely got more work done in the office than at home - and that was without kids to add an extra distraction!
But if you're not like me and actually have self discipline then it should work

Hmm well I guess my idea of working at night may not be a good plan either...I know I used to work well later on in the day esp when everyone else had gone home and I could be uninterrupted but then I guess with kids that would not work.
Ah well...there goes that dream haha!

I work from home one day a week, because I am in a senior role at my organisation they were fine with it - if I'd been a graduate they might have been a little less flexible. My work has a flexi-work policy but being the only female in my team meant I was the first to ask for it - apparently my boss has told the rest of the (male) team not to get any ideas!

I have a nanny to look after the girls and do some light housework on the day I work from home, there is no way I could get any work done otherwise. I shut myself away in the study, no kids allowed, and I find it works well.

I worked from home from when DD1 was 10mths until just before DD2 was born. I found it fantastic - I worked when she slept so got about 2-3hrs in per day, and did the rest in the evening and weekends.

I found that because I had to get the work done, I was really focussed when I sat down to work and didn't get distracted. I worked for a Govt dept, so possibly similar to your Council work.

If I had to go in for meetings, I scheduled them for early morning and DP went in to work later. A couple of times I was really busy and got Mum up to help, but some weeks I did close to full time hours and it wasn't that bad.

I haven't tried this with 2 kids yet!

There is a lot of discpline and team dynamics that comes from going into the office each day and having people interact on a more informal basis than just attending scheduled meetings. This is why most places have some sort of flexi time around start and finish times and working from home when the plumber is coming in, older kids are sick etc but not so much for an all day every day situation, especially if there are distractions like preschool children to care for or the person is likely to be waylayed by household jobs, visitors etc.

I've done it for awhile and found it tough to juggle work and family, personally I find it easier to pay for some daycare and go to work rather than fitting in work around short preschool sessions, and sleep times.