Advice/questions from the work from home moms

littledaisies

Hi guys, I haven't posted here in a very long time so I'm sorry for just showing up out of nowhere. Since I don't know that many moms that work from home, I didn't know where else to go. 

I've been interviewing for a position that is work from home. At my current job, I can occasionally work from home which I like but I never imagined having a position that I strictly work from home.  I'm curious, do you enjoy working from all the time? Is there anything you miss? Does it  make the work/family balance easier?

The thought of working from home sounds great to me but I'm worried it's almost too good to be true. I feel that it will help me balance my work and home life a little better. By the time I leave work, pick up my LO from daycare, get home and cook dinner, I have no time.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA!!

flyliceandcoffee

I'm not a wfh person, but I can when I want to. I am actually not a fan of working from home to be honest. Yes, I can get a lot more done around the house, cook better dinners, spend more time with S, but I find that when I do work from home, I'm not nearly as productive at my job as I can be because there are always other distractions and things to do. I also find that I miss the face to face human interaction which oftentimes makes working remotely harder to do (although that may just be my field of work).

coffeeandbooks

Hi Little Daises....I work from home and for the most part I am grateful and happy that I am able to.
 
The biggest drawback for me is isolation.  I miss the camaraderie of my team and the office.    I also have to work extra hard to be engaged with what is going on in the organization outside of my everyday job.   I also suffer some insecurities about whether I am valued for my work since my contributions are less visible. I find I have to work a little harder to prove myself or accept the repercussions of "leaning out."

But overall, I have more time with LO, I am in a comfortable environment, and I can manage my household  more easily.   I find it to have huge perks despite the downsides and I would not give it up.

And on the advice front, just do make sure you still have some form of childcare.

littledaisies

Thanks ladies! You make some good points.  I still plan on keeping my LO at daycare. There is no way I can work with him around.  I won't miss interacting with my coworkers because I rarely interact with them now! My office is huge and everyone is spread around so it makes it difficult to interact with people. Since I don't get much of it now, I won't miss it!

Beaubecca I will definitely check out the other board. 

emmy236

Hi! I predominantly WFH (go into an office maybe 2-3 times a month). It has it's good and bad points.
1) Definitely keep LO in daycare, I would get nothing done if he was here.

2) Your boss may expect you to work more hours. I don't work 830-5. I can work at any time depending on the need. I'm in tech project management for a bank so it's not uncommon to work Sunday afternoons because it's Monday morning in India where our tech team is. However if I'm done early than I'm already home!

3) If you have to learn new skills it's tough. I've had to learn sql, advanced excel, DBU type things through screen share and Google. 2 1/2 year into it I feel I can learn anything but that first 9 months or so it really sucked

4) your friends and family will expect you do everything in the house like a SAHM. Not saying that SAHM don't have a really tough gig, but it took DH working at home for a week to realize I can't grocery shop, cook, clean, do laundry, fix the vacuum, do the pick up and drop off at day care, pay all the bills and put on real pants every single day and work full time. I work really hard and sometimes I don't get out of my office for hours so he has to stop and getting groceries, pay a bill here and there.

5) make sure you have a dedicated space to work. I have a seperate office and I need it. I used to be lazy and work for the couch or bed. Nope I got nothing done.
- Side note if you have a window you may start to think crazy things of your neighbors. Our house sits on the corner of one of the through streets in our neighborhood. I'm convinced the new people down the block are either under house arrest or witness protection.

littledaisies

@emmy236  We have an office which my H primarily uses. If I take the position I will need to do some organizing to have my own space but that shouldn't be a problem.

I can see certain people thinking I'm a SAHM. I think I'll be able to get some stuff done at home but definitely not a lot. Doing laundry in between work and starting dinner but there's no way I can do it all and work. 

I see the bad points but the good outweigh them. I'm not sure I'd want to spend the rest of my career working at home but my DS is still little and having more babies, I think it's the best choice.