Working From Home?

GirlOnTheBeach · October 2013

In the post about going back to work or becoming a SAHM, I noticed a lot of you mentioned that you work from home. It got me wondering what kind of jobs allow you to do that?

I'd love to work from home but I'm not sure where to start or what kind of job to look for. Any advice or ideas?

TeeJ526 · October 2013

DH primarily works from home. He works in IT doing server support and that can be done remotely. I also work from home but not as frequently. I also work in IT doing project management. @GirlOnTheBeach, what industry do you work in now?

GirlOnTheBeach · October 2013

TeeJ526 said:
DH primarily works from home. He works in IT doing server support and that can be done remotely. I also work from home but not as frequently. I also work in IT doing project management. @GirlOnTheBeach, what industry do you work in now?

At the moment I'm a nanny for a very well off family. But I used to be a Spanish teacher in the public school system (before we moved here). I have office experience, speak 2 languages fluently and can get by in 2 more. I'm just trying to explore my options and see what other fields I could get into...

jaytee16 · October 2013

I do tech support/customer service for a small software company. I love being able to work from home!

MamaBovs · October 2013

I work from home one day a week. I work in advertising - in my industry (or at least my company), really the only way to work from home is to start working in the office and prove yourself. Sometimes if people move and we don't want to lose them, we will offer them WFH positions, but they tend to be temporary b/c it's pretty difficult to WFH full-time and still stay connected to the company. For those that do stay, there doesn't seem to be much opportunity for advancement. More often people will put in a request to WFH 1 or 2 days a week. It's up to each person's manager (along with HR) to grant or deny the request.

One thing that I don't believe anyone has mentioned yet is that it's important to remember that WFH is not a substitution for childcare. When I work from home, my kids still go to daycare. I would imagine that's the case in any sort of "professional" WFH situation as it is not possible to take care of kids and still remain engaged in your work (at least not until kids are older). There are probably jobs that can be done from home on your own time (such as data entry or something) that would allow you to keep your kids home with you, but I'm not familiar with those.

Good Luck!

Anathera · October 2013

I work for a health insurance company. I've been W@H for about 6 months. It's a perk not everyone gets though lots of requirements involved.

Valancyy · October 2013

MamaBovs said:

One thing that I don't believe anyone has mentioned yet is that it's important to remember that WFH is not a substitution for childcare. When I work from home, my kids still go to daycare. I would imagine that's the case in any sort of "professional" WFH situation as it is not possible to take care of kids and still remain engaged in your work (at least not until kids are older).

I worked for an insurance company before I became a stay at home mom. My company offered work from home. They made it clear that you had to have child care when working from home. I actually had a co-worker mention that it must be great to not have to pay for child care because I work from home. My son at the time was 1. The co-worker was also a mother. I just was dumbfounded. Why would she even think that was possible?

WinningColors · October 2013

I don't work from home but I have a job where I could easily work from home. I'm a project manager and I basically just work on a computer all day, something I don't necessarily have to be in the office to do. Some other project managers at my company worked from home but they took advantage of the situation and started using work time to do personal things so no one is allowed to work from home full time right now.

AppleGrapeMSTK · October 2013

I teach adult education. My last position was ESL and it was a part time, hourly position. All of my lesson prep COULD be done at home, but it was so much easier to just go into the office to get everything done. I was very easily distracted, and typing with an infant in your arms sleeping/fussing/nursing was more distracting than it was worth. ALSO. TV/fridge raids/other family members were also distracting. I was not productive AT ALL. We did live with MIL at the time, so I often asked her to watch the baby while I worked, but she would just bring him back to me and say, 'He's hungry. He's fussy.' etc. The position also allowed me to bring the kids to work with me, if needed (which it occasionally was).

My current position does allow a few WFH options as far as emails/reports go, but I'm salaried, so it's better if I just go into the office 30 minutes early on my next shift to get it done. I don't know that I would actively go for a WFH position again.

Also, don't bring this up on the Working Moms board. It's like asking Am I preggo??? here. You will get reamed/lose a limb.

TLooney17 · October 2013

I work in marketing. I am in the office 3 days and at home for 2. I have remote access so I can do anything that I do on the computer from home. My commute to work is about 45 minutes, so even if I didn't have a little one I would have proposed to work from home a few days a week. It works well for me!

angeltennis3 · October 2013

I work from home occasionally. I am an accountant as well and have a laptop I can take home with me. I like it because I am usually much more productive because my co-workers bother me less with their questions, so I like that. Plus it cuts out the commute, which is 45 minutes each way for me.

I agree with pp who said that working from home does not mean you can actively watch your child. Maybe occasionally if they are sick and cannot go to daycare, but you won't be able to work from home a normal 8-5 & get your work done.

I am working on #1, but a few of my coworkers have kids. They work a lot of weird hours to get their work done and still spend time with their families. They are usually working at night after their kids go to bed, or getting up at 5 and working until their kids wake up. That helps them work less during the day and make it to their kids functions.

PunkyBooster · October 2013

I was in HR and WFH for about 4 years. I loved it. We did have childcare for ds but the lack of rushing to get ready, out the door, commuting, etc made for a good work/life balance for me.
DH WFH FT. He's in IT and travels up to 2 weeks a month.

I could WFH with this new job. I'm in client services management with a software company.

Ds would have to continue with preschool. There's no way I could ever work or do anything with him around.

GirlOnTheBeach · October 2013

Looks like there are a lot of possibilities out there for working from home! I have some time left at my current job, so I might use that time to start taking some classes or doing some training in a new field.

Also, just to clarify, I would never expect to be able to care for a child and be a productive worker at the same time, I've spent way too many years caring for kids to be that naive ;-)

I really like the idea of being at home where I'd be comfortable and have a really nice work space. Plus, my parents are retired and would be happy to help out watching our potential kids a couple days a week. Maybe they could do that at our house while I work and I could at least see our child on my lunch break ;-)

janda426 · October 2013

GhostMonkey said:
No, they will not be able to be at your home. As a nanny, one would think you would be able to figure out why that option isn't going to work. You really think you are going to be a worthwhile employee while your 3 month old is screaming because s/he wants to scream for 3 hours?

And watching your kids is likely not how your parents want to spend their retirement. They did their job.

And you won't need a couple classes or training- you will need a completely different 4 year degree. You are insanely naive for thinking any of this will be a viable option for you in the next 5 years. You might stumble into something, but don't you think people wouldn't be all over jobs like this if they just landed in everyone's lap?

I actually babysat 4 kids while their mom worked in the home office. It was not a problem at all.

Also, H parents are retired and looking forward to watching all of their grand kids. Not everyone is the same...

Totally agree that the chances of finding a WFH job just like *that* are incredibly slim. I wouldn't get your hopes up, OP

GirlOnTheBeach · October 2013

GhostMonkey said:
No, they will not be able to be at your home. As a nanny, one would think you would be able to figure out why that option isn't going to work. You really think you are going to be a worthwhile employee while your 3 month old is screaming because s/he wants to scream for 3 hours?

And watching your kids is likely not how your parents want to spend their retirement. They did their job.

And you won't need a couple classes or training- you will need a completely different 4 year degree. You are insanely naive for thinking any of this will be a viable option for you in the next 5 years. You might stumble into something, but don't you think people wouldn't be all over jobs like this if they just landed in everyone's lap?

First off, my job involves watching a child at their house while their mother WORKS IN THE SAME HOUSE! Isn't that crazy?? So I guess you are wrong about that being so impossible to work out.

Secondly, I was my parents' only child and we are very close (as in we see each other at least 3 times a week and talk daily on the phone). Them watching our potential child was something I never ever asked them about, they actually stated that they wanted to do that. Also, I mentioned it would be only a couple days a week, they have offered more but I would never put that pressure on them. They probably would watch our child at our home which is, conveniently, 5 minutes from theirs.

Lastly, you have no idea what degrees and training I already have. As I mentioned, I'm multi-lingual, have an extensive computer background, a 4 year degree with teaching certifications in multiple states and certification areas, a real estate and construction background, specialized training in Apple priducts, management experience, and owned my own business by the time I was 20.

I gave up working in the business world so I could teach and help at risk youth in a bad inner city area. When I moved here (to be closer to my parents, you know, the ones who actually want to be there for their grandchildren) I took a job where I only nanny a couple hours a day and make more than I did as a full time teacher. This allowed us to have the time needed to buy a house and do all our renovations ourselves. All in all, I think I might qualify as more than "entry level" for most companies.

ETA: formatting. Bumping from my phone this evening.

GirlOnTheBeach · October 2013

janda426 said:

GhostMonkey said:
No, they will not be able to be at your home. As a nanny, one would think you would be able to figure out why that option isn't going to work. You really think you are going to be a worthwhile employee while your 3 month old is screaming because s/he wants to scream for 3 hours?

And watching your kids is likely not how your parents want to spend their retirement. They did their job.

And you won't need a couple classes or training- you will need a completely different 4 year degree. You are insanely naive for thinking any of this will be a viable option for you in the next 5 years. You might stumble into something, but don't you think people wouldn't be all over jobs like this if they just landed in everyone's lap?

I actually babysat 4 kids while their mom worked in the home office. It was not a problem at all.

Also, H parents are retired and looking forward to watching all of their grand kids. Not everyone is the same...

Totally agree that the chances of finding a WFH job just like *that* are incredibly slim. I wouldn't get your hopes up, OP

Thanks, I know the job market can be intense for that kind of position. I am just looking into what I can find. Some friends of mine just offered me online teaching work for their company, which looks like it would be a good opportunity but I'd like to see what else is out there :-)

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