Looking for advice re: working at home

[Hwin]

My husband is getting a new job and I would like to approach my boss about working from home. The company has plenty of technology so I don't foresee a problem staying in touch with clients or the office. I think the main concern would be my availability in the office if I was suddenly needed, client confidentiality since it is health insurance, and professionalism since I have loud little boys always screaming in the background.

 

How do you ensure your clients get the same attention they would if you were in the office?

 

How much of a pay cut would you expect? I think it will be a lighter workload just because some of the office things I normally do will fall on someone else.

[LittleIzumi]

My dad works from home and for the first while would just come in for the large monthly company staff meeting. Most of his business is over the phone or Internet and at business trips anyway. AFAIK there was no pay cut.

[Dandelion]

In my pre-homeschooling life, I telecommuted 2-3 days a week (the other days I came into the office - full-time job). I also negotiated and managed telecommuting agreements for my employees.

 

Does your DH's new job require a move to another city? That would change some of the recommendations below.

 

IME, your best bet is to put together a brief proposal for your boss that outlines how you will maintain your current job duties and performance from home. If you're not able to do that, then you may want to start out with a compromise (such as telecommuting 2-3 days and working from the office the rest of the time), so that you can keep up with those responsibilities that require you to be in the office. In time, as your boss sees that your performance is the same at home as it is in the office, you may be able to come up with ways to fully address your job duties from home and move to full-time telecommuting.

 

Is anyone else in your position telecommuting full-time? If yes, can you get some pointers from that person on how they do it? Generally speaking, the key is to highlight how this will be completely seamless to both your employer and clients - and highlight any benefits to your employer you can think of (employers are generally not interested in how this benefits you - they're interested in how it will work for the company and clients).

 

If your DH's job change requires a move, will you still be able to travel to your employer once every month or so to check in? All the telecommuting arrangements I've been aware of over the years required a periodic in-person check-in. You'll need to negotiate who covers the cost of your travel, as this would be an added expense for your employer that they may not be agreeable to picking up.

 

I think the main concern would be my availability in the office if I was suddenly needed, client confidentiality since it is health

insurance, and professionalism since I have loud little boys always screaming in the background.

 

Address these concerns in your proposal. Regarding your kids in the background, most employers expect that employees arrange for child care during their work hours. Clients should not hear your kids, and you should not be interrupted by your kids during work hours. Can someone watch your kids while you're working? This can be a deal-breaker in my experience.

 

How do you ensure your clients get the same attention they would if you were in the office?

 

Make sure you have the same set-up at home as you do in the office: access to your work email account, ability to forward your work number to your home number when you're working from home, and return calls/emails with the same turnaround as you normally do. Have a phone that allows you to mute, do three-way calling, have a headset if that's what you use at work, etc. Have any client information required to do your job accessible from home (and have a solid plan agreed to by your employer to maintain confidentiality). It should be completely seamless to your clients - there should never be any indication that you're working from home.

 

How much of a pay cut would you expect?

 

I wouldn't expect a pay cut (and have never heard of a pay cut in association with a telecommuting arrangement). Unless you'll be cutting back your hours, of course. I would try to figure out how you can maintain your current duties at home, because that will give you a better chance of getting approval to telecommute.

 

Good luck!

[sparrow]

I worked from home, for a large university, for 7 years. At first I was, 20 hours in the office and 20 hours at home, then I moved to 100% at home.

 

Most telecommuters end up working more than their scheduled hours at home. I know I did. I did not receive a pay cut, nor would I expect one. Working from home is definitely NOT a lighter workload. If anything, it is heavier. I did much of my work after my kids were in bed, which meant I was sometimes up until 1 or 2 am, if I had a deadline.

 

Employers will expect you to have a quiet area to make phone calls, if you need to. Loud kids are a no-no. I had conference call meetings at least once a month. During that time, the kids were to watch a movie quietly and not to bother me unless there was blood ;).

 

The best thing to do is get everything in writing. My supervisor knew I couldn't drop everything and come in, so we had, in a contract between us, that I would have at least 36 hours notice if I had to be in the office unscheduled. I actually don't think that ever even happened, but it was good to know that they couldn't just call and say, "come in now". You should approach your supervisor with a plan, including where your home office will be located, what hours you will be available for phone calls and conference meetings, etc. You'll also want to let them know you're available to check in, in person, periodically.

 

That's what I can think of, off the top of my head.

[SKL]

Could you get backup daycare in case you need to go into the office?

 

I work at home but will go into the office when it makes sense (usually about one day per month). My kids go to daycare. When they were wee tots, I had a nanny care for them here while I work upstairs, but it was still quite distracting, as I could hear everything, and I am a bit of a control freak. (Plus, the nanny wanted to socialize with me too much.)

 

They are now capable of keeping themselves busy without direct supervision, but they will still come and interrupt me periodically if they don't have another adult around. I do work some hours after they go to bed, but that would not be enough to make up for their interruptions if I had them home all day, every day. (Besides, they deserve to have some interaction and aren't old enough to run the streets yet.)

 

I agree that you should not assume a pay cut unless you are going to put out less billable work (or require more admin assistance). Your employer probably saves money by your telecommuting.

[G5052]

Keep in mind that indeed children are a *major* distraction for your work. When mine were younger, I had to do almost everything before or after they got up, and occasionally when they both managed a nap or a short movie, I might get a few phone calls in. So frankly I didn't work as much then as I do now. I've also always been one that could start a task, be interrupted, and then get back to it without too much problem. Not everyone can do that.

 

One of the companies that I do work for as an independent contractor is fine with kids around, but they do ask what your arrangements are if you have children under the age of 12. They require certain hours without interruption, so that type of question is completely valid IMHO. I completely understand their concern there, and understand that they have let some go over that issue.

 

If you plan to homeschool and work from home, you need to work out what that is going to look like. It is *not* going to look like a family where the mom is not employed. You will have to have a stricter schedule and be more thoughtful about curriculum.

 

For whatever reason I still have friends and relatives who think that my schedule is completely flexible because we homeschool and I work mostly from home. That's just not true. The reality is that I am normally flexible just a few hours a day, and sometimes those hours need to be reserved for doctors, orthodontists, etc.

[Hwin]

Thanks. I have a lot to think about it and the input really helps.

 

IMO I don't need 40 hours to do my job. Not that I was going to start the conversation that way. I don't want to talk myself into the unemployment line. I would have to spend some time in the office - there would be times of the year when I would probably have to spend half my time in the office, and other times when I could come in for a few hours and be done.

 

I do have backup daycare but am wondering if maybe a mother's helper would be a better solution... maybe a SAHM who could bring her kids along, or a college student going for special ed who could also get some hands on training with autism.

[jar7709]

For me, the transition to 100% working from home was gradual. It started by a year or so of me coming in to the office only two days per week, then two half days, then one, and now I only go in on rare occaisions. Right now I have not been there in months. It worked well to prove to them that I remain dependable at home. I have been doing it so long now, that it has become second nature to our family life, when we started homeschooling that was just another wrinkle, a manageable one.

 

I have not had a direct pay cut, but there's some indirect pay cut as I am not 'moving up the ladder' as fast as I was before. I am ok with that, because I enjoy the work and love the flexibility.

 

I do recommend a helper or at least one day a week where someone else watches the kids...even though I only go into the office rarely, I regularly need to do site visits and have longer stretches of uninterrupted time, and my thursdays are worth their weight in gold. ;)

Also seconding pp's caution re careful time management and putting on a movie if you have an important phone call. My kids are pretty well-trained now knowing that the office door closed means Not Now, but they can forget.

 

I also recommend establishing a rythm rather than a schedule for homeschooling. Schedules for us always crash and burn, rhythms are much more maintainable.