Curious, if you work for someone else, tell me how it works for you. Who pays for what? Did you have your own computer and high speed internet? Do you work specific hours or how is it you check in with the company. Do you do both, work from home and at an office? Did you have trouble buckling down and actually working? Are your kids around during the day while you work?
I work from home one day a week( and when it snows!). I have a company laptop and connect with the company drives, but it’s our own internet ( not company paid). I find there are fewer distractions at home, but I’m an empty nester. When S was home last summer I worked upstairs rather than from the kitchen table which is my usual spot.
Most of your questions will vary by employer. If you’re a full-time employee and designated as remote/mobile/at-home, then employers will typically pay for equipment such as phone+phone line, computer, internet, and printer+ink. IME, there’s not a time-clock to punch but you’re typically expected to be available for calls/meetings during normal business hours in addition to completing tasks on time. In your case I seem to recall you were going to do consulting? If that’s the case, you’ll probably bear all of the equipment costs on your own.
When D was younger and W and I were both working from home, we each had a home office plus we’d have a babysitter pick D up from school and watch/play with her at home until 5-6pm or so.
One of the 2 hats I wear is a work from home position. But I am self employed. I do pay for work expenses from the business.
I worked at home for many years–now, I’m semi-retired (one project a year). I work for a book packager and am considered an independent contractor. I pay for my own equipment, internet, phones, etc. When my kids were home, I’d work while they were in school and late at night. I also had a nanny who could watch the kids if I had a deadline.
DH works from home and is self employed. He pays for everything, but doesn’t have to share his proceeds with “the House.”
I’ve worked for the nonprofit I founded from my home since 2007. We have meetings at other venues (Med centers, MD offices, meeting rooms). Since our nonprofit is poor, I bought most everything but do let the nonprofit pay for supplies–ink, paper, phone cards for my pre-paid cell, insurance, bookkeeper, and medical equipment. We have had part time, oncall employees. I am currently the only remaining part time employee. I started this after my kids were done with HS and they have never interfered with my work.
I am self-employed and have worked from home for many years. I think that certain people can handle working from home, while some are too easily distracted. If you are worried that you won’t be able to concentrate on the job at hand, or will have too much access to your refrigerator, it will really help to make a true home office that is away from the main gathering places in your house, close the door and don’t come out until it’s time for a lunch break or the end of the work day! As you get more comfortable with being in the house, and you see that you can get your work done, you will probably relax those rules and still be very efficient!
At my current job, many people work from home part of the time, and practically everybody does during snowstorms. (This is in the Washington, DC area, where we are phobic about snowstorms.) We have software that gives us complete remote access to the company’s network. We use our own computers and Internet. But we’re not required to work from home, and I think that’s an important distinction. If we were required to do it, I think the company would have to provide the computer and Internet.
I have one colleague who is one of the rare people who never works from home. That’s because he doesn’t have a computer at home for his exclusive use. Four people in his household share one computer, and the family can’t afford to buy additional computers. If the company lent him a laptop, I think he’d be happy to work from home during bad weather, but the company hasn’t coughed one up for him (and to be fair, I don’t think he has asked).
We typically work our usual hours when we work from home, but there are exceptions. For example, sometimes people work from home because they have someone coming to the house to repair the dishwasher or inspect the furnace or whatever sometime during the day. If they lose an hour in the middle of the day dealing with the contractor, they might work late to make up the missed time instead of charging that hour to paid time off. Or they might start work early in anticipation of losing a chunk of time in the middle of the day.
I work part-time for a huge consulting company, and I am what they call a “remote employee.” There are lots of us around the country working from home. The company provided me with a laptop, but pretty much everything else is on me. All I really need are pencils and paper, and very rarely I have to print something out. My office laptop is right next to my personal laptop, so during the day I just jump back and forth from work to play. Because I work part-time – and not on any particular schedule – I can do my work whenever I want to. I typically start early and don’t do much at all after 3:00 PM or so. Not due to kids; I’m an empty nester. I was just never very productive late in the day.
Right now both DH and I are working from home due to the weather. He’s using the company laptop and I’m on our own computer; he’s using our phone (which has no charge for domestic calls) and I’m happy not to have to be talking with anyone at the office. 
I work at home and at the office for my employer. I do about 12 to 15 hours per week at the office and the remaining 25 to 28 (or more) at home. I have my own computer, which I purchased, on which I do all my work and nonwork online activities. I pay for the Internet at home. I’m fortunate to be allowed to have a very flexible schedule. As long as I put in the hours, my managers don’t care when those hours are put in, as long as I’m generally available during the weekdays for communication with my coworkers. It probably helps that I’m a grind.
I have a love/hate relationship with working from home. I used to work for a large media company that had no problem with employees working from home a couple of days a week. Because of my long commute, working from home was a godsend on the days I had back to back conference calls - really, who wants to sit in the car for an hour just to get to work and be chained to your desk on the phone for several hours. So on Tuesdays, when my conference calls started at 7am, I was more than happy to take the first couple of calls in my sweats with coffee in hand. However, and this says something about me, I consistently over estimated the amount of work I could get done around the house on those days. More often than not, the load of laundry I started at 6:45am was still in the washer at 6:45pm and so on. I also find it harder to set boundaries - I would get so involved answering emails, finishing documentation, etc. that it would be 6:30 or 7 before I stepped away from the computer, whereas I was fairly consistent about leaving work earlier.
I’ve been working from home as an independent contractor for the last couple of years but am actively job hunting at present. I really would like to get back to the collaborative environment of an office.
I do not work from home, but I know several people who do. None of them gets Internet paid for via the company. They may have access to work laptops.
That’s 'cause everyone has internet at home these days. You’re paying for it anyway. It’s like electricity.
I am a remote employee - I travel 2/3 to 3/4 of the time, but when I’m not scheduled to travel, I work from home. My company has quite a few remote workers.
My company provides a laptop with a docking station, dual monitors for my home office, keyboard, mouse, etc. They pay for my monthly home internet. If I need to do lots of printing I print to a nearby Staples and charge it on my corporate credit card Any office supplies I need are also purchased using my corporate card. We have a VPN and I can access all the company files I need.
They also reimburse me $10 for each trip I take for cell phone use (each is M-F) since I need to use my personal cell phone during travel.
Last week we had our annual in-person company meeting - because there are so many remote workers, it’s nice to actually see each other once a year! We also have monthly town hall meetings I attend virtually if I’m not on the road. They are recorded so I can watch later if I’m traveling.
When I’m working from home, I work 8 - 5 with an hour for lunch. We all log into Skype. I put “Be Right Back” on as my status when I take the dog out or have to step away. We span several time zones. The expectation is that our Skype status is accurate - if my status if Available, then I need to be available.
I don’t have any children at home (empty nest). If my college-age S or H is home and I have a conference call (via Skype) I warn them because the first time I had a call my H kept yelling from the other room “What did you say?”
I don’t mind it since it’s not all the time. If I have more than 2 weeks in a row at home, I get restless. My H’s job means we can potentially move frequently so it’s nice having a job where it doesn’t matter where I live, as long as I have access to an airport.
I occasionally work from home and I have had co-workers be virtual most of the time.
Once upon a time, my (very, very large) company paid for T1 lines for full-time remote. That went away as most people got high-speed internet on their own dime at home. I have a laptop and can connect in via VPN to company servers. It is a rule that company business not be conducted on personal equipment. We can’t even download the drivers to home printers. That said, I don’t print much at the office, either.
Phones can be either company-paid cell if mgmt, or a soft-phone for everyone else.
The big rule is working from home is not a substitute for childcare. Doing so is grounds for disciplinary action. One job was so demanding that the boss suggested I try and get some work done if my sick child was sleeping or otherwise occupied. It is expected that you are available during normal working hours, so the kid thing was really a big deal.
I work full time from home. Company provides laptop, docking station, VOIP phone, and I get some $ each month towards internet (pays about 75% of that bill.) I work a fairly regular 40 hr schedule and am expected to log in and work the agreed to hours. I have a dedicated home office and I leave it closed when I am not on the clock. During my work hours I may get to fold some laundry, make dinner, etc. The only thing I miss is when offices close for bad weather-- and I still have to go to ‘the office.’ My kids are older so they are good about respecting my work time, if I am working an evening they may come sit in my office and do their homework while I am working. I try to work to the schedule-- the biggest challenge is to want to continue to work more time because I want to complete some task. I have to shut the office door and put it out of mind when I am off.
I do work from home one day a week. I have remote access via company laptop. When I work from home I do have things delivered and have doctor’s appts. At the same time, I also work off hours.
DH admits that now that he works from home, he is putting in many more hours. He can’t seem to resist.
I would be the opposite and would be a terrible candidate for working from home.