H and I work from home and have done so for over a decade. Our company pays for everything, internet, cell phones, offie space, office supplies… they even provide breakfast and lunch…
Oh…we are the company… 8-}
Quite the opposite. I have trouble not working, as I am in my office 24/7.
I don’t have any trouble. But then again, I really really love what I do.
Most of my coworkers work at other sites (and other timezones), so I often work from home. I have a laptop that I transport back and forth to the real office. My conference calls are via toll free numbers. We still have a landline, but many of my coworkers do their conference calls from cellphone.
“Did you have trouble buckling down and actually working?” - A little bit on days where there is nothing urgent burning in my inbox. (Sadly it does not happen that much). But that’s a challenge at the work office too. I just take a breath (or occasionally a walk) and decide which lower priority item is most important that day.
One thing I noticed - while I really enjoy working from home one day/week, I don’t think I could do it full time. I recently worked from home 3 days in a row (blizzard), and could not wait to go into the office! I think, for me, 2 days/week would be my limit.
Also, in terms of buckling down –
I’m paid on an hourly basis. So if I “buckle down,” I get paid, and if I don’t, I don’t. That’s a pretty big incentive to buckle down!!
@FallGirl, is that because you get cabin fever and need outside stimulation?
I should add that DH, in his line of business, has many outside meetings with clients, as well as checking on projects out in the surrounding communities. So he gets the benefit of working from home AND getting out and about. I used to envy that about his job when I had jobs that put me in little cubicles all day long.
^ It might be. Unfortunately, my job in corporate finance doesn’t involve meeting with clients, etc and only occasional meetings at our other offices. So if I worked from home full time i would miss the “face time”.
I work remote full-time and before that worked remote two days a week. My employer provides the laptop and I can log into the network. I have to be available during regular work hours for the main office time zone to answer emails and participate in virtual meetings, but other than that time is flexiible for when I work on my projects as long as I get them done timely. I am an empty nester, so I take breaks to walk the dogs but don’t have a child home distracting me. I find that I probably work more hours at home than I would in the office, since my work computer is there staring at me 24/7. However, I love the flexibility and not having to commute to sit in a cold office under flourescent lights hearing everyone else’s conversations.
Not to mention picking up their illnesses!
I’m working at the office today, and people have been distracting me all day, so I’ll probably have to log in from home tonight to finish a deliverable that’s due tomorrow.
Also, the person who sits next to me is sick today but came to work anyway.
Grrr…
Op here…I own a company and work at home and at my office. I prefer to work at home because I can get bombarded at work.
I’ve been toying with a certain position being done remotely. I know we can hire via Skype and their work can be tracked on our software.
What happens if I buy them their equipment and they quit or don’t work out? I can’t drop 2500 too many times and have people flake out on me.
If you’re thinking they would be a good hire, you can’t also think that they will flake out on you. And in this day and age, everyone already has a computer, so there would be no need for them to keep it if the worst happens.
I work for an all-virtual company. That happens, not often however, if you are careful with your hiring. Your company owns the laptop, which you’ll repossess if the employees quits or is terminated. You can write an agreement that the person has to sign as condition of employment, that all equipment will be returned to you (at your expense of course) in good working order minus normal wear and tear.
“I can’t drop 2500 too many times and have people flake out on me.”
Do not buy any of the telecom equipment. Give them a laptop and VPN access and maybe provide a monthly telecom allowance. The agreement need to say that the laptop must be surrendered when the employment is terminated for any reason. Your lawyer can check the appropriate laws of the state where this employee will be working to make sure no weird statutes are violated by all of this (most likely, none).
“If you’re thinking they would be a good hire, you can’t also think that they will flake out on you.”
Oh it happens more often than you think. The beauty of “employment at will.” 
Once, my employer hired a chemist and paid a $5K relocation bonus. In one week, the other job offer in our state materialized… Guess what? The person quit! The company quickly instituted a policy that anyone who got a hiring or relocation bonus had to repay it to the co if the employee left for a greener pasture within 12 months from the hiring date.
A company I worked at had a similar policy. That’s just good business practice.
Yes, have the employee sign an agreement to return the equipment, but it’s possible that occasionally someone won’t. Assuming you’re not going to have law enforcement storm the house and collect the laptop, I think it’s just part of doing business.
But I do mean it: If you’re comfortable hiring someone, you can’t assume at the same time that they’re going to quit and steal your laptop. If you genuinely think the latter, you don’t really want to hire them.
Not sure if it matters but for the work it needs to be a dual screen computer. More $ than a laptop. Hiring is one of those you can’t know until you know things. Yes I could lose a computer here or there, but I at least need a policy of it returning it.
@eyemamom - I worked for a large multi media company for a number of years. We hired lots of permanent remote workers and typically provided them with a laptop and also a “remote connection bonus” which would go towards their internet and cell phone costs (because these people were on call a lot). The laptops were expensive since they had to be pretty beefy in order to run the resource hogging software required for the job. When the employee was hired they had to sign HR form acknowledging the company would hold their last check until all equipment was returned, in good condition. I don’t ever remember anyone ever refusing to return their laptop.
When my kids were young, I was home for 5 years. I’m a high school math teacher.
I did LOTS of tutoring. I paid the 12 year olds across the street to watch my kids upstairs while I tutored in the dining room.
I also started freelance writing, and made some pretty decent money at something I love doing.
Can a company require that there is childcare in place while working?