What do I need to work from home?

[waverly]

I have been tossing around the idea of working from home for years.  However, my job doesn't lend itself well to it, and there were no savings on daycare for whatever scenarios I could come up with (except work every Sat and Sun and who wants to do that?)

I think I have finally came up with one that will work with the structure of my job be there every day (manager) and get physical tasks done onsite.  I would structure my day to get physical tasks done at the beginning of the day and then work from home in time to get DS off the bus.

Theoretically, I would work 9-3 every day and then work from home from 3-5.  The half hour commute would be my unpaid lunch (my lunch would be my 15 min break).  So I wouldn't have many breaks, but whatever, and I would save 30 min time each day.  I am supposed to work 7.5 hours a day. However, I have decided that daily is too ambitious. 

So I am thinking more like M, W, F 9-3 then work from home and T, Thur 9-5 and pay for 2 days of aftercare.  This is to cover late day meetings or interviews for hiring.

The purpose is more flexibility to be able to pick up the house, throw in a load of laundry, save on aftercare.  I am pretty sure my boss would go for the 5 days, so I could mention that and then say, but I decided to only do 3 days (thus making it seem more appealing ha ha).  He is super flexible and wants to keep me, so I think he would go for it.  

On a work front the benefits are probably more uninterrupted time to concentrate on tasks.  My office is very busy and lots of chatter not from me, but people interrupt me a lot.  Part is being a manager and part is just random people stopping by (public building) and other co-workers.   Yes a 7 year old child will be with me, but he is happy to do homework while I work or watch TV.  Then I could pick up the other child after 5. 

What sort of set-up do I need?  I do not anticipate phone calls.  If I do have them they will be brief, so a separate noise proof office is not necessary.  I might need a nicer work bag to take back and forth any physical papers.  I have a laptop, but I would need to make it clear to DH that it is designated mine because we share.  And he has his own work laptop.  I have internet.  Most things I will be doing will be via remote connection, so I need to re-set that up on my computer.  Then I need to come up with a schedule for tasks.  Most of my work will likely be e-mails.  My co-workers are fine with e-mails coming at that time.  I'll need to organize my work in folders and bring folders back and forth.  Any suggestions for the time structure, organizational structure or the proposal to the boss?  

[billie]

How old are your kids? My mom worked from home when we were school aged and it worked well. The rule was when the door to her office was closed we were to keep out.

I can't think of anything specific you need other than getting IT to set up all the software you need on your laptop. Can you access work files from home? Or use Dropbox?

[waverly]

I should be able to access work files from home after I get the IT set up. Glad to hear it's worked for other people.

Should I pick up DD at 3:30 and have them both watch tv or pick her up at 5? She gets tired early otherwise I would just keep it at 5. She is 4.5 and needier than DS. But no where near as needy as a newborn or toddler.

[mommyatty]

I would pick DD up at 5:00.

I'm in the middle of setting up a telework arrangement for an employee. We have an application the employee fills out. Some of the good questions are 1) How will this impact your coworkers? 2) How will you handle it if your schedule needs to change for business needs? 3) What does success look like? To you? To your boss? To your clients? 4) What are some barriers to success? How will you overcome them? Those might be good things to think about for your pitch to your boss.

[xctsclrx]

I would look into seeing if your after school care is flexible enough that you can change the days needed or the number needed during a week if there is an emergency or something pops up.

As for organization things, make sure you have an external hard drive. Save all of your documents on that. That way if you can't access the network for some reason you still have the files. Make sure you do have a designated space to work, and everyone knows to stay out if you are working.

For your DD, I would try it out for a week and see how she does being picked up early. Can't hurt to try right?

[sudokufan]

Are you used to working on a laptop 100% for work? If not, I'd consider some type of docking station setup so that you can use a full size monitor, keyboard and mouse with it when you need to.

[2chatter]

I'd pick up at 5. Instead of a variety of activities and play dates, this Fall I will have a nanny from 2:45-4:45. I can't focus on work with the kids here. I can't answer homework questions. I can't advise on a permissible snack exception. I can't discuss their day. I'm working. And every one of the interruptions costs me focus and time to complete tasks. They end up frustrated and so do I.

Occasionally they will be here while I work - but it wasn't enjoyable with the oldest two until about 9 or 10 - we are just getting there with middle. Prior it was very stressful.

[waverly]

xctsclrx , I have it on my to do list to check with them on flexibility of days. I enrolled for 5 days right now to save the spots. It looks like its possible for certain days to have a waitlist, but there were no waitlists at all last year. The only issue last year was pre-school was full (why I didn't move them last year). So I think it will be OK, but I need to double check. I can change the schedule as long as it is the Wednesday before the week.

I also need to check on busing.  Right now I have DS picked up in the morning, but going to aftercare.  But maybe I need to have them bus him home, and then it looks like I call in 2 times a week for the 2 days.  Or maybe I can fill out the form M, W, F home, T, Thur aftercare-  but those days might change....

I have worked from home for several hours a week before when I was on bedrest or the kids were sick/ surgery, and the laptop was fine. But I will consider it since it will be more permanent.

DS is super low maintenance, can get all his snacks and watch TV, doesn't need to talk to me if I tell him the rules. Homework might need a tiny bit of work, but no more than 5 min (if it is the same as K).

I'll plan on getting DD at 5. This way I will be more efficient both at home and at work.

I won't put through a proposal to him until it is well thought through. For example, if I am working 9-3 and then working from home, how do I handle the many kids doctor appointments? Especially if they are in the morning? Just work from home the whole day? Schedule them for the days that are my long days? I doesn't make sense to drive an hour to be in there for 2 hours. Boss might be getting annoyed of all their doctor appointments, but he does understand. Schedule them in the 3:30-5 range (which isn't always available)?

I got ears solved (for now), but going into school I will have the IEP review, I have emergency dentist tomorrow, and DD needs to go in for a follow up for her asthma.

[2chatter]

I schedule the 7Am and 5PM appointments - and with the few who don't offer those times, 8Am and 4PM. When those aren't available, I schedule as close as possible to them so I'm still in for a large uninterrupted part of the day.

[waverly]

I usually do, but then I get doctors who say of 10:15 tomorrow is dentist at 10:30 (tooth pain semi emergency). We usually do dentist on Sat or at 6pm. Pediatrician was 3:30 pm. I think I'll just have to schedule them out farther in advance to get the times I need as long as it is not an illness.

[giddyup]

I work in the office 2 days/week and at home 3 days/week. In the office I have two fairly large monitors. So at home I set up the same size and configuration monitors. I have a laptop and a docking station at each place. I find that having a similar set up allows me to transition between places without having to reformat documents or computer screen views or anything like that when I switch locations. I even carry the same mouse with me back and forth.

[hocus2]

I'll be honest I'm not sure I see the value in this set up.

You'll be home 90 mins earlier and maybe you could do one errand (laundry) but mostly you'll be working while your kid watches TV and does homework. You'll then need to leave at 5 to get a different child and start the evening routine. Your old child will come with you on this errand .

I just don't see that set up as being more helpful than just say leaving at 4:30 and getting home and done earlier in the evening so you can do those tasks. There probably isn't much after school savings that way (I assume they charge you by hour).

IF you can find part time after school care I'd say WAH completely 2 days a week would be better than 3 partial in office days. Less back and forth. You can then really use your lunch to errands at home which seems to be a desired outcome (FWIW -- I WAH and have for 9 years and I rarely do household chores, but maybe you'd be better at doing that vs. looking at FB over lunch).

My 7 year old is not so independent so that also gives me pause. About 2-3 times a year she'll be home with vs. going to after school and she's always in my office talking to me and asking me what I'm doing. There may be a novelty aspect to this which would fade over tiem but I would find it very distracting to have her to do that multiple times per week.

[2chatter]

Small hijack - hocus2 I am so glad I'm not the only one who doesn't do housework during the work day. I just can't switch gears like that unless there's a reason - like because vaca is Friday, I threw in a load of laundry while I made lunch.

[waverly]

I pay childcare per day not by hour. From 3-6pm is the same price as 3-4pm.

I can't leave earlier on a regular basis unless I go part time and lose healthcare and PTO.

If I were to work from home it would have to be only 1 day per week. This is the other option. Most of my tasks are in the office however, and I am a manager so being here is important which is why I was thinking of this schedule and then saving on childcare.

I've been thinking of making a change for a while. It might work to try it out for a week and scuttle it if it sucks. The annoying part is sitting at my desk with nothing to do because I have to be here for face time. This isn't happening now because it is a busy time of year, but could happen in the winter.

I don't know how much it would suck though to be involved in a task and have to pack it up to finish it at home. That might get annoying fast.

DS loves TV and will literally sit there for hours with not a peep, not that I would want him to.  Stupid reason, but would be a better commute/ avoiding traffic (daylight in the winter etc).  

Picking up DD while partially annoying, is really only a 5 min drive and the entire errand would take 15 min tops.  DS is good about getting in and out of the car.  And I would have to pick them up anyway (same building two different locations that are hard to drive to- hard to explain but 2 schools stuck together that purposely make it hard to get from one school to the other without going onto main busy roads to leave one school and pull into another school).  So this might actually be easier in that it is one pick up instead of two with a stupid set up.