What are work from home jobs like?

[Chloeflowers]

I’m considering a work from home job, I want to spend time with my pets and do some side projects. I’ve never done a remote job before so does it really offer flexibility? Will I really work independently? 

[JTSW]

I would love to have a work from home job.

No commutes and in the comfort of your own home.

When you apply, have a list of questions written down ready, i.e. flexibility etc.

[Wiseman2]

28 minutes ago, Chloeflowers said:

. I’ve never done a remote job before so does it really offer flexibility? Will I really work independently? 

All you need to do is research companies that offer this and apply. You could consider doing something part-time while keeping your day job, just to see if it's a good fit for you.

[Chloeflowers]

Does gossip and coworkers airing out their personal business still exist? 

[JTSW]

4 minutes ago, Chloeflowers said:

Does gossip and coworkers airing out their personal business still exist? 

Yep.

[Wiseman2]

6 minutes ago, Chloeflowers said:

Does gossip and coworkers airing out their personal business still exist? 

It seems like you're upset about something at your current job. 

[Chloeflowers]

Just now, Wiseman2 said:

It seems like you're upset about something at your current job. 

Not really. I want to spend some more time with my pets. And save gas money/ miles on my car.  

[Chloeflowers]

Also the urge of not to spend money on starbucks while in route and on restaurants during lunch hour

also is it just messaging or video calls? 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Chloeflowers

[JTSW]

14 minutes ago, Chloeflowers said:

Also the urge of not to spend money on starbucks while in route and on restaurants during lunch hour

also is it just messaging or video calls? 

Allot is managed through teams. 

There will be messaging, occasional video conferences or voice conferences.

I'm going off what my husband does because he currently works from home.

[glows]

It’s effective if you’re able to manage yourself and your time well. You may be expected to “attend” meetings and still sit/listen in. Same interruptions, same issues and politics. Saving time and gas - a definite plus. Check your insurance policy too as you may have a reduction due to less mileage or driving for pleasure. 

[Weezy1973]

The biggest challenge is not getting distracted with home stuff. If you can sit on your home office and focus completely on work then you should be fine. If you find you’re more easily distracted, then it will be a struggle.

[Els]

5 hours ago, Chloeflowers said:

I’m considering a work from home job, I want to spend time with my pets and do some side projects. I’ve never done a remote job before so does it really offer flexibility? Will I really work independently? 

It depends entirely on the job itself. I've seen both ends of the spectrum - I know some people whose every action is logged and micromanaged (they have a virtual meeting every morning, they "clock in" and "clock out"), which is basically the same as an in-office job in terms of flexibility, but without the commute of course. And then there's my job, where I basically work whenever I want and however I want, and nobody cares as long as targets are met. Generally speaking, the more in-demand your skills are, the more flexibility you will have, because you will have the leverage to negotiate for it.

I love working remotely. Love waking up whenever, working in my nightgown, taking a break and going out for a stroll whenever, working at night instead of in the morning. I'm very much a night owl (as in, think of anyone you know whom you'd call a night owl, and then add a few hours more to that), so this arrangement suits me a lot better than a 9-5.

On the other hand, I wouldn't expect to have more time for "side projects" though, since you'll usually still have deadlines to meet and will usually be working the same amount of hours, if you want to do your job well (and you'd better, because flexible companies are usually in demand and they can replace you quite easily if you don't). Flexibility doesn't mean working less.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Els

[Alpacalia]

I did project management from home for several years. I was not having to sit 1.5 hours to/from my old job and I was able to save a lot of money on gas and other travel-related expenses.

Negative was that I felt isolated from my team since we were not able to interact in person. Also, there was no separation between work life and home life, which made it difficult to keep a balance.

[Versacehottie]

What are your skills or your occupation, Chloe? I mean that's sort of crucial to the answer. Like Els said, I wouldn't expect that you have "much" more time for side projects. In fact, depending on what industry or if you are a salaried person, etc, usually what happens is you are on back to back zooms and meetings so much so that you spend your work day doing the meetings and then do you real work after hours. It can be tough. And if you are required on zooms, you still need to look presentable. Lots of my people I know are WFM (tech industry)..there is a reason though why there are ongoing memes and jokes about how it does have certain disadvantages. I think for your reasons for doing it: wanting to spend time with your pets (yes you will get obviously--I know someone who did it for the same reason...she's highly skilled and sought after in the tech industry so she was able to negotiate that easily when her work wanted her to come back into the office post pandemic); wanting to have time for side projects (none of the people I know have time for that...it's a full time job for a reason and they usually actually put in EXTRA hours..they save a couple of hours perhaps on commuting but it gets sucked up by more work bc of all the meetings or things around the house, etc). 

It does seem like you are trying to "escape" some drama at work. I have to be honest. I think a lot of it from reading your posts is self-generated or due to some negative outlook on life. You can't run away from people entirely. And from what I know for WFM is if anything communication can be MORE difficult because you are only communicating over email or messenger or formal zooms, etc..which leaves room for more misunderstanding than a face to face conversation or informal stuff that would happen to clarify communication in an in person situation. 

You don't seem to know much about it which makes me think you are searching for a job or considering that without a field or career in mind...so entry level or some non-specific job.  Idk, I sometimes talk to customer service reps working from home who seem pretty happy about it. I'm sure that has set clock in/clock out times. I agree with Wiseman though you seem to be unhappy overall. It's good to reorder your life to change some stuff but I don't know if this will solve your problems. I would say you need better coping and interpersonal skills so therapy might help you. (whether you WFH or not). Good luck

Edited August 17, 2023 by Versacehottie

[Chloeflowers]

4 hours ago, Versacehottie said:

What are your skills or your occupation, Chloe? I mean that's sort of crucial to the answer. Like Els said, I wouldn't expect that you have "much" more time for side projects. In fact, depending on what industry or if you are a salaried person, etc, usually what happens is you are on back to back zooms and meetings so much so that you spend your work day doing the meetings and then do you real work after hours. It can be tough. And if you are required on zooms, you still need to look presentable. Lots of my people I know are WFM (tech industry)..there is a reason though why there are ongoing memes and jokes about how it does have certain disadvantages. I think for your reasons for doing it: wanting to spend time with your pets (yes you will get obviously--I know someone who did it for the same reason...she's highly skilled and sought after in the tech industry so she was able to negotiate that easily when her work wanted her to come back into the office post pandemic); wanting to have time for side projects (none of the people I know have time for that...it's a full time job for a reason and they usually actually put in EXTRA hours..they save a couple of hours perhaps on commuting but it gets sucked up by more work bc of all the meetings or things around the house, etc). 

It does seem like you are trying to "escape" some drama at work. I have to be honest. I think a lot of it from reading your posts is self-generated or due to some negative outlook on life. You can't run away from people entirely. And from what I know for WFM is if anything communication can be MORE difficult because you are only communicating over email or messenger or formal zooms, etc..which leaves room for more misunderstanding than a face to face conversation or informal stuff that would happen to clarify communication in an in person situation. 

You don't seem to know much about it which makes me think you are searching for a job or considering that without a field or career in mind...so entry level or some non-specific job.  Idk, I sometimes talk to customer service reps working from home who seem pretty happy about it. I'm sure that has set clock in/clock out times. I agree with Wiseman though you seem to be unhappy overall. It's good to reorder your life to change some stuff but I don't know if this will solve your problems. I would say you need better coping and interpersonal skills so therapy might help you. (whether you WFH or not). Good luck

No, I'm not escaping anything. I'm making a "current' post about work from home jobs. Has nothing to do with my past posts. I want to do customer service job-since I have experience in that, and all those perks of working from home, commuting-rush hour traffic, etc, etc. I've never had a work from home job-I just want to know what type of work environment it is-if I'll be bored, distraction, but I can work independently. 

I guess I was wrong about working on side projects then-but perks to that is that I can dress in my pj's from the waste down. 😁

Edited August 17, 2023 by Chloeflowers

[chinadiary]

I'm self-employed at home.  It's full-time work and my work ethic varies.  Right now, I'm in a down phase.  I hope it picks up soon, because I'm not being productive at all.

I really need to work basic 9am-6pm (or a bit later) to be properly productive.  It's full-on.  Just because I'm at home, doesn't take away from my workload.  At times, I go work in cafe or the library to make sure I have no distractions.  Too easy to get distracted at home. 

[Versacehottie]

10 hours ago, Chloeflowers said:

Does gossip and coworkers airing out their personal business still exist? 

why did you ask this ^^^^? I'm sorry I can't untangle what you are asking now in this current thread from what I know of you over that last month in other threads and even this question above betrays what's going on in your mind in part...Just saying...

Guessing that customer service--from all the people I end up getting on the phone is as structured as it was before as far as set hours and software installed on your device and phone setup system to ensure that you are working (you can google that but it is a thing that some employees feel a certain way about--IMO, it wouldn't bother people who are willing to work in the same manner). idk it I'm definitely not in that situation so best that i don't speak too much on it specifically. I do know that without customer service people working in a supervised office area you seem to get way more calls dropped (suspiciously) and other things the employees are obviously doing to beat the system. I can tell that some companies obviously have an internal monitoring system that maybe only measures that they accepted the call or placed the call but not the length of the call..so they will accept the call or make the call but hang up as soon as it connects. I know some of the ones in tech monitor your keystrokes and mouse movement, stuff like that. I think when you aren't being supervised and your manager just gets a stats report on things such as this, it can probably be difficult to explain yourself if you slacked off or even if you didn't because they aren't around to see the actual occurrence. 

Anyway...and since you are looking for a job...i feel inclined to correct your spelling 🤣 lol it's "waist" in this context! I'm not the spelling police but if you are job hunting.....

1 hour ago, Chloeflowers said:

I can dress in my pj's from the waste down. 

 

[glows]

1 hour ago, Chloeflowers said:

No, I'm not escaping anything. I'm making a "current' post about work from home jobs. Has nothing to do with my past posts. I want to do customer service job-since I have experience in that, and all those perks of working from home, commuting-rush hour traffic, etc, etc. I've never had a work from home job-I just want to know what type of work environment it is-if I'll be bored, distraction, but I can work independently. 

I guess I was wrong about working on side projects then-but perks to that is that I can dress in my pj's from the waste down. 😁

It’s not worth it going into the office for a customer service role, imho. The pay is often minimal and on top of that there are added expenses mentioned above. I’ve seen some excel in wfh cs roles but they are rare. If you’re able to find one I suggest upgrading skills and doing part time school. There are so many perks to having that extra time while not commuting or feeling drained in traffic. 

[Els]

9 hours ago, Chloeflowers said:

No, I'm not escaping anything. I'm making a "current' post about work from home jobs. Has nothing to do with my past posts. I want to do customer service job-since I have experience in that, and all those perks of working from home, commuting-rush hour traffic, etc, etc. I've never had a work from home job-I just want to know what type of work environment it is-if I'll be bored, distraction, but I can work independently. 

I guess I was wrong about working on side projects then-but perks to that is that I can dress in my pj's from the waste down. 😁

Have you found job listings for these, and received an offer? I almost never see WFH customer service roles advertised, tbh. I think companies often prefer that customer service people come in to the office, because the calls can be monitored and assigned more easily, and they can ensure shift coverage.

If you want independence and flexibility, unfortunately I don't think customer service will give you that. People with high-flexibility jobs often have specialized skills in areas where working remotely makes sense for both the employee and the company, and which don't require much supervision. E.g. software development, 3D modelling, website design, copywriting, so on and so forth.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Els

[justwhoiam]

On 8/17/2023 at 1:25 PM, Chloeflowers said:

I’m considering a work from home job, I want to spend time with my pets and do some side projects. I’ve never done a remote job before so does it really offer flexibility? Will I really work independently? 

You can work remotely as an employee, and that is not an independent job. You can have more flexibility, but my friends who do that end up working later than when they were working in the office. Why? Because there are distractions at home: unexpected phone calls, family stuff, Amazon deliveries, you name it.

Then there are independent jobs done remotely. That's what I've been doing for over a decade. This kind of deal has lots of ups and downs, like for most freelancers, there are times when you get a lot of work, and others times when you don't have much of it if at all. And so money doesn't come in regularly either.

If you need to pay rent, being a freelancer might not be the best choice.

[Versacehottie]

7 hours ago, Els said:

People with high-flexibility jobs often have specialized skills in areas where working remotely makes sense for both the employee and the company, and which don't require much supervision. E.g. software development, 3D modelling, website design, copywriting, so on and so forth.

totally agree....and one reason why this is possible for those professions Els listed above (ie tech industry for a lot of it) is because they allowed WFH BEFORE the pandemic, way before...so it already is something that the employers are used to and know they need to offer to compete for the best talent.

I think with customer service for the convenience from working from home, some employers will capitalize on that and drop the rate paid by a couple of dollars an hour...thus you might be losing the money you thought you would save on gas for example if you have to settle for a lower rate to work from home.

[introverted1]

23 hours ago, Chloeflowers said:

I want to do customer service job

This is likely to be significantly more regimented than, say, a job in tech.  Odds are that you will have specific hours in which you have to be available/working and that you will be asked to ensure you have a quiet, dedicated space for calls. It's not likely you will be embroiled in many Teams/Zoom calls; customer service will usually be telephone or perhaps chat based rather than on-camera. Most job positings for remte customer service roles will tell you what to expect. You might want to start off by looking into what's available on Indeed and similar job boards.

[Keeves1]

I can highly recommend it! Working from home will save you from all the gossip and seeing coworkers and the hassle when it comes to the transportation. It's just more relaxing to sit home and work. You will still need to attend meetings though