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Are homeworkers actually working?
Ben Petts Charity Manager at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity Posted 6 years ago
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Having worked from home for over 3 years now, I often find people say:
“But you work from home”
“I’ve actually been to work”
“Yeah, but is it really work?”
I’ll admit, working from home has its upsides. The ability to sit with music on, without worrying that it suits everyone, being able to make cups of tea when I want and working in comfy clothes.
Although with these upsides, in the back of peoples’ minds they’re wondering if you’re really working.
From my experience working from home does take discipline, there are days when you would rather sit and have the TV on in the background or you get distracted by that pile of washing.
Think of this on the flipside – Working from home in a regionally spread out team, the need to communicate is higher, the ability to create and manage your own workload without someone feeding you job after job. You also have the constant thought that your workplace is somewhere in your house, can you really leave work behind?
Luckily in my organisation we have several systems and software that enables us to work remotely together, such as Skype and Shared Documents but you still have the disagreement when it comes to cooking dinner, who’s worked harder today, and you often find that you must justify your workload that day because you’ve been at home.
Trying to talk someone through an excel spreadsheet over the phone trying to visualise what’s on their screen is often difficult and something office workers may take from granted. The occasional day at a Coffee Shop is needed to have real human interaction.
Office workers will have it stricter with uniform or dressing smartly, people keeping an eye on what you’ve got open on your browser and no personal phone calls.
What friends and family don’t see while you’re home alone is the growing to do list, the numerous phone calls or emails to sort out tiny issues that could easily be sorted in person. The extra trips just to get your steps in as you’ve been sat down all day and the bargaining to finish that “one job” before you have lunch.
Are homeworkers actually working? Yes, extremely hard, to manage relationships through a phone, keeping themselves motivated and making friendships with the local delivery drivers who know you’ll be home.
I'm not trying to say Homeworkers do a better job than office based staff, I would just like for our work to be viewed as a job. 9 to 5 (usually), lunch-breaks included it's just that we have a location that happens to be based at home.
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