IT jobs from home

yop

Guys, do any of you do or know is working from home in the IT industry common?
I would like to consider this option as regards contracts but have been told that it is not common in Ireland.

Have you come across contracts of this sort or full time jobs where you may do it at home full time or 3 or 4 days at home and 1 or 2 days in office.?

Thanks

seamus

I've definitely talked to a few people about it. As best I understand it though, there's still a lot of resistance, mainly for two reasons - cost and attitude.

The cost of bandwidth is quite high in this country, so in order for people to be able to work remotely, a company may have to pay for (or subsidise) that person's internet access. There's also the cost of the company's own connections - many companies may run on ADSL or other asymmetric connections, and would need to change or upgrade to accomodate remote users.

There's also a general feeling, particularly among SME's or more "traditional" management, that people who work from home will slack off, will be less contactable by the team, and will generally be less available than a worker who is sitting at their desk. It's probably a toss-up; If a person hasn't spent 90 minutes travelling in, and doesn't have to spend another 90 minutes travelling out, they may be more productive and energised.

On the other hand, if you have a TV in the next room or errands to run, you may be more prone to skipping out for 30 minutes to take a break...

Tom Dunne

Just to back up what Seamus is saying, I've seen the work from home thing from two perspectives as an employee, both in the IT department.

The first is in an American, high-tech company who was all for remote/mobile working. Thoroughly encouraged it and gave pretty decent laptops to employees to facilitate this.

The second is in the more, traditional "old school" management who are fighting it tooth and nail (despite moving premesis and putting an extra commute on people).

So I would say it depends on the company. Modern, progressive, tech-savy companies are more likely to encourage it. Older, smaller companies, less likely.

yop

I see what ye are saying alright. I did a 3 month stint when laid off for a company doing a small system and it was hard to get motivated, except when the deadlines were coming along!!

I know of 2 people who are currently doing a 2 day office and a 3 day home week and it means they are getting more done!!

But it is hard to source these jobs, just luck I suppose, especially stuck here in the West it is even harder.

MrWenger1982

I'm in a job where I have the option to work from home. I work for a large multinational company. I usually work from home in the morning time (still in bed with laptop working away) for an hour or two and then drive into the site which is 15 mins from my house.

I could work from home 100% of the time but it would be very boring. A good few in our large IT department have this option. I would agree with previous comments about management attitude to working from home. It depends on the person really. If you are motivated enough, then working from home will mean you will get more done. However such jobs are hard to come by.

BossArky

Working from home is fine once every now and again. I can handle Fridays working from home if away travelling the rest of the week. However, I have found that sitting around at the kitchen table in my boxers to get a tad head wrecking if done for 3 solid weeks in a row which happened last summer.

daveg

My wife has the option to work from home and does on occasions. If she has to put in "out of office hours" work she usually does this at home so it also works well for her employers. She is hoping to "work from home" for a few months/for good (depending on how well it works) when we move to Oz next year.