Working from Home - Do You Think It's Possible for Me?

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Guys,

I've been kicking around an idea for the last few days and I just wanted to get some feedback from you before I go mentioning it to anyone in the office. Basically I work for a chain of shops and my title is that of Web Manager and I work in the company's office. Currently in this small department, there is myself and two other guys under me. One who also updates the website and one who processes the orders received online. My job basically entails two things:

1 - Looking after the companies website, making sure it's up to date, taking it in new directions etc and making sure that the other two guys have enough work to keep them busy.
2 - Purchasing. I order quite a bit of stock for the shops. I decide what we're going to buy, how much, who from and what we're going to charge for it.

Most of the web work I do online, updating the site, sending emails, answering them and the purchasing I do through an ePos system. I have a Polish girlfriend whom I intend on marrying at some point sooner rather than later and we've already bought an apartment over there. Just recently I was thinking would it be possible to work from home, that is to move to poland and work from there as a good percentage of my work is done online. In regards to the ePos system, isn't it possible to dial in remotely and access a computer running ePos.

I would be online all day, work Irish hours, be contactable through either Skype a landline or a mobile and of course email. If needs be I could come over every month or even every second week for any meetings or updates etc. I'd be willing to take a paycut and I could take on more work so a second person to update the site wouldn't be needed, I could do that myself. So they effectively would save money by paying me less and eliminating another worker from the office and it's a small office so they gain quite a bit of space by loosing two desks.

Friends and some polish colleagues have suggested that this isn't as fantastic an idea as it sounds and it is very appealing to me. In this day and age more and more people are working from home and I don't see why that has to mean in the same country.

What do you guys think. Am I a looney or is it a possibility? If I haven't been clear on any details please ask me and I'll try and give you as much information as possible. I'd really appreciate your feedback.

AlmightyCushion

It is perfectly possible. Like you say most of your work is done online so your physical presence isn't really needed in that office. I don't know how the ePos system works but I'd say it would be easy enough for you to log in remotely (talk to your it guys and see what they say). All you really need is a decent internet connection in your house in Poland.

Technology wise there is nothing really stopping you from doing it.

Kintarō Hattori

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It is perfectly possible. Like you say most of your work is done online so your physical presence isn't really needed in that office. I don't know how the ePos system works but I'd say it would be easy enough for you to log in remotely (talk to your it guys and see what they say). All you really need is a decent internet connection in your house in Poland.

Technology wise there is nothing really stopping you from doing it.

Aww wow and we're off to a positive start. Thanks AC.

AlmightyCushion

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Aww wow and we're off to a positive start. Thanks AC.

I was just building you up to knock you back down. Here's the bad news

made you look

Seriously though as long as you sell it to your boss then it shouldn't be a problem. It works out well for everyone. You get a better work life balance and don't have to spend time in traffic etc. and your employers save on costs and have a happier worker.

The only problem I would foresee is that your boss could be of the opinion that working from home = sleep ins and dossing. Has anyone in your company worked from home before for an extended period of time? If so, it would increase the chances that you would get it. You could even agree to do it for a trial basis (a couple of weeks or so) to see how it works out.

Best of luck with it anyways, hopefully things work out.

Gone West

also, you could probably work it so that you can work tax free, as you don't reside primaryily in Ireland.
Just a thought 8)

Kintarō Hattori

FuzzyLogic wrote: »

also, you could probably work it so that you can work tax free, as you don't reside primaryily in Ireland.
Just a thought 8)

- It gets more appealing by the moment!

Unfortunately AlmightyCushion no-one in the company has ever worked from home before. They are a small but successful company and they'll need some convincing! Fortunately (I hope) the managing director is also the accountant so I'm hoping pitching the money savings goes down well with him. I don't see any reason I can't do there what I do here but as you said they will probably be worried about dossing, sleeping in etc so that's going to be the biggest obstacle.

jd83

Its a brilliant idea with the tax and things been cheaper over their, earning you irish wages and living in poland you save a lot of money. The only problem i see in your plan is the boss will he/she go for it. Sell it to them by explaining how much money they could save by not having you in the office, like you already said.

Ive been to poland a few times, really nice place. Nice vodka

Kintarō Hattori

rory1983 wrote: »

Its a brilliant idea with the tax and things been cheaper over their, earning you irish wages and living in poland you save a lot of money. The only problem i see in your plan is the boss will he/she go for it. Sell it to them by explaining how much money they could save by not having you in the office, like you already said.

Ive been to poland a few times, really nice place. Nice vodka

Thanks Rory. I've been to Poland about a dozen times and I really like the place. With the wages I earn (not exactly massive but respectable) we could build a modest house with a large garden away from town a little. We could have a fairly nice lifestyle with relatively few worries plus my missus could work at whatever tickled her fancy as there would be fewer money issues.

I didn't know about the tax thing so that's an added bonus.

I realise convincing my bosses is going to be hard as I can't really see them going for it but I think a move to Poland would be on the cards anyway at some point in the future, so even if they said no I'm still thinking about leaving anyway. Letting me do my job remotely would I imagine be easier than getting someone to replace me.

jester77

You're not going to get away tax free if you're living full time in Poland, you'll have to declare your earnings there and pay Polish tax. I don't know much about how that part of it works and I'm not sure if the onus is on you or on your employer to declare this.

As for working remotely, no reason that will not work. It's actually very popular in the US right now and lots of companies encourage it. There is probably some good articles around relating to this, worth having a google, here in one

Kintarō Hattori

Oh I wouldn't expect no tax, I hadn't thought of that element at all but it seems that the boardsies here are saying it would be cheaper, which is of course always good!

Thanks for the suggestion of looking up some articles. I'll try and dig some others up to give my proposal some weight.

Tom Dunne

Working from home is very different form doing your job from a different country.

Yes, technically, there is no reason you couldn't do your job remotely.

But, if it is an "Old School" type organisation, you will have a lot of convincing to do.

Also, what happens if something goes wrong in the office? You can't exactly hop into the car and head in.

I know in my job, for the customers I support, I could be in the South Pole for all they know. With the right technology, it is possible.

Serafijn

Hi Kintaro

This one is going to depend entirely on your boss, and the way you sell it to him.

Make sure you're fully prepared before you approach him and think of all eventualities. Come up with some kind of process flow/action plan of how things would work with you away, including how you would interact with the team (conference calls, messenger etc). Also include the suggestion that you can come over to Ireland for a meeting every few weeks if necessary so that you won't be completely removed from the team.

This will show him that you've thought it through, that you're committed and responsible enough to take this on.

I would personally save the paycut idea for if he's looking doubtful - you don't want to take a cut if you don't have to!! And be sure to research the tax issue as well so you're fully aware of where you would stand.

Do emphasise the saving they would make in terms of office space, one less PC to maintain, and anything else you can think of. Money really does speak volumes with bosses!

Good luck - I hope it works out for you!