Working From Home – Is it for You?

I just thought it might be useful to share my experience working from home.  I am only covering positions where the job is similar to a conventional office job.  I don’t have experience of working as an agent for catalogues or beauty products etc or carrying out free-lance work.

I would advise caution about advertisers who are not employers and who expect you to run your own business and be especially aware of pyramid selling schemes where the main purpose of the membership of the scheme is to recruit others rather than sell a genuine product or service.

If you currently work from home and really don’t want to return to commuting to an office now is a good time to make enquiries.

I was working from home in 2019 before it became a necessity for millions.

There are many businesses which have been operating this way for many years now.

Some require you to be self-employed whereas others are conventional employers with a proper contract.

Most of these  organisations expect you to provide the PC, phone line and broadband of at least 3Mb.  Get fibre or Virgin if you can.  Employers provide IT support but if your PC stops working you don’t get paid.  The standard of your PC is important for security purposes.  Generally you need Windows 10 any version, a 3 Gb processor equivalent to at least i5 and there may be a maximum of 5 years for the operating system (DOS).  Minimum memory is 4Gb though 8Gb is preferred.  Apple computers may be OK with Windows emulation.

You need to connect your PC to the Internet with an Ethernet cable.  You cannot use a wireless connection.

You need a minimum of 2 screens at least 16 inches diagonally.  Your PC might already have 2 monitor connections already.  If not you will need a video card to be installed.  See my article here for fitting extra screens.  Link at the foot of this article.

I have 4 and find it much easier that way.  If you have the space I recommend you put your screens all on the same level.

You ‘office’ space needs to be reasonably quiet and your employer will need to check that your work station is safe.  They are looking for safe wiring, a stable chair and good lighting much the same as you would expect in a conventional office.

When you are working you get incoming calls on your landline.  The line shouldn’t have any voicemail set.  Your provider can assist you to turn this off.  If you regularly get calls on the landline consider ordering a second line. If your additional line includes broadband that is a useful backup.

When you are working your callers come through to your landline.  You have access to the companies customer accounts so its very much like working in a standard office. If you need to call a customer you use the software to make the call and the system calls you.  Thus you are not paying for any calls.

You have a chat system available in case you need any assistance plus access to all the systems you need. Managers are available at all times.

Depending on how the systems are set up you log in to a virtual desktop.  This may mean that you can only display pages from the Intranet on one screen.  You can log in to external  systems on your other screen(s).  I often used my laptop or iPad for non secure information such as Google Maps.

I worked for Sensee as a breakdown co-ordinator for about a year.  They have about 4,000 staff of which only 5 work from the office.  Most of those are IT support staff.   The only significant downside is that you have to grab your shifts every Tuesday at 2:00 PM or you will be left with only anti-social hours.  At least they guarantee you will get the number of hours on your contract with additional hours released over the next couple of days.

If you need to plan your day around child-care or looking after a relative they will do their best to accommodate you.   One of my colleagues used to work 7:00 until 8:30, take her children to school and log in again at 9:30. Others mainly worked after the children went to bed.

The process is that you apply Online. There follows a live interview over Skype or similar.  If you pass this stage then there are a few Online tests to ensure you have the basic skills.  Sensee require you to do this with your camera on just to ensure everything is above-board.

I also worked for Acorn Insurance for a while.  They send you a laptop and a second screen so you just need to provide a phone line and broadband.  This company is normally office based but due to the Covid crisis almost everyone is now working from home. They only operate between 8:00 am and 6 pm weekdays plus half day Saturday so hours are predictable.  Bear in mind that they will probably revert to office working in Liverpool and Formby in a few months. Acorn require a smart phone or tablet for authentication purposes when you are logged in.

I provide the following for information only.  I am not an agent of these organisations

Please note this employer will probably go back to the office in Liverpool in due course.

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