Are Firms open to people working from Home in the USA?

[Airforce2]

Hello;

I am a Designer and do not have a P.E. I have approximately 10 years experience. I moved to the USA last year and have been working with a Firm. Before I moved to the USA, I operated my own small design business from home. I still operate that business and do that work ocasionally at night.

All in all the Firm I work with now are great to work with. I pretty much just do my activities with very little supervision. The P.E. in charge is usually to busy to chat with anyway (ha, ha).

As time has gone on, I have missed working from home. I am a self motivated person and working from home just suited me very well. When I worked from home, if meetings were scheduled, I would simply attend them. If site visits were ever required, I would just go.

I am considering approaching my Employer and exploring the option of working from home with the flexibility to come in to the office, or site visits or meetings at the drop of a hat's notice.

I would be interested in knowing what people would think of this? Is it done here in the USA? How would an Employer respond to such a proposal?

Thanks,

 

[ColonelSanders83]

I previously worked for a small engineering firm. We performed pipe stress and acoustical analysis for reciprocating compressors (among other things). The firm had no problem with me working from home and it was by far the best part of the job. If you are working for a small firm working from home should be no problem so long as you have access to the necessary tools. If you work for a large company I would forget about it, they tend not to be trusting.

Just talk you your boss about the matter. As long as your performance stays the same you won't have any problems.

 

[KENAT]

Well, if nothing else this probably the best time to push the subject.

When there are lots of jobs and not a lot of people, companies make allowances.

When there are fewer jobs & more people, companies tend to want it their way.

My current employer is an example. When I started here a lot of people worked from home some of the time or had very flexible hours etc. The number of people with this has gradually decreased as times have got tougher. Then again, the overal workforce has decreased to, I'm not sure if the % are comparable.

That said, there are people here who do it. On programmer lives in Hawaii (we're in CA). At least one electrical engineer works here about 1/2 time and from home 6 hours north of here the rest.

Part of the problem can be the IT infrastructure required etc. If they have this in place possibly not a big deal. If they'd have to buy some stand alone licences, some kind of portal/online access etc. then it starts to get more hassle.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[ScottyUK]

Just be careful that not being visible, by virtue of not being in the office, doesn't make you the easiest target if the big axe gets swung at some point.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[controlsdude]

The more you know and are valuable to an employer the easier it is for you to request to work from home.

Things you need to have at home if you can:
Hi speed internet
printer
Able to have vpn access to work servers
Have a work cell phone and not use your home phone for business, syke is a good option here.
Have a room set aside specifically for work, since IRS in USA is picky about allowing this deduction. More easy if you have a complete room set aside for this reason.

 

[cranky108]

My boss has made the offer to work from home, and other here do work from home. But I don't think I can over come the destractions.

 

[ScottyUK]

The ones in the office, or the ones at home...?


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[cranky108]

The destractions at home. The destractions at work are usually someone with a question, or a birthday, or something to do with a social event (Or the question that turns into 'how's the family').

I honestly think the social aspect is important to an extent. Sort of becomes like the issue of building a fence around your front yard. What is the intent? Fence you in, or others out.

At home there's the wife, the TV, the kids, and at work it's only the other kids.

 

[KENAT]

One problem I found with working at home. My wife who was working outside of the home would have a bunch of chores she expected me to get done while she was at work. Not necessarily any big things but they added up.

Fine, but that means I need to start working before you leave for work in the morning, or keep working after you get home.

She wasn't a big fan of that logic.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[Airforce2]

Thanks for the feedback.

Working from home is not a problem for me. I have a wife and young kids too. Personally, I feel way more productive working from home. Working in a cubicle, hearing people's personal phone calls, people talking to themselves and even them clicking at the computers starts to drive me nuts after a while.

I think I need to get away from it...

Working from home just suits we very well and I am at my happiest.

How to bring this up with management is the thing that I am concerned about doing...

 

[HgTX]

Have a well-detailed plan in hand. Describe your home working environment & equipment, and show how they can be sure they're getting from you the hours they think they're getting from you.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[Airforce2]

I have read some of the posts on Cube Farms and to be honest it is a bit depressing to me. Am I wrong for feeling like Firms are too controling? I am going through a phase where I get so distracted with the clicking of keyboards, chatter, people's personal conversations, someone getting chewed out etc. It really sends me nuts sometimes. I have an mp3 player now, but man cube farms really do stink. No privacy. I am more than positive that I annoy people with coughing or keyboard tapping etc. We all get on in our work place.

I guess the thing that makes it so hard for me is that I have come from working in my own home office where it was quiet and I could close the door. Going from that to a cube farm is proving to be really HARD for me.

 

[MGXFP]

Most companies I've worked for were horrified at the very concept of working from home. Once gas hit $4/gallon last year it suddenly became an easier sell.

I do have all the software needed at home, if my company were expected to buy another license that idea would have been quickly put to death. I too prefer to work from home, avoiding the jail-like mental imagery cubical farms produce.

 

[Airforce2]

I agree, something about the cube farm is not very enjoyable. I went from working at home to working in a cube farm. Maybe culture shock, but maybe I won't get used to it.

Thanks,