and setting up a PC at home so you can link into a company network remotely?

Is it easy/cheap?, etc., etc.?

Been thinking about trying to punt a more flexible approach to working to the company to allow working from home 2-3 days a week.

Cheers

You’ll need the help of your work IT dept. Need things like VPN, but I’m no expert.

Depends what sort of work you do. Web email and dropbox or similar for file sharing does quite a lot.

Firstly – gain the written permission of your employers to allow you to do so. If you don’t, forget it. It could even be a serious offence.

Secondly – buy the IT person/department a crate of beer – getting in their good books is priority number 1 when working remotely. Trust me – I work at the IT end 😉

Thirdly – talk to your IT department. There are various options, and all have different legal (including licensing) issues. There are also serious security considerations.

ok, thanks

Should be your IT dept running it for you. You’ll best off replacing your desktop with a laptop so you can dock it when in the office. VPN needs setting up and you’ll need a RAS token etc.

Then you can kick back at home, fire up your work laptop, fire up your personal PC next to it on your desk and sit and browse STW/ebay etc all day and get paid for it. Not that I’d do that. Oh no. Thats naughty.

Oh, and don’t try and setup your home PC to access your works network. As above, you’re basically hacking into your work – thats bad. Tell your boss you want to work from home / have the flexibility (mention work/life balance) and see where it goes from there.

I’m currently using Cisco VPN on the laptop to work at home and look what I’m doing! Its a bit slow connecting to office network but OK for small file transfers & Office Communicator. Outlook doesn’t need it. If your work don’t do laptops then I know people that use Go To my PC to ‘work’ at home.

Get a pc you use only for work.

Anythign you do on your ‘home’ pc may come under the company IT rules if you start using their vpn.

dropbox is great if you use multiple pc’s.

i used to work from home many years ago and have returned to doing so more recently the two standout things I have learned are not any form of technical issue but

A do not turn on the TV at all you get sucked in to all kinds of chavtastic shite and cant get started till at least 2pm meaning you dont get done till 2am

B stop working at 5 none of that ill just do another half an hour its soon 8pm and if you have a significant other it stops her starting an affair with big leroy down the road because your never there and always working

A do not turn on the TV at all you get sucked in to all kinds of chavtastic shite and cant get started till at least 2pm meaning you dont get done till 2am

If I don’t get started till 2pm, work will end up losing 4 hours, not me 🙂

the next 3 weeks with the Tour on could be particularly lean for them 🙂

Depends on nature of your work. If like me, your mainly outlook and ms office based then VPN lite is all you need but if you hammer some application (aka software) then You may need the full VPN connection. You’ll need a company laptop installed with the correct software and then usually they’ll give you the low down on how to connect… They very often won’t support your specific router and ISP and stop helping if issues start to happen. These days they almost definitely have other users working at home so your IT department will know what needs doing…

… If you manage to get sorted and approved tbh the biggest issue is if it suits you or not. It can be lonely old game if you do it a lot and takes a certain mindset… If it’s occasional then almost everybody finds it helps enormously with work/life balance.

dropbox is great if you use multiple pc’s.

And don’t mind everybody else having access to your files. 😉

+1 samuri

dropbox is a v.v.bad idea.

If I’m going to be at home next day, I just sync the directory I’m working in to my laptop before I leave.

Then back again next time I’m in the office.

May be a problem if someone else needs to modify anything in that directory in your absence, I gather you’ll be notified of a possible conflict. Hasn’t happened to me yet, such is the nature of our working.

Been a home worker for 10 years now, VPN client on laptop so I can access all the file shares, all of the corporate apps and the usual email etc. What makes a great difference is having an IM client that will do voice, video and desktop sharing along with a voice over IP client thats setup with a normal phone number and can be setup with call routing rules to follow me about. IPass so I can access wi-fi hotspots when I’m out and about along with a 3G card if all of that fails. Then if I have not got my laptop handy there is web access to Outlook and the Blackberry.

Agree with the comments about it getting lonely sometimes and you have to set yourself some rules for example start and finish times otherwise the day just gets longer and longer. But the flexibility it gives and being removed completely from the usual office carp is well worth it, when you do go into the office it is for a specific reason and you can plan a very productive day.

Oh and the fact that it is a decent pay boost not having a commute every day.

Other big advantage is being able to get mid-week rides in at lunchtimes so you get some daylight mid-winter riding.

Yep, using VPN myself with a cisco keychain to let me access my files and other resources at home.

Still, i only work from home if site is closed for some reason or if i have to work late and site is shut.

Clearly some people on here have only just enough knowledge to be dangerous with IT.

@ ti_pin_man : VPN lite vs. full VPN…. new one on me!

They very often won’t support your specific router and ISP and stop helping if issues start to happen.

These days, most home users have only one of about 5 routers, provided by their ISP (Linksys, Netgear, Belkin are most common). We support our remote workers, as funnily enough, they still fall under people within the company who we have a responsibility to assist. Most routers have UPnP switched on by default, and have no restriction on outbound connections.

Most of what’s written in this thread regarding the technical side of VPNs is irrelevant – your IT department will tell you what you need to know (there’s more than one way to connect remotely). The ‘working on your own’ information is far more useful.

your IT department will tell you what you need to know (there’s more than one way to connect remotely). The ‘working on your own’ information is far more useful

+1

Discipline. Discipline. Discipline.

I don’t even turn the TV on if I stop for lunch. I never have more than 1 hour for lunch and I put my hours in. It is tempting to finish early and it’s tempting to work “after hours” but as for the latter I try to do it only when absolutely necessary. This last bit is dependent on personal circumstances; I have 2 kids and they’re usually knocking on the office door at knocking off time.

It can and will get lonely if you’re doing it all week, but 2 or 3 days should be good. If I’m missing my “office chat” I come on STW 🙂

Been working from home for 6 years now. I’ve found working alone OK but I’m fairly self contained and things like IM and Skype make keeping in touch easier. Being at my desk from 8 till 5 is not a problem but I think there’s a certain discipline in not surfing the web when you should be working. Depends on the individual I guess.
On the technical side as long as you’ve got a good and reliable broadband connection the rest has to be up to your company as you’re probably not qualified to decide how to do it and you certainly don’t want to take responsibility for setting up security related stuff. Great not commuting and as someone else mentioned lunch time rides.

Best thing I ever did, stress levels dropped through the floor, no more commute, saved loads of money and time. I ended up installing two separate ADSL lines (different suppliers) in case one goes down. (Yes I know they still run through the same cab/exchange)

Keep one workstation just for work and another for personal use, it’s important not to mix the two in my opinion.

Downsides are that it can be a bit isolating and I do get cabin fever sometimes, but overall I would say I am more productive, wealthier and happier than I was when I was commuting.

By the way I am sitting in my pants typing this

By the way I am sitting in my pants typing this

Aren’t we all.

dropbox is great if you use multiple pc’s.

And don’t mind everybody else having access to your files

Sorry, should have been clearer – only install the app on pc’s that you have sole access to – I have a netbook, an iPhone and two desktops that are ‘mine’ and use the app on those. On other pc’s I just use the dropbox web interface to download any files that I need.

I’ve worked at home for nearly 4 years now – it’s great but if you’re someone who likes to work in a ‘buzzy’ environment with lots going on it mught not be for you.

Look at logmein. If you have a pc at work that you can connect to from home. It’s great. I use it to connect to our other building down the road. They do a free version but not sure if it’s ok for business use.

I work from home a lot but I am technically based here (I visit places as needed) and we’re well set up for it given we do this stuff for other people. Office is 75 miles away so I tend not to go unless I know someone will be in who I want to speak to. On the rare times I have a full week at home I sometimes go in on a wednesday just to break up the week.

We have VPN access but I rarely use it – Outlook and Lync work securely without it over HTTPS, shared docs go in Sharepoint where they can be checked in/out easily to avoid conflicts.

Lync (what was called OCS) makes the whole thing a load easier, gives your boss and co-workers reassurance that you’re actually “at work”, makes you available for contact when you’re actually free and saves a lot of the concentration-interrupting calls when you need to just get on. Easy to do voice/video/screen-share type stuff too.

I try to keep the same sort of routine as when I commute – up at 7 but rather than shower and leave the house at 7.30 I can go for a run or a quick ride, shower then be at my desk for 9. I try to finish up at 5.30 unless I’ve got a load of things on. I keep work and home computing separate too – if work laptop is open, I’m working, it’s closed when I finish. I try not to do much in the way of errands in the day unless it’s unavoidable – nice to have the flexibility of getting an eye test or going to the dentist when I like though.

If you have partner/kids at home, it’s trickier but you have to firmly establish that when you’re “at work”, you’re not there. Separate room, closed door, see you at lunch.

This cartoon has a fair bit of truth to it, although a lot of it can be mitigated.

Hi

I work from home 2-3 days a week. I use VPN plus I have GoToMyPC on my office PC. I can do everything that I need to from home.

I big advantage I have now for homeworking – an office. I go in and start working – it’s a routine (apart from this coffee break reading of STW!) and the door shut is the family signal for no interuptions.

You have to get into a rountine and give yourself breaks – 14hrs without leaving the office table but for 10mins is easily done.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk[/video]