Deciding on 2 days per week to work from home

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PoundMan

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Hi folks,

I have been informed by my employer that we can soon apply for working from home 2 days per week. I work in an IT Helpdesk environment and have been informed that it will be a case of first come first served basis.

At the moment, once per month I visit my father up in Northern Ireland and usually book a day of flexi leave on a Monday or Friday to make a bit of a longer weekend out of it. My father is a disabled pensioner living alone so I would ideally like to be able to spend more time with him and stay for longer when I visit once per month. I am happy to still continue using a day of flexi leave to extend the length of these trips but I would like to also be able to have the option of working from home when I'm up there particularly if anything happened to my car during those weekends that would prevent me from being able to make the long journey back down to the Republic. I would even be happy to throw in the occasional day of annual leave on top of the flexi leave to really make a good long stay with my father once per month. It's too much mileage and fuel expenses to visit any more than once per month due to the distance of the journey.

I am also feeling that particularly with cost of fuel these days, I would like to try to manage my working from home schedule in such a way that I can minimize the amount of days I physically have to commute to the office. I've heard some suggestions that a Monday would be a bad day to elect to work from home as most bank holiday public leave days fall on a Monday so it almost seems a waste to be off on days that I would be due to be at home anyways. I also tend to have booked most of my flexi/annual leaves days on a Monday or a Friday so again I wonder if it's a waste working from home on these days and perhaps having some midweek days to work from home might mean less overall commutes to the office over the course of the year.

A final aspect that I am considering is how busy I would be on particular days.
In terms of our IT helpdesk, the busiest days of the week in terms of percentage of support tickets logged are as follows:

Tuesday - 23.2%
Wednesday - 20.7%
Thursday - 20.1%
Monday - 19.8%
Friday - 16.2%


In terms of 2 days combined, the stats are as follows:

Tuesday & Wednesday – 43.9%
Tuesday & Thursday – 43.3%
Monday & Tuesday – 43%
Wednesday & Thursday – 40.8%
Monday & Wednesday – 40.5%
Monday & Thursday – 39.9%
Tuesday & Friday – 39.4%
Wednesday & Friday – 36.9%
Thursday & Friday – 36.3%
Monday & Friday – 36%

I’m unsure if I would want to be at home on the busy days in order to avoid a hectic stressful day in the office, or am I better working from home on the quieter days where there is more free time to simultaneously get personal non-work related things done at home. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are very hectic whilst Fridays are so relatively quiet that we almost don’t really mind having to come in.


With all of these factors to consider, I would be keen to hear some thoughts and opinions on how I try to decide upon which specific two days per week would be the ideal sweet spot for my circumstances.
 
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PoundMan said:
I visit my father up in Northern Ireland and usually book a day of flexi leave on a Monday or Friday to make a bit of a longer weekend out of it....I would like to also be able to have the option of working from home when I'm up there
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That would be the main deciding factor for me. Sounds like Monday/Friday would suit your lifestyle. I would not put any more thought into it other than what days best suit your lifestyle outside of work.
It sounds like you don't know if working from home would more or less stressful for you on the busy days. Do you work closely with your colleagues when in the office, and might there be any communication issues that might negatively impact on your work if WFH on the busy days?
 
Depending on what your commute is like, working remotely on days it takes you longer to get to and from work might be beneficial. Monday and Friday are the most popular remote working days, with traffic always quieter.

Do you find it easier work the busy days from home or the office? I know I get through a lot more actual work at home, but the networking and contacts in the office are important too.

Would your employer have any issues with you working from NI? I know a few places have rules about working outside the jurisdiction.
 
Tickle said:
It sounds like you don't know if working from home would more or less stressful for you on the busy days. Do you work closely with your colleagues when in the office, and might there be any communication issues that might negatively impact on your work if WFH on the busy days?
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Working from home would definitely be less stressful for me on the busy days in terms of not having colleagues being able to come up at grab me to assist them without having logged helpdesk tickets. I also wouldn't be expected to physically setup any equipment whilst trying to simultaneously covering helpdesk calls and emails so it would definitely be less stressful and hectic from that perspective. But the other side of the coin is that if I was working from home on the quieter days, I would have more spare time to do other personal errands around the house.

Leo said:
Depending on what your commute is like, working remotely on days it takes you longer to get to and from work might be beneficial. Monday and Friday are the most popular remote working days, with traffic always quieter.

Would your employer have any issues with you working from NI? I know a few places have rules about working outside the jurisdiction.
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My commute to and from the office is only 30mins in total so it isn't really a major factor.
I have worked remotely from NI previously so I don't believe my employer would have a major issue with that.
 
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PoundMan said:
I work in an IT Helpdesk environment and have been informed that it will be a case of first come first served basis.
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Would a test it out and see situation be totally out of the question because of the first come first served basis and no room for manoeuvre after decision made?

Its can sometimes be the case that you over think these situations, come up with a plan but then find other obstacles arise when it is put in place. That's certainly the situation with me in any case :)
 
Apologies folks but my original statistics were not accurate due to an issue with a Microsoft Excel formula.
In terms of our IT helpdesk, the busiest days of the week in terms of percentage of support tickets logged are as follows:

Tuesday - 23.2%
Wednesday - 20.7%
Thursday - 20.1%
Monday - 19.8%
Friday - 16.2%


In terms of 2 days combined, the stats are as follows:

Tuesday & Wednesday – 43.9%
Tuesday & Thursday – 43.3%
Monday & Tuesday – 43%
Wednesday & Thursday – 40.8%
Monday & Wednesday – 40.5%
Monday & Thursday – 39.9%
Tuesday & Friday – 39.4%
Wednesday & Friday – 36.9%
Thursday & Friday – 36.3%
Monday & Friday – 36%
 
It's obvious to me - Tuesday and Friday.

On Bank holiday weekends it's a nice 5 day break from the office.

If you can work from NI, you can be there for the 5 days on the bank holiday weekends, 3 days for other weekends.

You just have to be sure you can do the work without interruption, but if you can Tuesday and Friday is the option for you
 
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peemac said:
It's obvious to me - Tuesday and Friday.

On Bank holiday weekends it's a nice 5 day break from the office.

If you can work from NI, you can be there for the 5 days on the bank holiday weekends, 3 days for other weekends.

You just have to be sure you can do the work without interruption, but if you can Tuesday and Friday is the option for you
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That does sound like a good idea actually. The only slight issue is that it would mean working from home on a Tuesday when I'm up North which is the busiest day of the week for our Helpdesk. So if there were any technical issues with my father's broadband or my WFH equipment on a Tuesday I would be expected to come into the office which wouldn't be logistically feasible from NI. Plus I'd also have to make a long 4hr drive back down to the Republic on the Tuesday evening after already working the busiest day of the week. It was almost feel like a wasted day to spend in NI with my father given how busy I would be and to have to leave as soon as I'd clocked out.

At the moment I'm now starting to lean towards the idea that perhaps Thursdays & Fridays might be the best option as I'd always have a minimum of 4 days away from the office plus on bank holiday weekends there is the potential to have up to a 6 day break from the office if I use my 1 day Flexi leave strategically.
 
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