I’ve always admired Cara for figuring out what work situation worked best for her as a working mom, then going for it. After the birth of her second child, she realized she wanted to go part-time, and she made it happen. Then a few years later she decided she wanted to do freelance, and made that happen, too.
She paved the road for a lot of different people to take on flexible working arrangements throughout the company. I’m one of them—I work one day a week from home. Of course, it helps to have a great employer (there is a reason we’ve been named Best Place to Work three years running) to help make flexible working arrangements a reality.
But it got me thinking, what would your ideal work situation be? If money wasn’t an issue, if job advancement wasn’t an issue, etc. I’m going to be completely honest here (even though my employers read the blog!): I’m not sure working home one day a week is my ideal work situation, but I sure do like it.
So what about you—would you work at all? Would you work part-time? Would you work full-time? Part-time from home? Lemme know.
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Wow, thanks Tela! I’m blushing.
But, I’m still trying to figure out my ideal work situation! Working from home rarely works for me. Right now, I’m camped out at my office… which is Panera. Even with the kids out of the house, I have trouble disciplining myself to work. I get too tempted with my flexibility, and will change my plans at the drop of the hat. I’ll think “Well, maybe I should go run this errand while the kids aren’t here and I’ll work later.” Then I end up rushing to get my work done at the last minute.
I know I love my flexibility, I love the freedom of working on my own, and working with various clients. But, I do miss the day-to-day interaction with co-workers. And I miss having “work boundaries.” I think I need a designated place to work. (other than Panera because I spend too much money on damn bagels)I think an office co-op would be nice. Having someone like another freelancer to share an office maybe would be ideal.
Right now I work from home home on Fridays and then 8 to 2:30 Mon-Thur. (total of 30 hours.) I have to say it’s pretty ideal, although….I’d like to work from home maybe two days a week. I like the mix of both. I tend to go a little stir crazy if I’m working at either my home or office all the time. 😉
Great question!
Right now I work at home FT, averaging about 55-60 hours a week. I love being at home, and work pretty well, except I do miss the office environment a little.
In my perfect world, I would love to work at home part-time (not more than 30 hours a week). There are women in my company that work PT, but they always exceed PT hours.
Perhaps I should leave the corporate world and work on my second interest… being a barista at Starbucks. lol.
I feel like I have a pretty ideal situation. I work part time.. at the hospital.. so I get coworker interaction and then I am at home part time also. I can pick up extra hours if I want to, and work different hours around the kids schedules. I feel pretty lucky.
My IDEAL would be not working at all, lol. However, my preferred would be part-time work, either from home or at an office close to home
Ideal for me would be part-time, maybe 24 hours a week Mon-Thurs with Fridays off. Also, I would be in heaven if I had a very short commute (no more than 15 minutes).
I’d have to agree with Kris – work part-time, Mon-Thurs, 24 hours or so. Fridays off. That would definitely rock, but is not really possible in my line of work.
Right now I work at home 2 days a week and it’s as ideal as it’s going to get. There are things I just can’t do at home due to the nature of my job, so working at home more than that would start to be unproductive.
Oh and a shorter commute would also be awesome. Right now my commute is just one of the reasons for working at home 2 days a week.
I agree too that part-time would be a perfect situation for me. Working mornings would let us only pay daycare for our youngest during the school year – and having at least one day a week completely off would be heaven. 🙂
Ideally, I’d live a life of leisure, never have to work, and do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. From there, the situation becomes less ideal the more hours I have to work. Right now, I’m working 40 hours a week in an office. The pay and benefits make it as ideal as a full-time job can be in this country. So I’m pretty happy, even if I’m not a Lady of Leisure. (Does that sound like a euphemism for a hooker?)
I think I would work 4 days a week, with the off day rotating. That way I could volunteer at SM’s school and attend field trips etc.
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My ideal schedule would be working four days a week, two in the office and two from home. I like the interaction with co-workers and being in the loop, but I love the time at home to really do focused work. (Right now I work 4 days in the office.)
If it’s okay to share, I thought you all might enjoy this article on how to negotiate flexible work.
I was inspired to write this by my own experience. 🙂
Fridays off would be my ideal. Then I can do things like take the kids to the park or the library. Or just recuperate before weekend errands begin.