Samantha “Sam” Duckworth is a 20-something college graduate with an emerging interest in all things financial. Sam’s Ducks and Dollars which was started in November, 2009. Sam is motivated to show others that it’s not impossible to set financial goals and to actually meet those goals.
I recently wrote a blog post about the benefits of working from home. I’m writing this follow-up to share why I chose to leave my work from home position and return to a physical office.
I should start by giving you a little background on how I became a remote (work from home) employee. A couple years ago, my Husband and I decided to finally make the move we had been waiting to do. We decided to move to a new state. Other than family, neither of us had connections in our new state, so we were both concerned about how we would find employment. On occasion, my employer would let me work from home. So I asked if they would allow me to move to a permanent work from home role. The idea was that I could keep my job (which I enjoyed) and have some money rolling in while my Husband was job hunting in our new state. To my surprise, they agreed. And the rest is history, as they say…
At first, being at home was great! I really enjoyed skipping the daily routine of getting ready for work and commuting. I could roll out of bed and strait to my desk. But as time passed, I became less and less satisfied with my job at home. There were a number of reasons.
- First, I was missing people! We moved to a new place where we knew no-one (except family) and my only major interaction with people was through email and an occasional phone call. When I tried to get involved in groups or activities outside of work, I ran into constant obstacles.
- Second, there was zero job growth. This was no-one’s fault. It’s simply the nature of being a remote employee. I was doing the same job day-in and day-out and there was no sign of moving up or around the company. Perhaps I could have pursued this further, but being a remote employee made this a challenge.
- Third, I was exhausted! I was in an on-call position. Holidays, weekends and vacations were not off limits. If there was an issue that needed to be addressed, I had to take care of it. Being that I was working from my home office, the work-to-life ratio got out of control!
After one long, frustrating day, I had the realization that it was time to move on. I wasn’t going to be able to get the things I needed out of my work from home career. I needed to be around people and needed the opportunity for job growth and most of all, I needed some separation between my personal and professional life. Please don’t misunderstand me – working from home has been a great opportunity and one I’m very thankful for. Given the same opportunity under different circumstances and I’d likely jump at the chance to work from home again. But for now, it’s time for me to move on to something new.
Kelly’s notes: Congratulations on the new job!
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